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Political Hay
Angle Wins, Toomey Loses?
Sharron Angle didn’t allow Harry Reid to demagogue Social Security. Pat Toomey will have to do the same to Joe Sestak.
(Page 2 of 3)
This is like trying to achieve budget savings in national defense by not paying the manufacturers of the Air Force’s planes, the Navy’s ships, the Army’s tanks and artillery, and the bullets, bombs and guns. How long do you think our national defense would remain functional under that policy? That is how long Medicare now has as well, thanks to Harry Reid dancing to the tune of the ultra-left piano players in Washington.
Think of it this way. You wouldn’t try to balance your own family budget by just refusing to pay your bills, particularly for goods and services you planned to continue to consume. You would recognize that is really just stealing. Instead, you would either cut back on your purchases, or find ways to increase your income. You wouldn’t refuse to pay the cable bill, thinking you are nevertheless going to be able to continue to watch your 300 channels on cable TV. But that is the new Obama/Reid policy for Medicare.gt;
Contrast this wild, reckless, dysfunctional, Obama/Reid Medicare carpet-bombing with the careful, fundamental reforms of Medicare in Paul Ryan’s Roadmap. Ryan’s reforms make no changes for today’s seniors, and phase in the reforms slowly over time for younger workers so they can plan and prepare for their retirement years. With seniors covered by private insurance they choose in a competitive marketplace, doctors and hospitals will be paid competitive market rates, ensuring America’s seniors will still enjoy access to the best, most advanced health care in the world. Yet Ryan’s reforms are scored as achieving permanent, full solvency for Medicare.
Reid’s Medicare DisAdvantage
The discussion above doesn’t even count Obamacare’s additional cuts to Medicare Advantage, the private option to Medicare that close to one fourth of all seniors have chosen for their coverage under the program because it gives them a better deal. In last week’s debate, Reid laughed at Angle, claiming her facts were wrong, and said, “Medicare Advantage people in the state of Nevada are going to pay less rather than more. There will be more Medicare Advantage people on the rolls now, as a result of the health care bill being passed.”
But Medicare’s own Chief Actuary estimates that 50% of all seniors with Medicare Advantage will lose their plan because of the $145 billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage that Harry Reid supported in the Obamacare bill. Because of those extreme cuts, those who do not lose their Medicare Advantage plan will pay more, or get less in benefits.
Moreover, none of this counts any of the additional Medicare cuts to be adopted by the unelected, appointed, bureaucrats at the Medicare Independent Payment Advisory Board. Obamacare empowers the Board to adopt further Medicare cuts that would become effective without any Congressional action. As the Medicare Chief Actuary reports, “The Secretary of HHS is required to implement the Board’s recommendations unless the statutory process is overridden by new legislation.”
Joe Sestak’s Rocketing Tax Increases
Meanwhile, in the Pennsylvania Senate race, witness how the desperate Joe Sestak provides “responsible” leadership on the issue of Social Security. Regarding a plan that Toomey has favored to allow young workers the freedom to choose to save and invest part of their payroll taxes in their own personal accounts, Sestak says, “It’s outrageous that Congressman Toomey wants to gamble our social security on Wall Street,” following that with ads on the theme “Keep your hands off of my Social Security.”
Sestak voted for the same draconian Obamacare Medicare cuts that Harry Reid did. How stupid does Sestak think voters in Pennsylvania are to now present himself as a champion of seniors? Toomey would be stupid not to hit back at Sestak hard on his Medicare carpet-bombing, just as Sharron Angle has done in Nevada.
Harry Reid also tried to demagogue Angle on Social Security in last week’s debate in Nevada. Toomey should take note of her response, “Man up, Harry Reid, you need to understand that we have a problem with Social Security.” She scored him for raiding the Social Security trust fund during his 24 years in the Senate, leaving it with nothing but a pile of IOUs that the taxpayers will have to pay for again to pay promised Social Security benefits.
Congressman Paul Ryan has also introduced legislation for a careful, well-structured personal account option for younger workers that has been scored as achieving permanent full solvency for Social Security, without tax increases. But Reid responded to Angle with lame name-calling, saying, “These ideas of my opponent are really extreme.” But what is really extreme is the doubling of Social Security payroll taxes that will ultimately be necessary without any personal account reforms and taking any benefit cuts off the table as well. That doubling of payroll taxes is what Joe Sestak is effectively supporting, along with Harry Reid.
Angle also pointed out in the debate that Reid actually enjoys a very similar personal account option in the federal Thrift Savings Plan, where Reid has likely accumulated close to a million dollars by now. Angle said, “If it’s good enough for Harry Reid, it should be good enough for the rest of us.” As an incumbent Congressman, Sestak enjoys a personal account in the federal Thrift Savings Plan as well, with the same investment for his retirement that he says is too risky for anyone else.
These personal account proposals all involve just a choice even for young workers. Everyone is free to stay in the current Social Security system if they prefer. It is up to the choice of each worker. Moreover, no one with a personal account is required to invest anything in the stock market. That is a choice of each worker as well. This is why it is stupid and dishonest for Sestak to accuse Toomey of wanting to gamble anyone’s Social Security on Wall Street.
Most importantly, these personal account proposals all involve no change for anyone retired today, or anyone anywhere near retirement. That is why Sestak’s ads featuring seniors he has misled saying to Republicans, “Keep your hands off of my Social Security” are illegitimate demagoguery as well. This debased politics is how America has gotten into the trouble it is in. If we are going to deal with the real problems America suffers, then we have to reject this cynical political manipulation.
About the Author
Peter Ferrara is Director of Entitlement and Budget Policy at the Heartland Institute, General Counsel of the American Civil Rights Union, Senior Fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis, and Senior Policy Advisor on Entitlements and Budget Policy at the National Tax Limitation Foundation. He served in the White House Office of Policy Development under President Reagan, and as Associate Deputy Attorney General of the United States under President George H.W. Bush.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (32) | Leave a comment
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Booger | 10.20.10 @ 6:11AM
From the desk of D. Mephistopheles, Attorney-at-Law
Dear Senator Reid,
Well, I must say, I'm a bit nonplussed at these latest poll numbers. It is, quite frankly, looking rather grim for you this November.
If you will refer to the terms of our previous contractual arrangement (page 512, paragraph 103, line 49) you will see that failure on your part to secure re-election stipulates that your contract shall be due for full and immediate payment to the principal member of this firm. You have, of course, been in the Senate for twenty-four years now, the normal amount of time we allot for such contracts. I should add that our principal and founding member is rightly well-known for being a stickler in these matters.
Please refrain from protesting about the terms being "unfair". I have heard more than enough of that prattle to last me several eternities down here. As you well recall (and I do have the video, audio and spectral documentation to prove it) you were allowed to select the Republican candidate of your choice to face in the general election, in return for which you guaranteed to keep Nevada's Senate seat on Our Side. You assured us that Sharon Angle would be a suitably weak opponent, and that you would offer her up as a "sacrificial lamb".
You should also remember my STRONG warnings against taking a "sacrificial lamb" for granted, and the havoc such individuals have been known to cause for Our Side. You assured me that such would not be the case. Yet look at you now, grovelling before us and asking for "more time" and "another chance". I assure you, Ours is not the side which dispenses grace. It appears you are on the verge of losing the Senate seat which represents Our Great Bastion, Sin City itself, to the thrice-cursed other side! Do you think we will look kindly on such incompetence? This pathetic "sacrificial lamb" you requested and received opposes Our Beautiful Culture of Death, making all sorts of ridiculous arguments for the "sanctity of life" and such nonsense. She defends the hateful doctrine of "human rights" and "freedom", all of which she attributes to some "creator"! How dare you lose Our Great Stronghold to her!
So, Senator Reid, you wish to make a new deal, when we already own you? Very well. I will propose a new deal for you if you lose this seat to the thrice-cursed other side. Following the November election, there will be a "lame duck" session of your Congress and Senate before the servants of the other side can take over their stolen seats. In this "lame duck" session you will perform Our Will as never before. Deeds which would have caused even Barney Frank or Charlie Rangel pause will be your hallmark. You will enact law after law, stripping every last freedom from this benighted country of yours, until the foolish bitter clingers among your countrymen finally realize how pathetic their futile "faith" is and surrender to our cause. Do this, and perhaps we can offer you an extension before we take Full and Final possession of that which was yours but is now ours. Fail us in this, and the execution of our terms will be even more exacting than before.
I'll have my people fax the paperwork over to your people. Remember to have it notarized, and for crying out loud, get it back to me before Friday night. I hate having to mess with this stuff on the weekend. Say hi to Rory for me. Looks like that one could have a GREAT future with the firm himself.
Your friend and admirer,
D. Mephistopheles, Attorney-at-Law
dw| 10.20.10 @ 1:11PM
From the desk of Harry Reid
U.S. Senator, Nevada
Dear Meph,
All that I am I owe to you, all that I have I owe to you, all that I will be depends on you.
When I signed over my soul to you I did so willfully, realizing you would give me wealth and stature in return. You more than kept your end of the bargain and I feel I have kept my end.
I wish to present in my defence the fact that this country is further down the road to communism than ever before, as you directed. I know that, as you ordered, I did my part in supporting my fellow agent and your contractee, Obama, as he organized the forces you have unleashed to accomplish your prime directive. We've done so much and I feel I was an important part of that effort.
While it is true that I hand picked my opponent in this election, it is also true that you were supposed to continue your "spell" over the electorate as you have done in the past. I have seen my usual supporters act as they have always responded in the past, but for some reason too many others seem as though they have not been affected by your influence. I say this with all due respect and I am in no way criticizing your magnificence. I only wish to offer this as a humble excuse for my shortcomings. Never before have my words been so harshly examined or questioned and it seems I did not properly understand the degree to which what I said years ago would come back to haunt me. You had instructed me to rant on about the Iraq war being lost and that damn Angle used it against me. Where'd that come from?
Meph, you all knew when you signed me up that I was not the sharpest tool in the shed, even I admit that... (remember the jokes Adolf, Joe and Karl kicked around about me)... but that is the exact reason I told you I would need all the extra help you could give. Look, I am downright stupid and I only point this out in order to shore up future activities in this regard. I am sorry for saying this and you know I love you, so I hope you will not visit me with punishment tonight, I am not sure how much more I can handle right now.
Thank you very much for giving me a new deal. Of course, you can be assured that with your help, I will do all that you desire to further your goals. As before, I assume Obama will lead this effort to impose your will and that through him you will relay your orders to me.
Please forgive my mistakes, as I bow to your greatness.
Long live Mephistopheles and may your reign on earth last forever.
Thank you again for this second chance.
Your servant,
Harry
wodiej| 10.20.10 @ 3:31PM
LOL...these are hilarious.
Nancy in NC| 10.20.10 @ 4:48PM
Booger and dw...you guys are too clever. Have you ever considered politics? I think you would make a great team!
dw| 10.20.10 @ 8:02PM
Booger is the man.
Tim*| 10.20.10 @ 7:06AM
Republican Pat Toomey now holds a 10-point lead over Democratic Congressman Joe Sestak, the widest gap between the candidates since early April in Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race.
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Pennsylvania shows Toomey earning 49% of the vote, while Sestak picks up 39% support. Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate, but a sizable 10% remain undecided less than three weeks before Election Day.
The race now moves from Leans GOP to Solid GOP in the Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 Senate Balance of Power rankings.
Tim*| 10.20.10 @ 7:11AM
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his Republican challenger Sharron Angle remain locked in a tight race for the U.S. Senate in Nevada in the first survey following last Thursday night’s debate.
A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the state finds Angle with 50% to Reid’s 47%. Two percent (2%) prefer another candidate in the race, and one percent (1%) are undecided.
Both Sharron Angle and Pennsylvania's Pat Toomey are Tea Party Candidates.
The Tea Party Rebellion Escalaltes.
Rise Up In Rebellion !
Lawrence Boccardi| 10.20.10 @ 7:21AM
Hey Tim? Are you sure about Toomey leading in the polls? I heard, yesterday, about a poll showing Sestak ahead by 1 point? Was that a ruse to fool supporters into continued funding?
George True| 10.20.10 @ 9:29AM
I don't remember the name of the organization that conducted the poll you are referring to, but I did read that they are funded by the DNC. They oversample Democrats, and they poll registered voters as opposed to LIKELY voters, as Rasmussen does. I would disregard this poll.
Texas Mom 2012| 10.20.10 @ 11:57AM
In order to get Sestak ahead of Toomey in their poll they assumed a higher percentage of Democrats, stagnant independent turnout and FEWER Rupublicans would turn out in this election cycle. Ridiculous assumptions based on all the polling on voter enthusiasm among Rs is sky rocking and the Dems are popping antidepressants...
As I learned when programming in the old Cobol language, GIGO. This poll was Garbage In, Garbage Out!!!
Kishego| 10.20.10 @ 2:31PM
It was the PPP (Public Policy Polling, I think that's what the PPP stands for. They constantly pump out polling data slanted to the left. As George stated, they over sample democrats.
Mark James| 10.20.10 @ 10:39AM
The cited poll also made some very favorable turn out assumptions that are patently silly, such as Dems would show up in droves and Repubs would stay home.
Tim*| 10.20.10 @ 7:34AM
Yup !
Our Tea Party Candidate Toomey's has Led Sestak for months .
Aaaaand , They Debate Tonight .
Rasmussen came in 1st in The Fordham University Study of 23 Public Polling Firms Accuracy for The 2008 Presidential Election
Bob K.| 10.20.10 @ 8:08AM
Mr. Ferrara,
Good points but a bit complex for many of the voters.
The demographics of PA and Nevada are much different. PA has a very aging population and Social Security is a 3rd Rail issue here.
Congressman Sestak will invent issues about it!
The best response to this is for Toomey to keep things simple and fire back that CONGRESSMAN
Joe Sestak and his staff and all the government employees got cost of living raises last year but no Social Security recipient did. (And emphasize that Sestak is a Congressional Incumbent!)
That is what the Republican challenger Lou Barletta, in the 11th District of PA, is doing to incumbent Congressman Paul Kanjorski. Polls show that it is working.
It's a pocket book issue in a down economy that
affects senior citizens and it affects an awful lot of them in PA.
Remember the acronym KISS!
SpiralArchitect| 10.20.10 @ 1:48PM
It sure is a good thing that O'Bummer nor Dirty Harry never saw 'Logan's Run' or Obama care would be a LOT diferent!
Rmm| 10.20.10 @ 9:07AM
In any other election cycle, Angle would not stand a chance against the Senate Majority Leader. But given that Reed is joined at the hip to O, he has the cross-hairs on him. People are just sick and tired of listening to the dynamic duo spinning their yarn about a vision that has failed miserably to bring this country out of our malaise.
And, by the way, just read that Harry lives in a pent
house suite in the Ritz-Carlton in DC. Let them eat cake.
SpiralArchitect| 10.20.10 @ 1:50PM
Harry is indeed 'dirty'. Very pleased to reside in Nevada so I can vote against Reid - in any election cycle/year.
Redstateboy| 10.20.10 @ 9:49AM
Can you believe (well I guess ya could) the disengeniousness of the Rats??!? A bunch of em' are now slam'n Nazi Pelosi, running or hiding from Hussien and some are saying they want to be elected to FIX HussienCare to make it workable! Why would anyone for any of these Rats is beyond me except if they're expecting a handout for it.
Al Adab| 10.20.10 @ 11:38AM
The Republicans, not Conservatives, still fail to grasp the magnitude of the issue underlying the citizens displeasure. They would do well to consider what options the citizens retain should they fail again to roll back this Leviathan-like tyranny which has been foisted upon us.
Unless Conservatives preponderate in this election and act on the principles which bring them success, the business as usual Republican establishment - the country club set, the RINOs, the accomodationist wing - will find the alternatives retained by the people not to anyone's liking.
Kishego| 10.20.10 @ 2:41PM
You are spot on with that Al, it's going to take more than 1 election to get rid of these old guard, panty waste, spinless republicans. I've already heard that McConnel and Boehner want to " bring civility back to congress". Hearing them talk like this makes my blood boil. I don't want civility, or "comity" in congress. I don't want bi-partisanship, that just continues the road we are on. We need hard core partisanship, "hand to hand combat" to quote the lame one.
Al Adab| 10.20.10 @ 2:52PM
Thanks Kishego,
What now we have to dread is to possibility that the Democrats who survive after Nov. 2 will be so arrogant in their pride and power that they become insufferable. Consider what a re-elected Ried or a Coons will do given the chance.
Let us hope that the ballot box is sufficient for the alternatives are bitter to contemplate.
Barney Murrell| 10.20.10 @ 1:33PM
Those who support strict Constitutionalism and a “small government conservative agenda” should take note of what it really is. Conservative Republican plutocrats use control of government to redistribute income upwards (“trickle up”) while performing the remarkable feat of convincing naive citizens that “government is the problem” (Reagan, 1-20-1981).
For example, the 1934 textbook “Labor Economics and Labor Problems,” stated that earlier in the 20th century:
* The richest 2 percent (plutocrats) owned 40 percent of all American wealth
* The middle 33 percent (merchants and wealthy farmers) owned 45 percent
* And the poorest 65 percent (blue-collar and poor farmers) owned only fifteen percent.
Reverse of “trickle up” economics changed only after conservative Republicans were replaced with Democrats and moderate Republicans (FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, Carter) between 1932 and 1980.
Between 1935 and 1975 taxpayer income per quintile changed as follows:
* The bottom 20 percent (the poor) income increased from 4.1 to 4.3 percent of all income
* The second 20 percent increased from 9.2 to 10.4 percent
* The third 20 percent increased from 14.1 to 17.1 percent
* The fourth 20 percent increased from 20.9 to 24.7 percent
* The fifth 20 percent (the wealthy) decreased from 51.7 to 43.4 percent
* In addition, income of the top 5 percent decreased from 26.5 to 16.3 percent
(“Economics,” p763, 7th Edition 1978).
For two hundred years America fought wars, constructed canals and the interstate highway system, placed men on the moon; and much more. In spite of it all the American national debt was less than $1 trillion.
However, that all changed after conservative Ronald Reagan won the 1980 presidential election. After which “trickle up” economics became known as “supply-side” economics with the same results; i.e., plutocrats became much richer at the expense of the bottom 80 percent of taxpayers.
Between 1979 and 2007 (Reagan and GW Bush) taxpayer income changed per Congressional Budget Office Data as follows:
* Income of the wealthiest top 1 percent increased from 9.3 to 19.4 percent of all income
* Income of the top 20 percent increased from 45.5 to 55.9 percent
* The bottom 80 percent’s share of all U.S. income went down
*And the national debt increased to $10+ trillion.
(http://www.cbo.gov/publications/collections/tax/2010/pre-tax_income_shares.pdf)
Also, for another example, see “Wealth Disparities in U.S. Approaching 1920s Levels,” http://seekingalpha.com/articl.....b_popular.
And IRS data, “The 400 Individual Income Tax Returns Reporting Highest AGI… 1992-2007,” http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/07intop400.pdf.”
Nancy in NC| 10.20.10 @ 5:05PM
And what is the point? The road we are now traveling will destroy the middle class, and we can all share the misery of the poor.
Only freedom and liberty give us all an opportunity to achieve success. Do you really think that government gives a hoot about you? It's up to us as individuals to make our way in the world; just keep government pretty much out of the way and we all have a chance.
Al Adab| 10.20.10 @ 6:04PM
Thank you Nancy for the succinct comment. We are guranteed opportunity not success; the pursuit of not happiness itself. While the Left adhers to Marxist class distinctions, Conservatives see unique individuals with the opportunity to achieve. Government exists to allow that opportunity.
SpiralArchitect| 10.20.10 @ 1:56PM
Just spewing raw data or do you have a point?
Your presentation implies you prefer the socialist approach to economics and personal wealth.
Do you think that people should not keep the money they earn?
Is it wrong for people to make a profit?
Why vilify a capitialistic approach to life... does the thought of prosperity frighten and enrage you that much?
J.P. Travis | 10.20.10 @ 6:54PM
Does anybody else wonder, after watching the debate Friday and after listening to some of Harry Reid's weird statements and gaffes over the last couple of years, whether something is wrong with him? http://www.jpattitude.com/101019.php I'm not saying this to be funny or cruel. Just LOOK at the man talk.
Tim*| 10.20.10 @ 7:10PM
Pat Toomey is debating Sestak right now.
Toomey hit Sestak with the fact that Toomey & his brothers hired hundreds of workers for their restaurants.
Stephanopoulos asked Toomey about Palin's endorsement and Toomey said he welcomed it .
Sestak is reduced to complaining about neighboring Delaware's Chris O'Donnell .
More later .....
Tim*| 10.20.10 @ 7:27PM
Sestak says " Palin, Toomey & O'Donnell want to repeal Roe ".
Toomey rebuts that he is Pro-Life, as is Pennsylvania's other Senator, a Democrat .
Toomey says, " Sestak is Seriously Misrememberin' "
Toomey says, " Sestak wants a civilian trial for Shaik Mohammed "
Sestak says that he, Sestak is unique in Pennsylvania
Toomey says no other Pennsylvania Official agrees with Sestak ,who's extreme .
More later......
Tim*| 10.20.10 @ 8:13PM
Toomey is discussing Pennsylvania Companies, like Air Products with overseas operations that Pennsylvania Air Product workers depend on for their jobs and Pennsylvania Medical Devices Companies that are being hampered by Obama's Agenda.
Sestak is talking about Health Care & that everybody in the military has it .
Toomey is hammering out of control spending , crappy education choice, earmarks and taxes .
Sestak says his mom was a public school teacher.
Toomey says Sestak has voted repeatedly with the teachers union agenda