Here's a no=brainer: get out of Afghanistan and Iraq.

...from my cold dead hands...we live in a disposable society, people are disposable, throw-away...we can't or won't take care of the unemployed let alone our aged and disabled...this past week congress let the long term unemployed slip further through the cracks but boy oh boy were a lot of new fancy phones sold...we are upside-down...not just house loans, it's our whole house, the street it's on and the city or town where it's located...but we can fight wars, kill, kill, kill...what we spend our money on defines who we are...

Thieves in the Federal Government are taking everything out of the hands of the public and putting it into the vaults of the very rich. Look for all the roads and parks and everything else that we, the people, have built and paid for to be put sold to private corporations. We have all paid in to social security, but money and debt are completely confused in out corrupt federal reserve system. This won't change until we reform our banking system. Until then we will continue to squander our wealth on endless wars to create debt with interest.

It almost seems as if Dick Cheney is calling the shots. A source of infinite disquiet.

The "Defense" budget is obscene.

Start a movement to legalize, regulate and tax Marijuana to save Social Security. Then require all policy makers to take intensive workshops in conflict resolution. Next re-instate laws that break up public media to help stop brain washing and propagandizing by corporate interests. Murdock is BAD News. Pass a constitutional amendment to keep non public money out of elections. Create a Department of Peace. Require employers to hire 1 senior for every 10 employees. Require those who make policy to always review both the long and short term consequences of their actions. Myopia seems to be the keynote of American History. Every man made concept or object you touch or perceive was dreamed up, change your dreams.

THE GOVT. HAS BEEN LIQUIDATING THE FUND FOR YEARS WITHOUT HAVING TO JUSTIFY IT.
BULLSHIT ON CUTING OUR SS BENEFIT.
WE PAID FOR IT NOW PAY UP.

How ironic that as we are about to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Social Security, a DEMOCRATIC ADMINISTRATION voted in by seniors is getting ready to destroy us. Shameful that the lies created by the likes of Pete Peterson and his gang of corporate thugs are driving the debate instead of the truth of where the deficit came from. How about the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the 100's of military bases we support around the world and oh yes how about the casino gambling of the financial world and what about the debts left by the previous 8 horror years of Bush and his gang? NO - silly me it's all the fault of seniors, widows and their orphan children and disabled folk. Who knew we have so much power!

1. They can no longer put us out to die on an ice flow, they have melted.

2. It will cost $$$Billions of $$$ to remove the dead bodies from the street.

3. What goes around-Comes around, good luck you filthy Bastards and children of the Devil.

Gosh, I am 83 years young, For reasons I do not need to discuss, for the past 18 years my annual income would have been t $ 278 if I did not receive social security.

How many Members of Congress or committee members would like to consider living 18 years on a twit of an income? My work history was about 45 years in the market place!

Let's start playing a truth game. Let's beat the you know what out of people who have helped this country to grow and expand . We did not create this mess --- don't skin us alive on your sharp knives of dishonesty and distrust.

I'm sure it doesn't help matters that ....

BUSH PLEDGES NOT TO TOUCH SOCIAL SECURITY SURPLUS... "We're going to keep the promise of Social Security and keep the government from raiding the Social Security surplus." [President Bush, 3/3/01]

...BUSH SPENDS SOCIAL SECURITY SURPLUS The New York Times reported that "the president's new budget uses Social Security surpluses to pay for other programs every year through 2013, ultimately diverting more than $1.4 trillion in Social Security funds to other purposes." [The New York Times, 2/6/02]

Why not have Congress take a cost of living
drop! How come we pay for retired people that
are already wealthy? President Kennedy
donated his salary as president, however
we did help pay for Jackie's lavish lifestyle.
I think we all should scale back not just the
ones that lose their jobs. Maybe salaries
should be tied to the unemployment rate
or other rates that we measure our basic
standard of living by...if Congress cannot
produce then let's put them on merit pay!

Hey, let's put everyone on merit pay, when
we aren't doing well or a company isn't doing
well, we/they all take a cut, Maybe we all
would work better then.

Let me just say that my generation (baby boom) was 'asked' to pay double into Social Security, and we did, because it was not optional.

Social Security in NOT an entitlement program. It is a forced retirement savings plan, automatically taken out of our paychecks. It is my money and I want every penny of it back.

If Congress and Obama are looking for entitlement programs to cut, I suggest they eliminate the LIFETIME MEDICAL BENEFITS that they enjoy at the expense of the taxpayer, for starters.

The disconnect is amazing. Social Security and Medicare benefits help keep communities going all over the nation. Social Security of parents and grandparents often provides fallback for other family members who have lost jobs and are making far less per hour than they did. It's time to restore the tax level on richer Americans to what it was during the Clinton years. It is also time to raise the income ceiling on FICA deductions. Then we can end federal contracts with private corporations that have committed fraud and other horrendous crimes against us such as XE alias Black Water and start prosecutions to recover billions. I'm sure ordinary Americans, once proudly called the common man, are sick of being referred to as "little people" and "lesser people." We are neither. We are Americans all, who have labored, fought, taught, cared for and contributed to this nation in myriad ways. And even in old age continue to volunteer for non-profits and, reach out to help our families, neighbors and entire communities. We are a critical part of the safety net of this nation. And don't you forget it.

Raise the FICA withholding cap, now at $106,800. Extend it to all income levels, so that it isn't just the lower-paid who contribute. "Problem solved" ad infinitum.

Check this out--

http://www.counterpunch.org/hudson06252010.html

Eradicate President Obama and his Band of Idiots.

Again I am amazed that commentators most frequently do not give their name, a fact that immediately weakens their statement. Some do.
Pat Williams writes an excellent comment. But that name in Google brings up almost a dozen people the identity of several of which would give considerable added weight to his/her intelligent comments.
I strongly agree with 06/27/00:34that the withholding cap of $106,800 for FICA should be raised. I would agree with John also 00:34 that if I did not use up all I paid in, I would be pleased to know it was helping someone else . A brother in law died in his forties but SS enabled his wife to supplement her work and care for the family until they could care for themselves. I have a sixty year old mentally retarded son who since he turned 21 has been supported by SS.
A super-tax on the rich like was done t0 pay for WWII must be instituted to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The WWII debt was paid off and the rich did not suffer.
We must stop trying to rule the world militarily. It is much cheeper and more effective to do it with kindness and cooperation.
Incidentally, I worked until 72 and for paying in those extra years, get 15% extra. I am glad I did for when Northwester Steel and Wire Mill went bankrupt I lost half my IRA.
SOCIAL SECURITY IS NOT A SAVINGS PLAN BUT A SECURITY. If you want to put aside more money, a 401 k or more money in your IRA is the way to go, not privatization of Social Security.
Let your Senators and Representative know how you feel.

what will the people tolerate ,not thirst not denial of air but anything else they can be manipulated into falling for,for example we elected a president who's victory was based on name familiarity , he had no accomplishments to boast of , the media lavished him with exposure , with paid advertising they are going to pound soc sec as to expensive ,did the gov not just spend trillions to create jobs well does it not create jobs when soc sec recipients spend their check to pay for basic services ,and we know where the money goes where did the money go the fed handed out to the financial sector, they wont even tell congress, how many jobs did it create ,Prima Facie ,none ,robbed again,they won,t argue the need of it or that it was promised and paid for they will stun the public with ,there will be only two people working for every one person collecting soc sec,they won't touch on the enormous increase of productivity due to computers robotics and a increased crop yields,the elite won't stop until they have destroyed the mantle of decency that was the American middle class because they enjoy it, I 'm writing in support of the folks who depend on that check ,if the wealthy who have been evading taxes don't need it to survive will they kindly return it to the treasury

Put bluntly - they're rich - what do they care?

As "Interested Observer" notes indirectly above, the object of the exercise is to destroy any vestige of government for "We the People." A government that might protect the people from the predations of the rich. At this point in the war, and it truly is a war, the rich have clearly won. They completely control our "government" and are currently in unobstructed looting mode. Paradoxically, the only hope left for the people is the horror of total social collapse. Only then do we have a small chance to shake these parasites off of our back. The alternative is a stable serfdom far worse than slavery.

Since the Federal candidates up for election this year in my state are worthless, I've decided to write in my personal candidate preference: Mun E. Grubber. For both Federal offices.

I suggest that for any of us who have worthless candidates, we all do the same. Just give the vote of confidence to the people actually doing their Constitutional job descriptions, send the rest a message that they are worthless. (If enough of us did it, we could tip bad candidates into the dustbin and force special elections. That should make it clear that we've had it with their drunken Kool-Aid parties with the corporate lobbiests.)

And let's get over this fear-based idea that we have to vote for the lesser of two evils. Seriously, can it get any worse? Is either party worth the powder and shot to blow it to hell? (Some of the legislators are still excellent, but it's the minority, unfortunately. Both parties, however, are irredeemably corrupt.)

Mun E. Grubber. Remember that name.

If you will look back into history or use the google you will see that Ronald Reagan said, "Oh my god the boomers are going to create a real strain on SS so he got them to double the amount that SS took in to cover the boomer bubble but of course then the Republicans started chanting "It's your money!" And Bush stole what we'd been saving and handed out the biggest chunks to the rich.

If you think today's seniors are dependent on social security, just wait a few years. Act one in this drama was the eliminated private pensions. They were just burdening American business. The workers were given 401K plans with a "defined contribution" from their employer. Ask former Enron employees how well that works.

Act two will start to be felt as boomers retire and discover that their 401K is worth very little and the defined contribution from their previous employer is a pittance. (The hospital I worked for contributes 2% of an employee's salary as a defined amount for the retirement account.) Young workers do not think about retirement and do not give serious consideration to their company's retirement plans and how that will effect their personal long-term prospects.

Boomers and future generations will not be able to live on their retirement accounts, making them totally dependent on social security.

Then, Act three is the elimination of social security. We will be back where we were before the New Deal with elders dependent on family. The difference is that we do not have large, close-knit families any more to shoulder the burden. Nor do people have mortgage-free homes as our parents did.

The "golden years" for retirees is passing out of existence - except for the wealthy, of course. The galling thing is that the American people are too distracted and entertained by the trivial to notice. All the ruling class has to do is stir up another faux "social issue" to divide us, and they win every time. Shame on us.

IMO people are crazy to vote for the Democrats unless they - figuratively speaking - grab the Republicans by the balls, throw them in the gutter, beat the shit out of them, and

Open up Medicare for the country
Stop messing with social security
Get out of Afghanistan and Iraq NOW

And reinvest in the United States and the 35 million unemployed Americans, with numbers growing.

Congressshould remove the social security earnings cap. Why is there a maximum earned gross income, or upper threshold, on which a wage earner's Social Security tax may be imposed? If I earn $110,000 this year, I'd pay $6,621.60 in Social Security tax. If I earn $110,000,000 (MILLION) this year, I'd still only pay $6,621.60 in Social Security tax. In both cases, the corporation I work for would only have to pay $6,621.60. Corporations really get big breaks with the current scheme, as usual. If Social Security is in dire need of funding, then remove the cap and let it be funded by workers AND the companies they work for! Medicare has no wage cap imposed on earnings.... make the programs the same.

Does this mean we can knock off ALL old folks, like the old white Conservative Christian men that run the USA and most of the world?

Dear Anonymous on 6/27 at 7:46: The Israel bashers will stop when the money they're getting paid to bash Israel stops getting paid to them. Issues like Social Security however, are particularly sensitive when considering that dual Israeli-American citizen Rahm Emanuel is still at the President's elbow; he has never had any use for American workers is what bothers me; and Israel and his being Jewish has nothing to do with that.