the bully boy speaks tonight. check for the ear piece and transmitter as he drones on about social security is headed for ruin.
why? coz he wants to please wall street by turning over our monies that would go to social security over to them. it's a windfall for them. it's a loser for us. i lost money in 2002. i have friends who lost money in 2002. including 1 who thought she could retire in 2003. she's still working. trying to rebuild the money that is lost.
privatizing social security will remove the safety net that is supposed to be part of an advanced society. this is not just about the elderly, this is also about the handicapped.
i know you hear a lot of numbers and sherry says they are mind numbing and over her head. forget the numbers for a moment and just look around you. that's what i want you to do tomorrow. look at the people around you.
there's that senior you see every morning in her jogging suit out walking. there's the kid in the wheel chair who always waves at you. who's helping them?
who is going to help them?
and i want you to ask yourself why did we ever start up the social security program to begin with? we started it because it was necessary because so many elderly people were living in poverty. some of them had invested in the stock market. the great depression isn't all that long ago.
right now we have guaranteed benefits. all of us. and the bully boy wants to trash that. he wants to give us the "right" of "ownership." we already own social security. it is our program and it has lifted so many up from extreme poverty. 'personal accounts' will not lift us up.
i want you to think about some stories that the center for american progress has highlighted
at http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=312901 like this 1:
"I live on $700 a month in Social Security disability, no food stamps, no welfare, just a $700 Social Security check each month. I worked from the time I was 14 years old, I am now 50 and can no longer work. I depend on the Social Security system to survive."
to any who say 'oh, but, rebecca, the bully boy is talking about younger generations' i say there's no such fixed thing. none of us stay young forever. maybe cher, god bless her, but the rest of us are getting older. today's 17 year old thinking she can invest in a 'personal account' is tomorrow's 62 year old finding out she better like wearing a blue smock because she'll be a wal-mart greeter for the rest of her life since the market wasn't her 'buddy.'
how about this woman's story, also from the center for american progress:
I am 10 years older than the letter writer. I remember when some older folks without funds lived out their days at a county poor farm. Some older women had to work as domestics for little or no pay wherever they could find a place to sleep, perhaps as caretaker for a disabled person or as housekeeper in a single man's home…
is that how you see yourself on down the line? is that your idea of 'quality of life.'
randi rhodes has this great line about the anti-choice wing nuts: "support the fetus, hate the child!" the bully boy's plan can be summed up as 'support the market, starve the elderly and disabled.'
if you're some 1 who needs talking points, the center for american progress has them, http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=309712:
Social Security privatization refers to the replacement of part of Social Security with a system of individual accounts. Part of workers' payroll would go into individual accounts, instead of paying for promised benefits.
With individual accounts, the risks of saving for retirement are privatized.
Workers are no longer protected from large stock market fluctuations, from the risk of running out of money in the middle of retirement, and from unforeseen spells of unemployment and low earnings during their working careers.
there are more there if you need talking points to understand the issue.
i don't need talking points and i honestly don't think you need them. all you need is your own eyes and the desire to use them. look around your own neighborhood. think of how many people are effected. look in the mirror too coz i don't care if you're 16 or 70, you've got some wrinkles. if you're young and can't picture yourself ever effected, go stand in the front of the mirror and study those fine lines closely. it may seem like retirement is something that will never happen to you. i used to feel that way about death myself.
but we are all getting older and this effects us all.
the bully boy can spin and lie all he wants. but he cannot stop the aging process and neither can you. this is not something for the elderly to worry about alone or something the baby boomers need to focus on only. this is about all of us. and it is about the kind of country we want to have and the kind of people we want to be.
if you're all for destroying the safety net that has lifted so many, i seriously wonder how you relate to any 1. if we are a caring people, a humane people, then we have to strive to make sure that we are all protected. that is what social security has done. that is what it can continue to do.
it is not going bankrupt. for it to do that, the whole country would have to go bankrupt. the bully boy wants to scare you so bad that you tremble and scream, 'good lord, save us!' there's nothing to save you from. this is as trumped up as one of homeland security's warnings during the election cycle. there is no crisis.
no 1's saying 'we're headed for a crisis on national defense spending!' they never say that. there's always money for that. after 9-11, you'd think some might ask what all that money went to since in the end it didn't buy us any protection at all. but they'll continue to find money for that.
it's more nonsense from the bully boy who thinks if he scares enough we'll ignore reality and march in lock step with him while pleading 'save us, save us.'
reality is all around you. use your own eyes tomorrow. if you need more than that, ask around. talk to people who's lives have been lifted and are lifted by social security. you might find out 1 of your best friends depended on social security because she lost her father before she was 10.
you might find out that a neighbor who's struggling to make the increased fuel payment in this cold winter is barely getting by but wouldn't even be making it without social security.
the bully boy is using scare tactics. as usual. and when people are scared, they don't think clearly. so take a breath and look around.
sherry says that all the facts and figures tend to overwhelm her. that happens with a lot of people. so if all the talk of numbers is just confusing you, find real life examples in your area. it's not hard to do. this is a successful program that has helped many and it is a necessary program.
he lied us into war and now he wants to lie us into extreme poverty in our old age. remember that. and do what the mainstream media won't do for you, put a face on the issue so that it's not just numbers but actually has meaning to you.
