From his Meetthe Press interview withHouse Speaker John Boehner (2/13/11):
On entitlements, like Social Security, you said the retirement age should be raised, but you said you don’t want to get into negotiating how that happens just now until the problem is better defined. Again, when it comes to leadership, when it comes to the need to, you know, have no limit on cutting, don’t you think Americans understand what the problem with Social Security is? What will it take for you to join with the White House to make real reform to deal with this piece of the budget?
When interviewers like Gregory demand more “leadership” on a given issue, it’s not hard to figure out what they mean. A question like this implies that Social Security is a big, big problem in need of a big, big solution–and that raising the retirement age (which is, remember, abenefit cut) isn’t enough to deal with the problem.
Just a few months ago (FAIR Blog, 11/15/10), Gregory’s NBC program featured a discussion of the White House’s right-leaning deficit commission involving right-wingers Alan Greenspan and Newt Gingrich, with right-wing Democrat Harold Ford in the mix too. Gregory’s point then was much the same:
I don’t see why, for instance, some of these suggestions, Harold, on Social Security are going to be demagogued to death. Why, in 50 years, people can’t look at raising the retirement age and have that be a serious discussion point?
As we noted back in that November post, the retirement age is already rising, which amounts to a benefit cut for the poor, and raising the cap on taxable income–which would be a tax hike on the wealthy–would take care of all the supposed long-term problems with Social Security’s finances. But something tells me that you’re not likely to see David Gregory demanding that any political leaders declare their support for this simple fix.
“raising the cap on taxable income–which would be a tax hike on the wealthy–would take care of all the supposed long-term problems with Social Security’s finances. But something tells me that you’re not likely to see David Gregory demanding that any political leaders declare their support for this simple fix.”
Nor Barack Obama, to judge by today’s press conference.
Dear Mr Gregory,
The constant stream of rhetoric regarding cuts to Social Security are not appreciated. The rhetoric alone has a force multiplier effect of creating a class divide. I object to this– you are only helping politicians who need a class to pander to. Try putting a cap on government employee wages, pensions and benefits. Make the oligarch non-profits pay their fair share of taxes. Force the MNEs to bring back the jobs they took out of the US that paid payroll taxes or make them pay taxes of the equivalent for the jobs they took out of the country. You know pal, your agenda stinks. You pander to slimy lobbyist funded politicians and Jingos in the Defense industry. Your program is now banned in our home.
TitleCompany, why do you want a cap on government employees wages, pensions, and benefits? Do you believe the hype that all public workers are making more than the private sector and have lavish pensions when they retire? Public workers make less across the board. They average a pension of about 19,000 dollars. Related is the fact that if the union workers make more, it is due to the collective bargaining and being in a union which delivers higher wages, greater benefits, and a general acknowledgement of the worth of the labor of the worker. Union workers may make more and it is due to the notion that a worker deserves a fair paycheck which unions fight for. For the last few years public union workers have taken great and substancial pay and benefit cuts as well as unpaid furlough days off to help the economy on the whole.
Who are the non-profit oligarchs that you speak of? I hope you’re talking about churches and religious organizations that claim to be non-profit. Like the Kenneth Copeland Ministries, led by Kenneth Copeland who is a billionaire, gets a lavish housing allowance, gets love offerings in the amount of 1.2 million dollars and no one knows if he counts it as income. The evangelical ministries are all bilking the public as non-profits. I hope these are the folks who you are referring to.
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Gee, back in 1968 they were taking $50 a week from me for Social Security. I could have bought an ounce of gold for $32 in those days. But, to have some “cluck” tell me that it is an “entitlement program”, after I’ve been taken to the cleaner by it, seems quite an insult.
AS,SHAKESPARE SAID NOTHING CHANGES BUT THE AUDIENCE.IN THIS CASE THE CURRENT MEET THE PRESS HOST REPLACED TIM.PROBLEM IS THE PETERPRINCIPLE.BUT ALAS HES TRYING TO BE SENSATIONAL,BUT HIS FACTS AS SHOWN ARE JUST WRONG.HIS DEFENSE WILL BE AS ACTOR RICHARD GERE SAID IN THE SHOW CHICAGO,GTVE THEM THE OLD RAZZLE DAZZLE,WHEN YOUDONT HAVE THE FACTS.