Christie backs means testing of Social Security, raising retirement age

[Mr. Morden]

http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-04-14/christie-pushes-means-test-for-social-security-in-new-hampshire

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He also proposed raising the Social Security retirement age to 69 for those born in 1960 or later and the Medicare age to 67.

Sanders immediately attacked him:

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[Maxwell]

Christie is trying to win the serious person vote.

He will win D.C. and lose everywhere else.

[Ebsy]

Well, he just made an enemy of AARP.

[CountryClassSF]

Put an X through that one. Very insulting.

[H. Ross Peron]

But remember he's a moderate!

[CountryClassSF]

He is an extreme liberal on social security. Savage discussed this today. Don't be fooled.

[Indy Texas]

Percentage of 2012 GOP Primary Voters Over Age 50 in Early States
Source: NBC

New Hampshire: 56%

South Carolina: 61%

Florida: 71%

Great way to start, Chris.

[Ebsy]

Percentage of 2012 GOP Primary Voters Over Age 50 in Early States
Source: NBC

New Hampshire: 56%

South Carolina: 61%

Florida: 71%

Great way to start, Chris.

My thoughts exactly.

[Mr. Morden]

Percentage of 2012 GOP Primary Voters Over Age 50 in Early States
Source: NBC

New Hampshire: 56%

South Carolina: 61%

Florida: 71%

Great way to start, Chris.

Florida isn't an "early state" anymore.  The primary is two weeks after Super Tuesday.

[CountryClassSF]

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Am I the only one surprised by this? I wonder if the establishment is convinced Rubio and Bush split the vote down the middle and don't want a spoiler to get momentum

[Ebsy]

They're probably hoping one of them (Rubio) drops out way before Florida.

[Beet]

Well he has to do something to be relevant again.

[Mr. Morden]

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Am I the only one surprised by this? I wonder if the establishment is convinced Rubio and Bush split the vote down the middle and don't want a spoiler to get momentum

Rubio helped push the change in the Florida primary date back in 2013.  (This was back when it was less clear that Bush was actually going to run, and the thinking was that Rubio might be the only Floridian in the race.)  The RNC had just passed tougher penalties on states other than IA/NH/NV/SC that vote earlier than March 1.  So if Florida had held an early primary again, it would have lost all but 12 delegates.  Rubio presumably figured that he wouldn't get much of any bounce from winning Florida, since it's his home state.  So he needed it more for delegates than for momentum.  So it made sense to move it to a date when it could keep all its delegates.

[Likely Voter]

This kind of smacks of a hail Mary. He is grabbing the third rail to get attention and change the negative narrative about him to bring it back to his "truth teller" persona.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Percentage of 2012 GOP Primary Voters Over Age 50 in Early States
Source: NBC

New Hampshire: 56%

South Carolina: 61%

Florida: 71%

Great way to start, Chris.

Perfect demographics for such a plan seeing as no one over 56/57 is even affected in any way. He will pitch it just fine.

Wonderful news - this is being shared like crazy on Facebook. It's been awhile since I've seen all the Christie superfans (and trust me there's PLENTY of them on my friend list) get quite this excited.

[Mercenary]

So you have to work and pay into the system even longer before you can retire because the average life expectancy has increased. Sounds like a screwy deal.

And if you make too much you lose all the money you paid into it as well.

I oppose both of these, they make SS worse than it already is.

[Sumner 1868]

So you have to work and pay into the system even longer before you can retire because the average life expectancy has increased. Sounds like a screwy deal.

And if you make too much you lose all the money you paid into it as well.

I oppose both of these, they make SS worse than it already is.

Which is the real goal of these proposals. Back door privatization by destroying the system.

[Mister Mets]

Smart move.

There's no McCain in this cycle, so that leaves an opening.

It fits the positive elements of Chrisite's brand, and gets him some free media.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

To save social security, we need a combination of a payroll tax cap increase and  a retirement age increase. That's the (sad) truth of the matter, and there's nothing hard-right about it. The means testing thing is unnecessary, but it's not something I have a problem with and it does not constitute privatizing the system.

Sanders (along with most of the rest of the democratic party) needs to stop spewing this "hope for the best" rhetoric and realize that SS will eventually become insolvent if we don't raise the retirement age (unless we just want to keep raising taxes to no end, which doesn't sound like a good solution). It's not a nice thing to do, sure, but it's a fiscal necessity.

 

[Sumner 1868]

To save social security, we need a combination of a payroll tax cap increase and  a retirement age increase. That's the (sad) truth of the matter, and there's nothing hard-right about it. The means testing thing is unnecessary, but it's not something I have a problem with and it does not constitute privatizing the system.

Sanders (along with most of the rest of the democratic party) needs to stop spewing this "hope for the best" rhetoric and realize that SS will eventually become insolvent if we don't raise the retirement age (unless we just want to keep raising taxes to no end, which doesn't sound like a good solution). It's not a nice thing to do, sure, but it's a fiscal necessity.

 

The payroll tax needs to be replaced with a tax on speculation, after which the retirement age can be slightly reduced.

[Oswald Acted Alone, You Kook]

Given that the average American lives to mid-70's, raising the retirement age isn't too bad of an idea.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

To save social security, we need a combination of a payroll tax cap increase and  a retirement age increase. That's the (sad) truth of the matter, and there's nothing hard-right about it. The means testing thing is unnecessary, but it's not something I have a problem with and it does not constitute privatizing the system.

Sanders (along with most of the rest of the democratic party) needs to stop spewing this "hope for the best" rhetoric and realize that SS will eventually become insolvent if we don't raise the retirement age (unless we just want to keep raising taxes to no end, which doesn't sound like a good solution). It's not a nice thing to do, sure, but it's a fiscal necessity.

 

The payroll tax needs to be replaced with a tax on speculation, after which the retirement age can be slightly reduced.

tax on stock investment? Don't we already have that with the capital gains tax? And reducing the retirement age will only make things worse.

[Sumner 1868]

To save social security, we need a combination of a payroll tax cap increase and  a retirement age increase. That's the (sad) truth of the matter, and there's nothing hard-right about it. The means testing thing is unnecessary, but it's not something I have a problem with and it does not constitute privatizing the system.

Sanders (along with most of the rest of the democratic party) needs to stop spewing this "hope for the best" rhetoric and realize that SS will eventually become insolvent if we don't raise the retirement age (unless we just want to keep raising taxes to no end, which doesn't sound like a good solution). It's not a nice thing to do, sure, but it's a fiscal necessity.

 

The payroll tax needs to be replaced with a tax on speculation, after which the retirement age can be slightly reduced.

tax on stock investment? Don't we already have that with the capital gains tax? And reducing the retirement age will only make things worse.

No. A financial transaction tax (which existed from 1914-1965) is different from capital gains. Capital gains is when the revenue of an asset is greater it's purchase price. I'm talking about a tax on Wall Street speculation, the proceeds going to the Social Security Trust Fund.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

To save social security, we need a combination of a payroll tax cap increase and  a retirement age increase. That's the (sad) truth of the matter, and there's nothing hard-right about it. The means testing thing is unnecessary, but it's not something I have a problem with and it does not constitute privatizing the system.

Sanders (along with most of the rest of the democratic party) needs to stop spewing this "hope for the best" rhetoric and realize that SS will eventually become insolvent if we don't raise the retirement age (unless we just want to keep raising taxes to no end, which doesn't sound like a good solution). It's not a nice thing to do, sure, but it's a fiscal necessity.

 

The payroll tax needs to be replaced with a tax on speculation, after which the retirement age can be slightly reduced.

tax on stock investment? Don't we already have that with the capital gains tax? And reducing the retirement age will only make things worse.

No. A financial transaction tax (which existed from 1914-1965) is different from capital gains. Capital gains is when the revenue of an asset is greater it's purchase price. I'm talking about a tax on Wall Street speculation, the proceeds going to the Social Security Trust Fund.

So you're telling me LBJ was a good President!?

We actually do still have one - it's just slightly over 10 percent of the previous rate (it gets updated frequently so perhaps just under now?)

[Sumner 1868]

To save social security, we need a combination of a payroll tax cap increase and  a retirement age increase. That's the (sad) truth of the matter, and there's nothing hard-right about it. The means testing thing is unnecessary, but it's not something I have a problem with and it does not constitute privatizing the system.

Sanders (along with most of the rest of the democratic party) needs to stop spewing this "hope for the best" rhetoric and realize that SS will eventually become insolvent if we don't raise the retirement age (unless we just want to keep raising taxes to no end, which doesn't sound like a good solution). It's not a nice thing to do, sure, but it's a fiscal necessity.

 

The payroll tax needs to be replaced with a tax on speculation, after which the retirement age can be slightly reduced.

tax on stock investment? Don't we already have that with the capital gains tax? And reducing the retirement age will only make things worse.

No. A financial transaction tax (which existed from 1914-1965) is different from capital gains. Capital gains is when the revenue of an asset is greater it's purchase price. I'm talking about a tax on Wall Street speculation, the proceeds going to the Social Security Trust Fund.

So you're telling me LBJ was a good President!?

We actually do still have one - it's just slightly over 10 percent of the previous rate (it gets updated frequently so perhaps just under now?)

That's used for the SEC, though. And derivatives are untaxed.