{"id":22464,"date":"2005-02-17T06:55:28","date_gmt":"2005-02-17T11:55:28","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2020-01-17T10:17:57","modified_gmt":"2020-01-17T15:17:57","slug":"bush_strategery_on_social_security-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2005\/02\/17\/bush_strategery_on_social_security-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Bush Strategery on Social Security"},"content":{"rendered":"<section>This next story, this AP story, I think it\u2019s passed off as a news story but I dare say this is a commentary. Listen to the first paragraph. &#8220;Increasing Social Security taxes for the wealthiest Americans could raise more than $100 billion a year, enough to shore up the retirement system\u2019s finances for 75 years, pay for President Bush\u2019s plan or private accounts or part of each.&#8221; Says who? Who\u2019s saying this? I can\u2019t find anybody in the story that\u2019s saying this, other than the reporter babe, whose name is Laura Meckler. &#8220;As it is, only the first $90,000 of a worker\u2019s wages are subject to the tax, but Bush says he\u2019s willing to consider changing that.&#8221; Yeah, he said that. By the way, there\u2019s a couple stories out there and I want to admonish some of you people. A couple stories out there saying that Bush has angered the base. &#8220;This is the wrong move, start talking about raising taxes to fix Social Security, dadda, dadda, dadda, da. The base is upset. The base is mad.&#8221; I thought that I explained this to you people yesterday, so let me try this again. The president didn\u2019t propose anything. He says he\u2019s not &#8220;ruling it out.&#8221; The key here, folks &#8212; there are two keys. Well, there\u2019s actually more than two. The Democrats, for all their bluster, don\u2019t have a plan. They\u2019re out there saying, &#8220;It\u2019s not a crisis.&#8221; They\u2019re out there saying, &#8220;Nothing needs to be done.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The president is demanding, &#8220;Okay, if you guys are going to say this won\u2019t work, what\u2019s your plan?&#8221; The president challenged the Democrats to offer their ideas on Social Security, and they\u2019re sitting around saying they want Bush\u2019s proposal first and then they want to borrow parts of what Bush says and try to co-opt it or massage it in such a way to make it unique to them. They don\u2019t have a plan. This business of raising, of &#8220;not ruling it out.&#8221; Keep in mind what one of the objectives here is, and that is the destruction of the Democratic Party. Now, as I said yesterday: The Democrats, when somebody even hints, breathes, when somebody imagines tax increases, the Democrats\u2019 telepathy goes into full reception mode and they go orgasmic. They love tax increases, folks, like you and I love whatever it is you and I love. They just love them. It is their passion. It\u2019s a defining passion. So this is a rope-a-dope. This is the president smoking them out. They won\u2019t advance any ideas, so he says, &#8220;I\u2019m not ruling it out.&#8221; Bam! The best thing that can happen is for Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy and so forth to come out for raising taxes. Make them be saying it! Put them on the line. Make the Democrats come out and say, &#8220;Hubba, hubba! We\u2019re with you now, Mr. President. You want to raise taxes?&#8221; Make them go out there and take a position on this. The president hasn\u2019t said it yet. He said he\u2019s not ruling it out.<\/p>\n<p>Now, the dirty little secret that\u2019s left out of this story is that the Social Security Administration says that you\u2019ll only get six years more time if you raise taxes on this, if you raise the ceiling on the salary on which Social Security tax is collected. It\u2019s currently $90,000. If you raise it, you\u2019re only going to get six years more time and that\u2019s it. You\u2019re not going to get 75 years. A hundred billion dollars a year is not going to fix it. The key date &#8212; I just want to tell you this &#8212; the key date in Social Security is not even the one the president\u2019s mentioning. What did he say, 2042? The key date is 2018, and it\u2019s much closer than 2042, and what\u2019s key about the date of 2018 is when payouts start being greater than what is generated by the Social Security tax system. 2018. So if we raise taxes on the ceiling from 90 grand to whatever, on &#8220;the wealthiest Americans,&#8221; then 2018 will become 2024 not 2042. So you\u2019re only delaying it by six years. &#8220;As it is, beginning as early as 2018, the system is set to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes, and by 2042, the money stored up from past surpluses will be exhausted.&#8221; That is such a bogus number because there is no surplus. There is no &#8220;lock box.&#8221; There is no &#8220;trust fund.&#8221; The money gets immediately spent on other items in the budget. 2042, throw it out. The key here is 2018. The president has not said he\u2019s for raising taxes or raising the ceiling on which Social Security taxes are deducted. What the president is trying to do, and this is, I guess &#8212; what do we have, the 4th key now?<\/p>\n<p>The 4th key with this move &#8212; and this is really important. With this move no longer is the discussion, &#8220;We can\u2019t do this.&#8221; The discussion is, &#8220;How do we do it?&#8221; These things move slow. It\u2019s like this tort reform bill that the president signed today. It spent 10 years in the making. Everybody thinks, &#8220;Wow, he really got this fast after his election and his state of the union.&#8221; No! This has been going on for 10 years, and this is going to take awhile, and you have to move it in stages, and you don\u2019t just say, &#8220;I want to change Social Security,&#8221; and have everybody say, &#8220;Okay, we\u2019re with you. Let\u2019s change it. How are we going to do it?&#8221; You got to get to that point, and saying that he\u2019s not ruling out anything? I mean, he\u2019s dealing with Democrats! He\u2019s dealing with who he\u2019s dealing with. He\u2019s dealing with them while trying to destroy \u2019em at the same time. They\u2019re too dense to see that they\u2019re in the midst of a self-destruction, and that Rove and Bush are just sort of tipping it along a little bit here. That\u2019s what they don\u2019t get. Marty Peretz gets it in the New Republic, still coming up. So the point is to move this off the dime where, &#8220;There isn\u2019t a crisis. We don\u2019t need to change this,&#8221; to, &#8220;Okay, if you\u2019re willing to do that, then we\u2019ll talk to you.&#8221; Then you move the dynamic, change the dynamic. Now you\u2019re talking about reforming the system, which has to happen. It\u2019s like Greenspan. Get this! Yesterday we had two AP stories. One AP story said that Greenspan (laughing) I can\u2019t&#8230; For the life of me, this just makes me chuckle.<\/p>\n<p>We have two AP stories. One of them said that Greenspan did not agree with private accounts; another story said he did (agree). Both of them AP! Today this is a Reuters story, uhh, and a Reuters story! First one, &#8220;Greenspan Won\u2019t Say Crisis &#8212; Federal Reserve Alan Greenspan said Thursday the US Social Security retirement program is in serious trouble but avoided saying it was in crisis as President Bush has charged.&#8221; Now&#8230; &#8220;In response to a question from the House Financial Services Committee about why the system was in crisis, Greenspan began to answer &#8216;the crisis today is largely because&#8230;'&#8221; He said it\u2019s a crisis! &#8220;The crisis today&#8230;&#8221; Words mean things. &#8220;The crisis today is largely&#8230;&#8221; A Congressman interrupted him. &#8220;&#8216;You agree with the president it\u2019s a crisis today?\u2019 Greenspan said, &#8216;Well, the word &#8220;crisis&#8221; depends on in what terms. That we have a very serious problem with the existing structure, is what I would stipulate. The terms of how you describe it are far less important than defining what it is.'&#8221; So the headline of this story: &#8220;Greenspan Won\u2019t Say Social Security in Crisis.&#8221; He did say it! He was interrupted and then he defined what crisis is. Next story: &#8220;Greenspan endorses personal accounts for second straight day, but he didn\u2019t say it was a crisis.&#8221; No, he just said Social Security is &#8220;not viable over the long haul.&#8221; Well, what the hell else is it, then, if it\u2019s not a crisis? The media here &#8212; first it was AP yesterday; now it\u2019s Reuters today, just can\u2019t &#8212; whatever they have to do in order to deny President Bush\u2019s language and his characterizations of things, even when Greenspan says it. They\u2019re scared of Greenspan. See, Greenspan is unassailable. Greenspan is the Holy Grail. When Greenspan comes out and talks about all this stuff, they have to recharacterize it so that he doesn\u2019t agree with Bush even when it\u2019s plain to anybody who can understand English he did two days in a row.<\/p>\n<p>END TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This next story, this AP story, I think it\u2019s passed off as a news story but I dare say this is a commentary. Listen to the first paragraph. &#8220;Increasing Social Security taxes for the wealthiest Americans could raise more than $100 billion a year, enough to shore up the retirement system\u2019s finances for 75 years, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v17.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bush Strategery on Social Security - The Rush Limbaugh Show<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2005\/02\/17\/bush_strategery_on_social_security-2\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Bush Strategery on Social Security - The Rush Limbaugh Show\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"This next story, this AP story, I think it\u2019s passed off as a news story but I dare say this is a commentary. Listen to the first paragraph. &#8220;Increasing Social Security taxes for the wealthiest Americans could raise more than $100 billion a year, enough to shore up the retirement system\u2019s finances for 75 years, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/\",\"name\":\"The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"description\":\"Excellence In Broadcasting\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2005\/02\/17\/bush_strategery_on_social_security-2\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2005\/02\/17\/bush_strategery_on_social_security-2\/\",\"name\":\"Bush Strategery on Social Security - The Rush Limbaugh Show\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2005-02-17T11:55:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-17T15:17:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2005\/02\/17\/bush_strategery_on_social_security-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2005\/02\/17\/bush_strategery_on_social_security-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2005\/02\/17\/bush_strategery_on_social_security-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Bush Strategery on Social Security\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Bush Strategery on Social Security - The Rush Limbaugh Show","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2005\/02\/17\/bush_strategery_on_social_security-2\/","twitter_card":"summary","twitter_title":"Bush Strategery on Social Security - The Rush Limbaugh Show","twitter_description":"This next story, this AP story, I think it\u2019s passed off as a news story but I dare say this is a commentary. Listen to the first paragraph. &#8220;Increasing Social Security taxes for the wealthiest Americans could raise more than $100 billion a year, enough to shore up the retirement system\u2019s finances for 75 years, [&hellip;]","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/","name":"The Rush Limbaugh Show","description":"Excellence In Broadcasting","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2005\/02\/17\/bush_strategery_on_social_security-2\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2005\/02\/17\/bush_strategery_on_social_security-2\/","name":"Bush Strategery on Social Security - The Rush Limbaugh Show","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2005-02-17T11:55:28+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-17T15:17:57+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2005\/02\/17\/bush_strategery_on_social_security-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2005\/02\/17\/bush_strategery_on_social_security-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2005\/02\/17\/bush_strategery_on_social_security-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/live-rush-limbaugh.pantheonsite.io\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Bush Strategery on Social Security"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/#\/schema\/person\/911066e449df26406b107ca78cbbde0b","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f18195e0073013fa0e16b040686c2924?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"url":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22464"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22464"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":333516,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22464\/revisions\/333516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}