Will The GOP Really Campaign This Year On Privatizing Social Security And Medicare?

We need real fighters for regular families willing to stand up to Wall Street and its shills

Earlier today we took a look at Wall Street's Great White Hope-- or at least the Republican version of it-- in their unceasing battle to control America: Paul Ryan. Ryan, the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee has come up with a formula of balancing the budget by 2080 and it is primarily based on gutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, programs Big Business, Wall Street and the GOP never accepted as legitimate and opposed from day one and have always dreamt about trashing. Now, desperate for campaign cash to exploit the unfocussed populist anger at Washington, Republicans are trying to cut a deal with Wall Street.

Republicans are stepping up their campaign to win donations from Wall Street, trying to capitalize on an increasing sense of regret among executives at big financial institutions for backing Democrats in 2008.

In discussions with Wall Street executives, Republicans are striving to make the case that they are banks' best hope of preventing President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats from cracking down on Wall Street.

GOP strategists hope to benefit from the reaction to the White House's populist rhetoric and proposals, which range from sharp critiques of bonuses to a tax on big Wall Street banks, caps on executive pay and curbs on business practices deemed too risky.

And what Republicans have been most successful at currying favor with Wall Street? If money paid is any indication, as we saw earlier, Ryan is way up there in the world of bankster esteem, someone they relate to as strongly as the "Democratic version" of the same sock puppet, Harold Ford. Like we saw earlier, Wall Street interests have lavished almost $2 millions on building up Ryan's political career. And they want more than just the lockstep votes he gives them for their pernicious agenda. Those same Wall Street special interests haven't been quite so friendly to New York populist Eric Massa. Wall Street pretty much ignores him-- other than flooding his opponents with cash-- and the total he's gotten in his entire career from the Financial/Insurance/Real Estate sector is $137,331, one of the smallest of any member of Congress. And watching how Massa reacted to Ryan's push to wreck Social Security and Medicare, you can certainly see why Big Business doesn't support him! He pointed out this morning that Ryan's budget outline "puts in writing the specifics of what the Republicans would like to do to address the recession-- and they start by privatizing Social Security, and dismantling Medicare. If implemented, this budget would put the full weight of this recession on the shoulders of seniors who paid into Social Security for their whole lives." That isn't the message Wall Street wants getting out there.

“With bailed-out Wall Street banks giving out $100 million bonuses, I can't understand why House Republicans also want to give them Social Security. My jaw almost hit the floor when I found out that House Republicans actually introduced a budget which would turn over Social Security to Wall Street executives and destroy Medicare. Everyone deserves to know exactly where their member of Congress stands on this critical issue and today I am reiterating my opposition to this radical plan. It is absolutely unconscionable to put the cost of this recession squarely on the backs of our seniors who have worked hard all their lives to earn their Social Security and Medicare payments. Returning to failed Bush-era ideas, like putting the retirement of our seniors into hedge funds, is exactly what we don't need as our economy begins to grow and improve.”

Yesterday Jeb Hensarling was trapped by Chris Matthews into admitting on Hard Ball that the GOP plan to end Social Security for future generations-- and that's the next step in the old right-wing strategy... persuading the public that Social Security is "going broke" and must be "addressed."

Last year, when the House voted 260-166 to retroactively prohibit TARP-assisted institutions from granting golden parachutes to senior executives and granting bonuses to the top 25 executives, only the most craven Wall Street servants voted no. Of course Paul Ryan was one of them-- as were the big GOP bankster puppets, Eric Cantor (R-VA-$3,677,585), Spencer Bachus (R-AL-$4,107,424), John Boehner (R-OH-$3,369,029), Roy Blunt (R-MO- $3,080,155), Pete Sessions (R-TX-$2,929,240), Mark Kirk (R-IL-$2,879,320), Mike Castle (R-DE-$2,684,612), Jeb Hensarling (R-TX-$2,440,100), and David Dreier (R-CA-$2,199,788), and a handful of slimy anti-family Blue Dogs from Heath Shuler and Bobby Bright to Tim Holden and Walt Minnick.

Same thing when the House passed 247-171 to prohibit TARP-assisted institutions, and housing finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, from granting unreasonable or excessive compensation and bonuses not based on performance. Ryan and all the paid-off Wall Street shills voted no. Ditto when Congress passed 237-185 a bill Wall Street went insane over-- to give shareholders a say on pay and on golden parachutes; require compensation committees in corporate boards to be made up of independent directors; require financial institutions, and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to disclose their compensation structures if they include bonuses; and empower bank regulators to prohibit risky compensation practices if they imperil a bank’s safety and soundness-- Ryan was one of the leaders of the GOP/Blue Dog obstructionism to the bill.

And in December the House passed a bill to reform Wall Street with 100% opposition from the Republicans and from a couple dozen of their Blue Dog allies. H.R. 4173 managed to get by, 223-202, and is designed to bring transparency and accountability to the financial system, reform corporate pay practices, protect consumers from predatory lending practices, foster corporate responsibility, and end Bush-era taxpayer-funded bailouts. Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor, John Boehner lead the opposition to all these bills. They think ending Social Security and Medicare is a better way to handle the Bush-era deficits, deficits that would never have happened with their active support, of course.

Regina Thomas, a former Savannah state Senator who has a long record fighting for small businesses and ordinary working families against "special interests," is running against pro-Big Business advocate and Blue Dog John Barrow in Georgia's 12th CD. Regina has been devoted to expanding Medicare, not gutting it and fighting reactionaries like Ryan and his GOP and Blue Dog allies comes second nature to her. It's what she's been doing for her entire career. "The Republicans and the Blue Dogs would like to turn the clock back on all the protections for working families that came out of the New Deal, Social Security and Medicare being two of their top priorities. But Americans are smarter than that and we know what the Law of the Jungle is and we understand what unregulated predators do to the fabric of the society we have built with our sweat and blood over the generations. The Republicans' "Only the Strong Survive" ethos isn't just immoral, it's also been a proven failure all through history. It's bad for our families and it's bad for our country."

If you think Republicans are going to stop their class warfare-- ever-- you are sorely mistaken. It's why ordinary Americans have to fight for campaign finance reform and prevent self-serving corporate management from using their companies' money to buy elections. Every Blue America candidate is either a co-sponsor or, if not currently in office, has promised to become a co-sponsor of the Fair Elections Now Act, which would end the cycle of campaign fundraising that allows corporations to put their puppets-- whether the John Boehners, Paul Ryans, Eric Cantors or John Barrows, Rahm Emanuels or Harold Fords-- into positions of power. If you'd like to help Regina win a House seat in GA-12, please consider a donation to her campaign here.


UPDATE: Marcy Winograd Is The Polar Opposite of Paul Ryan

While Ryan's budget calls for phasing out Social Security payments, Marcy Winograd has a much more far reaching proposal aimed not at narrow ideological goals but at solving the underlying problems facing our economy. It takes the form of new jobs legislation and would do the exact opposite of what Ryan is proposing. Marcy wants to offer seniors incentives to retire early with social security benefits at age 60. "If we used stimulus money to provide scaled-back social security benefits to early retirees, their jobs would then be available to younger unemployed Americans," says Winograd, adding, "this would be the quickest and most effective way to put a million people to work.  We need a shot in the arm to revive our economy, otherwise this recession, which threatens to develop into another Depression, could plague us for years."

Today, full social security benefits are paid for retirement at age 66, with early retirement permitted between age 62 and 66, at a proportionally scaled-back benefit level.  Early retirees do not add to social security costs because they accept permanently scaled-back benefits.  The majority of retirees accept this reduction of their benefits in order to retire at some point between age 62 and 66.
 
"It is reasonable to expect that a substantial number of workers would retire at age 60 or 61, if they were offered the same level of benefits that they would qualify for at age 62," says Winograd.  "These extra early retirement benefits would be paid for out of stimulus funds already appropriated in the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act."
 
This incentive for early retirement could be offered for six months after Congressional enactment.
 
Census Bureau statistics suggest there are more than four million active workers who are between 60 and 62.  Within the six month duration of the program, an additional 1 million will reach age 60, bringing the number eligible for this program to more than 5 million.
 
Experience with the present social security program suggests that it is likely that 20% of these 5 million workers would accept this temporary opportunity to retire early, opening a million jobs to those presently unemployed who would appreciate an opportunity to apply their skills.
 
Payments under this special early retirement program are estimated to average $1,000 per month.  The direct cost of one million workers retiring an average of 15 months prior to regular social security eligibility would be $15,000 each, a total of $15 billion, a very low cost for opening one million jobs.  By contrast, the Congressional Budget Office has projected the cost of tax incentives to business to encourage job creation at $55,000 per job.
 
An additional necessary incentive to acceptance of early retirement would be to extend existing provisions for health insurance for early retirees to those who accept the proposed special early retirement.  The American Recovery and Retirement Act (ARRA) of 2009 provides a 65% subsidy for the cost of health insurance under COBRA, through a tax credit to employers for the cost of providing health insurance to employees who retire between 62 and 65.  This lasts until they become eligible for Medicare at 65, with the retirees paying only 35% of the cost.
 
This same benefit should be offered to those who retiree between 60 and 62.  The estimated cost of this health care benefit would add approximately $3 billion to the cost of the program, bringing the total cost of opening 1 million jobs thru earlier retirement to $18 billion. 
 
"If we want to create more jobs now, rather than a year or two down the road, we need to think outside of the retirement box.  People who are sixty, who have worked their entire lives, may be ready to retire early, to spend more time with their grandchildren or learn a new language.  This Retire-Early-Give-Your-Job-to-Someone-Else legislation is a win-win proposal for all: the seniors, the unemployed, and the average American feeling the ripple effects of the economic downturn.  I urge Congress to act on this proposal without delay."