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<DIV class="data center georgia_12 margin_top_7 color_666666"
data-beacon='{"p":{"mnid":"logo","mlid":"masthead"}}'>This just appeared in my
e-mail inbox from Max Richtman, President of the National Committee to
Preserve Social Security and Medicare. I interviewed Max on the World Labor Hour
back in January and I specificly asked him the question, in response to his
statement that Obama had PROMISED him personally that there would be no cuts to
Social Security or Medicare, if we can trust what Obama says, considering
Obama's track record. Well, I hate being right sometimes, and it now appears
that Max Richtman has finally saw the light, or should I say the darkness.</DIV>
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<DIV class="data center georgia_12 margin_top_7 color_666666"
data-beacon='{"p":{"mnid":"logo","mlid":"masthead"}}'>March 22, 2013 </DIV>
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<DIV class=float_left><A href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-richtman"><IMG
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<H2><A href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-richtman" rel=author>Max
Richtman</A></H2>
<P class=teaser_permalink>President and CEO, National Committee to Preserve
Social Security and Medicare</P>
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<H1 class=title-blog>Mr. President, Please Define 'Slash' </H1>
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<P>When I met with President Obama and other allied groups at the White House
just after his reelection, <A
href="http://www.ncpssm.org/EntitledtoKnow/entryid/1951/NCPSSM-Talks-to-the-White-House-about-Social-Security-Medicare-Medicaid?#.UUdUNldQCJo"
target=_hplink>his commitment</A> to carry out the promises made during the
campaign seemed clear and unambiguous. The president acknowledged Social
Security should not be a part of the deficit debate. This was especially
important to millions of American families still struggling in this economy who
depend on Social Security's modest benefit -- the benefit they've contributed to
throughout their working lives. Unfortunately, within months, President Obama's
unambiguous statement has taken a 180 degree turn and a proposal cutting Social
Security benefits for both current and future retirees has once again become a
deficit debate bargaining chip. However, as a consolation, the president
promises he won't "slash" benefits. </P>
<P>Mr. President, please define "slash."</P>
<P><STRONG>The Stealth Benefit Cut</STRONG></P>
<P>There's a political calculus behind cutting benefits to millions of seniors,
veterans, people with disabilities and more by reducing the federal <A
href="http://www.ncpssm.org/EntitledtoKnow/entryid/1960/Seniors-Can-do-the-Math-Chained-CPI-Social-SecurityBenefit-Cuts#.UUdPPFdQCJo"
target=_hplink>cost of living allowance</A>. Cutting the COLA is being pitched
as a simple "technical tweak" or "formula adjustment" that's more accurate than
the current COLA formula. Sounds reasonable, right? However, claims that the
current COLA is too generous are demonstrably false. So much so, the White House
is considering <A
href="http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1a7tl2/im_gene_sperling_assistant_to_president_obama_for/"
target=_hplink>"protecting"</A> millions of low-income Americans, some veterans
and "older" beneficiaries from this COLA cut. If the chained-CPI really is a
more accurate formula, why the exemption? </P>
<P>The Social Security COLA has <A
href="http://www.ssa.gov/cola/automatic-cola.htm" target=_hplink>averaged</A>
just over 2% over the past five years with 0% for two of those years, far below
the largest expenditure increase for most seniors, health care. If accuracy, not
cutting benefits, is the goal then we should be talking about the <A
href="http://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2012/ted_20120302.htm" target=_hplink>elderly
formula (CPI-E)</A> which factors in seniors' health care costs and has been
under review by the federal government for decades. However, that won't happen
because there's no guarantee the CPI-E will cut benefits. The chained CPI, on
the other hand, will. This COLA change is nothing more than a stealth benefit
cut Washington politicians hope will fly under the radar of the millions of
American families it targets. On behalf of the <A href="http://www.ncpssm.org/"
target=_hplink>National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare's</A>
millions of members and supporters I've written to the president about his COLA
proposal:</P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>"The 'chained CPI' is not a 'technical tweak,' and no amount of
rationalization can make it so. In reality, the chained CPI is a benefit cut
for the oldest and most vulnerable Americans who would be least able to afford
it. To offer to trade it away outside the context of a comprehensive Social
Security solvency proposal ignores the fact that Social Security does not even
belong in this debate because it does not contribute to the deficit. Cutting
Social Security benefits to reduce the deficit is unacceptable to the vast
majority of Americans across all ages and political affiliation."</BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG>Slash? You Decide</STRONG><BR>Cutting benefits by adopting the
chained CPI, as proposed by the White House, would cut the <A
href="http://thetruthnow.org/Portals/1/pdf/changing-formula.pdf"
target=_hplink>COLA </A>by 3% for workers retired for ten years and 6% for
workers retired for twenty years. This translates to a benefit cut of $130 per
year in Social Security benefits for a typical 65 year-old, including today's
retirees. The <A
href="http://strengthensocialsecurity.org/sites/default/files/The_Infeasibility_of_Protecting_Vulnerable_Populations_from_the_Chained_CPI.pdf"
target=_hplink>cumulative cut</A> for that individual would be $4,631 or more
than three months of benefits by age 75; $13,910 or nearly a year of benefits by
age 85; and $28,004, more than a year and a half of benefits by age 95. Losing
three months up to more than a year and half of income would count as "slashing
benefits" by anyone's standards, especially for America's oldest retirees,
veterans and people with disabilities living on modest incomes. These chained
CPI cuts also deliver a larger percentage cut to seniors' annual income than the
tax increases on the wealthiest Americans passed earlier this year deliver to
our nation's millionaires. An analysis by Dean Baker with the <A
href="http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/cepr-blog/president-obama-wants-to-give-a-bigger-hit-to-seniors-on-social-security-than-he-did-to-the-wealthy-on-taxes"
target=_hplink>Center for Economic and Policy Research</A> shows the after tax
income for wealthy Americans was reduced by less than 0.7 percent after
January's tax hike. By comparison, the percentage of income Social Security
beneficiaries will lose would be three times as much if the chained CPI is
adopted. </P>
<P><STRONG>So Much for "Shared Sacrifice"</STRONG><BR>Requiring benefit cuts to
Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in the name of deficit reduction has
always been the goal of the billion dollar <A
href="http://www.ncpssm.org/EntitledtoKnow/entryid/1966/Wall-Street-vs-Main-Street-They-don-t-need-their-Social-Security-so-why-should-you#.UUdP_ldQCJo"
target=_hplink>corporate</A> and <A
href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Portal:Fix_the_Debt"
target=_hplink>Wall Street</A> backed <A
href="http://healthcareforamericanow.org/2013/02/01/fix-the-debt-engineering-artificial-crisis/"
target=_hplink>crisis campaign</A> driving Washington's deficit hysteria. These
millionaires, billionaires and their supporters in Congress have used the
economic recession to fuel their anti-Social Security and Medicare mission. The
Obama administration and some Democrats in Congress have bought into the flawed
idea that they must trade away middle-class benefits just to get Republicans to
the table and further, if a millionaire loses a tax break then the middle class
and poor most also lose their modest benefits in Medicare or Social Security.
There's nothing balanced about this type of deal. But it does explain how the
deficit reduction passed since 2011 includes <A
href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/budget/news/2013/01/08/49137/the-deficit-reduction-we-have-achieved-so-far/"
target=_hplink>75% cuts</A> (mostly to programs serving the poor and
middle-class) and only 25% revenue increases (not just from the wealthy). This
mythological "shared sacrifice" continues as President Obama <A
href="http://www.rollcall.com/news/obama_to_gop_balancing_budget_not_my_priority-223089-1.html?pos=hatxt"
target=_hplink>has now told Congress</A> he's "willing to back $2 in spending
cuts for every $1 in tax revenue" in any future deal. Even that <A
href="http://www.ncpssm.org/EntitledtoKnow/entryid/1983/GOP-Budget-Plan-Released-Today-Seniors-Say-Three-Strikes-You-re-OUT#.UUdNo1dQCJo"
target=_hplink>isn't enough</A> for Republicans who expect average Americans to
foot the entire deficit reduction bill through program cuts rather than closing
the <A
href="http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/tax-reform/report/2013/01/22/50198/next-round-of-deficit-reduction-must-tackle-hidden-spending-in-the-tax-code/"
target=_hplink>trillion dollars</A> of wasteful millionaire and corporate
loopholes and tax breaks. </P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>"In addition, we should not fool ourselves that your negotiating
partners <A
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/03/02/this-is-why-obama-cant-make-a-deal-with-republicans/"
target=_hplink>will be satisfied</A> with lowering Social Security COLAs or
raising the Medicare eligibility age. Each debt limit increase, Continuing
Resolution or sequestration will give them a second, third and fourth 'bite at
the apple.' In November, you won the confidence of the American people by
defending the middle class. I urge you not to let them down now by supporting
a deal that undermines the last remaining retirement security pillars for
middle-class Americans." <A
href="http://www.ncpssm.org/PublicPolicy/LettersTestimony/Documents/ArticleID/1118/Letter-to-President-on-Chained-CPI"
target=_hplink>Letter to President Obama, March 20, 2013</A></BLOCKQUOTE>
<P><STRONG>Americans Won't Be Fooled</STRONG><BR>Inside the Beltway, members of
Congress might also be able to kid themselves that middle-class families won't
notice a Social Security benefit cut here and a Medicare benefit cut there.
However, they will find a very different truth when they go home to their
Congressional districts. Not because America is a nation of "takers" or "greedy
geezers" but because Americans understand the difference between harmful benefit
cuts to the poor and middle-class and reasonable reforms, such as lifting the <A
href="http://www.ncpssm.org/EntitledtoKnow/entryid/1907/Rather-Than-Slashing-Social-Security-How-About-Lifting-the-Cap#.UUdnl1dQCJo"
target=_hplink>Social Security payroll tax cap</A> and allowing Medicare to
negotiate for <A
href="http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/state-medicare-drug-2013-03.pdf"
target=_hplink>lower drug prices</A>. They don't believe a dollar in millionaire
taxes is the same as a dollar cut from the average annual $14,000 earned Social
Security benefit. Most importantly, the American people are <A
href="http://www.nasi.org/press/releases/2013/01/press-release-americans-make-hard-choices-social-security"
target=_hplink>willing to pay</A> to preserve and even strengthen these vital
benefits. They've said this <A
href="http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2013/03/10/185388/poll-sequester-has-not-hit-home.html#storylink=cpy"
target=_hplink>over</A> and <A
href="http://www.ncpssm.org/Portals/0/pdf/post-election-polls.pdf"
target=_hplink>over</A> again, most recently at the polls in November. </P>
<P>Will Congress listen now that the election is over? If not, they shouldn't be
surprised that voters deliver the same message when they return to the polls
next time.</P>
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