Obama Policy: Seniors & Social Security

2008 Presidential Candidate Platform Discussion

Americans turning 65 this year have grown our economy by 4.5 times over the course of their working lives. They have tilled our soil, defended our country, taught our children, worked in our factories, and raised a new generation to build upon their successes. And yet, many struggle to get by. Threats to Social Security and Medicare, skyrocketing health costs, and abuse and neglect of seniors all jeopardize our unspoken covenant: our seniors worked hard to take care of us, and now we must be here for them.

www.barackobama.com...


Presented for critical discussion and analysis by ATS members under the spirit of the new guidelines announced in This Thread.

Obama wants to raise the cap on the Social Security payroll tax. He also is against any efforts to privatize Social Security.

www.ontheissues.org...

Imo, his next step will be to raise the retirement age when people are eligible for SS.

The privatization proposal that Bush put forth was voluntary and partial. But Obama is against any solution that would give people more control over their own money.

Given the fact that many employers have eliminated retirement plans, an opportunity to make your own decisions on how to invest a forced contribution is a step in the right direction, and more in keeping with the American way. But Obama does not want you to have that right (power). As long as the gov't retains control of your earnings, they retain control over *you*.

Obama wants to raise the cap on the Social Security payroll tax. He also is against any efforts to privatize Social Security.

www.ontheissues.org...

Imo, his next step will be to raise the retirement age when people are eligible for SS.

The privatization proposal that Bush put forth was voluntary and partial. But Obama is against any solution that would give people more control over their own money.

Given the fact that many employers have eliminated retirement plans, an opportunity to make your own decisions on how to invest a forced contribution is a step in the right direction, and more in keeping with the American way. But Obama does not want you to have that right (power). As long as the gov't retains control of your earnings, they retain control over *you*.

I have no idea how I got that double post?!

One of them should be deleted, mods.

I am afraid to say that one of the casualties of any means to save the nations economy and reduce the incredibly ballooning deficit will be at the expenses of social programs that mostly support the seniors as taxes will be very hard to sell to the overwhelmed hard working class.

I wish good luck to Obama's plan but either candidate that makes it to the white house is going to find that America is not as wealthy as once use to be.

reply to post by marg6043


Yes, marg, you are right. Social Security is feeling a great strain right now that the baby boomers are retiring. I fear that our children will be short-changed when they get to retire, unless they manage to save and invest on their own.

The Social Security plan for both candidates should be leave it alone, This is the only program that is paying for itself and working well why ruin it wait till it dies on it own in about 35 years if they touch it they will break it , after it dies a slow death , Then change it people will understand

Eliminate social security benefits for the very rich. They got rich on the backs of the middle class and they don't need the benefits anyway. Social Security should be about needs not entitlements. If you have millions in the bank why should the government give you more money?

Require all senators and representatives to use the same Social security system that John Q Public has. Currently, they have their own special retirement system that is far better than what you and I get, so their is no incentive for them to manage your future finances in a responsible manner.

Do NOT privatize Social Security like McCain has proposed to do time and time again. Putting your retirement funds in a corrupt Wall Street fund will only leave you without any benefits at all. McCain has no clue. He doesn't even know how many houses he owns and he owns 13 cars. He doesn't know how to use a computer and he is so out of touch that he has no business making decisions about your social security future.

reply to post by Terapin

Originally posted by Terapin
Do NOT privatize Social Security like McCain has proposed to do time and time again. Putting your retirement funds in a corrupt Wall Street fund will only leave you without any benefits at all.

It is incredible that you would not want control of your own money. If you want to trust the gov't to take care of you in your sunset years, good luck, but do not force others to stay with your policy of a bankrupt system that will pay you zero after taking your money for all of your working years.

Social Security is bankrupt, and anybody under the age of 40 who relies on it will be sorely disappointed.

I will repeat this for the 100th time: the SS privatization plan is voluntary and partial. It is a personal choice.

And, please, don't point to the current woes on Wall St. as a reason for your choice. The street rebounded nicely. Nobody you know lost a single dime because of the bailout of AIG.

reply to post by Terapin


Obama using scare tactics isn't good either. The privatize plan was voluntary and was only percentages of what is paid now.


If Obama is so confident social security will be fixed why doesn't he move Congress from a pension to social security.

In our "Scaring Seniors" article posted Sept. 19 we took apart a claim in an Obama-Biden ad that McCain somehow supported a 50 percent cut in Social Security benefits, which is simply false. Then, on Saturday Sept. 20, Sen. Barack Obama personally fed senior citizens another whopper, this one a highly distorted claim about the private Social Security accounts that McCain supports.

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