I saw this and I couldn't believe it. But then I thought, well, Boehner's only saying out loud what some Democrats seem to believe anyway: We can't afford the war AND Social Security, so naturally, Social Security's gotta get slashed.
Makes perfect sense, right? Because, you know, stopping the war would be simply unthinkable! (And wasn't it the Republicans who first promised us the Iraq invasion would pay for itself?)
Boehner's criticism of the Democratic agenda then moved to the recently-negotiated financial regulatory reform package, which he likened to "killing an ant with a nuclear weapon." According to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Boehner argued that the financial system would be better served by "more transparency and better enforcement by regulators."
The minority leader also answered questions about Social Security, which he said could not remain solvent as it is currently structured.
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.
No, John. How about you being honest with people? Social Security is not broke. It's solvent through 2036 and can fund about 80% of its obligations after that. All we have to do to fix it is to raise the current tax by one percent, and remove the cap on earnings that made Republicans so happy. You know that.
You think we haven't noticed the class war in this country? You think we've forgotten that Social Security is pay-as-you-go, and doesn't have a damned thing to do with our national deficit. Why would you say something that's a bold-faced lie?
Because the Republicans have been dying to privatize the system ever since it began. They hate the idea of a financial transaction happening somewhere that doesn't make money for their corporate sponsors on Wall Street. (And let's not even get into what would have happened to a privatized system in the crash.)
They want workers to be desperate and disposable, grateful for crumbs.
That's why Republicans always want means-testing. They want to turn Social Security into a poverty program so it won't have such broad-based support.
They're trying to confuse and worry people with this manufactured deficit "crisis." And they're telling us it's much more important to keep the war going than to take care of the people in this country. You saw the unemployment vote last week -- that's the Republican agenda, in all its naked glory.
They want cheap, disposable labor with no security whatsoever. And if we don't do something soon to stop them, we'll have it.
