social security

David Walker is not a politician. He was hired by Bill Clinton during his presidency to head the GAO. His official title was: Comptroller General of the United States and head of the GAO. He was not an elected official and was hired for 15 years regardless of which president or political party was in office.

Walker has been preaching of impending fiscal doom for some time now, unless there is immediate action. It is his premise that there is not enough money to pay future retirees their full Social Security and Medicare benifits and in fact, unless something is done immediately, our country may not survive.

A commenter to my last diary: "Social Security and Medicare Crisis" asked the following question:

"TKH, as a Democrat, why do you believe the Walkers of the world, but not the Kuttners?"

Below the fold is my response.

Today is the 73rd anniversary of this solemn promise made to our seniors on August 14, 1935:

Presidential Statement of FDR signing THE SOCIAL SECURITY ACT

Today a hope of many years' standing is in large part fulfilled. The civilization of the past hundred years, with its startling industrial changes, has tended more and more to make life insecure. Young people have come to wonder what would be their lot when they came to old age. The man with a job has wondered how long the job would last.

This social security measure gives at least some protection to thirty millions of our citizens who will reap direct benefits through unemployment compensation, through old-age pensions and through increased services for the protection of children and the prevention of ill health.

Dick Cheney is in my district having a private meeting with the Board of Directors of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce. I hope he's here to do something good like bring back some of our jobs he has sent overseas, but I doubt it is that happy of an occasion. You know today is actually an important day that I doubt he is taking the trouble to celebrate. History tells us that President Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act of 1935 on August 14, but I'm of the opinion that is not the birth of our commitment to our seniors.

It was actually today's date, January 31, 1940, that our commitment was fully realized in the form of Check #00-000-001 to Ms. Ida May Fuller of Vermont in the amount of $22.54 - bringing life to law, and politics to people, which is what it should all be about.

(cross-posted from The Progessive Pulse)

Question: If you are conservative, what do you call your government's future obligations?

Answer: Unfunded Liabilities.


Frontpaged by A.

I try not to be hard on the Winston-Salem Journal. Their political coverage is generally okay considering the demographics of their readership. But an Editorial and an AP link today really made me laugh (in an angry sort of way).

But, if you would rather READ the thousand words.

I caught this in the middle of last night's episode of Vanished:

More below the jump...