First Salvo In SS Fight: OweNo, A $20 Million Campaign Launched With Bayh, Conrad As Allies

[laughingliberal]

WASHINGTON -- In what may be the first major move of the forthcoming Social Security debate, the Peterson Foundation launched on Tuesday a $20 million TV ad campaign to promote the need for a major discussion on debt and deficit reduction.

Titled "OweNo," the campaign, which promotes a mock presidential candidate irreverently named Hugh Jidette (get it? Huge debt), doesn't take on Social Security reform directly. But the connections are fairly obvious and it has the program's defenders deeply wary about being outgunned. The Peterson Foundation, for one, has never shied away from its push to reform the entitlement program. And in introducing the $20 million effort, the organization's founder, former Nixon commerce secretary and fiscal conservative Pete Peterson made it abundantly clear that Social Security is in his sights.

"Solving our fiscal issues without fundamental entitlement reform is a statistical impossibility," he said. "Entitlement reform must provide benefits for the most vulnerable. But if we wait too long to reform and we confront a crisis, the politics may become brutal and even violent and in such a situation there would be no assurance that the safety net, even for the most vulnerable, might not be seriously frayed."

Perhaps the most frightening part of the unveiling, however, is that Peterson -- long a scourge of progressives for having earned hundreds of millions in the hedge fund business while preaching financial sacrifice for others -- has prominent Democrats backing his latest campaign. Appearing alongside him at the Newsuem on Tuesday morning was outgoing Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) and Budget Committee Chair Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/09/first-salvo-in-social-sec_n_781151.html

Here we go! No waiting to see the 'whole package' from the Cat Food fans.

[yurbud]

1. Bayh is a DLC whore

[laughingliberal]

10. Yes. So is Conrad and he's on the Commission. nt

[Generic Brad]

2. They should save that money for their retirement

$20 million is some serious cash.

[sarcasmo]

3. Social Security the biggest Ponzi Scheme on the planet.

[laughingliberal]

6. Disagree. But it is about to be the site of the largest theft of tax payer dollars in history. nt

[sarcasmo]

8. If you die before you turn 62 you don't receive a $. How is it not a ponzi in that respect?

[laughingliberal]

9. Like any insurance policy

It's more of an insurance plan. If you buy flood insurance and your house doesn't flood, you don't get your premium back If you buy car insurance but don't have an accident, you don't get your premiums back.

SS is an insurance plan designed to insure you against poverty in old age. If you don't make it to old age, you don't get your premium back.

[spanone]

17. wrong

Monthly survivors benefits can be paid to certain family members, including the beneficiary's widow or widower, dependent children and dependent parents.

http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/deathbenefits.htm

[laughingliberal]

21. +1 nt

[hfojvt]

22. I happen to be an unmarried childless loser

Maybe I better check on what my retirement fund pays.

[sarcasmo]

25. Only if they are a dependant child or a widower. If you are single with no dependants the 30 years

Worth of Money that was taken out of my paycheck vanishes to pay for their wars? All I want to do is opt out.

[Hannah Bell]

28. your spouse & children, however, do. people dying before they can collect

on insurance has nothing to do with the definition of ponzi scheme.

a ponzi scheme is an "investment" with nothing real backing it, just the
investors'" money. it has to keep getting more investors or it crashes.

the investment behind social security is US production.

[sarcasmo]

33. They spent so much of the money from SS on their wars. How much is actually left other than what

gets paid in weekly?

[BeFree]

4. Sounds like a threat

It is saying that if we don't give up the rights to OUR money that we put into SS the
"...the politics may become brutal and even violent.."
And they may cut the safety net.

The treasury owes SS Trillions of dollars, and the ledger states that owe as a debt, and since the government owes that debt, it is a part of the deficit.

If they can just eliminate that debt - that 'IOU' to SS, they can equally lower the deficit.

[xchrom]

5. Shrug -- just more neo-liberalism at work.

People will 'enthusiastically' justify this like
They do health insurance reform.

It's all part of a package.

[laughingliberal]

7. Yep. We've seen months of people denying the Democrats will let this happen.

Now that the CFC is about to release their 'package' I'm sure we'll be seeing a shift to people telling us how 'sensible' this is.

[Caretha]

12. In

My humble opinion, they can take their "sensible" and shove it right up their ass. This isn' going to happen without a huge fight.

[shanti]

29. no, it will not

if anything brings the people out, this issue will! i'd like to see them try.

[earth mom]

11. It's ALL GOOD when the dems do this.But if it was Bush & his band of thugs everyone would be furious

In fact, everyone WAS furious when Bush tried to screw with Social Security!

Wake up America! Social Security is NOT BROKEN! The gangster banksters are lying to everyone again!

Fuck the Cat Food Commission and their lying greedy asses! :grr:

[tblue37]

13. Your title threw me for a loop for a minute: "Salvo" was my maiden name. nt

[laughingliberal]

14. Oops! nt

[tblue37]

15. No biggie. We heard a lot of jokes about our name when we

were kids. But it's a good Sicilian family name!

[Dr.Phool]

19. At least it wasn't DiSalvo.

That was the Boston Strangler.

[tblue37]

27. Yep. We heard about that, too, growing up! nt

[Greyhound]

16. Depressing K&R. n/t

[Dr.Phool]

18. Kick and Rec! Start calling Congress now!!!!

Pete Peterson, the Cat Food Commission, And the rest of the DLC have just fired the first shots in the war on US.

Start lighting up their phones, faxes, and e-mail RIGHT NOW!!!!!!


Fuck you Conrad, you fucking DLC DINO. I'll be in the next bunch you have arrested in your hearing room!

[laughingliberal]

20. Conrad is such a snake. He was one of Baucus' gang of six thugs.

He whined incessantly about how the PO would hurt the poor hospitals in ND because their reimbursement rates were so low. He got a deal from Reid to adjust the reimbursement rates and then still opposed a PO.

[Dr.Phool]

24. He's a real piece of shit.

He's one of the main reasons Democrats are losing all respect.

[cornermouse]

23. k & r

[Faryn Balyncd]

26. IOW, If you're "most vulnerable"=> crumbs...But if you've just paid 50 yrs payroll tax =>SCREW YOU!

(K & R)




:kick:

[Individualist]

30. It's not the first time DLC has enabled neocons, and you can bet it won't be the last.

[blindpig]

31. Time for some fightback...

if not now, what are we waiting for?

[Desertrose]

32. K&R Save the catfood for cats!! nt

[Starry Messenger]

34. k&r

[amborin]

35. K&R

[Son Of Wendigo]

36. K&R

This is the worst crap since the 1983 amendments to the Social Security Act, which resulted from a "non-partisan" commission headed by Alan Greenspan.

The 1983 amendments:

Raised the Full Retirement Age from 65 to 67, phased in over about twenty years.

Increased the FICA Tax

Required all Federal employees to pay the Medicare portion of FICA, even if those same employees would not be eligible for Social Security

Eliminated Student benefits paid to children of deceased or disabled wage earners who were going to college. (Four year phase out; 25% per year reduction.)

Eliminated mortuaries from the list of applicants for the Lump Sum Death Payments. Only widow/widowers could now file, so no LSDP was payable when the deceased beneficiary was not married.

Eliminated entitlement for payment in the month the beneficiary died.

Made it essentially impossible for the spouse of an entitled wage earner to collect spouse's benefits, if the spouse was eligible for benefits under a government pension system and did not contribute into Social Security.

Included Social Security as taxable income for most beneficiaries.

There may be more, but that's all I can come up with without looking it up.