Tag Archives: Social Security

What that Letter Should Have Said

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Joe Firestone | 6 comments

On Valentine’s Day, Senator Bernie Sanders sent a letter to the President, authored by himself and signed by 15 other Senators, all Democrats. The letter was a response to the rumors that the President intends to include his Chained CPI proposal to cut Social Security benefits in the budget he will soon send to Congress. It summarized:

“Mr. President: These are tough times for our country. With the middle class struggling and more people living in poverty than ever before, we urge you not to propose cuts in your budget to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits which would make life even more difficult for some of the most vulnerable people in America.

We look forward to working with you in support of the needs of the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor – and all working Americans.”

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Tagged bernie sanders, CBO, chained CPI, debt, deficit, democrats, fixing the debt without breaking america, medicaid, medicare, President Obama, republicans, safety net, Senators, Social Security

Dear Dr. Krugman: Please Let Me Explain

Posted on February 13, 2014 by Joe Firestone | 15 comments

By Joe Firestone

Paul Krugman can’t explain why the deficit issue has suddenly dropped off the agenda. He says:

. . . quite suddenly the whole thing has dropped off the agenda.

You could say that this reflects the dwindling of the deficit — but that’s old news; anyone doing the math saw this coming quite a while ago. Or you could mention the failure of the often-predicted financial crisis to arrive — but after so many years of being wrong, why should a few months more have caused the deficit scolds to disappear in a puff of smoke?

Why indeed are they so quiet? Could it be because the deficit hawks have succeeded in getting the short-term result they want, which is a likely deficit too small to sustain the private savings and import desires of most Americans, and also because the political climate is such right now that they cannot make progress on their longer term entitlement-cutting program until after the coming elections have resolved the issue of whether there will be strong resistance to such a campaign if they renew it? Let’s look at the budget outlook first.

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Tagged CBO, debt, deficit, deficit hawks, democrats, entitlement cuts, Eurozone, medicare, paul krugman, Peter G. Peterson, republicans, Social Security, Warrn Buffett

What Happens Now?

Posted on October 19, 2013 by Joe Firestone | 19 comments

In the aftermath of the great 2013 government shutdown/debt ceiling crisis, and the kicking of the can down the road while maintaining austerity once more, the subject on many minds is where do negotiations over fiscal policy go from here? Will the new “budget committee” produce more austerity and do a grand bargain including the “chained CPI”? Will Congress finally turn towards economic growth and job creation, or will we continue to have more shutdowns and debt ceiling crises in 2014?

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19 Comments

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Tagged Alex Wagner, austerity, budget committee, chained CPI, debt ceiling, debt ceiling crisis, entitlements, Government shutdown, grand bargain, Greg Walden, Harry Reid, Joan McCarter, Nancy Pelosi, Patty Murray, paul ryan, President Obama, Richard Eskow, sectoral financial balances model, sequester, SFB, Social Security, tea party, The Long Depression

The Five Worst Reasons Why the National Debt Should Matter To You: Part Three, The Other Four Worst Reasons

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Joe Firestone | 4 comments

By Joe Firestone

In Part One of this series, I considered “Fix the Debt’s” claim that high levels of debt cause high unemployment and gave a few reasons why this is a false claim. In Part Two, I followed with a review of the historical record from 1930 to the present and showed that it refutes this claim throughout this period, and that there is not even one Administration where the evidence doesn’t contradict “Fix the Debts” theory. In this part I’ll continue my examination of the other four “top reasons” why “Fix the Debt” insists that the National Debt should matter to you.

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Tagged $60 Trillion Coin, austerity, CBO projections, debt-to-GDP ratio, deficit reduction, deficit spending, High Value Platinum Coin Seigniorage, HVPCS, interest rates, MMT, modern money theory, national debt, Peter G. Peterson, Social Security, unemployment, “Fix the Debt”

“Makers and Takers:” They’re Projecting Again!

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Joe Firestone | 28 comments

By Joe Firestone

I found a segment on MCNBC’s Up With Steve Kornacke show revealing for what it did not say. The segment started off with a clip from a Recent Town Hall of John McCain’s. Senator McCain took a question from a woman who said, with more than a little emotion.

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Woman: “It kills me every time i hear senators, especially republicans, talk about those takers. they’re just taken. the takers. i paid taxes for over 30 years and i have a rare illness and now i’m disabled. the state of arizona raised the eligibility for a program that was paying $100 a month for my medicaid to 3.4%. consequently, i was cut off. $100 a month, which meant (breaks down) i could no longer go to physical therapy. do it intentionally to cut as many people as they can for as long as they can from benefits that are desperately needed and it’s just not right. we’re the takers.”

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28 Comments

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Tagged austerity, Control Fraud, deficit spending, fixing infrastructure, housing crisis, john mccain, makers, medicare for all, Social Security, SS benefits, Steve Kornacke, takers, takings

What Would You Have the President Do? Part III, Doing Some Economic and Social Justice

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Joe Firestone | 46 comments

The first two Parts in this series began answering the question “what would u have him do?” It arose in the context of a Post at Naked Capitalism by Michael Hudson with some additions by Yves Smith. A commenter, objecting to the criticism of the President’s Knox College speech, issued the challenge in connection with the President’s promised effort to restore prosperity to the middle class and the poor. Continue reading →

46 Comments

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Tagged $60 Trillion Coin, austerity, Control Fraud, deficit spending, fixing infrastructure, High Value Platinum Coin Seigniorage, housing crisis, HVPCS, increasing SS benefits, medicare for all, MMT, modern money theory, Social Security

What Would You Have the President Do? Part II, Getting to Full Employment

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Joe Firestone | 22 comments

Responding to a Post at Naked Capitalism by Michael Hudson with some additions by Yves Smith, a commenter, objecting to the criticism of the President’s Knox College speech, issued the challenge ”What would u have him do?” in connection with his promised effort to restore prosperity to the middle class and the poor. In this series I’m giving my answer to that question. In Part I, “Necessary First Moves,” I offered and described two of these. Ending the filibuster, and using High Value Platinum Coin Seigniorage (HVPCS) to fill the Treasury General Account (TGA) with $60 Trillion in reserves. Continue reading →

22 Comments

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Tagged $60 Trillion Coin, austerity, debt and deficits, deficit spending, entitlement guarantee, fiat money, filibuster, High Value Platinum Coin Seigniorage, HVPCS, job guarantee, MMT, modern money theory, Social Security, state revenue sharing

Richard Eskow Asks: Which Side Are You On?

Posted on December 22, 2012 by Devin Smith | 16 comments

By Joe Firestone

Richard Eskow of the Center for the American Future, posted a very good one a couple of days ago. He used the old union meme “which side are you on” to beat up the President and Congress about Social Security being placed on the negotiating table. I thought his writing on it was striking. Here’s some of it:

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