$7.9B In Improper Social Security Payments Last Year… But The Sequester Will Destroy America

$7.9 Billion In Improper Social Security Payments In FY 2012 – CNS

The Social Security Administration (SSA) needs to focus on “program integrity,” a polite term for reducing fraud and payment errors, the agency’s inspector general told Congress last week.

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Reducing improper payments is one of the challenges facing the next SSA commissioner, Patrick O’Carroll, Jr., the agency’s inspector general, told the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security on April 26.

In fiscal year 2012, the Social Security Administration reported $4.7 billion in improper payments in the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, a 9.2 percent improper payment rate. (SSI is funded by general tax revenues, not payroll taxes. It helps elderly, blind, and/or disabled people who are poor.)

SSA reported $3.2 billion in the Old-Age, Survivors’ and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program, a 0.4 percent improper payment rate. (OASDI, funded by payroll taxes, is what people generally refer to as “Social Security.”)

That’s a total of $7.9 billion, and it includes some underpayments as well as overpayments.

“SSA’s improper payments largely consist of those erroneously made to ineligible individuals,” O’Carroll said.

“Improper benefit payments occur for many reasons.” Fraud is one reason, he said. This includes beneficiaries who do not tell the agency about changes in their income, resources or living arrangements, which would change the amount Social Security pays them. O’Carroll also mentioned recipients’ “poor understanding of reporting responsibilities,” and administrative errors.

“For many years, my office has encouraged SSA to balance service initiatives, such as processing new claims, with stewardship responsibilities, such as conducting timely work and medical (disability reviews) and SSI redeterminations, to ensure that individuals remain disabled and eligible, and cease payments to those who do not.”

Soaring disability claims are a particular concern for the Social Security Administration.

In his opening statement, subcommittee Chair Rep. Sam Johnson (R-Texas) said application for disability benefits, triggered by the recession and the weak recovery, have never been higher: “Since 2010, the average number of people filing for disability benefits is just over 249,000 a month,” Johnson said. “At the same time the average number of new jobs created is almost 148,000 each month.”

O’Carroll told the panel he would like to see SSA perform more work-related “continuing disability reviews,” or CDRs, to make sure people collecting disability aren’t working on the side.

SSA estimates that every dollar spent on medical CDRs yields about $9 in SSA program savings over 10 years. Reducing the complexity of Social Security’s disability programs could also streamline operations and reduce millions of dollars in payment errors each year, O’Carroll said.

SSA said it conducted 443,233 medical disability reviews in FY2012, up from 345,000 in FY2011, but the disability review backlog still stands at 1.2 million.

SSA has set a goal of conducting 435,000 medical disability reviews in FY2013, based on the current level of funding. Beneficiaries with a high likelihood of medical improvement undergo a medical review; Beneficiaries with a lower likelihood of medical improvement are mailed a questionnaire, which may or may not trigger a medical review.

Reexamination or “redetermination” of SSI retirement benefits also is effective in reducing overpayments in the SSI program, O’Carroll said. Because SSI is a means-tested program, any change in recipients’ income, living arrangements, or marital status can affect eligibility or payment amount.

SSA reported that it saves $5 for every $1 spent on SSI redeterminations. SSA completed more than 2.4 million redeterminations in FY2011 and 2.6 million in FY2012, and it plans to conduct more than 2.6 million in FY2013. Not every SSI recipient undergoes a redetermination every year; SSA uses a statistical scoring model to identify which cases it will examine.

O’Carroll said his office has encouraged SSA to use data matching with other governmental agencies to detect improper payments. He said SSA also should use more non-governmental databases in doing the redeterminations.

SSA paid more than $800 billion in SSI and OASDI benefits to more than 60 million Americans in FY2012. It estimates that over the next 20 years, another 80 million individuals will retire and file for Social Security benefits.

The hearing was called to discuss the challenges facing the next Social Security commissioner. Michael J. Astrue’s six-year term expired on Jan. 19, 2013, and his successor — once President Obama nominates one – must be confirmed by the Senate.

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Something about the Obama budget you need to focus on

Yes, the huge tax hikes are there, you knew they would be. Yes, the massive increases in spending, leading to more debt are there too. But one bit of info that struck me was the plan to invent yet another right, and further indoctrinate our kids at the same time. $100,000,000,000 for universal pre-K

“The taxes figure is the $600 billion in tax hikes admitted to by the President in today’s leaks, plus the $100 billion from the CPI change noted on the WH website, and $100 billion for tobacco taxes to pay for universal pre-K.  We don’t know what the President’s exact proposal will be, but we know those taxes can be set to hit whatever number the President needs to pay for his pre-K policy.  The media today reports that the president will raise tobacco taxes to pay for universal pre-K.  We know from earlier reporting  that the President’s pre-K plan could cost between $10 and $25 billion, so $100 billion over 10 years is a reasonable number for the first 10 year cost of the program, and the new taxes needed to pay for it.

Reasonable you say? More spending, more taxes all to what? Have 2-4 year-olds in preschool? This is now a “right” somehow? No, of course it isn’t. It is a way to further dumb down our kids, and turn them into good little Leftists. I mean add this to the “right” to go to college, which is also the “right” to accumulate massive student loan debt, and what do you have? Twenty years, at least, to fill the children’s minds with Liberal talking points and propaganda.

Imagine how much anti-gun, anti-individualism, anti-capitalist crap they can sling at a child in 20 years.

Ohio Woman Buried Mother In Backyard, Cashed Her Social Security Checks For 14 Years

Woman Buried Mother In Backyard, Then Collected Her Social Security For 14 Yrs – CNS

An Ohio woman concealed her mother’s death by burying her body in the back yard and then collected the dead women’s Social Security for the next 14 years.

According to the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) Office of the Inspector General, Patricia Hodges, 65, of Marietta, Ohio pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Feb. 27 to one count of theft of government money for hiding her mother’s death in order to continue receiving her mother’s Social Security benefits.

During testimony in a hearing before the Southern District of Ohio, it was revealed that Hodges lied to the SSA in November 2011, saying her mother was on a cruise and was planning on moving to New York.

“Further investigation by the Social Security Administration and Marietta Police concluded that Hodges’ mother had died in 1997 and that Hodges had buried her mother’s body in the back yard of a house in Lake Worth, Florida where they had lived,” the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) said. “Florida law enforcement investigators recovered the skeletal remains of Hodges’ mother.”

According to the OIG, “Hodges admitted that she concealed her mother’s death in order to collect $141,962 in Social Security benefits she was not entitled to receive between 1997 and October 2011.”

Hodges faces up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and 3 years of supervised release. Hodges is free on bond until her sentencing date is scheduled.

The Social Security Administration has administered payments to deceased individuals before. CNSNews.com previously reported at least 30 dead people received benefits totaling $405,357, in 2012.

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Obama Threatens To Hold Soldiers, Disabled People And The Elderly Hostage If Debt Ceiling Isn’t Raised

Obama Threatens Not To Pay Troops, Social Security If No Debt Ceiling Raise, Blames GOP On Credit Downgrade – Right Scoop

This morning Obama said that to not increase the debt ceiling would be irresponsible and said if the GOP doesn’t raise it, we won’t be able to pay social security and we might not be able to pay our troops. He then lists a whole litany of “horrible things” that would happen if the debt ceiling doesn’t get raised that makes Armageddon sound like it’s right around the corner.

He then proceeds to blame the GOP for the credit downgrade, saying that it happened because during the last fight over the debt ceiling, Republicans flirted with the idea of not raising it. So, he’s added close to 6 trillion dollars in debt in his first 4 years and yet he blames Republicans for the credit downgrade? Wow.

Shortly after saying this Major Garrett of CBS News asked Obama about the time when he voted against raising the debt ceiling as a Senator and Obama totally dodged it. But it was a great question.

Watch:

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In which I fully agree with Smitty

Smitty lays down an argument I myself have made and who am I to disagree with Smitty, or with myself?

Progressivism is antithetical to liberty as we know it. The silver liningcrew is attempting to find something good in the Thursday’s whuppin’. And you can re-fight it like a Civil War battle all you like. Whether or not history shows that Roberts gave us the Full Denton doesn’t matter: that’s the decision.

So, instead, let us prove ourselves an exceptional nation. Let’s muster all the patriotic attorneys general, and the great conservative legal minds, and set about saying that a tax is a tax; that godforsaken sacred cow Ponzi scheme known as Social Security is a tax, and send it to the butcher along with ObamaCare.

Who is with me?

Count me in.

The newest RAAAAACIST word?

Well, according to some pinhead on MSNBS, where else, the year 1965 is now RAAAAACIST!!

Via Newsbusters:

No, not at all. When Rick Santorum first announced he was running for President, in his announcement speech, he was criticizing President Obama for saying America wasn’t as great as it was until there were programs like Medicare and Social Security. But in that criticism, he said directly to the President, he said, “Mr. President, America was great before 1965.”

I called that out as a coded message. You know, I go to Selma every year, and 1965 is a sacred year in the history of this country, and a never-forgotten year in terms of the history of Alabama. When he said that, I knew exactly who he was speaking to in that coded language. So I’m not surprised at all that he won Alabama.

What can I say? These Liberal race pimps are always hearing “code words”. Good Grief! This calls for the ultimate face palm!

 

Shocker! Debbie Wasserman Schultz endorses Perry’s tax reform plan

Well, not really. But, by bashing the plan, Schultz makes me think it must be a winner. I mean if a moonbat like her hates it, it has to be good.

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wassserman Schultz slammed Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry’s tax plan, saying his flat tax proposal would benefit the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the middle class and increase the deficit.

NO! I just cannot believe that she played the benefit the rich card. I think that card is maxed out Debs.

“My reaction to Rick Perry’s new/old plan is that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,” said Wasserman Schultz on MSNBC Tuesday.

Perry, the Texas governor, laid out a sweeping overhaul to the nation’s tax code, entitlements and way of budgeting Tuesday. He called for an optional 20 percent flat tax, a privatized option for Social Security and a hike in the eligibility age for Social Security and Medicare.

Mark Levin, on the other hand, really likes the Perry plan  The Club for Growth likes it a lot too!

 

Of course, Schultz would call any plan that lessens government controls, and Democratic greed crazy. And face it, Debs is kind of an expert on crazy!

Now THAT is a great ad!

Via Gateway Pundit!

As I have said, I have lived in Texas since 1995, and for the last ten years, Perry has been my governor, and has done a great job. Is he perfect? Of course not. Has he done things I disagree with? Yes a few. But overall, I have no real complaints. The man is solid on gun rights, solid on standing with Israel, great on creating jobs, cutting spending, solid on the life issue, and on tort reform, he is outstanding!

Rick Perry is the only Texas governor since WWII to cut general revenue spending. He signed historic tax cuts and some of the strongest lawsuit reforms in the country. Since June ‘09, more than 40 percent of all net new jobs in America have been created in Texas… No wonder the media wants to knock him out of the race!

Related… Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) says Rick Perry is right on Social Security – It IS a Ponzi scheme.

Here is Perry talking about Obama’s failed policy on Israel

*VIDEO* It’s Steven Crowder Friday!

Michele Bachman, where ARE your principles?

Say it ain’t so Michele

….according to news reports today, it won’t have to. Amazingly, two leading candidates for the GOP nomination, Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann, look set to take a page from the DNC and ThinkProgress playbook and attack Gov. Rick Perry for daring to speak the truth about Social Security. Below is a flier the Romney campaign is distributing in Florida.

And, yesterday, Bachmann’s campaign had this to say to Byron York:

“Bernie Madoff deals with Ponzi schemes, not the grandparents of America,” says a Bachmann adviser. “Clearly she feels differently about the value of Social Security than Gov. Perry does. She believes Social Security needs to be saved, that it’s an important safety net for Americans who have paid into it all their lives.” … “She strongly disagrees with his position on that…”

So let me get this straight; we now have TWO GOP candidates against any kind of entitlement reform? Really? We can’t begin to get out from under our overwhelming debt burden unless we tackle these auto-pilot programs. You could close every government agency and slash defense spending in half and we’re still screwed if we don’t reform Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. How can Romney or Bachmann seek to be President if they don’t understand this basic fact? I mean, its not just a theory…its math.

Of course, they do understand this. Just as everyone in DC understands that these programs are unsustainable. You could fill every hour of the day attending conferences and meetings in DC where everyone discusses how our entitlement programs are killing us. For decades, there have been warnings, white papers and commissions detailing this very open secret. Seriously, EVERYONE knows this.

Gov. Perry simply had the chutzpah to admit it publicly. Michael Kinsley once famously observed that, in Washington, a gaffe is when a politician accidentally states the truth. Gov. Perry has done that. He has admitted what everyone already knows; Social Security IS a ponzi scheme, in any meaningful understanding of the term. We can’t “fix” it or “save” it until we admit this simple fact.

Bachman knows that Perry does not want to, and has never suggested “abolishing” Social Security. Her rhetoric suggests that IS what Perry wants to do. I might expect this from Romney, but from Bachman?

Maybe I only thought I knew Michele Bachman. Maybe I only thought she was a woman of principles, rather than just another politician who will say anything for votes. Maybe she really is Mike Huckabee in a skirt. I know these might seem harsh words, especially for me. I have, after all, said many kind things about Bachman, and I meant those things, but Bachman’s deliberate misconstruing, twisting LYING about Rick Perry’s stance on Social Security disgusts me frankly.

In effect, Bachman, and Mitt Romney, have taken up the rhetoric of the Democratic Party. Why? So that if Perry gets the GOP nod, the Democrats can use their words in ads attacking, and to be sure , FALSELY attacking Perry? Who do they think they are? John Huntsman? Is that what Michele Bachman is really about? Say it ain’t so Michele, say it ain’t so.

Star Parker has a great piece up that deals with the fact that Rock Perry is RIGHT about the Ponzi Scheme.

So what about Texas Governor Rick Perry’s claim that Social Security is a “lie” and a “Ponzi scheme”?

He’s right on both counts. Americans should be singing hallelujah that we have at least one politician not afraid to tell the truth.

This isn’t about ideology. It’s about arithmetic.

You can’t hear too many times that, despite what many still think, Social Security isn’t any kind of investment plan, and there is no account that you’re paying into that is yours.

Social Security is simply about current workers paying a tax that is used to make payouts to current retirees.

Regardless of what you think about the idea, it was viable long ago when the size of the program was much smaller, the tax much lower, there were many more working Americans per retiree than today, and when life spans were much shorter.

When Social Security was enacted in 1935, the tax was 2 percent compared to 12.4 percent today, there were over 45 people working for every retiree compared to a 3-1 ratio today, and life expectancy then was 60 compared to 78 today.

Because of these changing realities, projections show that the system as it currently stands will be short some $20 trillion in meeting future obligations.

Any claim that Social Security will continue to work is simply a lie, as Rick Perry says. Some 76 percent of Americans between 18 and 34 apparently agree, because they say they don’t expect anything from the system when they retire.

Bob Belvedere does not sound impressed by Bachman’s tactics either

Now, as you probably know, Mandate Mitt Romney has been defending Social Security, doing his best to replicate the Left’s tactic of trying to scare the bejesus out of the elderly [click on the link to Smitty above to see one of MMR's flyers]. Shame on him for that.

That this ploy may succeed is explained well and succinctly by Matt Lewis in a comment he left in another Smitty posting:

The big problem with progressivism is that their policies aren’t all obviously failures from the get go.

Witness Romney v Perry, with respect to Social Security. It’s true that many people have benefited from receiving checks from the government. By the time it’s obvious that it’s going to crash and burn, the populace is already addicted, and it’s like a huge display of courage and controversy just to admit we have a problem.

Progressives: crack dealers of politics.

By vowing to look the other way when it comes to the crack trade, Romney is just as guilty as the [New] Dealers.

-In some ways, Mandate Mitt is just John McCain without the grumpiness and ‘Maverick Mojo’.

-The biggest disappointment to arise out of this whole kerfuffle is what Michele Bachmann has done.

Very disappointing.

This obsequious pandering is beneath her dignity. One now is forced to ask the question: Is Michele Bachmann just another politician who has been pulling the wool over our eyes or is she just acting out of desperation or is she woefully ignorant on this issue?

Sad.

Rick Perry on Obama and his policy towards Israel

I think it has become all too clear that our current president does not appreciate Israel’s friendship, or the importance of this nation standing beside Israel. Rick Perry clearly does

Perry was asked about Israel and cited a statement by Obama that Israel’s borders with a Palestinian state should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps — a position Perry called “throwing Israel under the bus.”

“I’m going to stand with Israel,” he said.

Asked whether he’d consider pre-emptive strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, Perry said there are “a lot of different ways to deal with Iran,” including diplomatically and financially, But he added, “I’m never going to take off the table our ability to have a military solution to a country like Iran.”

AMEN! Perry also said what needs to be said on Social Security

Asked by a woman in the crowd about Social Security being viewed as an entitlement program, Perry reiterated the suggestion in his anti-Washington book “Fed Up!” that the program amounts to a Ponzi scheme.

“It is a Ponzi scheme for these young people The idea that they’re working and paying into Social Security today (and) the current program is going to be there for them is a lie,” Perry said. “It is a monstrous lie on this generation, and we can’t do that to them.”

Later, in Des Moines, when a reporter asked about the suggestion his campaign was backing off some positions in the staunch states-rights book, Perry said, “I haven’t backed off anything in my book. So read the book again and get it right.”

Again, saying what has to be said!

Daily Benefactor News – Tea Party Bill Would Force Obama To Pay Creditors, Social Security And Military If Debt Limit Negotiations Fail

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Tea Party Bill Would Force Obama To Pay Creditors, Social Security And Military If Debt Limit Negotiations Fail – The Hill

Tea Party conservatives hope to make a push on the House floor to force President Obama to avoid a national default if Congress fails to raise the debt limit.

Members of the Senate Tea Party Caucus have met with House freshmen to discuss a plan to pressure House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to bring the Full Faith and Credit Act to the floor.

The legislation would direct Obama to prioritize federal payments to the nation’s creditors, Social Security recipients and soldiers serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The bill has been revised since it was introduced earlier this year. The previous version simply required the Treasury Department to pay the principal and interest on the debt held by the public over other obligations incurred by the federal government.

The challenge for conservatives is to persuade Boehner to bring it up for a vote in the ten days remaining before the Aug. 2 deadline.

“We have a bill that directs by law the president to pay the interest on the debt, pay social security checks and pay soldiers’ salaries. We’ve been talking with the House freshmen to see if they will force a vote on that next week,” said Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), a member of the Senate Tea Party Caucus.

“There are at least 100 members of the caucus that are in favor of it, they have to just convince their leadership it’s a good idea,” he said of the House Republican conference.

A House GOP aide confirmed that conservatives in the lower chamber are mulling the move.

“We’re certainly looking at the option of moving forward on that front,” said Brian Straessle, communications director of the House Republican Study Committee.

Obama has warned seniors that the federal government may not be able to disburse Social Security payments on Aug. 3 if Congress cannot agree to raise the debt limit.

“I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3 if we haven’t resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it,” Obama said earlier this month.

Republican strategists worry this could quickly turn public opinion against the GOP.

“Democrats have the leverage if we have to pay the Saudi royal family the money we owe them and granny doesn’t get her check,” a Senate Republican aide told The Hill earlier this month.

Even though public polling shows that a majority of people oppose raising the debt limit, Republican Senate leaders fear Democrats would quickly gain leverage in the event of a national default.

Conservatives want to pre-empt that reverse by forcing Obama to continue payments to seniors and soldiers. They worry if those two constituencies were harmed by a default, it would prove disastrous politically.

“The next step is that the president should take default off the table. He should tell the American people that he’ll pay the interest on the debt no matter whether there’s a deal by Aug. 2 or not,” Paul said.

“He should also quit threatening the seniors, tell the seniors they will get their checks,” he said of Obama.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has argued, however, that if Congress does not raise the debt limit and the administration continues to pay interest on the debt, Social Security recipients and military forces overseas, most other government services would come to a halt. He said this would leave Federal Aviation Administration towers, FBI offices and border control checkpoints unmanned.

Senate conservatives are also pushing their Tea Party-affiliated colleagues in the House to make a new push on the “cut, cap and balance” legislation that was defeated in the Senate Friday.

Senators voted 51 to 46 to table the legislation, which would have required Congress to pass a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, before raising the debt limit.

Senate Tea Party members want to reconsider it and believe they would have a better chance of getting another vote if the House passed the Senate’s version of the cut, cap and balance bill, according to a GOP aide.

These conservative senators believe their leadership should have made more of a concerted effort to push the bill, which would have cut $111 billion from the federal budget in fiscal year 2012 and caped spending at 19.9 percent of gross domestic product by 2021.

GOP leadership aides, however, argue that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pushed for three days of debate on the bill, which Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) then cut short.

McConnell said the debate showed Senate Republicans strongly supported a balanced budget amendment.

“I want to thank every American who’s spoken out in favor of the cut, cap, and balance plan,” he said on the floor Friday. “Today the American people will now know where we stand.”

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Your Blog Quote of the Day!

Via John at Sentry Journal. Read the whole thing and pass it on!

The President stated this is a job for professional politicians.

Oh I see the same professional politicians who helped create our housing crisis by forcing banks to make loans to people with a less than stellar credit rating. The same professional politicians who are destroying the value of our dollar QE1 and QE2.  The same politicians who raided the Social Security trust fund.  And finally the same politicians whose spending is so out of control we can’t even guarantee that Social Security checks will get out if our credit limit isn’t raised.

 

You know how I call Liberalism the Ideology of Convenience?

Well, Matt at Conservative Hideout has a great example of the truth behind that description. Social security was, a few weeks back, in great shape according to the Left. Now, however, when it is politically expedient for Liberals, Social Security is S.O.L.!

The latest case in point came yesterday, when the POTUS announced that Social Security checks might not go out in August unless the GOP sabotages the economy to Obama’s liking

Wait a freaking minute here! I seem to recall that over the last few months, we were consistently told that Social Security and Medicare were so well funded as to be bullet proof.  As Rep. Ryan’s buget plan was rolled out, we were told that Social Security was in great shape, and that Ryan and his GOP cohorts were just trying to kill off all the grannies (like there would be any left after ObamaCare anyway).

Here is what MSNBC had to say about it back in March of this year. 

But skeptics wonder: why pick on Social Security? Since Social Security will be solvent until 2037, why must it be part of any fiscal overhaul now?

Rep. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., a member of the Bowles-Simpson commission who voted against its recommendations, has accused Republicans of wanting “to raid Social Security to pay for their past failures to balance the books.”

He said Social Security has “$2.6 trillion in reserves dedicated to paying the retirement, disability and survivor benefits that American taxpayers have earned” and that $2.6 trillion “doesn’t add to our deficit.”

How very convenient.

Social Security And Medicare In Even Worse Shape Than Previously Thought

Social Security And Medicare In Even Worse Shape Than Previously Thought –

Social Security and Medicare Trustees Friday issued their annual report on the financial future of the two entitlement programs. The prognosis isn’t good, and, in fact, is even worse than was reported just one year ago.

According to the report, Social Security is now permanently cash negative and can no longer be funded solely from the payroll tax. It is projected to exhaust funds in 2036 — one year earlier than the report predicted last year.

Medicare isn’t faring any better. The trustees expect the fund to run out of money in 2024, and not 2029 as was previously expected. For the sixth year in a row, the trustees also, made an “excess general revenue Medicare funding” determination.

It only requires two consecutive determinations before the president is required to submit a legislative proposal to deal with the funding crisis within 15 day of his next budget.

“Today’s news that Social Security and Medicare will become insolvent even sooner than expected is a sobering wake up call and makes clear we must take action now to avoid catastrophe. Washington has no excuse. We have known for years this was coming.”

Social Security and Medicare have been front-and-center in recent months as lawmakers battle over the budget and which areas to cut spending. Those discussions were put into overdrive this week as debate about raising the debt ceiling heated up and lawmakers met at the White House for budget talks.

In a speech in New York Monday night, Speaker of the House John Boehner said that a vote to raise the debt ceiling would require “trillions” of dollars worth in spending cuts, suggesting that entitlement programs would be on the table.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell came out Thursday night saying that he would not vote to raise the debt limit without significant cuts and revisions to programs like Medicare.

McConnell did say, however, that changes to Social Security are likely to be off the table when it comes to the debt ceiling, despite its dire finances.

“I would love for Social Security to be a part of it,” he said. “The president can speak for himself, but I think he’s not interested in doing Social Security without raising taxes. We don’t think that’s necessary.”

In his statement, Sessions continued to hound the Democrats for budget proposal. “It has been 744 days since the Democrat-led Senate has passed a budget,” he said. “If the Senate goes another year without passing a budget it would be a national scandal.”

Click HERE For Rest Of Story

The ultimate danger of government entitlements?

The battleground of Wisconsin has been, and continues to be an amazing example of where so-called entitlement programs lead. Some government programs, like Social Security and Medicare were designed to help people. Yet, they have become a model of the failure of Socialism. Both programs are deeply in the red, and are unsustainable, yet millions of Americans are dependent on them, and any effort to seriously address fixing them is fraught with such political dangers that no politician dares to even contemplate such actions.

These “entitlement programs”, started in the name of helping people in need, have actually enslaved many of us. On one hand we can see these programs will collapse, likely sooner rather than later, yet we are too afraid to attempt a fix for them, so we are stuck in a vicious cycle, clinging to failing programs. Liberal Democrats love such programs because they are convinced that all solutions for all problems must come from Washington DC. They love that millions and million of us are hooked on the crack of entitlements. The more Americans dependent on entitlements, the more power the Democrats wield. And let us face facts, if you think Social Security or Medicare are powerful drugs, just wait until ObamaCare becomes rooted in American’s lives. It will be the mother of all entitlements!

Of course, the battles in Wisconsin, as well as other sates between public employee unions and governors trying to right the fiscal ships of their state governments involves a different type of entitlement. The benefit packages that many government employees enjoy have become, like Social Security and Medicare, unsustainable in many states. Governors, like Scott Walker of Wisconsin, have, in an effort to rein in the fiscal insanity of their state budgets, asked public employees to pay for a bit more of their benefits. the reaction from the public employees unions has been, well, a bit like a vampire’s reaction to sunlight.

You see, these public employees are looking at their benefits as if they are, “entitled” to them. As if they are OWED them. Never mind that they pay far less than private sector employees for health care and other benefits. Forget that they are being asked to pay very small amounts of their salaries to help offset the costs of these benefits. Forget too that they will likely lose their jobs if they do not help address the desperate need to cut government costs in their states. Forget it all because they are, say it with me, ENTITLED! And when a governor, or a state legislature reminds them of the limits of entitlements? What happens then? Apparently some are willing to kill to keep what they feel they are entitled to.

The union backers are getting uglier. Now, they are straight out threatening to put bullets in the heads of Wisconsin Republicans:

From: XXXX
Sent: Wed 3/9/2011 9:18 PM
To: Sen.Kapanke; Sen.Darling; Sen.Cowles; Sen.Ellis; Sen.Fitzgerald; Sen.Galloway; Sen.Grothman; Sen.Harsdorf; Sen.Hopper; Sen.Kedzie; Sen.Lasee; Sen.Lazich; Sen.Leibham; Sen.Moulton; Sen.Olsen
Subject: Atten: Death threat!!!! Bomb!!!!

Please put your things in order because you will be killed and your familes
will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks. Please explain
to them that this is because if we get rid of you and your families then it
will save the rights of 300,000 people and also be able to close the deficit
that you have created. I hope you have a good time in hell. Read below for
more information on possible scenarios in which you will die.

WE want to make this perfectly clear. Because of your actions today and in
the past couple of weeks I and the group of people that are working with me
have decided that we’ve had enough. We feel that you and the people that
support the dictator have to die. We have tried many other ways of dealing
with your corruption but you have taken things too far and we will not stand
for it any longer. So, this is how it’s going to happen: I as well as many
others know where you and your family live, it’s a matter of public records.
We have all planned to assult you by arriving at your house and putting a
nice little bullet in your head. However, we decided that we wouldn’t leave
it there. We also have decided that this may not be enough to send the
message to you since you are so “high” on Koch and have decided that you are
now going to single handedly make this a dictatorship instead of a
demorcratic process. So we have also built several bombs that we have placed
in various locations around the areas in which we know that you frequent.
This includes, your house, your car, the state capitol, and well I won’t
tell you all of them because that’s just no fun. Since we know that you are
not smart enough to figure out why this is happening to you we have decided
to make it perfectly clear to you. If you and your goonies feel that it’s
necessary to strip the rights of 300,000 people and ruin their lives, making
them unable to feed, clothe, and provide the necessities to their families
and themselves then We Will “get rid of” (in which I mean kill) you. Please
understand that this does not include the heroic Rep. Senator that risked
everything to go aganist what you and your goonies wanted him to do. We feel
that it’s worth our lives to do this, because we would be saving the lives
of 300,000 people. Please make your peace with God as soon as possible and
say goodbye to your loved ones we will not wait any longer. YOU WILL DIE!!!!

Again, recall that these people are not being asked to take a pay cut, they are not being laid off, no. They are merely being asked to have their benefits reduced a bit so they will NOT BE FIRED or laid off! But, I suppose that some folks take the entitlement mentality to extremes don’t they? And that, my friends is the ultimate danger when government starts “entitling” Americans isn’t it? What happens when those entitlements are cut, or limited? Wisconsin offers us a glimpse!

You do not have to be a complete idiot to think like Thomas Friedman, but, it helps

Good freaking grief, if you wanted a perfect example of someone educated beyond their hat size, it would be Friedman as Noel Sheppard points out

Consider that after the impact the Tea Party has had on our nation’s politics the past 20 months, and the historic elections that just took place on November 2, Times columnist Tom Friedman actually thinks Americans aren’t interested in reducing the federal deficit but are instead yearning for higher taxes and greater government spending:

I believe most Americans don’t want a plan for deficit reduction. The Tea Party’s vision is narrow and uninspired. Americans want a plan to make America great again, and at some level they know that such a plan will require a hybrid politics — one that blends elements of both party’s instincts. And they will follow a president — they would even pay more taxes and give up more services — if they think he really has a plan to make America great again, not just bring him victory in 2012 by 50.1 percent.

The Tea Party’s vision is uninspired? Friedman ought to get out of 620 Eighth Avenue and talk to some Democrats that’ll be leaving Washington, D.C., when the new Congress gets sworn in next year.

What Americans on November 2 clearly said was uninspired are the tired and worn out policies of Obama, Pelosi, and Reid that are mortgaging the future of this nation on the backs of generations not yet having a say in how their money is being spent.

But missing this was just the beginning of Friedman’s myopia for he then rattled off what he considers solutions: 

We need to raise gasoline and carbon taxes to discourage their use and drive the creation of a new clean energy industry, while we cut payroll and corporate taxes to encourage employment and domestic investment. We need to cut Medicare and Social Security entitlements at the same time as we make new investments in infrastructure, schools and government-financed research programs that will spawn the next Google and Intel. 

Why I like Rick Perry

Perry is the governor of my state of Texas, and no, he is not pertfect. But, I will tell you that he gets it on many crucial issues. Like Social Security for instance.

Gov. Rick Perry stopped off in the Alamo City on Tuesday for a bite of barbecue and a bit of promotion for his new book — and called for completely repealing President Barack Obama’s health care legislation while he was at it. In his 12-minute speech at Augie’s Barbed Wire Smokehouse Bar-B-Que near Brackenridge Park, Perry took on the federal government, from health care reform to Social Security. Perry pushed for a repeal of Obama’s health care legislation “in its entirety.”

“You can’t go through this piece by piece. You need to repeal it in its entirety,” he said. “Then let’s have them start anew from the premise that the states can better handle these questions.”

Perry criticized President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal and an early 20th-century “progressive era” movement that “gave the federal government access to our wallets via taxation.”

Calling the New Deal “a glut of federal programs,” Perry said the creation of the Social Security system did very little to end the Great Depression.

“Unfortunately, the New Deal has essentially become the third rail of American politics that indiscriminately kills the political careers of any leader bold enough to criticize it or any program it created,” he said.

In a post-speech news conference, Perry further attacked Social Security — as he did in his book “Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America from Washington” — and said he did so to create a “national dialogue.”

“I want people to be afraid not to talk about that Social Security is bankrupt and is a Ponzi scheme and if you’ve got a young 20-something-year-old, they know for a fact that they’re not ever going to see that,” he said. “So let’s fix it.”

Go read the entitre story, I think that you will like Perry a more and more the more you study his principles. He denies, for now anyway, a possible run for the White House, but I would love to see him throw his hat in the ring. He is, in my mind anyway, one of the top candidates that has a firm grasp on the changes America needs to set itself on a better course!

Daily Benefactor News – The Code Pink Killing Fields: How Far Left Activists & Barbara Boxer Aided Enemy Agents In Iraq – More Articles

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The Code Pink Killing Fields: How Far Left Activists & Barbara Boxer Aided Enemy Agents In Iraq – Gateway Pundit

On November 22, 2004, the socialist anti-American group Code Pink sent out a plea to supporters to help send assistance to the “refugees” from Fallujah, Iraq.

Today, as CODEPINK was busily preparing a year-end humanitarian mission to Iraq, we received an urgent message. It was from our dear friend Dahr Jamail, an amazing American independent journalist who has been risking his life to get the true story of Fallujah to the American public:

“I have just come from a refugee camp in Baghdad with families from Fallujah. The suffering is beyond description. It’s worse than anything you’ve read or anything I’ve written so far.

This is a humanitarian crisis. They need medicines for their camp and the other camps immediately. We have an organization set up of doctors who can distribute the medicines and supplies. BUT WE NEED THEM NOW! THIS CANNOT WAIT!”
Solidarity,
Dahr

The next day, on November 23, 2004, Code Pink announced that they had raised nearly $20,000 in one day for “refugess” from Fallujah.

Yesterday we put out an urgent call for aid to refugees from Fallujah, with an initial goal of raising $20,000. The response was amazing. From a $10 donation from a high school student to a $1,000 gift from a medical doctor, the compassion of the American people began to shine through the fog of war. In less than 24 hours, we surpassed our goal and that’s just the online donations!

In addition, a humanitarian aid group donated 300 pounds of priority medical supplies, Cliff Bar is donating high-protein bars for the children, an Iraqi-American returning home offered to be our on-the-ground liaison and people are pledging to do holiday house parties to raise more funds.

When we contacted journalist Dahr Jamail to tell him to good news, he was elated. “Holy cow, $20,000 already? I’m catching my breath. This is so beautiful.” Dahr had just returned from a visit to the Red Crescent, who said they could only care for “at most” 60,000 refugees. “This leaves at least 140,000 refugees, mostly women and children, with no support,” said Dahr. “These supplies will be their lifeline.”

On December 3, 2004, Code Pink announced that after only one week into their campaign they had sent $30,000 to Iraq. Their contact Dahr Jamail claimed the donations bought blankets, warm clothing, food, portable heaters, cooking stoves, stove and heater fuel, antibiotics, needles, sterile gloves, pain medications, gauze, basic first aid materials, water tanks, pipes, water pumps and water purification materials. Dahr Jamail and Code Pink also claimed that these supplies had already distributed to the refugees. The radicals at Code Pink must run an amazingly efficient operation. We’ll discuss Dahr Jamail below.

Code Pink later reported that they had collected $100,000 in donations. It was also reported that “humanitarian groups” such as the Middle East Children’s Alliance and Operation USA contributed $500,000 worth of medical supplies.

Code Pink was ready to deliver their supplies and donations to the Fallujah refugees. But there was a problem. They needed assistance from Congress to approve their trip. In stepped Senator Barabara Boxer (D-CA) along with Representatives Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and Henry Waxman (D-CA). These radical members of Congress signed letters to approve their trip to Jordan and the Iraqi border.

These Congressional members wrote this letter despite the fact that in September 2004, Code Pink participated in and just endorsed the Beirut communique, which supported “the right of the people of Iraq and Palestine to resist the occupations” and called for “the unconditional withdrawal of US and ‘coalition’ forces from Iraq.”

With their signatures on the Beirut Communique Code Pink condoned the murder of US soldiers and Marines. Yet Barbara Boxer and Congressional leftists approved of their trip to the Iraqi border.

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Democrats Attempt To Bribe Seniors With $250 Social Security Checks – Sweetness & Light

Democrats are making a pre-election pitch to give Social Security recipients a one-time payment of $250, part of a larger effort to convince senior voters that their party, and not Republicans.

President Obama has urged Congress to approve the $250 payment. House and Senate Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid say they will bring up the legislation when lawmakers return in November.

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Lisa Murkowksi Funded By ‘Rent-An-Eskimo’ Racket – Washington Examiner

Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s write-in candidacy is being funded by $100,000 contributions from a handful of Alaska corporations that have been handsomely subsidized by the federal government.

These six-figure donors have pulled in billions of taxpayer dollars thanks to special legislative favors from Murkowski and her mentors the late Sen. Ted Stevens, and Lisa’s father, former governor Frank Murkowski

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Howard Dean: ‘Elections Are Not The Time To Educate People’ – CNS

Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean says Democrat candidates should wait until they win before “educating” constituents about the benefits they will derive from Obamacare.

NPR’s Scott Simon asked Dean on Saturday why Democrats are not touting the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act while campaigning. “I don’t think we should be making the case right now,” Dean said.

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Maxine Waters’ Pro-Communist Past – New Zeal

Embattled Californian Congresswoma Maxine Waters began her political career as an ally of the Communist Party USA. Waters supported several party front organizations including the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.

This 1982 pamphlet reveals just willing then California State Assemblywoman Waters was to lend her name to Party causes.

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St. Jude Agrees To Buy AGA Medical For $1.04B – NewsMeat

St. Jude Medical Inc. said Monday it will boost its cardiovascular business by buying rival heart device maker AGA Medical Holdings Inc. for $1.04 billion, or $20.80 per share.

In the cash and stock deal, St. Jude is offering a premium of 41 percent compared to AGA’s latest closing price. St. Jude is also taking on $225 million in debt held by AGA, and it expects the deal to close by year-end.

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Goat Sacrifice Row Spurs Fatal Stampede In Bihar – Bangalore Mirror

An argument over sacrificing goats on the last day of Navratri festival triggered a stampede that killed 10 people on Sunday in a packed temple in India’s Bihar state.

“More than 45,000 devotees had thronged the temple at Tildiha village under Sambhuganj Police Station area for offering prayers and sacrificing goats when the stampede occurred,” said the Police Director General.

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Democrats Busing Students To Polls During School Hours – Cincinnati Enquirer

Three van loads of Hughes High students were taken last week – during school hours – to vote and given sample ballots only for Democrat candidates and then taken for ice cream, a Monday lawsuit alleges.

The complaint was made by Thomas Brinkman Jr., a Republican candidate for Hamilton County auditor, and the Coalition Opposed to Additional Spending and Taxes against Cincinnati Public Schools.

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If You Remember Nothing Else On November 2, 2010, Remember This…