I'll give you a hint....they are smiling because Social Security reform is coming.
Social Security reform is coming. You can tell by the smiling nice guy personas being adopted around Washington in uncommon bipartisan fashion.
That quote was from an article that you can read Here
Remember the good old days? The days when Social Security was the third rail of politics and no politician would touch it with a ten foot pole? Gone, dead, buried.
Bruce Webb put up a diary this morning listing all the links to Social Security Op-eds. There are sixteen links and I challenge you to find one that says, "Don't worry folks, we got this covered, no problem, Social Security is safe."
You'll find reference to the bad media reporting such as in this article at Reuters:
http://blogs.reuters.com/...
Full disclosure: No doubt, you’re wondering: isn’t it a case of pot-calling-the-kettle-black for a Reuters contributor to criticize media coverage of Social Security? No. My review of Reuters news coverage on Social Security turns up just one story that conflates Social Security and the deficit — and in glancing fashion, at that. Opinion writers are another matter.
We have the political wrangling exemplified by this article...is the party that takes down Social Security dead in the water? Let's hope so. That used to be the case, maybe not anymore.
http://www.politico.com/...
“They are suckers,” said one senior Democratic congressional aide of the House GOP plans to release the first detailed proposals to reduce entitlement spending. “They have painted themselves into a corner.”
Even if the budgets don't show cuts...watch out if you plan to apply for Social Security and Disability because there will be fewer people to process your request.
Aha! Another way to screw you!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
I've heard this one several times in the past few days, and it's wrong. The president's budget doesn't cut Social Security -- at least not so far -- but Rep. Eric Cantor says that the Republicans will propose cuts to both Social Security and Medicare. And while the Republican Continuing Resolution for Fiscal Year 2011 doesn't explicitly cut Social Security benefits, it provides $625 million less to administer those benefits than was provided last year -- and nearly a billion dollars less than was originally budgeted.
That means that people will receive less in benefits, whether they're officially "cut" or not
At the risk of sounding like a broken record....Social Security is not safe. At least, not safe for you. I've got mine. I'm on Social Security. Not even the vilest of Republicans is talking about taking it away from current recipients so my husband and I are in the "protected class." On the other hand, you folks have a real problem.
But...but even Fox news viewers (they are mostly old people) would not want their Social Security cut! Heh, think again...this coment by msmacgyver
explains why we shouldn't count on Fox watching seniors to help us with this fight.
Calling Frank Luntz...
From Fox:
By mid-afternoon, cutting SS benefits will be the best thing the GOP has ever done. It's patriotic and makes people free from Big Government.
By this evening, privatizing SS will be the best way to save SS. Handing over the SS fund to Wall Street to manage is the Christian thing to do.
Okay, a little snarky but the fact is, Fox will make every effort to sell an idea to their viewers and if the Republicans want "entitlements" cut, Fox will parrot the cut.
I'd like to leave you with a "don't worry" it'll work itself out but we are a reality based community so I can't.
Now our job is to wipe that smile off their faces.