Does This Come As A Surprise?

      Look nearly all the way down to the next to the bottom circle on this graph, if that's the right term for it. You'll have to click on the image to see it full size and even then you may have to put your face up to your computer screen. What was the second most likely group to donate to Donald Trump -- the disabled. You'd think Republicans would care more about this group.

Andrew Saul's Political Contributions

      I thought I would check Andrew Saul's political contributions this year. Here's what I found (sorry about the formatting but tables are almost impossible to get right in Blogger):

THE HAWKEYE PAC

08/12/2020              $5,000.00

HAWKEYE FUND			08/12/2020	$5,000.00
CORY GARDNER FOR SENATE			02/19/2020	$550.00
CORY GARDNER FOR SENATE			02/19/2020	$2,250.00
NRSC			02/10/2020	$35,500.00

     I would caution that Saul may also have made contributions late in this political cycle that haven't yet shown up online. More important, he may have made dark money contributions that don't show up on this or any other list available to the public. 

     What's shown above is chump change for someone of Saul's wealth. Still, I would have expected a contribution directly to Trump's re-election campaign. 

     By the way, the Hawkeye PAC is associated with Senator Charles Grassley and the NRSC is the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Cory Gardner failed in his bid to be re-elected to the Senate from Colorado.

Biden Transition Team For Social Security

  

    President Elect Joe Biden has released the names of the members of his transition team for the Social Security Administration:

Name	Most Recent Employment
Carolyn Colvin, Team Lead	Self-employed
Scott Frey	American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
David Holmes	Rebellion Defense
Jack Smalligan	Urban Institute

      Colvin is, of course the former Acting Commissioner of Social Security. I could have predicted her as the Team Lead a year ago. I could also have predicted a union official on the team a year ago. Holmes is an Engineering Manager who has worked on projects at Social Security. Smalligan has promoted a "Work Disability–Functional Assessment Battery (WD-FAB)"  which "uses item response theory and computer adaptive testing to quickly interview people and systematically map physical and mental health functioning." 

     It's not impossible for one of these people to end up with a job at Social Security but that's not the purpose of a transition team. I'd guess a job at Social Security for a member of this team is unlikely, but who knows, maybe Colvin would be interested.

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Inauguration Day 2021 Is A Year From Today

Presidential Candidates On Social Security

     Yahoo Finance has gone to the trouble of putting together the views of the Presidential candidates on Social Security.

Democrats Coalescing Around Social Security 2100 Act

Congressman Larson

     John Larson, the Chairman of the House Social Security Subcommittee, and Democratic Senators Blumenthal and Van Hollen have introduced the Social Security 2100 Act which would increase Social Security benefits and reduce taxes paid on Social Security benefits. The bill would also increase the FICA tax in two ways. Income over $400,000 would be covered by the FICA tax and the FICA rate itself would climb by 0.1% a year between 2020 and 2043. The bill has 200 cosponsors in the House of Representatives, all Democrats. 

      The Office of Chief Actuary at Social Security has now scored the Social Security 2100 Act. It would leave the Social Security trust funds in balance for the next 75 years at least.

     There is little hope that such a bill would pass with Republicans in control of the Senate. However, Democrats running for Congress and the White House in 2020 may choose to run on this bill and then try to pass it in 2021.