Bush Pushes Revised Social Security Plan to (Nonunion) Auto Plant Workers

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBCYU3FA8E.html

CANTON, Miss. (AP) - President Bush pitched his newly remodeled Social Security solvency plan to blue-collar workers Tuesday as the White House signaled that he wasn't wedded to a particular formula for reducing promised future benefits.

Bush's plan, which would allow benefits to rise the most for lower-income retirees, has drawn widespread Democratic and some Republican criticism since he unveiled it last Thursday at a prime-time news conference.

In his auto-plant speech, the president called the new indexing proposal an attempt "to help people come up with the solution" to Social Security's solvency problems. He said it would help the neediest retirees. snip

Bush spoke to about 2,000 workers at the sprawling, nonunion Nissan North America plant.

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[sinkingfeeling]

1. The man just can't keep from lying!! Benefits for lower income

workers would NOT rise under his plan...they would remain the same, based on the same indexing we have today. And for all of those making over a measly $20K, benefits would be cut! I hate this assh**e!

[patricia92243]

2. Sell my home in order to eat? Not hardly!!

Senator George Allen (R-VA) on Meet the Press, May 1.

On private accounts, he suggested that AMERICANS MIGHT HAVE TO SELL THEIR HOMES TO SURVIVE IN RETIREMENT. But, that would be a good thing, because they wouldn't have to trim hedges and cut grass, he noted.

In fact, he was trying to reassure people who are uncomfortable about investing in the stock market with private accounts. So, he recognized that those who do, might reduce their retirement savings in the event of a market downturn (I hear those happen once in awhile). But, he thinks allowing your own home to be your investment would get around that. Although, IT WOULD FORCE YOU TO SELL IT WHEN YOU RETIRE IN ORDER TO FEED YOURSELF.

http://www.sundaymorningtalk.com/smt/2005/05/sen_allen_...

[AzDar]

3. Lil' Boots is CRAZY...on the upside...he could be sounding the death-

knell of the Republican party with this fiasco!

[liveoaktx]

4. And here's the numbers

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-050305bush_lat,0,467098.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Americans United to Protect Social Security, an umbrella group representing organizations opposed to Bush's restructuring plan, released an analysis suggesting that future Mississippi retirees would receive a $236 average monthly benefit cut under the president's proposal.

If the progressive indexing plan endorsed by Bush were in effect today, the Social Security checks received by 375,949 Mississippi seniors would decline from a monthly average of $842 under the current system to $606 under Bush's plan, according to the study.

"What it shows is that in Mississippi, as in the rest of the country, seniors in future generations will see real and significant reductions in their Social Security benefits under the president's plan," said Brad Woodhouse, a spokesman for the coalition.

According to the Census Bureau, 456,000 Mississippian were living in poverty in 2003.

[struggle4progress]

5. " ... It's a long way down to the soupline. It's a long way to go.

It's a long way down to the soupline, and the soup is thin I know.
Good bye, good old pork chops; farewell, beefsteak rare.
It's a long way down to the soupline, but my soup is -- there ..."

Joe Hill