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In an interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, John Boehner argues that the
Social Security retirement age needs to be raised:
Ensuring there’s enough money to pay for the war will require reforming the country’s entitlement system, Boehner said. He said he’d favor increasing the Social Security retirement age to 70 for people who have at least 20 years until retirement, tying cost-of-living increases to the consumer price index rather than wage inflation and limiting payments to those who need them.
“We need to look at the American people and explain to them that we’re broke,” Boehner said. “If you have substantial non-Social Security income while you’re retired, why are we paying you at a time when we’re broke? We just need to be honest with people.”
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Cforchange // Jun 29, 2010 at 4:18 pm
“We need to look at the American politician’s and explain to them that we’re broke,” The People said. “If you have substantial non-government income while you’re respresenting The People, why are we paying you at a time when we’re broke? We just need to be honest with Congress.”
Time for fair play.
Rabiner // Jun 29, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Am I reading something practical coming from Beohner? He’s advocating increasing the retirement age and means testing to reduce payments to seniors who don’t really need social security? That’s a great start to reforming Entitlements and I hope they campaign on an actual policy solution for once.
easton // Jun 29, 2010 at 5:43 pm
Amen to this, and the 20 year rule is absolutely fair. In fact, 1962 was the cutoff for 68, starting from then raise it 3 months a year so that those born after 1970 the retirement age will be 70. And do the same thing with Medicare.
But the rest of what he said was sheer lunacy: “We are going to do everything we can to make sure that this law and this program never really takes effect,” Boehner said. One option would be to repeal the $534 billion in Medicare cuts, which pay for more than half of the law’s provisions. “They’re going to need money from the Congress to hire these 20,000-plus bureaucrats they need to hire to make this program work. They’re not going to get one dime from us.”
Wow, I get they don’t want it, but how about not repealing the cuts, instead using them to pay off the debt? What a petty schmuck. The Republicans are willing to throw away 534 billion dollars in industry giveaways, money that comes out of taxpayers wallets, to prevent the poor from getting insurance. How noble.
“Boehner said Obama overreacted to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The spill might warrant a “pause” in deepwater drilling, but Obama’s blanket ban on drilling in the gulf — which a judge overturned last week — could devastate the region’s economy, he said.”
Overreacted, I thought he underreacted. Look, the ban affects 31 rigs that are drilling new wells, not the thousands that are already pumping up oil. If there is another spill from a new drill, that would be it for the Gulf, for off sea drilling, should be for Republicans, all because Obama said “look, lets not push our luck, lets fix this mess first.” Personally, I think if they sent inspectors to everyone of the 31 rigs we could do it safely, but another blowout, however small the chances, is just too risky.
And there was this idiocy: Boehner criticized the financial regulatory overhaul compromise reached last week between House and Senate negotiators as an overreaction to the financial crisis that triggered the recession. The bill would tighten restrictions on lending, create a consumer protection agency with broad oversight power and give the government an orderly way to dissolve the largest financial institutions if they run out of money.
“This is killing an ant with a nuclear weapon,” Boehner said. What’s most needed is more transparency and better enforcement by regulators, he said.
So the financial meltdown, the 10% unemployment, the whole brink of a Depression, was an ant?
And how can you have more transparency and better enforcement with regulation and regulators?
CAPryde // Jun 29, 2010 at 10:09 pm
I love how he wants to fix the fact that we’re “broke” with a solution that will take place in . . . wait for it . . . 20 years. That’s talking tough to the American people, John! Tell’em the truth! In two decades they are going to have to give some things up! Or rather, some of them will have to give some things up! The ones who, interestingly, tend not to vote Republican!
lol