Reply #62: You are absolutely correct

[Samantha]

It is very interesting watching the debate unfold. Social Security is not one of the biggest drivers of the deficit. The biggest driver is the loss of revenue from the Bush* tax cuts. The second biggest driver is the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The third biggest driver is the economy itself. The fourth driver is "all else" including but not limited to the cost of medicare, medicaid and unemployment.

Social Security itself has 2.5 trillion in surplus invested in the U.S. Treasury Notes. This surplus was accumulated as a result of the early 80s reform. Everyone knew when the baby boomers started to retire, it would put a huge strain on the system. To offset that, deductibles from participants rose as well as the retirement age. Now that the day is here when that surplus is needed (and has been accumulated) to weather the storm, what do some politicians want to do? They want to convince us the system is broken, and some would even go so far as to "default" on what is due those very same people who have saved extra funds just for this day. Why? Because they have spent that money on wars and other things and if the debt is in fact redeemed, the U.S. Government must find substitute buyers for those notes, which is not easy to do in this economy. It is just easier to tell the Country the system is broken and speak of shared sacrifice. Republicans themselves are seeing an opportunity to do exactly what they have wanted to do since Social Security and Medicare were put in place -- privatize it for the benefit of private corporations and to the detriment of its own citizens. Simply repealing the Bush* tax cuts, stimulating the job market and increasing the revenues flowing into the treasury, combined with other maneuvers such as getting out of Iraq and Afghanistan (the second driver of the deficit), putting competition into the health care market (for instance, reconsidering a public option) would help tremendously. Oh, yes, and repeal those subsidies for Big Oil.

It is grossly unfair (and that is an understatement) to expect the middle class as well as the impoverished to "share the sacrifice" while the big banks and Wall Street, both of which edged this economy into this extremely deep recession, are experiencing huge profits and taking home outrageously large bonuses and making zero sacrifice. Teachers, firemen, state workers and many others of us with depleted retirement funds are looking at working until we die while many, many others have lost their homes or live in fear that lies ahead. The only monies left to take are those in Social Security and the benefits of Medicare and Medicaid. Now they are coming after that.

As I wrote in a separate thread not to long ago, the Economic Hit Men are now among US.

Sam