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Today's editorial comics

Today's editorial comics.

And now for a change some FoxTrot

Abolish social security now !!!

Social security in its current form should be abolished. Why, you ask? Take a look at the following quote from a social security actuary.

Stephen Goss, the nonpartisan chief actuary of the Social Security Administration, said the nation faces a pinch in 2009 because excess payroll taxes flowing into the program will begin to decline, halting the growth of surplus money that Congress has been tapping to fund other government programs.
full article here

The actuary is suggesting that social security is in trouble because it is failing to fund other government programs. So fix the system not because it is going bankrupt in 2042 but because congress would no longer be able to use the money to fund subsidies for corporations, pork barrel projects and tax cuts for the rich.

Using social security money to fund the general fund is the most regressive form of taxation. Income above $ 90,000 is not subject to the 12.4% social security tax. So the poor pays a higher percentage of their income as taxes than the rich. A person earning 15,000 dollars an year would pay 12.4% of their income as social security taxes. While a person earning 1 million dollars would pay just 1% of their income as social security taxes. This is fine if the money goes to a lock box which would be used to fund social security liabilities in the future. But the money is diverted to the general fund and is squandered by the Congress. No wonder extremists like Krauthammer keep claiming that the social security trust fund is a myth.

So what is the solution? Increasing the social security tax or increasing the income cap on social security would not remove the fundamental regressive nature of the system. One way this unfairness could be addressed is if the income cap is removed. Then the rich will have to pay the same tax that the poor pays. Or we could go with Al Gore’s lock boxes. We lost the best chance to fix the social security when the Supreme Court awarded the 2000 presidential election to ‘W’.

We have a deal

Click here for the full article.

So finally there is a deal on Filibuster. The Armageddon is averted. Both the left and the right are mad at the decision. So this must be a damn good deal for the republic. Here are some salvoes from both the sides.

First from the left

MyDD

This deal is politically damaging to the Democrats. Owen, Pryor and Brown are all in.

Eschaton

I don't know about you, but I don't like it.

But the right is super pissed...

Captain Ed

So far, no one really has the agreement, but from what I've seen on television up to now, the GOP only got votes for 3 nominees and the Democrats still get to keep the judicial filibuster "under extraordinary circumstances." This is the exact scenario that I foresaw when I heard that the centrists were gathering in the smoke-filled room. They coughed up the Constitution and got guaranteed votes on less than half of their nominees.

Powerline Blog

What a hideous deal! ... .
Someone explain to me why the Republicans haven't been rolled once again. To me, it looks like a pathetic collapse on the part of the Republicans--not the leadership, but Senators like McCain who sold out their party.

Ace of Spades

John McCain is in full peacock mode.

Buzz Blog

This so called "deal" was a retreat from earlier claims that Democrats were willing to approve five of the seven filibustered nominees. Talk about bad negotiating tactics - McCain and company actually lost ground when the GOP held all the cards.

Scared Monkeys