Been Away from Here. Got Apathetic. Then Got Pissed. Had to come back and vent.

[BlueCaliDem]

85. If you step back for a moment

and look at the S S problem - the REAL problem we're facing - you'll see he's doing exactly what he said he would: no cuts to social security, medicare, and medicaid. He's kept his promise with Medicaid (in fact, he's expanded it through the Left's and AlwaysWrongRight's hated "ObamaCare) and he's working to keep his promise with Social Security and Medicare.

With S S, he's finding a way to prevent that looming 25% cut in benefits that's coming in 2033 (or 2025 IF the trajectory for calculating solvency of S S remains the same as it's been used today, i.e., eight years earlier than reported in 2005). Maintaining the status quo will effectively CUT basic benefits, not COLA which no senior has seen a dime of since 2008 anyway. If he does nothing to avert that oncoming disaster, then and only then you can say he's breaking his promise.

"Cuts" in Medicare, as propagated by corporate media, is nothing but savings in order to strengthen it. He's already done a lot to cut wasteful spending in Medicare like shutting down fraudulent providers, regaining billions of dollars in defrauded money, closing the donut hole for seniors, and zero co-pays for check-ups, just to name a few. Now he wants to cut spending where Big Pharma is overcharging for prescription drugs.

So in all honesty, President Obama is doing exactly what he said he would; strengthening in order to preserve both Social Security and Medicare.

As for the Wall Streeters appointed to his administration . . . have you never heard the idiom that you should keep your friends close but keep your enemies closer?

Also, as a chess player, President Obama knows, you don't learn how to win at chess by playing against weaker, less experienced chess-players. You learn from the pros. Wall Streeters are pros at the ins and outs of Wall Street shenanigans. I don't see any problem with that, being a person who learned to play chess from very good chess-players and used that knowledge to win.