What makes that Super Committee so 'super' anyways?
Is it their Suits? Is it their Connections?
It is their fighting for "truth, justice, and the American way"?
Naahh! their 'super powers' have a decidedly different focus ...
Super committee: Who are these guys?
by Charles Riley CNNMoney August 11, 2011:
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- They are the "super committee" -- and they have a lot of work to do.
Almost all men -- they are the 12-member panel charged with finding an additional $1.5 trillion in debt savings over a ten-year period.
[...]
If the committee process fails to produce a debt reduction plan, as much as $1.2 trillion in across-the-board cuts would kick in -- evenly divided between defense and non-defense spending.
Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas (Republican and committee co-chair),
Sen. Patty Murray of Washington (Democrat and committee co-chair),
Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland (Democrat),
Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona (Republican),
Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts (Democrat),
Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania (Republican),
Sen. Max Baucus of Montana (Democrat),
Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio (Republican),
Rep. Xavier Becerra of California (Democrat),
Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan (Republican),
Rep. James Clyburn of South Carolina (Democrat),
Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan (Republican).
Wow they really are 'super' if you mean 'over and above' either chamber of Congress -- that they kind of trump the entire Bill making process that America is used to. Well that is different.
Kind of makes me wonder: What would Willie Sutton think of their prowess?
A $1.5 Trillion dollar "take" would undoubtedly raise his eyebrows. Talk about 'Super Powers' ...
Willie Sutton was a prolific U.S. bank robber. During his forty-year criminal career he stole an estimated $2 million ... Sutton is known, albeit apocryphally, for an urban legend in which it's claimed he said that he robbed banks "because that's where the money is."
Well when it comes to the Social Security Surplus, the Sutton philosophy would be about right -- that IS where the the EZ money IS!
A $2,653,336,000,000 Surplus (2.6 Trillion dollars) as of Nov 4, 2011 is just sitting there in the SS Trust Fund.
Hmmmm ... "Free Money" ... eh guys, ... do you see that?
No wonder the Super Committee is starting to think just like Willie ... Where is that 'excess cash' anyways?
larger
... SS Trust Fund ... eh guys, ... do you see that?
$2.6 Trillion dollars and no one is guarding it ...
Social Security appears on deficit panel agenda
by Jake Sherman & Manu Raju, politico -- 10/31/11
[...]
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the co-chair of the [Super Committee] panel, said she was “not going to talk about the details of any package, but I can tell you that everybody on the committee is serious about finding a way forward.”
Asked specifically about Social Security, Murray said, “Everything is on the table, and we’ve made no decisions.”
[...]
If the committee were to take up changes to Social Security, it could show that Congress is looking for systemic changes to the nation’s finances -- something markets and credit rating agencies want to see. It may not help the committee get to $1.2 trillion, but Democrats are all but certain to insist that Boehner commit to serious changes on taxes alongside such entitlement restructuring.
One Social Security change being floated is a change to the consumer price index, which has been considered in the course of other spending debates over the past year.
It's not like those Social Security beneficiaries will miss it, if the SC kind of 'fudges their Homework', and copies a few of those 'hard math' answers -- from that SS Trust Fund. Those old codgers won't even notice ...
Seniors know how to live on next to nothing ... Why in the world would they need a Cost of Living increase, anyways? The greedy misers ...
Super Committee Cuts to Social Security to Divert From Real Issues
Jeff Madrick, huffingtonpost.com -- 11/1/11
[...]
So let's be clear. The Social Security Administration projects that benefits will rise by one percent of GDP from 5% to 6% over the next 20 years or so and then stabilize or even fall a bit due to the rising elderly population. One percent. That's what all this is about.
[...]
Let me also remind us that Social Security is not very generous. The average payment is $14,000 a year. It is getting less generous. It used to replace 55 percent of retirement income, but benefits were reduced in the 1980s. It now covers on average 41 percent of retirement income. In 2031, it will cover 32 percent of retirement income.
We have already reduced the program's generosity. Yet, Social Security provides nearly all income for one quarter of the elderly and more than half the income for more than half of the elderly.
The Super Committee will say it simply wants to make the inflation calculation more accurate. It will reduce benefits. But government research suggests elderly costs rise faster in price than the traditional measures of inflation.
Besides if the SC doesn't tap that fast SS cash now -- it may "eventually be gone" -- someday ... like around 2039!
Quick, that's like 30 years from now -- better get some of that Fast Cash NOW, while the clueless hysteria is ripe for the taking ...
CBO: Social Security Trust Fund Solvent Through 2039
ThinkProgress, thenewscollective.org -- 08-05-2011
A new report by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reveals that the Social Security trust fund is actually in better shape than previously thought. The CBO had previously projected that the popular entitlement program was solvent until 2037. CBO now projects the trust fund won’t run out until 2039.
By "run out" they mean they will be able to cover 80% of the Benefits after that -- without additional Revenues.
CBO’s 2011 Long-Term Projections for Social Security: Additional Information
Congressional Budget Office -- August 2011
Link to the CBO Report
Willie Sutton would be proud of the Super Committee, and the daring of their far reaching tentacles ...
Yup, the Social Trust Fund -- that's where the money is!
Just for the fast-math taking. No messy New Taxes to conjure up -- just a simple "transfer of funds". Just a journal transaction, from one account to another.
-- Presto Change-oh! --
The People will accept it, right? ... afterall What choice do they have?
What's this!? Willie Sutton, famous bank robber, was misquoted?
Mr Sutton really had a decidedly different reason for robbing all those banks ... do tell ...
Willie Sutton
snopes.com
[...]
Bank robber Willie Sutton (1901-1980) did rather well at his profession: Over the course of his career, he made off with an estimated $2 million in ill-gotten gains. He was a daring and resourceful robber who used disguises and trickery to achieve his ends, including dressing as a policeman, window washer, maintenance man, bank guard, mover, Western Union messenger, and striped-pants diplomat.
Yet for all his success, Sutton wasn't a typical thug. He was instead described by those he encountered as polite and even a gentleman. (One victim said witnessing one of his robberies was like being at the movies, except the usher had a gun.)
[...]
As to what actually motivated Sutton to hold up banks, as he said in [his book] Where the Money Was:
"Why did I rob banks? Because I enjoyed it. I loved it. I was more alive when I was inside a bank, robbing it, than at any other time in my life. I enjoyed everything about it so much that one or two weeks later I'd be out looking for the next job. But to me the money was the chips, that's all."
Well kudos to "disguises and trickery" ... to that thrill of victory, that anguish of defeat ...
Yup, that kind of fits Congress to a Tea too. ... If the suit fits ...
All that Trillion Dollar monopoly money is just "Super Committee Chips" afterall -- except for 'raising taxes on the Job Creators' ... they mustn't ever do that, because THAT Cash is REAL.
No 'Poker Chips' in all those Bush Tax cuts. Nope, there is 'muscle' behind those funds.
"No simple Transfers of Funds" must ever be made there ... THOSE guys might get mad or something.
That Top 1% is SUPER important, don't you know ... NOT like those Seniors, who can just keep tightening those oh-so tight belts ... until they ... just ... one day ... disappear ...
-- Poof! --
(The Super Committee: ... keeping the Wealthy safe for at least a dozen more years ... )
THAT -- is the "American way" ... and 'truth and justice', has very little to do with it. ... Just ask Willie ... Just ask Grover ... Just ask ALL who fear this "random" unelected enforcer.
Where is that EZ money again? ... just ask the Super Committee, they know, who is in charge of those Negative Ad campaigns -- if they should ever dare to do the 'right thing'.