Graham Attacks Social Security

It's no secret that the Republican Party hates Social Security.   They opposed it when it was proposed and tried to defeat it.   Since then they have done all they can to abolish the program.   This program, which has probably worked as well or better than any federal program, simply doesn't fit in their economic policy preferences -- to keep giving the rich more and more money while they try to convince people that eventually some of that money will "trickle down" to the rest of America.

Republicans simply don't understand a program designed to help people that actually need help.   But they've been bitten in the past by their efforts to destroy Social Security.   That's because it remains a very popular program with the vast majority of Americans.   During the Bush administration they tried to do away with Social Security by "privatizing" the program and letting their rich Wall Street buddies get rich off of "investing" the money.   That proved to be very unpopular, and they finally had to back down and abandon that idea (at least for a while).

Since then they've been trying to soften up the public for the idea of cutting Social Security benefits.   They've done this by spreading the lie (and it is a lie) that the Social Security program is in serious trouble.   They say that the program will be bankrupted and unavailable for future generations unless Social Security benefits (a literal lifeline for poor and working Americans) are cut in drastic ways.   Sadly, they've been repeating this lie for so long that a few people are beginning to believe them, including some Democrats on Capitol Hill.

The fact is that without changes the Social Security would be able to continue paying full benefits to all that qualify until at least 2027, and one tweak in the collection of Social Security taxes could fund the program fully for many generations -- without cutting benefits in any way.   All that needs to be done is to raise or eliminate the income cap on Social Security taxes.   In other words, make the rich pay Social Security taxes on all their income just like working people do.

But the Republicans won't do that.   The thought of their rich buddies actually paying their fare share (that is, the same percentage of their income that everyone else pays) is anathema to Republicans.   They would much rather penalize the workers than make the rich pay the same as everyone else.   And now that we have a Republican-controlled House of Representatives, these attacks on Social Security will begin to pick up some steam.

The first volley in this renewed attack on Social Security by the incoming Congress was fired by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina).   Graham (pictured above) said a couple of days ago that he's ready to hold this country hostage by refusing to raise the debt ceiling (which could cause enormous economic problems) if Social Security benefits are not cut.

Graham said,   "I will not vote for a debt ceiling increase until I see a plan in place that will deal with our long-term debt obligations starting with Social Security."   Graham's statement makes it sound like Social Security is one of the things responsible for our national deficit -- and that is just not true.   Social Security is a program funded completely by taxes paid by Americans specifically for that program.   Cutting (or raising) Social Security benefits will have absolutely no effect on the budget deficit -- unlike the massive tax cuts for the rich recently forced on Congress by Republicans, which raised the deficit by about $400 billion a year.

The truth is that this attack on Social Security has nothing to do with the budget deficit.   This is just another Republican effort to confuse the issue so they can damage the program and eventually abolish it.   Cutting benefits in any way (including raising the retirement age) is not only unnecessary, but it will hurt working people -- the very people it was designed to help.

We must hope the Democrats and the president will not fall for this nonsense, and that they'll resist the Republican efforts to damage Social Security.   The only change needed for Social Security is to make everyone, including the rich, pay Social Security taxes on all their personal income -- and even that change does not have to be made immediately.

Don't believe the Republican lies.   Social Security does not have to be damaged to be fixed.