Here Here! (Reply #4) - Democratic Underground

In the discussion thread: Repeat after me - benefit. Ben-e-fit. Benefit. Social Security is a BENEFIT. [View all]

Tue Nov 13, 2012, 12:31 AM

4. Here Here!

We should be diligent in changing the language. I don't dislike entitlement but the way the word is used it is made to sound like we laid around all our lives and are 'entitled' to Social Security and Medicare. Except I've been paying into it since I had a job in high school (in the 60's)....................

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145 replies	Author	Time	Post
Repeat after me - benefit. Ben-e-fit. Benefit. Social Security is a BENEFIT. [View all]	jillan	Nov 2012	OP
Seriously!	JaneyVee	Nov 2012	#1
PAID BENEFIT, DAMMIT	brush	Nov 2012	#30
The only problem is	customerserviceguy	Nov 2012	#82
that's solvable JUST raise the cap on taxable income...	ReallyIAmAnOptimist	Nov 2012	#83
That's exactly right. Capital gains too. eom	Blanks	Nov 2012	#85
Yeah, yeah	brush	Nov 2012	#84
You should really stop listening to Republicans about debt	jeff47	Nov 2012	#109
Bernie Sanders	customerserviceguy	Nov 2012	#114
So you claim it's impossible to get back to the economy of 1999 or 2000?	jeff47	Nov 2012	#115
I think it's highly unlikely	customerserviceguy	Nov 2012	#126
You're either a boomer with the largest ego I've ever seen, or you're a really poorly informed	jeff47	Nov 2012	#127
Why do my statements about the sheer volume of the numbers sound egotistical?	customerserviceguy	Nov 2012	#143
I saw a documentary that said just that, guy. The baby boomers caused an economy boon.	Honeycombe8	Nov 2012	#128
Thanks	customerserviceguy	Nov 2012	#140
It doesn't take immigration to save SS.	Honeycombe8	Nov 2012	#141
Your analysis is correct	customerserviceguy	Nov 2012	#144
You're wrong. People who have been working over the past several	sabrina 1	Nov 2012	#133
Good to hear from you again, it's been awhile	customerserviceguy	Nov 2012	#145
so you think you are entitled to those benefits?	hfojvt	Nov 2012	#131
Not sure what you mean?	brush	Nov 2012	#134
seems to me that if someboyd is entitled to something	hfojvt	Nov 2012	#135
Entitlement v paid benefit	brush	Nov 2012	#136
a paid benefit sounds like it has already been paid	hfojvt	Nov 2012	#137
Entitled is in the 1935 SS law 9 times	FogerRox	Nov 2012	#103
Actually there is nothing wrong with the word entitlement just means	Live and Learn	Nov 2012	#2
Except when the GOP wants the President to cut "entitlement" spending before they will agree to	jillan	Nov 2012	#3
So you really do hate the word	Angry Dragon	Nov 2012	#9
Not sure how you got that out of what I said. No, I don't	Live and Learn	Nov 2012	#12
I misread your last sentence	Angry Dragon	Nov 2012	#19
Unfortunately or otherwise ... you are right, we need to change the word.....	meti57b	Nov 2012	#80
How about "refund" or "distribution" or "dividend"	Delmette	Nov 2012	#100
I think they are more open to interpertation than 'insurance'	Angry Dragon	Nov 2012	#101
What is the title of SS?	FogerRox	Nov 2012	#107
"Insurance" usually implies that you'll only get paid	Art_from_Ark	Nov 2012	#130
to repukes, entitlement means "FREE STUFF"	Skittles	Nov 2012	#25
Unless they are the ones getting it.	Live and Learn	Nov 2012	#27
CORRECT	Skittles	Nov 2012	#31
Just what I was about to say. The Rs need to get a freakin' dictionary. But, face it,	Dark n Stormy Knight	Nov 2012	#37
I think you hit the nail on the head when you added "evil" to "genius"	Live and Learn	Nov 2012	#39
But I only consider him evil because what he sells is evil, but not the way he sells it.	Dark n Stormy Knight	Nov 2012	#43
Not sure I need to read that since I already know that.	Live and Learn	Nov 2012	#46
Maybe not, but it's not a progressive book. It is a marketing book based on the idea of the power of	Dark n Stormy Knight	Nov 2012	#54
I'll look in to it based on your recommendation. nt	Live and Learn	Nov 2012	#59
Agreed	Sherman A1	Nov 2012	#58
I agree and I'm sick of the left running away from the word.	PeaceNikki	Nov 2012	#139
Here Here!	Dyedinthewoolliberal	Nov 2012	#4
I agree we need to re-brand, but only because that word has been demonized. If you paid for a pair	Dark n Stormy Knight	Nov 2012	#44
It is an INSURANCE POLICY	Angry Dragon	Nov 2012	#5
Too many syllables for the right wing.	jillan	Nov 2012	#7
Exactly! Not sure what it says now because I am on a state retirement program in Colorado, but when	world wide wally	Nov 2012	#41
Fuck "austerity"! No socialization of government debt! Don't pay for Bush's wars and the bailouts!	Fire Walk With Me	Nov 2012	#6
we paid for it in good faith & we're entitled to it. i don't see how saying 'benefit' makes	HiPointDem	Nov 2012	#8
+1 nt	Live and Learn	Nov 2012	#13
I never miss a chance to tell people that SS has close to $3 trillion in bonds, and...	reformist2	Nov 2012	#10
Intragovernmental debt is not the same as external debt. n/t	PoliticAverse	Nov 2012	#34
both are public debt.	HiPointDem	Nov 2012	#52
I would even better if we admitted it is a WELFARE benefit and got rid of the "insurance" meme	Maplegrass	Nov 2012	#11
Nothing wrong with the word welfare.	Live and Learn	Nov 2012	#15
Absolutely right.	Maplegrass	Nov 2012	#18
You really do have a point. We all do pay (by way of taxes)	Live and Learn	Nov 2012	#29
no, we don't all pay for welfare. welfare, food stamps etc. are paid through the income tax,	HiPointDem	Nov 2012	#51
Willing to bet there are relatively few that don't pay income tax ever in their lifetime. nt	Live and Learn	Nov 2012	#53
paying it 'ever in their lifetime' isn't paying for it. and yeah, there's a significant fraction of	HiPointDem	Nov 2012	#57
Maybe, your problem is really with thinking people are leeches just because they	Live and Learn	Nov 2012	#60
it ain't me throwing the poor under the bus, it's our own ruling class. No, my problem is with	HiPointDem	Nov 2012	#63
Seems to me you are throwing them under the bus to protect	Live and Learn	Nov 2012	#66
seems to me you are very confused. there is no fucking social contract, seems you don't get it.	HiPointDem	Nov 2012	#69
Nope, I am suggesting that you stick up for not only what yourself but those	Live and Learn	Nov 2012	#70
there is no worker 'less fortunate than me' where social security is concerned. the social contract	HiPointDem	Nov 2012	#72
Wow, really? You imagine yourself to be the least fortunate person in existence?	Live and Learn	Nov 2012	#75
no, i mean all workers are on an equal footing where SS is concerned. you pay into the system	HiPointDem	Nov 2012	#76
Absolutely right	democrattotheend	Nov 2012	#105
I confess the first 2 years of my son's life	truedelphi	Nov 2012	#93
Social Security is not a welfare program	democrattotheend	Nov 2012	#104
Your comment is excellent.	FogerRox	Nov 2012	#122
I think the Rs have redacted that.	Dark n Stormy Knight	Nov 2012	#45
I think they would love to except that it also pertains to the military	Live and Learn	Nov 2012	#47
According the them. Their attempts to narrowly define the General Welfare Clause as constrained by	Dark n Stormy Knight	Nov 2012	#50
absolute hogwash. it's not a welfare benefit and it's survived 75 years intact because it's not.	HiPointDem	Nov 2012	#17
Yeah, because Clinton threw it under the bus due to right-wing pressure.	Maplegrass	Nov 2012	#22
and he was able to do so because the recipients hadn't paid for it, so no one cared.	HiPointDem	Nov 2012	#23
How do you know they never paid for it? "Welfare" is a safety net program.	Live and Learn	Nov 2012	#56
Welfare is funded through income taxes. Most workers pay little if any income tax: top 10% of	HiPointDem	Nov 2012	#61
Give me a friggen break. I pay quite a bit in income tax and I	Live and Learn	Nov 2012	#65
maybe you do. most people don't. i expect to collect on my social security payments, that's	HiPointDem	Nov 2012	#67
Most of us will be at their mercy no matter what if we don't come together	Live and Learn	Nov 2012	#68
no, you didn't pay in as a child making minimum wage. jesus christ. you got a full refund.	HiPointDem	Nov 2012	#71
Nope, I paid income tax and payroll taxes as a part time worker.	Live and Learn	Nov 2012	#73
you paid payroll taxes, including social security tax, and didn't get them back. no one gets them	HiPointDem	Nov 2012	#74
This message was self-deleted by its author	Live and Learn	Nov 2012	#77
why will you 'never be eligble to recieve a penny from it or medicare'...?	BlueMan Votes	Nov 2012	#89
Means-testing is the first step to eliminating it.	jeff47	Nov 2012	#110
Ladies and Gentlemen, Jeff47 has made the most cogent comment in this thread. This is an example	FogerRox	Nov 2012	#117
No, it's an investment we all make. nt	DCKit	Nov 2012	#14
Why not use the word investment for it?	democrattotheend	Nov 2012	#106
Sorry, but I think of it as the opposite	TorchTheWitch	Nov 2012	#16
Did you know the word entitled is in the 1935 SS law 9 times?	FogerRox	Nov 2012	#120
doesn't surprise me	TorchTheWitch	Nov 2012	#124
Or... I Am ENTITLED To The Investment I Made Into The Social Security Program	WillyT	Nov 2012	#20
If not, why is Romney entitled to his investment returns? nt	Live and Learn	Nov 2012	#40
It's both	Major Nikon	Nov 2012	#21
NO CUTS to Social Security INSURANCE and Medicare and Medicaid. Until AFTER	Overseas	Nov 2012	#24
Also capital gains tax rates need to be fixed,	daleanime	Nov 2012	#35
Schumer was on tv saying CuTTING SS was "OFF THE TABLE' Harry Reid, THIS WEEK..	Cha	Nov 2012	#26
Damn Skippy!	Scruffy Rumbler	Nov 2012	#28
It's an entitlement	Canuckistanian	Nov 2012	#32
Unfortunately the pigs did to the word entitlement the same thing they did to liberal. And for that	jillan	Nov 2012	#86
Go Jillan	sheshe2	Nov 2012	#33
But that's only if you accept their demonizing of the word. Something IS an entitlement because we	Dark n Stormy Knight	Nov 2012	#49
Dems can on occasion be wrong too. nt	Live and Learn	Nov 2012	#62
No, really?	Dark n Stormy Knight	Nov 2012	#96
Actually, you got it wrong.	Spitfire of ATJ	Nov 2012	#36
Kicked	SoapBox	Nov 2012	#38
The semantics don't matter so long as people understand how the program works.	harmonicon	Nov 2012	#42
I think you're dead wrong about that. There really are such things as magic words.	Dark n Stormy Knight	Nov 2012	#48
I get that that works, but I'm against doing it.	harmonicon	Nov 2012	#92
I'd be against it if I thought the education thing would work. Too many people just don't want a	Dark n Stormy Knight	Nov 2012	#97
Honestly, yes, I would rather lose than sacrifice my principles. (nt)	harmonicon	Nov 2012	#98
paying for others is how you pay for yourself, and a significant percent of retirees continue to	HiPointDem	Nov 2012	#55
Social Security is a retirement plan	Fearless	Nov 2012	#64
"ben-e-fit"... kick n rec! nt	stlsaxman	Nov 2012	#78
Did you know the word entitled is in the 1935 SS law 9 times?	FogerRox	Nov 2012	#121
Yes- i would suppose it is. because we are "entitled" to the benefits.	stlsaxman	Nov 2012	#138
I'm entitled to my social security and Medicare benefits.	Warren Stupidity	Nov 2012	#79
EARNED benefit.	unblock	Nov 2012	#81
It's a benefit that we are entitled to.	Ganja Ninja	Nov 2012	#87
Isn't Entitlement in the name of the law when it was first passed back in the 30s?	sammytko	Nov 2012	#88
Entitled is in the 1935 law 9 times	FogerRox	Nov 2012	#118
It is an "Earned Entitlement". I bought it, I paid for it, I dam sure am entitled to it.	1-Old-Man	Nov 2012	#90
Rich people are entitled	libodem	Nov 2012	#91
i think you might want to look up what entitlement means...	dionysus	Nov 2012	#94
You infer the author has a lack of understanding when it comes to the definition of the word	FogerRox	Nov 2012	#119
To which you are ENTITLED.	Sekhmets Daughter	Nov 2012	#95
Here here!	hrmjustin	Nov 2012	#99
SO the fact that entitled is in the 1935 law 9 times doersnt stop you from not thinking?	FogerRox	Nov 2012	#102
How about calling it an investment?	democrattotheend	Nov 2012	#108
How about if democrats loudly make the case that it is a workers' entitlement, because workers	HiPointDem	Nov 2012	#111
Except it's not an investment.	Recursion	Nov 2012	#113
I'm in my late 20's and not holding my breath on that	democrattotheend	Nov 2012	#123
Actually if you're in you're 20s, it will be in great shape for you	Recursion	Nov 2012	#125
I think you have misunderstood what "entitlement" means	Recursion	Nov 2012	#112
Such logic and clarity, and a souind legal foundation too.	FogerRox	Nov 2012	#116
Didn't Lawrence O'Donnell just call it Socialism?	AntiFascist	Nov 2012	#129
Wait, I pay for it????? Everytime a childfree conversation comes up on DU I'm told	RB TexLa	Nov 2012	#132
i don't collect entitlements with you. n/t	dionysus	Nov 2012	#142

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