I am almost 50 years old. i have been paying into Social Security since days after turning 14

[maui902]

67. One more try

The question I posed (and to which I still have not received an answer-either in this thread or on other related topics regarding the inaptly named "grand bargain&quot was "If you are going to insist that there be NO cuts in Social Security, what do you propose that will gain the required votes in a divided Congress to avoid the consequences of sequestration?" The only responsive answer I've received so far was (paraphrasing) to let the Bush tax cuts expire for everyone in 2013 and then propose legislation to restore the Bush tax cuts for incomes of < $250,000 sometime during the year. But that approach still doesn't answer the basic question of what you would be willing to do to avoid sequestration and the consequences of sequestration, which I believe will (i) be very bad for lots of people, including the most vulnerable and (ii) potentially lead to Republicans gaining seats in the 2013 Congressional elections. Perhaps you disagree with what I believe will result from failing to reach any deal, and perhaps you disagree with my belief that it it unreasonable to assume that more than 20 Republicans and all Democrats will vote for a proposal that attempts to cut the deficit solely through additional taxes and cuts to defense spending. But the status quo is that if there is no bipartisan deal to reduce the deficit, bad things happen automatically, and the only way to avoid those bad things is to support some type of compromise that will get at least a few Republicans to agree.