social security

The train of threats to Social Security this year keeps on rolling, this time from the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. The “E-Verify” program threatens to undermine the Social Security Administration (SSA) and the millions of Americans who rely on it. more »

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This past Friday night in Washington, a New York Mets pitcher threw the type of pitch President Obama must use in his march to stop any new proposals to cut Social Security if he plans to make it through the game of the deficit talks and his reelection. In the recent past the President and his teams have pitched a slew of failed curveballs that would cut our Social Security. The number 43 Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey helped beat the Nationals 7-3 with his slow velocity, highly unpredictable knuckleball. The 44th President and his multitude of committees have taken an approach to cutting the deficit that replicates a tied baseball game, with no end in sight. Could knuckle balls from a President battling to win the game, save the economy, and win reelection save the tied ball game called the deficit debate? Let’s take a look at the tape.

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As we return to work after Labor Day weekend, it is important to recognize all that Social Security does for American workers. The best way to do that is to make sure workers know the facts about the program.

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The President is about to give a major speech on jobs. What does the public think the country should do? The public wants jobs created to fix our crumbling infrastructure, paid for by tax increases on Wall Street and the super-rich. They do not want cuts in Medicare or Social Security. And business owners want customers, not deregulation or tax cuts.

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Rest. A time of rest from long hours of work. That's the principle enshrined in Labor Day, a 125-year-old American holiday that celebrates the spirit of organized labor. It's the spirit behind the six-day workweek, too. A day of rest was enshrined in monotheism's holy texts, after all, but it didn't become law until labor unions demanded it. ("Thou shalt remember the Sabbath and keep it holy" - did your boss forget?)

It's also the spirit behind the principle that people who work all their lives deserve a financially secure retirement. Our forebears fought to win us this time of rest, too, and now we're called on to defend it once more.

The White House keeps hinting that the President will once again propose cuts to Medicare and Social Security - either when he presents his jobs proposal next week, or shortly afterwards. That would roll back the hard-won principle that people who work hard deserve their time of rest. It would also be a harsh blow to a struggling economy after a devastating jobs report.

If Americans return from their Labor Day celebrations to hear their President announce these cuts, it will feel like the breaking of an ancient compact. Voters should encourage him not to make that mistake, and not to break that promise.

Days of Struggle

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Celebrate Labor Day. Really, celebrate. It’s important. more »

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The media have portrayed Governor Rick Perry’s description of Social Security as a “Ponzi scheme” at a recent Iowa campaign event as the latest extreme statement of an unconventionally candid, conservative presidential candidate. more »

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When it comes to the "Grand Bargain" they're pushing in Washington, the movie posters for The Fly said it best: Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Othe people are using our lives as bargaining chips. Whether it's the so-called Congressional "Super Committee" or the President's push for that grandé-sized deal, they want to look "grand" while we get stuck with the "bargain."

The Capital's misplaced focus on austerity has led to plenty of bad ideas, but one of the worst is raising the Medicare retirement age to 67. It may be the most destructive deal to come out of Washington since the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. It's unfair, short-sighted, and will actually cost the economy more money than we're spending today.

No Democratic President would accept an idea like that, right? Right?

Be afraid. Be very afraid. more »

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You hear over and over that Social Security is "in trouble" or that we "can't afford it." This is as far from true as can be, and the idea behind this is to convince people to just give up on defending the program and let the haters have their way. The people who hate Social Security the most are the ones who say they want to make these changes to "save" it. more »

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Back in my corporate days I sat in a boardroom with one of the most powerful and fearsome CEOs in the country. He had called in the executives that designed his employee benefits program and asked them to propose changes to the corporation's retirement and health programs.  But he scowled and shook his head as they presented one set of options after another.  Finally I asked the question the others were afraid to ask:  What do you want to accomplish by changing your employees' benefits?

"I want to give them less," he said, "and make them think it's more."

The Human Resources executives in the room turned pale.  As brilliant as this CEO was, he didn't know what they had learned from experience:  

When you give people less, they always know it.  

Less is Less

I thought of that meeting when I listened to the President's remarks on Social Security in Iowa.  A woman with lung cancer asked the President to speak about Social Security, and he began by employing a lot of the rhetoric he's been reluctant to use so far, and by making a lot of the arguments he's refused to make since he was elected.  

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