Archive for October, 2008
The Social Security Campaign Dodge
Thursday, October 23rd, 2008It’s become an all-too-common occurrence on the campaign trail this season. We’ve seen it in Congressional races nationwide and in the Presidential campaign too…candidates who support Social Security private accounts have tried to redefine privatization in an effort to hide their true intentions for Social Security and its future. The most recent example is in Senator [...]
Social Security Privatization…All Trick…No Treat
Monday, October 20th, 2008Feeling Spooked by the stock market? Scared to death by your latest investment report? All of this ghastly economic news inspired this National Committee Halloween video. If you’d like more details about private accounts we have numerous position papers and analysis pieces on our website. You can also see all of our National Committee videos on [...]
2009 Social Security COLA
Thursday, October 16th, 2008SSA announced today that benefits for about 55 million Americans on Social Security will go up 5.8%…the highest cost of living increase we’ve seen since 1982. “Given this economy, the Social Security COLA is a lone piece of good news for seniors. Social Security’s COLA is absolutely essential to keep America’s seniors out of poverty. For [...]
Drinking the Anti-Entitlement Kool-Aid
Thursday, October 9th, 2008Do you ever catch yourself yelling at the television? Well, that’s just what we were doing on debate night. Since this was the 3rd in the scheduled Presidential/Vice Presidential debates and there had been no discussion of Social Security and Medicare up to then, our ears really perked up when an audience member finally asked [...]
Rough Economy Means Even Rougher Retirement
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008There have been a large number of articles, reports, and Congressional testimony this week on the current economic crisis and its impact on seniors. Here is a quick summary of the best of the best: Americans’ retirement plans have lost as much as $2 trillion in the past 15 months – about 20 percent of [...]
Slashing Medicare & Medicaid Not the Answer
Monday, October 6th, 2008A senior policy advisor with the McCain campaign says they’ll use major cuts in Medicare and Medicaid to pay for the McCain healthcare plan if he’s elected President. According to the Wall Street Journal, independent analysts estimate those cuts at $1.3 trillion over 10 years. “It is irresponsible and unrealistic to believe America’s poor and [...]
Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin and Medicare
Monday, October 6th, 2008Conservatives love to quote Ronald Reagan, so Sarah Palin’s reference in Thursday’s debate barely caught our attention. That is until we found the quote is far from what it seems: “It was Ronald Reagan who said that freedom is always just one generation away from extinction. We don’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream; [...]
Medicare Part D Marketing is Underway
Thursday, October 2nd, 2008Grab a spreadsheet, calculator, and a healthy dose of patience (or a sense of humor) because it’s time for Medicare benefiaries to re-evaluate their Part D drug plan…again. Insurers have begun their annual marketing campaign and open enrollment begins November 15th. And by all accounts, including CMS‘, seniors will need to do their homework again [...]