Paul Ryan Floating Change To Medicare Age

At this point it must be said that Obama’s insistence on making SocialSecurity a budget deficit issue shows that he has always intended to make drastic cuts to the program. One of the reasons SocialSecurity has long been thought of as “untouchable” is because PresidentFranklinRoosevelt and his NewDealDemocrats purposely insulated it from the conventional budget process. However, PresidentObama has largely neutered SocialSecurity’s traditional congressional defenders, who know perfectly well what their president is up to, but will not directly oppose him. That’s why we at BlackAgendaReport call Obama “the more effective evil”; he can accomplish what Republicans only dream about.

Obama’s scheme to cripple SocialSecurity is to change the way inflation is measured, resulting in a drastic scale-back in cost-of-living increases in recipients. According to DeanBaker, of the CenterForEconomicAndPolicyResearch, the cuts would amount to 3 percent over 10 years, 6 percent over 20 years, and 9 percent over 30 years. In dollar terms, BlackMinneapolisCongressmanKeithEllison says retirees would lose $6,000 in the first 15 years of cuts and $16,000 over 25 years.

And that’s just the beginning. Once the untouchability of SocialSecurity has been breached, it becomes just another social program to be carved up on austerity chopping blocks. PresidentObama’s true legacy will be to have begun the destruction of the crown jewel of what’s left of the nation’s social safety net.

Read the Article at HuffingtonPost