Bush: People who make $20,000 a year are "better off"

[wicket]

Just when you think you've seen it all!

http://thinkprogress.org/index.php?p=771

Last night, President Bush talked about cutting Social Security benefits for “people who are better off.” Who are these people? Bush adopted a proposal created by a guy named Richard Posen called “progressive price indexing.” That proposal would cut benefits for everyone except “the bottom 30 percent of earners, or those who make less than about $20,000 currently.”

So now people who “are better off” are defined as anyone earning over $20,000 a year. This is a dramatic change from the rhetoric Bush used to promote his tax cuts. A 3/8/01 White House fact sheet entitled “President’s Tax Relief Plan Gives Greatest Relief to Lowest Income Taxpayers,” touts that the “share of income taxes paid is reduced for all income groups below $100,000 in income.”

So to sell his tax cuts, Bush implied that anything under $100,000 was “low income.” Now, to sell his Social Security package, anything over $20,000 is “better off.”

[Zuni]

1. wow---I am now wealthy! Thanks Bush! Your redefinition makes me rich!

woohoo. Now I never have to worry about bills again

[patrice]

2. Somebody is living in Telly Tubbies Land,

for all that they seem to know about us and our lives.

Is more of all of that "Free Market" Magic supposed to make it ALL work?

[rodeodance]

3. we are in big trouble as a nation. serious trouble

[LynneSin]

4. I make twice that (well, give or take) and as a single woman

I barely make ends meet sometimes. You know, I could survive on 20k/yr if I was living in bumfuckvillenowhere, USA. But I don't, I live in a Northeastern Urban area which means I have to pay in order to find a decent home (and hell, that's Wilmington, I don't even want to think about the folks living in Philly, NYC, Boston, Etc).

This guy is fricking WARPED!!

[fasttense]

7. I live in bumfuckvillenowhere and $20,000 wont get you far here either.

Not if you ever want to own something someday or raise a family.

[Straight Shooter]

19. Hey, there's a bumfuckvillenowhere in my state, too. I live there.

And trust me, $20K a year will barely get you by.

bush is out of touch. Repeat it. bush is out of touch.

[all.of.me]

21. i live in bumfuckvillenowhere, too

i make about 20K, but my house is paid for, i don't use credit cards, and i don't have health insurance. i'm a single mom with few bills, but two kids, 11 & 15, who eat constantly. 20K is barely enough. life is VERY simple here.

[wicket]

14. Bostonian here

I'm a renter- the rents are so outrageous!

[Bluebear]

5. Shades of Poppy not knowing what a grocery scanner was

No sense of the "little people" or what it takes to live out here.

[hfojvt]

40. that is a myth, according to the Daily Howler

and I certainly think a plan that shelters those who make less than $20,000 is not the worst thing in the world, even if I now make about $23k. I bet Bush is ignoring the fact that part of that 30% is already senior citizens and not necessarily that bad off considering the tax advantages they have and the fact that they probably have a house which is paid for.

[CitySky]

6. the sad thing is,

this guy wouldn't have the FIRST CLUE about how someone making twenty grand lives in this country. No idea! Heck, he probably couldn't even figure out what it's like to live on a HUNDRED G's. probably never had to pay his own bills in his life. :mad:

[racaulk]

9. Yes, this is further proof that he is "out of touch with middle America."

No, wait, that's John Kerry. Oh, and every other liberal. Silly me... :sarcasm:

[patrice]

31. Everything given to him. Never paid for one thing.

We are hypothetical Oil Futures to this man and his friends. Our duty is to Shop.

[newportdadde]

8. Should I go hire my own butler now?

... what a joke...

[bleedingheart]

10. Wow..the economy must really be in the shitter if $20K a year is well off

[triguy46]

11. Do the freakin' math

My wife, 52 years old, has been a school teacher for 30 years. The Social Security Administration sends her an annual report of her earnings and her benefits. If she had the nerve to retire at 62, her social security would be $1,092 per month, before any deductions.
At 65 it would jump to around $1,400. Now if you multiply that by
12, her annual will range from 13,000 to 16,800.

Now how in the world, is someone earning $20 K or less going to get enough of a boost to get to a reasonable income level? They don't have any extra money to invest in private accounts. But beyond that,
$16,000/yr is pretty much a poverty wage. So what we have accomplished is institutionalizing poverty and calling it "better off."

[wicket]

12. Well said

It's so damn infuriating! :grr: Kudos to your wife for being a teacher- they do not get the respect (or pay) that they sorely deserve!

[patrice]

34. And if she did opt for somekind of personal investment,

wouldn't it have to make her something like half of that 13-16 K SS annual amount, for it to make sense to do a private investment in the first place? (within a system that is cutting her benefit with a means test that says her 20K @ year is the American Dream). . . . ? Don't get sick.

[Ilsa]

13. My niece's story:

She and her husband are 21 and 22 respectively. He's not the academic type, so he got a vocational degree and does shift work in a plastics or chemical plant (I dunno what he does). She is still in college trying to get her BA, probably in teaching. He makes about $30,000 a year. She can't get assistance with tuition or anything. He can't afford to put her on his health insurance plan, because it would cost $500 a month out of his pay, and they cannot afford that.

And DimSon considers them better off? I'd like to see him try and make it with no help on $20,000 a year.

[patrice]

36. Teaching is good. Congratulations.

[Double T]

15. Does This Have Anything To Do With VooDoo Economics ????

This total moronic idiot does not have a clue about anything !!!!!! I think he has fallen on his head one too many times.

[Mrs_Beastman]

16. I think a truly great reality show would be watching chimp

live on $20k a year. That would be entertainment. Watching him decide to go without cable and long distance and getting his furniture from the trash in the 'good' neighborhoods in the summer. Going to work when he is dead sick. Trying to figure out how to get any medication he needs....I could go on and on. Mr B and I have no kids and squeak by on about $55k.. there is no way he could do it with all the coke damage he has.

[Bryn]

30. Great Idea!

:kick:

[patrice]

37. Excellent idea. Someone like him living like one of us!!! Hah!

[tapper]

46. and everyone else in national office...

I've thought for years, that it's a pity that we can't make it a requirement, that anyone who runs for national office has to first to work 2 years at a minimum wage job-- with no help from friends or family.

*Then* maybe we'd have some reasonable laws coming out of DC!

[Bryn]

17. Bush is WAY OUT OF TOUCH with America...What a MORON!!

I make $35,000 and as a single woman living alone with my service dog and 5 cats, I can barely get by! In a MOBILE HOME IN A MOBILE HOME PARK!! Cost of living is so high and also the Federal Government encourages predatory lending so my damn so-called mortgage called GREENTREE has been stripping equity of my house and keeps on adding bogus fees and list them as "additional charges" though they won't say what for..even though I pay on time!! I've been fighting with them to no avail. Car insurance and house insurance are OUTRAGEOUSLY HIGH here. Guess what? due to those scary 4 hurricanes that hit Florida last year, Federal Government ALLOWED insurance companies for houses to DROP US LIKE A HOT POTATO so now I am STUCK with State-Run Insurance called CITIZENS...ever heard of it? Very costly, too.... I live in Homestead, south of Miami in rural area.

According to Chimp the Moron, I am very wealthy and also very young even though I will be 55 this coming Summer which will be subject to SS benefits CUT.
:woohoo:

[Bryn]

23. Forgot to Add: Actually I was VERY COMFORTABLE until 2000!!

Then hell broke loose ... the moment the Chimp banged on his chest when he became president . He only has a tunnel vision, is simple-minded. An embarrassment. So are his GOP cronies.

[0007]

25. Like his father was amazed that supermarkets used scanners.

[patrice]

38. Oh S - - T yeah!!! There's a HUGE situation brewing in this country

with all of those second mortgages people get to take vacations, or pay down credit card debt, and then charge it back up again etc. etc. etc.

The last and most fundamental savings account of the Middle Class is ERODING!

Did you ever thing you would live to see the day?

[Career Prole]

18. Ooh goody! That makes me double-plus good well-off

if I count the wife's $20k too.

[maxsolomon]

20. 30% of wage earners make LESS than 20k?

20k is poverty.

[wicket]

28. yup- here's more info:

http://www.cbpp.org/3-21-05socsec.htm

The Pozen proposal would use price indexing to determine the benefits for “maximum earners,” people who currently make $90,000 or more annually. Lower-earners — specifically the bottom 30 percent of earners, or those who make less than about $20,000 currently — would continue to have their benefits calculated under the current formula. Anyone whose annual earnings over his or her career averaged between $20,000 and $90,000 would get a benefit somewhere between the currently promised benefit and the benefit that would be provided under price indexing. For example, a worker making about $35,000 annually would be subject to about half of the price-indexing benefit reduction, while a worker making about $55,000 annually would be subject to more than 80 percent of the price-indexing benefit reduction.

I did a double take on that myself.

[XemaSab]

35. That was my reaction

and it doesn't take into account retirees, housewives, people on disability or welfare, the unemployed, children, and other non-wage earners.

I make 30K a year. The 30K becomes 24K after taxes, social security, etc (Don't EVEN get me started). I'm a single woman with no kids.
I live in BFE, and I'm comfortable but I live very simply.

However, I can't BEGIN to imagine what it would be like to try to raise a family on what I make.

[nonconformist]

22. Wooo! I'm well-off!

Yay. I'm glad Bush defined that for me.

Bush has never had to worry about money a day in his life, he can kiss my WELL OFF ass.

[MissWaverly]

24. 20,000 is that in U.S. dollars or pesos

maybe he's going to consider no. of coke cans put out for recycling as a sign of wealth.

[Bryn]

29. LOL...VERY GOOD POST!!

:rofl:

[MissWaverly]

32. seriously

I am going to see who I'm standing next to, when I ask for extra cheese at the sub place, I can't afford to be elevated to the new
Bush take all tax bracket for working stiffs.

[tanyev]

26. 20,000?

That won't even cover Barb and Jenna's yearly bar tab.

[AzDar]

27. Has this fucktard EVER worked a day in his life??? I'd be willing to bet

Jenna and not-Jenna get $20,000 a month 'spending cash'. He is out to destroy this country, I'm now convinced.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

33. Let's take a look at the numbers

I live in a state with low housing costs, but after paying my mortgage, taxes, insurance, and utilites, it costs me about $1400 per month for a shitty starter home that's already falling apart on me after only 5 years (a whole nuther story). That's $16,800 per year just for my house. Someone making $20,000 per year probably takes home about $17,000 after paying SS and Medicare (is 15% about right?). That leaves $200 annually for "luxuries" like medical insurance, transportation and food.

Fuck Bush. If he was forced to live for a couple years on $20,000, he'd probably change his mind pretty quick about what it takes to survive in America. Unfortunately, Bush has always lived in the lap of luxury, never wanting or needing for anything. His fucked up business ventures netted him millions, his C- average in college allowed him the opportunity to make those ventures, and his silver-spoon upbringing gave him the wealthy contacts that allowed him to fund those ventures. He's under the misimpression that it's easy to survive, no matter what happens. He's been rewarded for his failures, why should he stop being a failure now?

[patrice]

39. The Ultimate Man in the Nietzschian sense.

[Bryn]

41. Dear Bush, Take that Silver Spoon Out of Your Mouth and

SHOVE IT!!

[Gopens]

42. I'll echo EvolveOrConvolve

I just don't get why people making $20,000 a year are considered middle class.

Here's how I define middle class, but mind you I'm no economist.

If you can walk into a financial institution and say, "I'd like to buy a house," --- not a palace or a mansion, mind you, but a comfortable home where the heat works, the air works and all the appliances work, the building materials are relatively new, etc., THEN you are middle class.

I'm not talking about inheriting your grandmother's house, either, or buying some crumbling down, rodent-infested pit. Just a comfortable, safe place that you can make the payments on.
If you can do that, then you're middle class.

And you can't do that on $20,000 a year, whether you're single or with a family. No way --- unless you've got some decent inheritance money or something. Your income won't even come close.

I'm a single male who makes more than $20,000 but not much more, and I live in a house thanks only to the wonders of the two-income household.

[Muddy Waters Guitar]

43. $20,000 can hardly pay for half a year's rent in NYC, SF, or Boston

So now even struggling grad students and young trainees are considered "wealthy"? Wow, now there's a self-esteem booster for you. Besides, wouldn't this Bush plan represent the sort of "disincentive to work" that GOPers are always accusing us of promoting?

[The Gunslinger]

44. Make them all poor

The Republicans just dont want to have a middle class anymore. I guess they think a poor dumb population is easier to manuipulate. Too bad the American economy is based on the middle class, and without it, this country will fall in the shitter real quick.

[wicket]

45. kick

:kick: