We already know Dick Durbin is a Wall Street whore:
WASHINGTON — Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) on Sunday opened the door to Social Security cuts as part of a budget deal with congressional Republicans. But Durbin pushed back against GOP calls for entitlement cuts as the negotiating price to curb or extinguish the economically damaging sequester cuts.
“If this is the bargain that the Republicans are now pushing for, that we have to cut Medicare to avoid cuts at the Department of Defense, they need to take a step back,” Durbin said on “Fox News Sunday.”
[…] Durbin said that Republicans had to put tax revenue on the table to get entitlement cuts. Fox host Chris Wallace noted that Durbin has previously supported entitlement cuts, and asked why Republicans should have to give up tax increases to get something that many Democrats support. President Barack Obama has repeatedly endorsed Social Security cuts as part of budget deals, and Durbin acknowledged that he did support Social Security reforms.
“Social Security is gonna run out of money in 20 years,” Durbin said. “The Baby Boom generation is gonna blow away our future. We don’t wanna see that happen.”
Social Security will not run out of money in 20 years. The program currently enjoys a surplus of more than $2 trillion. Social Security will, however, be unable to pay all benefits at current levels if nothing is changed. If a 25 percent benefit cut were implemented in 20 years, the program would be solvent into the 2080s.
They’re lining people up, moving the guns into place. I gotta tell you, this shit really gets to me. I’m feeling so stressed out, seeing the moves, knowing what they’re up to and knowing that most people don’t even believe me.
I’m starting to have chest pains over this shit, and that ain’t good.
H/t Jennifer Mayer.
Free market Capitalism (and most Democrats are Capitalists) is not synonymous with free enterprise. The availability of lots of private capital, and scale are what distinguishes the two. Nowhere in our Constitution (1787) is there any mention of Capitalism. The concept of Capitalism was non-existent until after the French Revolution (1789). Those on the Right (the Capitalists) insist that our constitutional rights and freedoms are inextricably linked to Capitalism. The opposite is true. Capitalism in fact constricts our freedoms (Citizens United) and impedes our ability to conduct free enterprise (Walmart). So it’s not surprising that Capitalists like Durbin would agitate to shred the safety net fought for by the 99% who control little or no capital.
The only comfort I can find in this is to note that for the last four years the COLA has either been zero or practically zero anyway, so the chained COLA can hardly make any difference to Social Security anyhow. It’s just the idea that there is NOBODY on our side that is so depressing. My comfort is that I don’t have any children and that I am over 60 so I don’t have that many more years to live through this disintegration.
Let’s see. On one side you could say, “ZOMG, stop those awful boomers stealing all our ponies.” On the other side you could say, “Lift the cap on income subject to payroll taxes.”
It’s so hard to figure out which one will work, you know?
Revenue is on the table just the way the Medicare option was on the table in the health care debate. If you liberals just hush up maybe you get the pony.
Durbin lives in a deep blue state and he needs to receive the same treatment that Joe Lieberman received back in 2006. At the least Durbin needs to face a primary challenger in 2014.