Senate Republicans deny Social Security plan dead(DEMOCRATS: PLAN IS DEAD)

[Pirate Smile]

Senate Republicans deny Social Security plan dead

By Susan Cornwell
Reuters
Thursday, June 16, 2005; 6:40 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senate Republicans acknowledged on Thursday they had no consensus on how to change Social Security after months of trying but denied they were seeking an escape route from the contentious issue.

He said he was determined not to give up.

"If some Republicans are surrendering, Chuck Grassley isn't," Grassley, an Iowa Republican, said in a Capitol Hill hallway during a break in yet another meeting on the issue.

-snip-
DEMOCRATS: PLAN IS DEAD

Democrats say Bush's personal accounts plan is dead and Republicans should abandon it. On Thursday, Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy said Bush and lawmakers should focus instead on how to resolve a crisis in the funding of corporate pensions, suggesting a bipartisan consensus was more attainable there.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/16/AR2005061601185.html

[MichiganVote]

1. Simple solution. Tax the wealthy. End of SS "crisis"

[merwin]

10. "It's no use to tax the wealthy. They'll just find a new way to avoid the

taxes." Bush actually said something to that effect.

God, you'd think people would wisen up a bit.

[jojo54]

2. They must be still trying to figure out a way to "steal" this too.

It's dead and they know it. Gawd, just give it up, why don't they?

[Erika]

3. SS was meant as a social program to see seniors are OK

The democrats are wise to show our seniors will suffer from the pension crisis, and something should be done there.

[ElectroPrincess]

5. And it's an "Insurance" not an "Investment" program ...

I am so disconcerted when I hear young people on C-SPAN so selfishly mislead, "Give me MY money so I can invest it now." NO! You don't get THE POINT. The elderly have ALREADY paid into the SS program, you have NOT. It's Insurance not everyone's personal slush fund ... it helps provide a safety net for OUR elderly. Damn, I hope that * doesn't get his hand on that for he'll squander it on Wall Street. He's got that revers Midas touch. It would take all the capital in Daddy's (Bush SR) Carlye group +++ to make up for all the government money gifted to *'s corporate buddies. WalStreet, No that's too much.

[Erika]

8. Great point

We need to take care of our own who need help. SS was a way to do it.

It's not just about "me". Christ didn't think like that.

[Jack Rabbit]

4. It's dead. The obit is in tomorrow's edition of The New York Times

From The New York Times
Dated Thursday June 17

Bush's Support on Major Issues Tumbles in Poll
By Robin Toner and Marjorie Connelly

Increasingly pessimistic about Iraq and skeptical about President Bush's plan for Social Security, Americans are in a season of political discontent, giving Mr. Bush one of the lowest approval ratings of his presidency and even lower marks to Congress, according to the New York Times/CBS News Poll.

Forty-two percent of the people responding to the poll said they approved of the way Mr. Bush was handling his job, a marked decline from his 51 percent rating after of the November election, when he embarked on an ambitious second term agenda led by the overhaul of Social Security. Sixteen months before the midterm elections, Congress fared even worse in the survey, with the approval of just 33 percent of the respondents, and 19 percent saying Congress shared their priorities.

Despite months of presidential effort, the nationwide poll found the public is not rallying toward Mr. Bush's vision of a new Social Security that would allow younger workers to put part of their payroll taxes into private investment accounts. Two-thirds said they were uneasy about Mr. Bush's ability to make sound decisions on Social Security. Only 25 percent said they approved of the way Mr. Bush was handling Social Security, down slightly from what the poll found in March.

Moreover, 45 percent said the more they heard about the Bush plan, the less they liked it. The survey also found the public shared the growing skepticism in Washington about Mr. Bush's prospects for success on Social Security, with most saying they did not think Mr. Bush would succeed.

Read more.

[The_Casual_Observer]

6. To admit defeat on this is to admit that it's over for the chimp

He has been pressing this one for a full 6 months. The only other bush deal is the stink in Iraq, he has nothing else to talk about. He is really fucked now.

[tsuki]

7. Forge on! Great wedge issue in 2006! I am already telling everyone

a Vote for Kathyrn Harris is a Vote for the End of Social Security.

[NVMojo]

9. SS - DEAD! DSM and WMD LIES - ALIVE!!!!

Let's hope the smoking gun to 9-11 starts stinking out loud!