Open letter to President Obama regarding entitlements
Dear Mr. President,
I wish to thank you for standing strong against the extortion demands made by Tea-Party-led Republicans. You will not believe how thankful we as Democrats, especially Progressives, are that you finally appear to have turned the corner from being a politician who compromises again and again to one who refuses to cave when it comes to defending the basic principles that our democracy is founded on.
With the main battle having been finished, however, many of us have become greatly concerned that you may revert to your earlier stances where you seemed to be willing to bargain away some of our most basic rights. I am speaking specifically of your past tendency of being "reasonable" in regard to "adjusting " Social Security. The general take on Social Security on the part of conservatives is that Social Security is an "entitlement" we are not really entitled to. In the language of conservative Republicans and, unfortunately some Democrats strongly connected to the very wealthy, the e-word is simply a code for Medicare, Social Security and other programs benefitting the public.
Mr. President, it is simply wrong for you to be "flexible" in regard to Social Security and Medicare, because such flexibility means nothing more than stealing more from funds that belong to us because they consist of money that we have paid plus interest. Social Security is our insurance program, and insurance programs work on the basis of premiums paid by members. It is simply wrong, wrong, wrong for anyone to take the money from an insurance fund and use it for purposes other than what it has been contractually intended for.
So please, Mr. President, stop using the word entitlements and call a spade a spade, and please realize the fact that using the e-word means stealing from Social Security and that it is wrong to do so.
With best wishes,
Howard Roth
4 comments:
Great letter. I totally agree.
In addition, I'd like to point out that if our Social Security trust fund (it really exists; check the statute) was loaned to the general fund of the federal government, we should have earned interest on it.
Interest was high during the 1980s and 1990s. At least 9.5% for a VA mortgage in the late 1980s and as much as 8.5% for private education loans in the 1990s.
Interest rates paid on savings were not significantly reduced to today's low, low rates until after the 2008 crash.
If you want to talk about entitlements, Mr. President, how about talking about all the interest that the Social Security Trust Fund for us retirees and baby boomers is entitled to.
Thanks.
He seems to be making compromise based on oil subsidies being removed. It's a brilliant strategy because republicans will never give up on oil subsidies. Thus, ss won't be cut!
Anonymous,
Thank you for your very worthwhile. It seems to be the case that those who want to pilfer the Social Security Fund want the public to be as ignorant possible about all kinds of relevant details.
Howard
Thank you for your insightful comments.
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