In a shocking admission published in the Feburary 1, 2006 Detroit News, Congressman Joe Knollenberg is quoted as saying "Medicaid, Social Security and Medicare can't be sustained". Although many of us have always suspected that Knollenberg was out to destroy Social Security and Medicare, this is the first time he has been so blatant about his position.
"Medicaid, Social Security and Medicare can't be sustained."
Joe Knollenberg
February 1, 2005
Detroit News
Many have suspected that Joe Knollenberg has been wanting to completely disable important programs like Social Security and Medicare.
He and his fellow Republicans are still trying to dismantle Social Security by turning it into a privatized system, they just are not talking about it because they know the public disagrees.
Rather than try to convince the public, they are now trying to quietly change the program by sneaking some provisions into the budget bill.
Without any public statement warning voters that he and his evil henchmen (Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, JOE KNOLLENBERG, Tom Delay, Bill Frist, etc.) were again going to try to destroy the Social Security program, President Bush included the privatization of Social Security in the Budget Bill he sent to Congress on February 6, 2006.
Bush plans to not only privatize the program starting in 2010, but he is going to fund it by taking over $700 billion away from the current Social Security system.
Bush, Knollenberg, Cheney, etc. must truly be dedicated to the total destruction of Social Security if they are willing to take away a huge portion of the program’s funding, privatize the system so Wall Street Brokers can get richer, AND – in the interim, they are looking for ways to cut benefits for current recipients.
Shamefully, rather than tell the truth – that Bush and all the Republican’s in Congress plan to shutdown the Social Security program – the White House characterizes their position as “The President will also continue to promote comprehensive reform of Social Security to place the program’s finances on sustainable footing for future generations.”
Wow. That is a fancy sentence. Let me translate it into the truth:
The President will also continue to promote comprehensive reform try to sneak language into law that will eliminate the current Social Security program as we know it of Social Security and instead force Senior Citizens to invest their money in risky stocks – possibly losing all their retirement benefits – while making wealthy stock brokers and greedy Corporate Executives wealthier. to place the program’s finances on sustainable footing for future generations. Meanwhile, Bush and the Republican’s will try to cut benefits as much as possible to Senior Citizens making it even harder for them to pay their rent and buy their medications.
Please do not just take my word for it, look at p. 321 of Bush’s Budget proposal. It is all just plain as day. The White House estimates it will cost:
* $24.182 billion in fiscal 2010,
* $57.429 billion in fiscal 2011 and
* $630.533 billion for the five years after that
for a total of $712.144 billion.
For additional information, check out this site: www.socsec.org/commentary.asp?opedid=1216
This is what Joe says now:
4 comments:
SS and Medicare can't be sustained without some kind of reform.
Every actuarial estimate in the world agrees with Joe Knollenberg on this one. That hardly proves Joe wants to "dismantle" Social Security. You've demonstrated nothing here other than Joe speaking truth -- Social Security is in trouble because its a governmental ponzi scheme. I think we have an obligation to honor our commitments to the current generation of retirees, and I'm willing to sacrifice some of my "entitlement" to get a reform I know might guarantee the system will be funded. You, on the other hand, are just playing the politics of intergenerational warfare, using scare tactics and buzz words that aren't true. You are a political savage and extremist, willing to do and say anything, clearly.
And for some odd reason, in my non-scientific polling, every Canadian and British person I've ever met has told me they dislike socialized health care. One bloke I spoke to at a restaurant one evening talked about how he brought his mother to the States because it took would have taken 6 months to get a follow-up procedure needed to after she was diagnosed with an advanced heart condition. I'm no health care expert though, and certainly you have to admit there is some room for disagreement on this issue, and your holier-than-thou certainty is misplaced. It doesn't make anyone who disagrees with you or Michael Moore evil or part of a conspiracy.
Privatizing them is not the answer, Chet. They can be made whole by simply taxing all income and not stopping the tax at the current levels and letting high income earners off the hook like Bush has done with the income tax.
You need to go see Sicko before you make comments about the health system.
Bruce, read my comment. Did I say privatizing SS was the answer? No. I said we need to reform it and find a way to fund it. The issue is dead for the next couple years anyway, so scare tactics are irrelevant on this one.
Chet, when Republicans refer to "reform" I've never known it not to really mean privatize. Do you have some other form of reform in mind?
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