Hillary said she is committed to preserving the SS trust fund Not preserving Benefits

[RunInCircles]

The answer given by Secretary Clinton on SS frightens me. Her answer was couched in preserving the SS trust fund and studying all the ways to do that. So cutting benefits, cat food inflation index, raising the retirement age again, means testing, etc. she does not have a clear direct answer and did not give one that she would protect SS benefits for all seniors entitled to benefits and never talked about increasing benefits.

She would not clearly state that she would protect SS benefits. This is a troublesome response.

[lostnfound]

1. With HRC, I expected delayed retirement, need-based tests, at least

Possible in addition to income phase outs that will undermine the program and turn it into a "welfare" proven under attack.

I've been surprised Bernie didn't focus more on this issue months ago. Seeing social security as part of the whole, many of his issues would help it. Increasing the minimum wage would even help it.

In comparison, raising the retirement age would not only force us old people to work longer than we want to, it would also reduce the number of jobs available to young people who do want to work.

The perceived austerity under which we are operating as a country is absurd, and probably a total lie. Increases in productivity could have and should have gone to strengthening the financial health of the entire country, but because of runaway excess greed and lack of regulation and a rigged stock market, the middle-class and lower class has been completely sucked dry.

[tk2kewl]

2. well...

she'll need that [div style="display:inline;text-decoration: line-through;"]trust slush fund to borrow from for the next war

[ebayfool]

3. That! What you said!

If she can't give a straight, definitive, resounding answer on this, then I have absolutely no trust that she will protect SS benefits.

If anything, it's a 'tell' to me that she won't!

[RiverLover]

4. Her entire candidacy is troubling. Nothing she says can be trusted.

From the Hill~

....Later in the debate, she seemed to suggest she was open to lifting the income cap on Social Security contributions.

Clinton skeptics will argue that she left herself plenty of wriggle room — her actual answer on the income cap was:

“That is one way. If that is the way we pursue, I will follow that.”

Still, the mere fact that she feels obligated to make such statements suggests she sees a need to protect her left flank from Sanders.....

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/276417-five-takeaways-from-a-fiery-sanders-clinton-clash-in

Also, just for the fun of it, their picture seems to capture the essence of the debate~




^^^ That cracks me up.

[djean111]

5. Yes, she wants to keep accumulating the fund, but not pay out what it is paying out now.

The fund is like a siren call to her Wall Street Hedge Fund cronies. Of course they want to have the FUND. But, as Nancy Pelosi pretty much said when chained CPI was offered up by Obama, the Third Way way to strengthen the fund is to pay less of it out.

That is what Hillary would do, she would not raise the cap and annoy her corporate owners, who pay half. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised it there is not a way to shift that 50% on to the taxpayers, too.

And - when we lose jobs and outsource jobs and pay people very low wages, of course the Social Security fund and the Medicare Fund suffer. Less going in, less available to pay out. Deliberate.

[passiveporcupine]

10. This should be a Bernie talking point

And - when we lose jobs and outsource jobs and pay people very low wages, of course the Social Security fund and the Medicare Fund suffer. Less going in, less available to pay out. Deliberate.

[tokenlib]

6. Well, she is Third Way...

And I still maintain on Social Security the truth of where she stands is to be found on the Third Way website and not amongst the outright lies and half-truths on her "issues" page on her website.

[Broward]

7. She refuses to give a definitive, straight answer.

As with Obama, she can't be trusted on preserving, let alone expanding, benefits.

[passiveporcupine]

11. Prevaricator in Chief

That's Hillary and her lawyer speech. She's been trained well.

[MisterP]

8. ... selling it to BlackRock

https://theintercept.com/2016/03/02/larry-fink-and-his-blackrock-team-poised-to-take-over-hillary-clintons-treasury-department/

[EndElectoral]

9. Why is she so resistant to the cap raise?

[BernieforPres2016]

12. She also refused to commit to Bernie's proposal of lifting the cap on income

that is subject to Social Security tax. The current limit is $118,000 and beyond that there is no Social Security. Bernie proposes having the tax start again at income of $250,000 and up. It would extend the life of Social Security from 19 years to 58 years while providing the ability to boost Social Security payments to the lowest income people. Hillary tried to suggest she was for that without really saying it, but when Bernie tried to pin her down twice with "is that a yes?" she was evasive, saying that was one of the ideas that she could support if that's what people settled on. So in other words, no, it is not something she would push for.

[SoLeftIAmRight]

13. Calling all Hillary supporters ...

she will _____ us all

[Scuba]

14. She's also very much in favor of health "coverage". Health care? Not so much.

[CharlotteVale]

15. She'd do whatever Wall Street wants her to do.