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Cantor: Entitlement Promises ‘Frankly, Are Not Going To Be Kept For Many’
By Pat Garofalo on Aug 4, 2011 at 9:35 am
During an interview with the Wall Street Journal, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) said he is ready and willing to slash entitlements like Medicare, because, in his opinion, Americans have to “come to grips with the fact that promises have been made that frankly are not going to be kept for many“:
What we need to be able to do is to demonstrate that that is the better way for the people of this country. Get the fiscal house in order, come to grips with the fact that promises have been made that, frankly, are not going to be kept for many. [...] The math doesn’t lie.
Republicans have been saying for months that they want to preserve programs like Medicare and Social Security for all people over the age of 55, but that those under 55 will have to shift into a different program. But Cantor’s pronouncement is maybe the most explicit explanation that, under the GOP’s vision, the government would be actively reneging on promises made to those who haven’t yet hit the arbitrary age of 55.
Of course, the math would look much better, particularly on Social Security, if the GOP were to back off its insistence that the government not collect a single dime in new revenue. Meanwhile, Jacob Hacker, political science professor at Yale University, has called the GOP’s scheme to raise the Medicare retirement age “the single worst idea for Medicare reform” since it “saves Medicare money only by shifting the cost burden onto older Americans caught between the old eligibility age and the new, as well as onto the employers and states that help fund their benefits.”
-------------------- Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise. Posts: 3827 | From: beautiful California | Registered: Sep 2008
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we have a cumulative trade deficit equal to the govt debt SF. Thats where the real problem is. The one nobody wants to look at or acknowledge
and yes higher taxes will in fact solve this WHOLE problem if we do it properly.
we got out of the Great Depression with a war and higher taxes, we can get out of this the same way.
it doens't appear to me that the Dems have any more intention of doing it properly than the GOP does tho...
DOW down how much today 512 points? that's not a coincidence it is Boehners fault for not putting his own party in line, now nobody trusts the US Govt anymore for anything...
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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-------------------- Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise. Posts: 3827 | From: beautiful California | Registered: Sep 2008
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quote:Originally posted by glassman: we have a cumulative trade deficit equal to the govt debt SF. Thats where the real problem is. The one nobody wants to look at or acknowledge
and yes higher taxes will in fact solve this WHOLE problem if we do it properly.
we got out of the Great Depression with a war and higher taxes, we can get out of this the same way.
it doens't appear to me that the Dems have any more intention of doing it properly than the GOP does tho...
DOW down how much today 512 points? that's not a coincidence it is Boehners fault for not putting his own party in line, now nobody trusts the US Govt anymore for anything...
Yeah, that was back when a war could actually boost our economy though but it's just not the case today. There's just no need for recycling tires, aluminum foil and paper drives to support the war effort this time around. The modern day war machine is supported by a small segment of our society, short of a full blown world war that's waged in an old school manner of course.
The only real answer on the horizon is to attack it on both fronts, higher taxes and cutting the uncutable programs. We're in a catch 22 like we've never been in before. Our economy is pretty much unstimulasable (I think I just made up a new word there), so with business being stagnant the tax base isn't growing much more than a 20 year old midget is. The cost of our entitlement programs are growing every day though. How do you fix it? Do you wait for business to "turn"? I hate to say it but that might not happen this time around, we might be in modern day boom times for all we know.
Blame it on the Republicans or the Democrats, pick your flavor, but you'll be wrong, you can't pin it on a single party. The day of reckoning has been coming for a long, long time and both sides are at fault. What sucks is that it looks like that reckoning day is here and we're woefully unprepared for it.
Posts: 5729 | From: Wisconsin | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
CBO Affirms Social Security Trust Fund Solvent Through 2038 [Update] | A report released today by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reveals that the Social Security trust fund is actually in better shape than previously thought. CBO now projects the trust fund won’t run out until 2038, a slight improvement over previous estimates and a reassuring reminder of the fund’s solvency for the next several decades. In the ongoing battle over deficit reduction, Republicans have insisted on deep cuts to Social Security, even though the program doesn’t contribute to the deficit.
Update
Earlier we inadvertantly linked to an October 2010 report. Today, CBO released numbers affirming the Social Security trust fund’s solvency through 2038.
-------------------- Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise. Posts: 3827 | From: beautiful California | Registered: Sep 2008
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the problem has never been that SS doesn't take in enough money, the problem is that the Govt borrows that money on daily basis for general operating expenses...
The total or gross national debt is the sum of the "debt held by the public" and "intragovernmental" debt. As of February 2011, the "debt held by the public" was $9.6 trillion and the "intragovernmental debt" was $4.6 trillion, for a total of $14.2 trillion.
the "intragovernmental debt" is what has been borrowed from the Social security trust fund and it goes up just as fat as the "debt held by the public" which is basically treasury notes...
i cannot stress how important it is to watch the cost of Treasury Notes on daily basis-esp ths past week. while the stcoks are tankng? TBills are going DOWN - Tbills are a reverse auction, the more people that bid FOR them the lower they yeild (go down) they have been goingdown...
that literally means that he traders adn investors of the wolrd actaully WANT the US Govt to borrow MORE MONEY! i know that sound crazy but thats exactly what has been happening...
belevie me i am not for US borrowing more money, i am actaully with the TParty in that one single point, the problem is they offer to throw a grenade in the room instead of "winding down the trade"
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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oh, and one more thing that TParty always ignores when they say yhat the "working class" doesn't pay their "fair share" of taxes? the money the Govt "borrows" from Social Security every day does come from the working class. so, when you decide to cut the benefits and maintain the revenues from SS you are in fact raising taxes based on income form the middle class
this why the disparity exists between the %age of taxes paid by Warren Buffet and his secretary
don't let the GOP fool ya, they are attempting to raise taxes on the middle class with these "cuts"
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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quote:the problem has never been that SS doesn't take in enough money, the problem is that the Govt borrows that money on daily basis for general operating expenses...
I'm glad someone here sees the difference in SS solvency and where it's money is 'invested'. It doesn't matter how much of the Treasury Bonds SS 'owns', if the Feds can't afford to pay them when they come due...it's just paper.
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