Like many of others, I receive forwarded emails from friends and acquaintances. And as we all probably know, the right fringe rabble, the teabaggers, those folks who vote against their own economic well being over and over, seem to be the ones who like to forward stuff more often than not.
Normally, I skim these crazy emails and if I haven't seen them before, I might file them away in a special place I have for batshit virals. If I've seen them before (and about 80% of the time I have, because they tend to send out the same stuff over and over), I just delete them.
This past week, however, I received the same viral email from two hard core righties in two different states. That's a sure indication that this particular viral email has legs among the normally misinformed set.
Read the whole email below the fold...
The person who forwarded this copy of this letter added his comment at the top:
Now this is what I call an angry letter to Senator (one of obamas “A-holes”)
I included that here because I think it's noteworthy that this guy thinks that former Senator Alan Simpson is "one of obama's "A-holes""
So we agree on that much. Obama appointed him to his deficit commission, so therefore, Obama bought him and now Obama owns him. And is Simpson an "A-hole"? Well, certainly for his position on Social Security he is!
Here is the whole letter. The subject line read "Rude and to the point. Very much worth reading..."
Alan Simpson, Senator from Wyoming, Co-Chair of Obama's deficit commission, calls senior citizens the Greediest Generation as he compared "Social Security" to a Milk Cow with 310 million teats. August, 2010.
Here’s a response in a letter from a unknown fellow in Montana…
“Hey Alan, let’s get a few things straight…
- As a career politician, you have been on the public dole for FIFTY YEARS.
- I have been paying Social Security taxes for 48 YEARS (since I was 15 years old. I am now 63).
- My Social Security payments, and those of millions of other Americans, were safely tucked away in an interest bearing account for decades until you political pukes decided to raid the account and give OUR money to a bunch of zero ambition losers in return for votes, thus bankrupting the system and turning Social Security into a Ponzi scheme that would have made Bernie Madoff proud.
- Recently, just like Lucy & Charlie Brown, you and your ilk pulled the proverbial football away from millions of American seniors nearing retirement and moved the goalposts for full retirement from age 65 to age 67. NOW, you and your shill commission is proposing to move the goalposts YET AGAIN.
- I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying into Medicare from Day One, and now you morons propose to change the rules of the game. Why? Because you idiots mismanaged other parts of the economy to such an extent that you need to steal money from Medicare to pay the bills.
- I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying income taxes our entire lives, and now you propose to increase our taxes yet again. Why? Because you incompetent bastards spent our money so profligately that you just kept on spending even after you ran out of money. Now, you come to the American taxpayers and say you need more to pay off YOUR debt.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To add insult to injury, you label us “greedy” for calling “bullshit” on your incompetence. Well, Captain Bullshit, I have a few questions for YOU.
- How much money have you earned from the American taxpayers during your pathetic 50-year political career?
- At what age did you retire from your pathetic political career, and how much are you receiving in annual retirement benefits from the American taxpayers?
- How much do you pay for YOUR government provided health insurance?
- What cuts in YOUR retirement and healthcare benefits are you proposing in your disgusting deficit reduction proposal, or, as usual, have you exempted yourself and your political cronies?
It is you, Captain Bullshit, and your political co-conspirators who are “greedy”. It is you and they who have bankrupted America and stolen the American dream from millions of loyal, patriotic taxpayers. And for what? Votes. That’s right, sir. You and yours have bankrupted America for the sole purpose of advancing your pathetic political careers. You know it, we know it, and you know that we know it.
And you can take that to the bank, you miserable son of a bitch.”
Now, a little critique of the letter and it's accuracy...
- My Social Security payments, and those of millions of other Americans, were safely tucked away in an interest bearing account for decades until you political pukes decided to raid the account...
The Social Security Trust Fund can be considered a separate ledger. It has, as the letter's author points out, a separate stream of income, dedicated just to it. It is true that our leaders in DC have raided the fund. But the raiding they've done is actually borrowing. Just as they've borrowed from foreign countries, they have borrowed $Trillions from the SS trust fund. So now the general fund not only owes the SS Trust Fund this big chunk of cash, but it owes interest to us on that borrowing as well. So that lending that "we've" done from the SS Trust Fund to the general fund actually should be making the SS Trust Fund stronger, because that money is earning interest, not just sitting there.
"...and give OUR money to a bunch of zero ambition losers in return for votes, thus bankrupting the system and turning Social Security into a Ponzi scheme that would have made Bernie Madoff proud."
This is where the author starts to slide off the tracks a bit. I'm not sure what he means by this, but the money hasn't been "given" away and Social Security has not been turned into a Ponzi scheme. Yet. Now starting this year, the "payroll tax holiday" will actually start giving away our SSTF money - in a way. Because that "holiday" will underfund the SSTF, and then we will have to make that money up from the general fund, you can consider that the SSTF has now been put on the dole.
That leaves our politicians in the position of having to play Bad Santa next Christmas and break it to everyone that their payroll taxes will be going back to normal levels (Focksnooze will call it the biggest payroll tax hike in history!) I'm not holding my breath for the payroll tax holiday to expire as planned.
More importantly, since the lack of funding to the SSTF will be made up from funds from the general budget, Social Security becomes wide open for attack from Simpson and others as a drag on the budget. Since we know the budget will be in the red, we also know that the money that will be transferred to the SSTF from the general fund will be borrowed money. That's money that we wouldn't have had to borrow if the cap on payroll taxes had just been lifted and the wealthy were asked to share the burden. But of course, the wealthy won't be asked and they probably won't offer. "Shared sacrifice" is fast becoming a euphemism for "Empty your pockets, middle class. We notice that you have something left in them..."
- I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying into Medicare from Day One, and now you morons propose to change the rules of the game. Why? Because you idiots mismanaged other parts of the economy to such an extent that you need to steal money from Medicare to pay the bills.
Here's some common ground with these teabaggers... Yep, it seems that is exactly what is about to happen with Medicare and Social Security. We will probably disagree with the 'baggers on how the budgets have been mismanaged, but at least we can agree that, in most cases with the current national debt, it has been mismanagement that has netted us this debt.
I would add that the attacks on Social Security are, in my opinion, a veiled attempt to get the Social Security Trust Fund to forgive the general fund its obligation to pay back what it owes the SSTF. That would be a huge reduction in the national debt. It would be on the backs of the working class, but that's exactly how our plutocrats like it.
- I, and millions of other Americans, have been paying income taxes our entire lives, and now you propose to increase our taxes yet again...
Now the author has really jumped the rails. We all know that no one was proposing that income tax be increased "yet again". Income taxes have gone down under Obama, so this teabagger is just spouting what he's been told by Michele Bachmann and other Focksnooze entertainment wizards in their fear mongering about the sunset provision of the Bush tax cuts. We know how that turned out... Guess all that fear mongering made the politicians nervous because they kicked that can down the road.
My compliments to the original author for the "questions" portion of the letter. My sentiments exactly.
So the author jumped the tracks a couple times, but mostly, he's dead-on about Simpson and the cat food commission. Do you think we can find a way to join with the teabaggers in opposition of proposed and yet-to-be-proposed austerity measures? For many of us, it is blatantly obvious that once again, politicians want to balance the books on the backs of the middle class while that upper 2%, the group that has not suffered a recession, gets to keep all the loot that they've had the good fortune to accumulate. Is it possible to get the teabaggers to see how wealth has been systematically transferred from the common people in the country to the very wealthy over the past three decades?
I think it is possible though I must admit that I haven't had any breakthroughs on a personal level. What we need is good, solid, messaging and repetition of that messaging.
What do you think? Can we find common ground with the teabaggers to defeat the next round of attacks on the middle and working classes in this country?