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If Republicans win the Presidency and the Senate AND keep the House, they will implement their agenda and Destroy Middle Income and Poor Americans. They plan to End/Privatize Social Security, Destroy the Unions, Reduce/End Unemployment benefits and Reduce the minimum wage.Today, many seniors rely primarily on their Social Security checks as their only means of support and for their survival. While some Republicans say their proposals will not impact anyone born before 1955, on Friday, Republican Presidential Candidate Rick Santorum called for immediate cuts NOW. Santorum wants to increase the Social Security age to 75 and he wants "means testing." Republican Paul Ryan's plan is to replace Social Security with private savings accounts provided by Big Business. It is clear, Republicans are NOT interested in the NEEDS of our senior Americans. They are pandering to their Big Business backers. Republicans portray the Social Security fund as being insolvent right now. They are LYING to the American public and they know it.Today, the Social Security Fund has a SURPLUS. During 2011, the Social Security Trust Fund held $2.6 trillion. Even by Republican statistics, the Social Security fund will remain in surplus through the 2030s. The problem is, starting with the Reagan Administration, the government started borrowing from worker contributions. By 2015, the government is expected to have borrowed nearly $3.25 trillion from the Social Security Trust Fund. Now let's suppose the Republicans win the election. If they are successful in passing a bill that will END Social Security as we know it, their bill will wreak havoc on our American Seniors:1. Up the retirement age to 75: Workers in their 50s are having difficulty finding work now. As these workers get into their 60s and 70s, with so many in poor health, how will they find jobs? How will they live if they cannot find or are unable to work and have no income? 2. PRIVATIZATION: a. Big Business GETS RICH - By Privatizing Social Security, what a windfall for Big Investment Companies, the Big Business groups that pay so much to Republican/Politicians' Political Action Committees (PACs). Question: How many people in America utilize private retirement savings accounts today? (many)More Importantly: How many Americans who have ACCESS to their retirement funds KEEP IT in their retirement funds, until retirement, at a rate that will allow them to earn a monthly income that will help them survive for the rest of their lives - as Social Security does? The answer - LESS THAN 10%. Why? Most People who have these type of accounts and have access to their retirement funds withdraw or borrow from them. Life has countless emergencies. But, what will happen to these millions of elderly Americans who have NO RETIREMENT FUNDS? Republican Scrooges would say "Let them Die and decrease the surplus population."b. NO PAYBACK TO AMERICANS: With Republican plans to change Social Security immediately, what happens to all of the money each of us have invested into the Social Security Fund? Are Republican proposals planning on giving our funds back to us? Are Republican proposals insisting checks be written to each American who has contributed so we can privately invest our contributions? (NO!)3. MEANS TEST: Wait until you hear this one. Republicans want to reduce payments to anyone who makes over $55,000 a year. Imagine. Pay into social security but NEVER receive any Social Security checks when we are old and cannot work. These Republican Plans will have a vast impact on the majority of American Seniors. These Republican plans will put many Seniors into bankruptcy and ruin.Today, The truth is, over ninety percent of Americans who have access to their retirement funds BORROW or WITHDRAW these funds prior to their retirement.
The truth is, over fifty percent of Americans over 65 rely on their Social Security as their sole means of support. Without Social Security, they will be forced out of their homes and onto the streets. No food. No healthcare. No place to live. Nothing.
The truth is, WE THE PEOPLE cannot and should not elect a Republican as President in 2012.
I advise All AMERICANS to study the Republican proposals. READ about them. Understand them for yourselves. YOU DON'T HAVE TO BELIEVE ME ABOUT THIS. READ ABOUT IT AT THEIR OWN WEBSITE! THE REPUBLICAN HERITAGE FOUNDATION WEBSITE! Their Ludicrous Title to their Plan: "Saving the American Dream - The Heritage Plan to Fix the Debt, Cut Spending and Restore Prosperity." . Page 11: Changing Social Security
There is a way to ensure Social Security will stay at a level that will sustain our Seniors through the decades and centuries ahead. The fix is simple. Afterall, the Social Security Fund was meant as a form of insurance. We all pay our Social Security taxes. We should be able to collect when we retire while keeping the retirement age where it is. Here is one small change that will immediately FIX Social Security with LITTLE IMPACT to anyone:. MODIFY THE PAY IN CAP: Today, each year, workers PAY IN to the Social Security Fund until they earn about $100,000. After that, they stop paying social security taxes for that year
This means someone who earns $400,000 a year only pays social security taxes until March, while the rest of us continue to pay 7.65% of our wages into Social Security for the remainder of the year. Millionaires pay for one month only. IF we changed the PAY IN CAP to $250,000, we would more than DOUBLE our Social Security Tax Fund. People making $400K would still only pay into the fund until July and the millionaires only until March.
I worry about our country, especially if we elect a Republican President in 2012. We are becoming a Nation of the "Haves" and "Have Nots." The richest 10% own 90% of the wealth. The bottom 90% hold 73% of the debt. The Gap between the Rich and the Poor is growing wider and wider, and now the Tea Party Republicans have taken up the Cause of the Rich! Extend Tax Cuts for the Rich! End Regulations. End "Entitlement Programs!"
Republicans have vowed to End Social Security and Medicare. During their last Presidential Debate, Ron Paul and his supporters cheered at the thought of letting a 30 year old DIE if he was ill and didn't have Health Insurance. Years ago, Ron Paul would have been booed off the stage. Nowadays, he is CHEERED by Tea Party Republican supporters.
I have a close friend who works in Medicare Enrollments. Today, Hundreds of Thousands of Seniors live on their monthly Social Security checks. They have NO OTHER INCOME! NO OTHER SAVINGS! They save their pennies. Their stories are heart breaking. They live month to month waiting by the mailbox for their monthly checks.
As a Consultant in the Financial arena, I see what is happening to those with private Retirement Accounts. The vast majority do not maintain substantial savings, and many borrow from their accounts. As long as they have access to the money, they take it - by any means necessary.
What does this tell me? We as a Nation should NEVER, EVER consider privatizing Social Security. We Can NOT do this to our Seniors, now or in the Future. We will ALWAYS need a Social Security system in place. We need a system that people CANNOT touch in their youths. We need a system that CANNOT be accessed or borrowed from. We need a system with guaranteed monthly payments for our seniors. We need this system - Social Security.
When you are a Senior, you often become ill. Sometimes you cannot take care of yourself. What will happen to our Seniors if we take away their only guaranteed source of income? Prior to Social Security, Seniors starved to death or were shipped off to an asylum or to the Poor House. They were left to DIE and many did DIE prematurely.
Do we want to revert to Pre-Depression (pre 1930s) America? Do we want our Seniors left to starve in the streets? America. We cannot afford to let any of these extreme right wing Tea Party Republican Candidates become President! For your sake! For your Grandmother's sake! For your kids' sake! Register to Vote and Vote Democratic in 2012!
We have wild fires raging in Texas, but Republican Governor Rick Perry has cut funding for Texas Firefighters. In many locations, they are forced to buy their own hoses and gas for their vehicles to get to the fires. Perry has not only cut jobs and funding for Firefighters, he has cut jobs and funding for local Police and Teachers. Be very afraid, America, if you elect him President! He plans on cutting your Social Security and Medicare. He also plans on staying very close to his Rich Political Contributers. This is Rick Perry's America: In Rick Perry's America: Firefighters buy their own Gas and Hoses
WASHINGTON -- In Texas, firefighters aren't just battling the wild fires raging around Austin and Houston. The state's first responders have also had to deal with budget cuts affecting everything from fuel purchases to hoses and oxygen tanks. In some cases, fire officials say, firefighters have had to pay out of pocket for basic necessities like proper protective gear and fuel to get them to the scene. One fire department that battled the blazes in Bastrop County had to pay for a hose, recalled Bastrop City Fire Chief Henry Perry, speaking to The Huffington Post during a break from working the wild fires.
"That fire department has been on this fire every day," he said. "Before this fire, they were having to buy stuff out of their own pocket." Perry said he knows of at least one other department whose firemen had to pay for equipment maintenance and engine fuel.
Earlier this week, HuffPost reported that Gov. Rick Perry, the GOP front-runner for president, had signed off on millions in firefighting cuts as part of the state's most recent budget legislation. The Texas Forest Service's funding has gone from $117.7 million in the 2010-2011 budget years to $83 million in the 2012-2013 budget years.
Severe cuts have also hit assistance grants to volunteer fire departments throughout Texas. The grants decreased from $30 million per year in 2010 and 2011 to $13.5 million per year in 2012 and 2013. These are cuts that firemen are now dealing with.
"I don't agree with it. I understand what Governor Perry did," said Henry Perry (no relation). "Do I like it? No. I don't like it at all."
The cuts come at a time when Texas fire departments have already been slowing purchases of new fire trucks and other critical equipment as a way to save money, said Guy Turner, president of the Texas State Association of Fire Fighters.
Republicans, like Marco Rubio, want to END Social Security and Medicare. I worry for our country. What will happen IF a Republican gets elected in 2012? We will see the end of programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid if the Republicans get their way. What will happen to our Old People?
Sen. Rubio doesn't know what he is talking about! He said that programs such as Social Security and Medicare have “weakened us as a people.” Sen. Rubio yearns for the time when Americans, not the government, took care of Americans. He is truly insane! Before Social Security was put in place, 30 - 50% of seniors (65+) lived in Poverty. 50% had NO Health Insurance and 25% of the sick and elderly did WITHOUT medical care because they had no insurance. Today, because of insurance programs such as Social Security, only 10% of seniors live in Poverty! SOCIAL SECURITY INSURANCE WORKS!!
Social Security IS INSURANCE. We pay into it ALL OF OUR WORKING LIVES! It is NOT an "Entitlement" as the Repubicans keep telling us. It is INSURANCE. We pay for this insurance our whole lives so we have it in our senior years! Social Security is doing exactly what it was designed to do. It is our INSURANCE for our Golden Years!
Right now, we have a 2.5 Trillion dollar SURPLUS in Social Security. That is the real issue. The Republicans, especially the Tea Party Republicans like the conniving Rubio, want to get their grubby little hands on OUR (WE THE PEOPLE)'s Insurance money!
Rubio, in trying to cast himself as the latter-day Reagan, overlooks the fact that government got bigger during the Reagan presidency, adding the Department of Veterans Affairs. And Mr. Reagan signed legislation bolstering Social Security.
(see video)
If Republicans win the Presidency and the Senate AND keep the House, they will implement their agenda and Destroy Middle Income and Poor Americans. They plan to End/Privatize Social Security, Destroy the Unions, Reduce/End Unemployment benefits and Reduce the minimum wage.
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