Wow, really, are Democrats now a party that want to gut Social Security in favor of tax cuts? [View all]

[MadHound]

Seriously, the payroll tax cut should not be a position that any Democrat, liberal or progressive is in favor of.

First of all, what does this payroll tax fund? Oh, yeah, Social Security, the penultimate Democratic legislative achievement. Yes, I know, the funding shortfall will be made up, but how? The money comes out of General Funds, which means that now the funding for Social Security can be politicized, subject to votes, lobbying and various background deals. The invulnerable lockbox structure that has protected Social Security from generations of greedy 'Pugs has now been cracked, and if we continue down this path, that crack can be further widened, eventually to the point where Social Security can be destroyed.

Seriously, is this what the Democratic party wants? Yes, I understand that we need an economic stimulus, but frankly it has been shown that tax cuts are the least effective form of economic stimulus bar none. But this, this is the path we're being called upon to follow? Really, truly? Sorry, that's not Democratic by any stretch of the imagination, but rather Republican lite.

Are we this foolish that we're going to play right into Republican hands and put Social Security on the path to ruin? Whatever happened to paying taxes as being patriotic? Whatever happened to sacrificing a little in terms of short term pain for yourself in order to benefit the whole in the long run?

I simply can't fathom the support for this payroll tax cut, not among Democrats in DC, or on this board. The 'Pugs are just drooling at this prospect, the Democrats delivering them the means with which to destroy SS, all the while some Dems are taking up that 'Pug chant "Cut taxes, cut taxes".

What does the person with a fifty thousand dollar salary receive from the tax cut? Approximately twenty bucks a week. Frankly I imagine a lot of people making fifty thousand spend more than that a week on coffee from Starbucks. In other words, if reinstated, the payroll tax would not be a great hardship for people.

But some Democrats are acting like 'Pugs, like the restoration of this payroll tax is going to send people to the poor house and send the economy into a tailspin. That's simply not true. All that this payroll tax cut is is a short term buzz that does no real stimulating, but looks good politically. However if this cut continues, as is looking more and more likely, it will spell the beginning of the end for Social Security.

Is that what Democrats and liberals want, to open the door to ruination of Social Security. Are we so shallow and greedy that we want a tiny bit of short term gain for ourselves at the expense of long term pain for untold numbers of our elderly and poor who depend on Social Security? I certainly hope not, and I sincerely hope that people will contact their reps, especially their Democratic ones, and tell them hands off Social Security.