Obama 2008: 'The best idea is to lift the cap;'
Obama 2011... What
Happened?
Social Security is strong. It is not a government piggy bank and it is 100% fully funded until 2036.
Social Security has been falsely interjected into a discussion about our nation's debt and deficit. Seniors have been threatened that their checks will not go out and that long term cut backs could include an extension of the retirement age and reductions in benefits. This is a false solution to a fake crisis.
It is simple to fix the long term concerns about Social Security: Lift the caps on taxable income for Social Security. The numbers show that it is the best way to ensure the viability of Social Security for the next 75 years. Lifting the caps is the most equitable way to strengthen Social Security because everyone in society fully participates.
Check out the calculations from the Social Security Administration here.
This is the mainstream position; a position on which then-Senator Obama was elected. He repeated over and over that, as President, he would defend Social Security. What happened?
Here's the record on then-Senator Obama's oft-repeated position on Social Security:
September
6, 2008, Speech to the AARP Convention, C-SPAN
"[John McCain's]
campaign has...suggest[ed] that the best answer to the growing pressures on
Social Security might be to cut cost-of-living adjustments or raise the
retirement age. I will not do either."
October 30, 2007,
Democratic Debate and Drexel University [PDF]
"Social Security is
not in crisis; it is a fundamentally sound system... The best idea is to lift the
cap on the payroll tax, potentially exempting middle-class folks, but making
sure that the wealthy are paying more of their fair share, a little bit more."
2
2
1
