Tag Archives: Social Security

News

Indiana Republicans to introduce right-to-work bill

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From Fox News. (H/T Dad)

Excerpt:

Throngs of union members and supporters gathered in Indianapolis Monday for a protest against a proposed bill in the Indiana House that would restrict collective bargaining rights and make it a misdemeanor to require any employee to join or pay dues to a union.

Republican state Rep. Jerry Torr, the bill’s author, described his proposal as a tool to attract business to Indiana. He told Fox59 in Indianapolis that prospective employers are avoiding the state because they’re worried about its work rules.

“What I’m trying to do is bring jobs to Indiana,” Torr said. “We have lost manufacturing jobs in Indiana because we are not a right-to-work state.”

[…]Currently 22 states have right-to-work laws, according to the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation. Research by the National Conference of State Legislatures shows that several states in New England and in the northern Midwest are now considering right-to-work proposals.

Minnesota state Rep. Keith Downey wants right-to-work language enshrined in his state’s constitution — that’s part of a proposal he’s putting forward that would also slash the state work force and freeze pay.

Michigan’s Legislature is also weighing the idea of letting local jurisdictions create right-to-work zones. New Mexico, Connecticut and Alaska, among other states, have right-to-work bills currently in committee.

In Wisconsin, Walker is casting every component of his plan as critical.

He told “Fox News Sunday” that he’s not willing to hammer out a compromise that leaves collective bargaining rights in place — even if the state Senate Democrats who skipped town in order to prevent a vote agree on raising benefits contributions.

Walker said he wants to give local governments “the tools they need to balance the budget now and in the future” by changing the collective bargaining laws. His office released a fact sheet Monday giving examples of benefits won through collective bargaining, including health insurance that covers Viagara.

Plus, Walker said workers must have the “flexibility” to stay out of a union — and in turn avoid dues payments — if they choose.

“For us, if you want to have democracy, if you want to have the American way, which is allowing people to have a choice, that’s exactly what we’re allowing there,” Walker said. “People see the value, they see the work, they can continue to vote to certify that union and they can continue to voluntarily have those union dues, and write the check out and give it to the union to make their case, but they shouldn’t be forced to be a part of this if that’s not what they want to do.”

Teachers, for example, are really expensive… I am not sure we can afford to pay them as much as we do during a recession. (H/T Tina)

We really need to stop overpaying people with guaranteed jobs all these inflated salaries and benefits during a recession. There just aren’t enough of us out here working on goods and services to support the unions.

Videos

Michele Bachmann and Paul Ryan on the Wisconsin teacher union pensions

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First, Megyn Kelly explains the Wisconsin union crisis.

Michele Bachmann interviewed by Megyn Kelly:

Paul Ryan interviewed by Greta Van Susteren.

Paul Ryan also talks about Obama’s latest budget.

Ladies and gentlemen, the grown-up party.

UPDATE: Here’s a story for those who are Youtube-impaired.

Excerpt:

Two-thirds of the eighth graders in Wisconsin public schools cannot read proficiently according to the U.S. Department of Education, despite the fact that Wisconsin spends more per pupil in its public schools than any other state in the Midwest.

In the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests administered by the U.S. Department of Education in 2009—the latest year available—only 32 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned a “proficient” rating while another 2 percent earned an “advanced” rating. The other 66 percent of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders earned ratings below “proficient,” including 44 percent who earned a rating of “basic” and 22 percent who earned a rating of “below basic.”

The test also showed that the reading abilities of Wisconsin public-school eighth graders had not improved at all between 1998 and 2009 despite a significant inflation-adjusted increase in the amount of money Wisconsin public schools spent per pupil each year.

This is an issue we can win on.

News

Social Security running deficits now, will be bankrupt by 2037

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Last Republican budget was in 2006
Last Republican budget was in 2006

This is from CBS News. (H/T Robert Stacy McCain)

Excerpt:

Social Security’s finances are getting worse as the economy struggles to recover and millions of baby boomers stand at the brink of retirement.

New congressional projections show Social Security running deficits every year until its trust funds are eventually drained in about 2037.

This year alone, Social Security is projected to collect $45 billion less in payroll taxes than it pays out in retirement, disability and survivor benefits, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday. That figure swells to $130 billion when a new one-year cut in payroll taxes is included, though Congress has promised to repay any lost revenue from the tax cut.

The massive retirement program has been feeling the effects of a struggling economy for several years. The program first went into deficit last year, but the CBO said at the time that Social Security would post surpluses for a few more years before permanently slipping into deficits in 2016.

The outlook, however, has grown bleaker as the nation struggles to recover from the worst economic crisis since Social Security was enacted during the Great Depression. In the short term, Social Security is suffering from a weak economy that has payroll taxes lagging and applications for benefits rising. In the long term, Social Security will be strained by the growing number of baby boomers retiring and applying for benefits.

The deficits add a sense of urgency to efforts to improve Social Security’s finances. For much of the past 30 years, Social Security has run big surpluses, which the government has borrowed to spend on other programs. Now that Social Security is running deficits, the federal government will have to find money elsewhere to help pay for retirement, disability and survivor benefits.

You may remember that George W. Bush tried to reform Social Security during his Presidency, but left-wing media and the Democrats cowed him into submission. Shut up, they explained. Just like they shut him up on his plan to regulate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac back in 2003.

Here’s why nothing is going to be done to fix the problem. (H/T Hyscience)

It’s not going to be fixed until we vote out every last Democrat and replace them with grown-ups from the grown-up party.