Obama: Medicare and SS Aren't Handouts

     This is actually a crucial point and give the President credit for making it. That's something else that I noticed about Romney's "We are the 53%" speech. He lumps Social Security with "welfare" and "handouts."

     This is actually standard Republican operating procedure, but it's appreciated that he pointed it out.

      "Speaking by sattelite at the AARP's annual conference on Friday, President Obama took a subtle jab at Mitt Romney's claim that 47 percent of Americans were "victims" who saw themselves as "entitled" to food, housing, and health care, among other things."

      "There's been a lot of talk about Medicare and Social Security in this campaign, as there should be," Obama said. "And these are bedrock commitments that Americas makes to its seniors, and I consider those commitments unshakable. But, given the conversations that have been out there in the political arena lately, I want to emphasize, Medicare and Social Security are not handouts. You've paid into these programs your whole lives. You've earned them."

      "Obama suggested that Social Security's finances could be "put on more stable footing" in part by raising the cap on taxable income. He dismissed as flatly "not true attacks from Romney on $716 billion in Medicare savings included in the Affordable Care Act (and Paul Ryan's budgets), saying that it "strengthened" the program."

     http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/president-obama-medicare-social-security-are-not-handouts

      That's also a fabulous idea he suggests in removing the cap on taxing Medicare. I know that Social Security was constructed starting with FDR himself to fight against the Republicans' inevitable attempt to libel it merely welfare; the thinking is that if something is just for the poor it's much easier to attack and defund it.

      So that's why FDR made it's funding quite regressive. However, I think removing the cap is an excellent idea and can't think of how this would hurt it. Obviously the idea of taking away payments for those over a certain income level is more problematic for this concern of FDR's.

      It's very important to push back on any attempt to label Social Security recipients as welfare cases or people living on handouts. People do pay into them and there's no "Ponzie Scheme" as the Paul Ryans of the world believe. The President's remarks yesterday were welcome and will increase the clarity on this.