Social Security reform is key

The Village drum-beat against Social Security goes on
Social Security is now permanently in the Village's sights, gawd help us all. Here's more conventional wisdom spouting from Fred Hiatt's editorial page, this time from Michael Gerson. Obama's Liberal Base contends that the Social Security trust fund is not in immediate trouble. But this argument depends on an elaborate Accounting trick. The trust fund is not filled with assets - gold bullion and Apple stock. It is filled with Debt issued by the government to itself. The surpluses of the trust f...

Bushwacking Obama: Conservatives Call for "Fixing" Social Security
Robert L. Borosage HuffPost Beware of Conservatives bearing gifts. Today in the Washington Post, former Bush policy advisor Michael Gerson echoes a growing chorus of conservative pundits in offering up "Social Security reform" as "the answer to Obama's problems." The advice is illogical on its face, pernicious in its consequence, and poisoned from its source. Gerson argues that Obama faces a major strategic decision in his coming State of the Union address, which must take the "first cut at th...

Dana Perino Thinks We Need to Get Ready to 'Eat Our Spinach' and Be 'Serious' About Cuts to Social Security
Righties are mad that so much got done during the lame-duck session. Cue the whining Calling out Greenspan and Paulson for Pure Hypocrisy on Bush Tax Cuts vs. Deficits Rep. Steve King Attempts to Defend His Racist Remarks on AC360 Alan Grayson's Got Your Back on Foreclosure Fraud. Won't you get his on November 2nd? UPDATED Raul Grijalva has your back on foreclosure fraud. Will you have his on November 2nd? Mary Jo Kilroy's Got your back on Foreclosure Fraud. Won't you get her...

Medicare to swell with Baby Boomer onslaught
WASHINGTON — Baby Boomers are about to create a record population explosion in the nation's Health Care program for seniors. Starting on Saturday, 20 years of Baby Boomers begin turning 65 and qualifying for Medicare — one every eight seconds. A record 2.8 million will qualify in 2011, rising to 4.2 million a year by 2030, projections show. In all, the government expects 76 million boomers will age on to Medicare. Even factoring in deaths over that period, the program will grow from 4...

No More Mister Nice Blog
THE $100 BILLION QUESTION What will Orange Julius slice from the Budget to keep his $100 billion spending reduction promise? Here's a hint: it's not going to be from defense. Republicans view their midterm electoral victory as a mandate to cut spending, and cutting $100 billion from a $3 Trillion federal Budget sounds like a reasonable goal. But GOP leaders say they will focus only on non-security Discretionary Spending, and won't slash funding for defense, Social Security or Medicare. That ...

How not to be taken seriously on budget issues
HOW NOT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY ON Budget ISSUES.... At face value, the pledge from congressional Republicans to slash $100 billion from the federal budget is itself superficial and shallow. It's not as if GOP leaders identified $100 billion in unnecessary spending and vowed to eliminate it, or identified some specific policy benefit associated with these cuts. Rather, Republicans picked $100 billion as an arbitrary figure -- apparently chosen because it's a round number -- and then started work...

Game of Chicken
The tax-cut war is over for now. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” Repeal has been signed into law. The New START Treaty has been ratified. But another big battle between Democrats and Republican is looming. The subject is something most Americans have likely never heard of—the Debt ceiling. And, unlike the lame-duck battles that somehow found their way to happy conclusions, this one could very easily end in disaster. The Debt ceiling does exactly what it sounds like it does...

Will Liberals Learn From Adversity?
WASHINGTON — Was 2010 American Liberalism’s Waterloo? How are we to square the achievement of so many goals that have long been on progressive wish lists with the resounding defeat suffered by supporters of these measures in November? Let’s begin with what is a most painful fact for liberals: Conservatism, a doctrine that seemed moribund on election night in 2008, enjoyed a far more rapid comeback than all liberals and even most Conservatives anticipated. More than that, the c...

Changes at IRS delay filing, refunds for early tax-return filers
The tax law passed earlier this month by the lame-duck Congress has already had one result that is, well, lame: Millions of Taxpayers who usually file their returns quickly to get an early refund will have to wait instead. Because the law passed less than two weeks ago, the Internal Revenue Service is still scrambling to reprogram its computers to handle the income-tax deductions extended by the last-minute Legislation — a process the agency says could take until late February. That means...

Government spending battles expected to dominate Congress next year
Despite that the lame-duck session was a productive period of legislating, it did have its shortcomings — Congress failed to pass a one-year appropriations bill while agreeing on a continuing resolution to fund the government until March. That means the new, divided Congress will make decisions about how to appropriate funding for the implementation of the Health Care reform law and Financial Regulation, both of which did not receive attention in the temporary funding resolution. The Hill ...

Actually, Bush VETOED the 2008 bill slipping in the end-of-life provision
The Medicare policy will pay doctors for holding end-of-life-care discussions with patients, according to the Times. A similar provision was dropped from the new Healthcare Reform law after Republicans accused the administration of withholding care from the sick, elderly and disabled. However, an administration spokesman said the Regulation, which is less specific than the reform law’s draft language, is actually a continuation of a policy enacted under former President George W. Bush. ...

Viking Pundit
"We must now be unfair to someone" - This too-good-to-excerpt Robert Samuelson article confronts the dilemma that America faces by failing to honestly address entitlement spending. Either we pare back on Medicare and Social Security (unfair to seniors) or we impose much higher Tax Rates on workers (unfair to future generations). The alternate choice is to continue to pile up unprecedented peacetime Debt levels and risk the implosions of Greece and Ireland or the slow decline of Japan. ...

Letters: On Japan, private equity, nuclear power, vertical farming, morals, Social Security, mating behaviour, the euro
Why should we give Children a right to vote? Because intergenerational Income Distribution became a contentious public-policy issue with the establishment of public-pension systems. It may seem outrageous to extend the vote to children, but the extension of the franchise to women was also opposed. That historic change was achieved through the democratic process and resulted in a dilution of the voting power of the male-only electorate. Greying populations require such a fundamental democratic ch...

Cut America's debt, but spare Social Security
Congress can cut the Budget without hurting Social Security, Medicare, and other social Insurance programs....

Charles Krauthammer: GOP must cap spending but force cuts on Democrats (Video)
Krauthammer thinks the  midterm voter message that swept away the Democrat House majority was  "rein in government, a smaller government, Limited Government and a government of enumerated powers." I think the  Republicans  learned a lesson from what happened with the Gingrich revolution in 1994.  The Republicans were so heady in those days. They thought you could govern from Congress; and they had control of the House and the Senate and they could not. They were defeated...

Krauthammer Warns Against Defunding Health Law: Will Lead To Chaos And Incoherence
As Republicans prepare to defund parts of the Affordable Care Act in the new Congress, conservative columnist and Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer is warning Conservatives that the strategy could lead to “chaos” and “incoherence” in the Health Care system. During an appearance on Fox’s Special Report on Monday, Krauthammer suggested that the GOP would be better off by holding hearings to “expose” the measure and orchestrating symbolic Repeal vo...

Ten most memorable political quotations of 2010
You had to see it to believe it. From a Delaware Senate Candidate's witchcraft talk to Sarah Palin's word-crafting skill, 2010 was a year of classic political quotations. Don't believe it? We challenge you to refudiate it. Here are ten of the most memorable political utterances of the past year: "I'd rather be a really good one-term President than a mediocre two-term President." -- President Obama The president pledged to press ahead with health-care reform, despite polls showing that most Am...

Altogether Now: There Is No Deficit/Debt Problem!
In a little more than a month, the President will give his State of the Union Speech. There's every reason to believe that, in it, he will state that, in all sincerity, he believes that the United States Government has a Deficit problem and a National Debt problem that must be brought under control. He will tell us that the Government is running out of money. He will also tell us that we need to raise money by either taxing or borrowing to get more, or that we need to make do with no more money...

What Should the New Congress Do First?
The 111th Congress ended with a flurry of Legislation.  As we look ahead to 2011, FrumForum asked our contributors to weigh in on what the new Congress should do next.  We asked: what should be a legislative priority when the new session begins? David Jenkins and Jim DiPeso of Republicans for Environmental Protection think the time is ripe for passing Energy Legislation.  Former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Les Francis however wants Congress to first take a closer look at 20...

Washington Week
The congressional lame-duck session finally ended Christmas week for both the Senate and the House. The 112th Congress will begin at 12 noon on Wednesday, Jan. 5. In an effort to report on all the activities that occurred during the lame-duck session, I will list the bills or common names of the bills and recorded votes where applicable. This will allow you to reference this column as you write and read other reports on the lame-duck session. Just so you know, this lame-duck session was cle...

Medicare agency announces office for 'dual eligibles'
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Wednesday afternoon the creation of a new office to coordinate care for millions of individuals enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid programs. The new Healthcare Reform law authorized a new office to oversee so-called "dual eligibles," which include some of the Most Expensive patient populations to care for. Dual eligibles account for roughly 25 to 45 percent of spending in Medicare and Medicaid, respectively, but they make up less t...

Rep. Andrews challenges Republicans on health reform repeal's impact on the deficit
A leading liberal lawmaker said Tuesday that Democrats may be open to compromising with Republicans on their effort to Repeal Healthcare Reform - but only if congressional Budget scorekeepers reassess their estimate that the bill cuts the Deficit. Rep. Robert Andrews' comments on Fox News come as Democrats have been accusing Republicans of being hypocrites for pushing Repeal even though it would violate their campaign pledge to tackle the Deficit. "If (Republicans) would make the Repeal of th...

Some conservative organizations to boycott CPAC over invitation to GOProud
The more things change, the more they stay the same … as last year.  Once again, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) has invited a group of gay conservative Activists to participate in the most prominent forum for conservative Activism of the year.  And once again, at least a few significant conservative organizations will refuse to participate as a result (via Doug Mataconis at OTB): Two of the nation’s premier moral issues organizations, the Family Research Coun...

Demography and the economy: As boomers wrinkle
FROM the moment they entered the Workforce in the 1960s, baby-boomers began to shape America’s economy and politics. They will do the same as they leave. The first of the estimated 78m Americans born between 1946 and 1964 turn 65 in 2011, the normal age for Retirement. As their ranks swell in coming years, the burden of financing their retirement will mount. So will their electoral importance. Retiring boomers will squeeze The Economy from two directions. The number of people enrolled in ...

AP-GfK Poll: By a 2 to 1 Ratio Baby Boomer Believe They Won't Be Able To Rely on Medicare Thoughout Their Retirement
43% say they don't expect to depend on Medicare, only 20% say it's secure Associated Press WASHINGTON - The first Baby Boomers will be old enough to qualify for Medicare Jan. 1, and many fear the program's obituary will be written before their own. A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds that Baby Boomers believe by a ratio of 2-to-1 they won't be able to rely on the giant Health Insurance plan throughout their Retirement . The boomers took a running dive into adolescence and went on to re...