Obama, McCain Parry On Social Security

Dem Tells AARP That Republican Candidate Would Undermine Program; McCain Says He Is Against Privatization

(AP)  Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama criticized Republican John McCain's approach to Social Security on Saturday, saying it would undermine the government program aimed mainly at retirees. McCain said he would preserve Social Security.

Both candidates spoke via satellite to a gathering of the AARP, the nation's largest group of older Americans.

Obama said McCain's campaign has suggested trimming Social Security benefits, raising the eligibility age and privatizing a portion of the program.

"Privatizing Social Security was a bad idea when George Bush proposed it, and it's a bad idea today," Obama said.

He also said that McCain has called the way Social Security works "an absolute disgrace." McCain has said he meant that it was disgraceful that young workers might eventually receive fewer benefits than current retirees.

McCain said repeatedly that he did not favor privatization of Social Security.

"I'm committed to protecting and preserving Social Security," he said. "I will protect and preserve it. I won't hand it off to an unluckier generation - a system that is broken."

He said that in seeking a solution, he would be guided by some basic principles: not to raise taxes and to insure that retirees and workers close to retirement would not be affected by any changes. "There may be a role for private investment accounts for younger workers as long as they are not a substitute for insuring the solvency of the system and does not affect the system," McCain said.

McCain said he would bring Democrats and Republicans together to find an answer, much like President Ronald Reagan and the late House Speaker Thomas O'Neill did in the early 1980s with a commission that strengthened Social Security's solvency for many years. He referred to Reagan as a liberal but quickly corrected himself to say conservative.

"Every day we delay the more radical the fix has to be," McCain said.

Asked how he would save Social Security, protect workers' pensions and at the same time help Americans save, McCain audibly sighed and said, "It's a very tough problem."

All workers pay Social Security payroll taxes on the first $102,000 of their annual income. The money pays for benefits for current retirees and for other government programs. Analysts say the program will begin running short of funds in a few decades if it is not changed.

Obama cited his proposals to place a new Social Security payroll tax on incomes above $250,000 and to eliminate federal income taxes for older people making less than $50,000 a year. He also said he would "allow the government to negotiate with drug companies to lower costs for seniors, and we'll allow reimportation of drugs from other countries and ensure their safety."

The Wall Street Journal reported in March that McCain's top aides were "considering cost-of-living adjustment cuts and raising the retirement age as part of their Social Security plan." McCain has not endorsed or rejected those ideas.


The AP's White House Correspondent Terence Hunt reported from Colorado Springs, Colo.

[bhappy2-2]

Obama admits McCain "has not talked about my Muslim faith".

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/?pageId
=74635

[robert6781]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrATS6o95
BI&feature=related

Obama''''s brother proves Obama is a Muslim with photo. See link above.

I''m not the one who is "stupid" skyk. LOL

[skyk-2009]

As a Hillary Democrat, I am THRILLED to see that Obama is trailing McCain.

I will NEVER forgive him for trashing Hillary and Prez Clinton..... and how DARE him not to vet Hillary as VP even though Hillary won MORE votes than he did.

I want him to LOSE!!!!

Party Unity My A$$

Posted by metroduck75 at 07:35 AM : Sep 08, 2008

LOL Trailing him where?! LOL These polls do this EVERY election.. This is a three way race with MILLIONS of NEW voters, taking a poll of "Most Likely" Voters is about as important as taking the temp of a dead man! LOL But you hate so well and are so funny when it turns against you... keep it up! Obama 08

[skyk-2009]

American''s have got to understand that these Problems are NOT going to fix themselves. People who come to you with this, I will form a commission to study the problem are telling you they don''t have a solution nor the courage to get one. THEY simply want you to vote for them so they can do what Bush has done. When the PEOPLE of this nation told Bush in NO uncertain terms that HIS idea was a non starter suddenly it was just dropped, forgotten. Now McSame, after all those years in the senate comes out and wants to solve the problem by forming another study commission! Yeah right! Obama 08

[skyk-2009]

Still, Obama remains committed to making those who pay the most taxes pay even more taxes. Let%u2019s put that in other words too: raising taxes has nothing to do with the economy under the Obama plan and everything to do with wealth redistribution. Under the blathering, under the equivocation, under the confusion generated by the vague words, Obama is stating %u201CThis is socialism. Taxes are not about paying for the government, a cost that should be kept to a reasonable minimum so that Americans can manage their own money and keep the money growing. They are about punishing the rich, and redistributing wealth in America under the government aegis.%u201D


Posted by Robert6781 at 07:33 AM : Sep 08, 2008

What this loser is saying is he wants us to continue the Bush Economics even though it''s NEVER worked and even though the Obama plan, developed by Clinton, DID! If you are stupid enough to continue the failures we see before us every day, then YOU deserve to compete with 30 Cents a Day in Wages!! Obama O8

[metroduck75]

As a Hillary Democrat, I am THRILLED to see that Obama is trailing McCain.

I will NEVER forgive him for trashing Hillary and Prez Clinton..... and how DARE him not to vet Hillary as VP even though Hillary won MORE votes than he did.

I want him to LOSE!!!!

Party Unity My A$$

[betty2700635]

I don''t care who is the president,but I care who will take me money,by the way I have met many mature *** women on --B O O M E R C U P I D .COM/--boomercupid has become more and more populer for meeting mature men and women

[trrrorislami]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=OBAMA+CRACK COCAINE USE

IS HUSSEIN STILL A CRACKHEAD???

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=OBAMA CRACKHEAD

and the DEMONIC-RATS want him to be president???

[trrrorislami]

OMG HUSSEIN IS GAY AND WAS STILL ABUSING COCAINE,,,

no wonder he loves frisco,,, he misses his buddies behind,,,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUNEip42xsM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw2hc05HwPw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ13qyFup98

[gfuss2]

Hi all,
I''ll reply to ainttaken above.
Amen ainttaken.
This morn on cspan a speechwriter for Reagan (Judge Clark)said: "we can''''t ballance the ss fund on the back of General Revenue fund. Why??I ask. That''''s exactly what happened in reverse when in the middle of night yrs ago they passed the law that allowed the politicians, (both sides) to ballance General fund so as to slip in earmarks by the ton to take pork back home to get themselves re-elected. In other words using our retirement money to sponser their greedy ***** to re-elect themselves.Yes, We should now Fund the losses w/ general revenue fund from whence it (the losses) came. In other words --Pay the *** money back. Period