# Five Ways Congress Can Weaken Social Security with a Republican President



## SeaBreeze (Sep 29, 2016)

Full story here. 




> *Social Security* is perhaps the most treasured federal government benefit, *valued by Democratic and Republican voters alike*. But, Republicans in Congress are out of touch with their constituents, both their desires and their needs.
> 
> Republican leaders want to transform Social Security in ways that would both cut benefits and put benefits at risk. Here are five ways Republican leaders would weaken Social Security benefits if they could and voters’* reactions.
> 
> ...


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## OneEyedDiva (Nov 30, 2016)

Scary! The new administration will be full of millionaires billionaires who do not have a clue about what regular Americans need. And I doubt they care.


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## Knight (Nov 30, 2016)

SeaBreeze said:


> Full story here.


Sure sounds scary when and how are those going to be implemented?


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## Carla (Nov 30, 2016)

This should come as no surprise. More to follow.


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## Grumpy Ol' Man (Dec 1, 2016)

EVERY government program is going to be scrutinized with the single question... "If this program were privatized, how could it create more millionaire/billionaire CEO's and executives."  We have paid into Social Security for decades.  Now, those benefits are going to be "stolen" from us and handed to the "FOT Consortium".  (Friends of Trump).  Medicare the same way.  Seniors will be handed/mailed a voucher for our Part A that is provided at no cost.  Then, we will be told to contact local insurance agencies an buy the plan we want... or can afford.  Many will no longer be able to afford adequate insurance due to pre-existing conditions, age, etc.  They don't care.  Insurance companies will reap the rewards and seniors will die in the streets.  Emergency rooms will be packed.  But, the CEO's will peer at us from their mansions and corporate offices with smiles on their faces.


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## Butterfly (Dec 2, 2016)

OneEyedDiva said:


> Scary! The new administration will be full of millionaires billionaires who do not have a clue about what regular Americans need. And I doubt they care.



I am no fan of Trump, but would point out that the present administration wasn't exactly full of poor folks, and the Clintons are not exactly in the soup line, either.  Congress, in general, is full of millionaires who have no clue what regular Americans need and has been for years.  When's the last time that Nancy Pelosi has been in Wal-Mart looking for food bargains, or Hillary Clinton, either?


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## Butterfly (Dec 2, 2016)

Knight said:


> Sure sounds scary when and how are those going to be implemented?



They'd first have to get through Congress, which is certainly NO guarantee.  Remember,  Repubs in Congress do not have a filibuster-proof majority, and I doubt all the Repubs in Congress would support gutting Social Security, anyway -- at least not if they want to keep their seats next election ( and most of them sure don't want to give up that golden goose.)


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## Butterfly (Dec 2, 2016)

Grumpy Ol' Man said:


> EVERY government program is going to be scrutinized with the single question... "If this program were privatized, how could it create more millionaire/billionaire CEO's and executives."  We have paid into Social Security for decades.  Now, those benefits are going to be "stolen" from us and handed to the "FOT Consortium".  (Friends of Trump).  Medicare the same way.  Seniors will be handed/mailed a voucher for our Part A that is provided at no cost.  Then, we will be told to contact local insurance agencies an buy the plan we want... or can afford.  Many will no longer be able to afford adequate insurance due to pre-existing conditions, age, etc.  They don't care.  Insurance companies will reap the rewards and seniors will die in the streets.  Emergency rooms will be packed.  But, the CEO's will peer at us from their mansions and corporate offices with smiles on their faces.



Before we get into full sky-is-falling mode, let's wait a bit and see.  Trump is not yet in office and his cabinet has not been approved by Congress yet.  If Trump DOES try to cut benefits, I'd bet he'll be a one-term president. The one thing we all CAN and SHOULD do is to write our congressmen and let them know our feelings about Social Security and how they will lose our votes in the next election if benefits are cut.  Just wringing our hands and panicking doesn't help anything.


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## BlondieBoomer (Dec 2, 2016)

Grumpy Ol' Man said:


> EVERY government program is going to be scrutinized with the single question... "If this program were privatized, how could it create more millionaire/billionaire CEO's and executives."  We have paid into Social Security for decades.  Now, those benefits are going to be "stolen" from us and handed to the "FOT Consortium".  (Friends of Trump).  Medicare the same way.  Seniors will be handed/mailed a voucher for our Part A that is provided at no cost.  Then, we will be told to contact local insurance agencies an buy the plan we want... or can afford.  Many will no longer be able to afford adequate insurance due to pre-existing conditions, age, etc.  They don't care.  Insurance companies will reap the rewards and seniors will die in the streets.  Emergency rooms will be packed.  But, the CEO's will peer at us from their mansions and corporate offices with smiles on their faces.



Sadly, I agree. He may end up being a 1 term president, but by then the damage will be done.


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## dpwspringer (Dec 2, 2016)

It's hard to tell how things might play out. I have always felt that the greatest danger to Social Security is factories and jobs moving overseas. Obviously that limits the money flowing in via taxes for virtually everything we need in this country, whether it is SS or intra-structure improvements, etc. Maybe some fresh ideas might get things headed in a better direction. I think that's a big part of what got him elected, folks wanting to see something that might reverse some of these things, including getting a better handle on immigration. 





BlondieBoomer said:


> Sadly, I agree. He may end up being a 1 term president, but by then the damage will be done.


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## Victor Meldrew (Dec 2, 2016)

Social Security is not referred to as "the third rail of American politics" for nothing. Politicians know the conventional wisdom is "touch it and you die".

Senior citizens are the largest and fastest growing segment of society and unlike our work and entertainment obsessed young counterparts who are too caught up in their occupational and social lives to be bothered with such things, we have lots of time on our hands to pay attention to these issues and... WE VOTE!!!

Politicians know that if they cross the line on SS, we will end their political careers in the next upcoming election.

Right-wingers talk a lot about cutting SS in order to make their followers feel good, but I don't think they have any real plans to.

BTW, for those who haven't heard, Sunday night's episode of 60 Minutes on CBS, will feature an interview by Scott Pelley with Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, and the plan for SS is going to be one of the subjects covered.

I'll be watching that's for sure.


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## NancyNGA (Dec 2, 2016)

Victor Meldrew said:


> Senior citizens are the largest and fastest growing segment of society and unlike our work and entertainment obsessed young counterparts who are too caught up in their occupational and social lives to be bothered with such things, *we have lots of time on our hands to pay attention to these issues* and... WE VOTE!!!



Maybe they're not paying close enough attention? 

Exit Polls from CNN 2016 (Blue=Clinton, Red=Trump)


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## Phoenix (Dec 2, 2016)

I think it's time for everyone to head for the hills.  The government has been raiding the money we paid into Social Security to pay for everything else.  So, they've stolen from us, and now they want to take the rest of it away.  I think the President and as well as those in congress should not get any money whatsoever for serving and should have to pay for their own protection.  Then we'd be fixed up.  Oh, and their mouths should be covered with duct tape.  And they should have to live in cardboard boxes on the street. They are not better than the rest of us.


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## Aunt Bea (Dec 3, 2016)

IMO it's too early to get worried about the future of SS and Medicare.  Politicians always start out with proposals that would gut any system and then bargain down to a more realistic position that puts them about where they expected to be right from the start.  It gives both sides a chance to bluster and blow about how hard they fought to protect the American people.  

I love this quote attributed to Peter Fisher - "The United States is an Insurance company with an Army."  IMO the government should not be in the business of SS or Medicare, people should be expected to provide for themselves and their families.  The problem is that now we are in too deep and a solution/compromise must be found.  In any compromise a group is harmed and a group is helped.  We all want to land in the group being helped and that is just not realistic.  I think a private system that slowly weans the country away from both programs over three or four decades needs to be found.  It seems to me that a private insurance program could be started that allowed young workers to "bank" a portion of insurance premiums during the early healthy years that would carry them through retirement years, sort of a whole health insurance policy.  I also believe that SS could be replaced for most young workers by expanding the 401K/IRA programs.  Instead of workers and employers paying into SS they could direct those funds to portable investment accounts or annuities that young workers could take from job to job.  Finally just the let old geezers run out the clock on the old system that they have paid into during their working years.  A government voucher system could be one of the tools used to make that transition to a private system.  I think we need to listen to the various proposals, pick two or three and allow the country to vote on the solution.  These two items are too important to every American to leave in the hands of politicians and special interest groups.  So anyway, that's what yer old Aunt Bea thinks!!!


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## Phoenix (Dec 3, 2016)

I was once proud to be an American.  But now I realize corruption runs too deep.  The people who pay the bills, us, will always be left without true representation, and as the corporations grow stronger and have to pay fewer and fewer taxes, we will be in worse and worse shape.


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## tnthomas (Dec 3, 2016)

Victor Meldrew said:


> Social Security is not referred to as "the third rail of American politics" for nothing. Politicians know the conventional wisdom is "touch it and you die".
> 
> Senior citizens are the largest and fastest growing segment of society and unlike our work and entertainment obsessed young counterparts who are too caught up in their occupational and social lives to be bothered with such things, we have lots of time on our hands to pay attention to these issues and... WE VOTE!!!
> 
> ...




Victor, I hope that you are right, I'm seeing Trump as having a serious mission to dismantle any and everything in our society that could possibly benefit the middle class/working class population.


The strategy:  

1. send their children to die/become maimed+disabled in frivolous foreign wars.
2. put the financial "squeeze" on the mainstream citizenry by reducing retirements, eliminate healthcare, unemployment aid, cut spending for education, etc.

The U.S. will be like China soon, low paid economic slaves too busy with problems of daily living to raise up against the oppressive, privileged military regime.


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## garyt1957 (Dec 11, 2016)

Butterfly said:


> I am no fan of Trump, but would point out that the present administration wasn't exactly full of poor folks, and the Clintons are not exactly in the soup line, either.  Congress, in general, is full of millionaires who have no clue what regular Americans need and has been for years.  When's the last time that Nancy Pelosi has been in Wal-Mart looking for food bargains, or Hillary Clinton, either?



Exactly. As if this is something new.


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## BlondieBoomer (Dec 17, 2016)

If Republican Congressman Samuel Johnson, Chairman of the House Social Security Subcommittee, has his way, many American workers will end up with far lower Social Security benefits when they retire. On the other hand, some low earners will end up with more. Johnson's bill, introduced on December 8th, produces these changes by radically modifying the way Social Security calculates benefits....

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kotliko...urity-benefits-republican-style/#717ba963e529


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