Needlenose

The tea-leaf readers infer that Rick Perry’s secret plan regarding the future of the program is to save Social Security by destroying it.  Similar to what the Reactionaries did so successfully with unions – create a multi-tiered benefit system.  The strategy is simple – scare the seniors and the soon-to-retire Baby Boomers by calling Social Security a ‘Ponzi Scheme,’ then buy them off by guaranteeing that their benefits remain sacrosanct in exchange for creating a new tier of lousy benefits for those dumb young workers who don’t bother to vote.  Quite the opposite of what Perry’s forked-tongue campaign manager claims:

“”I think he’s been clear that those who are on Social Security now, it’s not going to be scrapped,” said Perry’s campaign manager, Rob Johnson. “We’ve got to start the conversation for the younger generation so that there is a program for them.”

To decode Reactionary Speak here is the translation:

“We’re gonna buy off the seniors who vote and rely on the fact that young people don’t bother to vote, or even to read the news.   Hey kids!  I got your Social Security program right here [Grabbing crotch for visual effect]!”

Unless we Libs get off our asses and raise some consciousness among ‘the young’, the Rich will be able to chalk up another win in the Class War.

The Re-Baggers are busy jumping in their time machine to take us back to their (imagined) golden time.  All they need is a reconditioned DeLorean, a few thousand gigajewels (of unlimited, anonymous corporate funding, courtesy of Chief Justice Roberts) and a Capacity Fox Generator!  How far back will they take us?  Depends on the number of gigajewels they can get!  How far back?  Check it out:

1990 – George HW Bush – Discriminate Against the Disabled!

1979 – Jimmy Carter – Eliminate the Department of Education!

1973 – Richard Nixon – Abolish Abortion!

1973 – Richard Nixon – Drive U.S. Wildlife to Extinction!

1971 – Richard Nixon – Return to the Gold Standard!

1970 – Richard Nixon – Unrestricted Polluting!

1965 – Lyndon Johnson – Ban Birth Control!

1938 – Franklin Roosevelt – Restore Child Labor!

1935 – Franklin Roosevelt – Strip Labor of the Right to Organize!

1935 – Franklin Roosevelt - Screw the Aged!

1918 – Woodrow Wilson - Eliminate Public Schools!

1913 – Woodrow Wilson – Abolish the Income Tax!

1868 – Ulysses Grant - Legally Discriminate Against Women, African Americans and well anybody!

Forget privatizing Social Security with individual retirement accounts – that idea is so 2003.   John “Orange Man” Boehner rolls out the newest GOP plan to ‘fix’ Social Security – everybody will just have to work until they die.  What’s next, Orange Man – making up for lost tax revenues by bringing in ‘younger’ workers – like maybe child labor?  With loonies like “Ayn” Rand Paul waiting in the wings for the upcoming election I wouldn’t be too surprised to see that concept mooted.  And with the current reactionary makeup of the SCOTUS, it’s not inconceivable that they might take a strict ‘Originalist’ interpretation of the Federal Government’s ability to restrict labor practices (they’ve ruled in favor of child labor before).

To personalize this just a bit, my mom is still working in her late 70s, and my dad was working up until his first cancer treatments – I imagine a lot of people could say that Boehner’s fix is already the Status Quo.

Remember way back when — oh, just over a week ago — when I mentioned that the bad news on the federal budget deficit was going to get worse? Well, that didn’t take long, did it?

“The U.S. budget outlook continues to deteriorate,” wrote William C. Dudley, an economist at Goldman Sachs, after analyzing the government’s latest revenue data. “Our estimate of $300 billion for fiscal 2003 looks somewhat optimistic.”

If you were planning on receiving Social Security in about 20-25 years, I’m afraid it’s time to start making other plans. After an eight-year break, the Republican strategy to reduce your reliance on government programs (by systematically bankrupting the government) is back in effect.