Houston, We Have A Problem....

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You Have Got to Be Kidding!

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What a mess. When he was asked about cuts he would recommend to the President and Congress, Alan Simpson said “We are going to stick to the big three,” meaning Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

Alan Simpson starts from the premise that the Treasury will default on the bonds issued to the Social Security trust fund, because all the best people apparently know that it’s better to default on America’s senior citizens and plunge them into poverty than it is to default on, say, the Chinese.

Despite Simpson’s assertions, raising the retirement age to 70 IS a benefit cut. It would put an estimated 1.5 million senior citizens into poverty. After two years of watching billions of dollars in taxpayer money being paid out to Wall Street CEOs in lavish bonuses, that takes a fat load of nerve.

You know, my gentle snowflakes, raising eligibility age for Social Security is just wrong on so many levels: 70 for a Congress person may not be old, but it is really old to a miner, a crude oil driller, a ditch digger, a waitress/waiter, a farm worker, a carpenter, a fisherman, a mason, etc., etc., etc. If you don't get this, I can not even begin to explain it. I have tried. Lord knows, I have tried.

[As] more and more old people began to receive SS benefits, the quality of life of the older population increased dramatically. Their lives regained some dignity. The poor farm closed.

As far as I am concerned, "good" fixes for Social Security include (there may be others):

• means testing (if you have enough other taxable income to render your SS benefits taxable, reduce or eliminate your SS benefits)
• raise the limit from which Social Security is withheld; still limit the top benefit received
• income taxes paid on benefits of high income individuals should be returned to Social Security fund
• increase the % of benefits subject to income tax to those with high incomes.

Let's keep the poor farm closed.

As for our esteemed Congress Critters:

The Congress, with it's relative geezerdom, isn't a particularly fair reflection of life in the real world, where few 70 year-olds have multiple staff people to get them through their days. That's true now, and it will be true for the now middle-aged people who will be facing a longer working life if these guys get their way.

Here's something our Members of Congress should be occupying their noggins with: the middle-aged and older are the largest group of the long-term unemployed. A little job creation could potentially go a long way here. Maybe if they actually were working, and contributing into the system by paying both income and Social Security taxes, our economic picture would be a little less bleak. Telling these people now--who want to be working--that they'll have an extra 15 years to be stigmatized by being unemployed is just cruel.

Official "Retirement Age" has been advanced enough. No more.
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Bring Back John Edwards

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Now, before you think the Old Feminist is for marital infidelity, let me reassure you, I am not.

What I miss about John Edwards was his unflinching support for the working class, for those yearning for the middle class, for the working poor, for those in poverty. You recall, the "Other America?"

He may be rich now, but, apparently, he REMEMBERS.

Poverty is an accident of birth that can destroy all in its path. No child deserves to be poor. No child deserves to be malnourished. No child deserves an inferior education. No child deserves to be denied opportunity.

• If you are poor, you pay more for things those firmly ensconced within the middle class take for granted. "The poor pay more for a gallon of milk; they pay more on a capital basis for inferior housing," says Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.). "The poor and 100 million who are struggling ... actually end up paying more for transportation, for housing, for health care, for mortgages. They get steered to subprime lending..." (The High Cost of Poverty)
• The rich have direct deposit for their paychecks. The poor have check-cashing and payday loan joints, which cost time and money. Payday advance companies say they are providing an essential service to people who most need them. Their critics say they are preying on people who are the most "economically vulnerable." (The High Cost of Poverty)
• "There is evidence that credit-card mills have recently started trolling for the poor. They are targeting the recently bankrupt." (Blumenauer) (The High Cost of Poverty)

Poverty is real. It's relentless. It's cruel.

In the fight to end poverty, there's a gaping hole in the system. Edwards had concrete plans for plugging that hole, getting low-income kids to college, expanding access to bank accounts (28 million Americans don't have one), and raising the minimum wage.

Carlos Watson says, "... Obama need[s] people to push him to ensure that everyday people -- the "Other America" that Edwards referred to so often on the [campaign] trail -- get a fresh start ahead of Wall Street bondholders. ... Leveling the playing field will yield a more just America, and a more economically and socially dynamic America, as well. "

During the course of the presidential campaign, there were signs and bumper stickers supporting Mr. Obama which read, "Imagine Hope." For the poor, imagining hope is another luxury they can't afford.
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