From the
60 Minutes interview with Mitt Romney aired last night:
PELLEY: How would you change Social Security?
ROMNEY: Well, again, no change in Social Security for -- for those that are in retirement or near retirement. What I'd do with Social Security is say this: that again, people with
higher incomes won't get the same high growth rate in their benefits as
people of lower incomes. People who rely on Social Security should see
the same kind of growth rate they've had in the past. But higher income
folks would receive a little less.
PELLEY: So that in the Romney administration, in the Romney plan,
there would be means testing for Social Security and for Medicare?
ROMNEY: That's correct. Higher-income people won't get as much as
lower-income people. And by virtue of doing that -- and again, that's
for future retirees. For -- by virtue of doing that, you are able to
save these programs on a permanent basis.
I don't know what he means. If he is talking merely about reducing the cost of living adjustment for higher income recipients, this makes no sense. You can't possibly "save" Social Security that way. General means testing of Title II of the Social Security Act could do the trick but would be unpopular. The ambiguity suggests that he is talking about general means testing.
This is exactly what I talked about previously when Romney was down in Florida talking to seniors at The Villages. His message is basically "someone has to get screwed to fix this, so let's not make it you, and vote for me." Meaning, vote for me and you keep yours but screw the folks behind you.
ReplyDeleteOf course in Sunday's 60 Minutes broadcast Romney also said he would make Government workers smaller than they ever have been. When pressed for how, he said attrition, retirement etc. The joke was Pelley didn't press him for specifics. How can Romney get rid of that many Government workers in 4-8 years with attrition? He can't. Why would Government workers even vote for him now knowing him and Ryan want to make as many of them unemployed as he can?
From 60 Minutes Sunday:
ReplyDeletePelley: Why would shrinking the federal government on the large scale
that you have in mind not throw the country back into recession?
Romney: Well, the plan I have to go after the deficit and to shrink federal spending is metered out in a very careful way, such that we don't have a
huge drop off with an austerity program that puts people out of work in government. But instead, through attrition, over time, we scale back the number of federal workers so I'm very careful in the way I do this.
Romney: And finally, I'll cut back on the size of government itself, as well as go after the fraud and abuse and inefficiency that's always part of a large institution like our government.
So Romney's going to create more jobs by firing a bunch of you Government workers?
What's his timeline before you guys and gals are unemployed?
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57518495/campaign-2012-obama-vs-romney/?pageNum=3&tag=contentMain;contentBody
Label: You Can't Make This Stuff Up
Not to worry, Mr. Romney isn't going to win this election; the last two/three weeks have shown that. The gap in the polls is steadily widening. Barring something on the order of another 9/11, Mr. Obama will be a shoo-in.
ReplyDelete