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elderly-old.jpg
Of course it's an unfair image; of course no one wants to hurt retired old people - especially when they have kindly faces and smell like warm cookies. (AP Photo/file)

They took the bait

BY Dave Ross  on December 31, 2012 @ 8:45 am (Updated: 8:52 am - 12/31/12 )

By all accounts, Republicans finally made the move Democrats were hoping they'd make. Even as Republicans in the Senate were going to the mat to keep tax rates low on richer Americans, they were insisting on trimming Social Security benefits. The idea was quickly withdrawn Sunday when Democrats said it was a deal-breaker.

Now I want to point out that there are some legitimate reasons for wanting to trim Social Security.

Conservatives will point out that workers are living much longer. That there are retirees who already have plenty of money. And that the formula being used to calculate benefits tends to overestimate inflation. So you can make a case for saving money on Social Security.

But to make that case at the same time you're fighting to save a tax break for people making over 250,000 a year - makes you look like a grandma-hater.

And of course it's an unfair image; of course no one wants to hurt retired old people - especially when they have kindly faces and smell like warm cookies.

But when you talk about trimming social security benefits as the price of raising taxes on households making over 250,000, you are saying that you simply cannot bring yourself to raise taxes on people making 21,000 a month unless we trim a benefit that averages $1230 a month. Which was the average Social Security payment last year.

Like I say, it may make perfect sense on a balance sheet. But you cannot apply balance sheet logic to the elderly woman whose eyes twinkle, who always makes the kids smile, and whose cookie jar is always full.

Dave Ross, KIRO Radio Talk Show Host
Dave Ross is co-host of The Ross & Burbank Show on KIRO Radio (weekdays 9-Noon) and never too far from the spotlight.
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Comments (19)


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  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    If the Republicans took the bait, does that make the Democrats masters of baiting?
    December 31, 2012 8:22 am

    In the final hours before the deadline, we get a good look at what remains most important to both gangs of thieves we pay to represent us in Washington DC. It has nothing to do with solving the long-term fiscal problems of the nation, but everything to do with preserving or establishing political power and making the "other side" look bad.

    Our partisan impressions that half of Americans are somehow our "enemies" will ultimately bring this country down. Can you imagine how the Seahawks would be doing right now if their two "parties" (offense and defense) were constantly at war? We should consider the government like a football team, with each party contributing certain types of ideas.

    Social justice is *not* the enemy of conservatism. Fiscal responsibility is *not* the enemy of liberalism. Social justice, rather than only pandering to individual greed actually *validates* conservatism. The liberal emphasis on social justice is not sustainable without some fiscal responsibility.

    Too many commercial interests have set up everything from individual talk shows and web sites to entire broadcast networks to try to convince us to hate one another over politics. Fatherless children! (gets past the Mormon censor). Hope their money keeps them warm at night.

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  • ron prevost wrote...
    LOL, and happy new year.
    December 31, 2012 10:18 am
    At least it would be happier if both sides were not posturing and playing games.

    And in that I do include the president who apparently views this all as a game. God help up when the republicans have turned to Joe Biden as the RATIONAL member if this administration to get a rational agreement.

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  • mnpat wrote...
    We don't always agree Chuck but
    December 31, 2012 10:35 am
    your post couldn't have been said better!
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  • logical open mind wrote...
    I dont ever buy that my wife, my grandmothers before they died, and other good folks I have known all my life EVER, EVER wanted to harm Grandma simply cause they want to raise the SSI age, means test SSI and keep SSI for the future generations.
    December 31, 2012 10:35 am
    Libs and dems have shamed themselves by pushing this outright lie. Dave Ross= Darn right there needs to be changes DUH! DUH! and DUH! Oh I will be real brave now and agree to raise taxes on people that make more than me-wow how noble of me.
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  • rational wrote...
    If the Republicans took the bait, does that make the Democrats masters of baiting?
    December 31, 2012 3:27 pm
    Excellent question CG. The dems are playing games with our economy with the primary goal is to discredit and undermine the republicans. Sadly, our treason media is complicit in the act.
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  • Lonestar wrote...
    Social Security is fine
    December 31, 2012 9:57 am
    The money is in a trust fund locked up in a vault. I know this is true because Patty Murray told me. Also, Dear Leader is very close to inventing a car engine that runs on water.
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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Yup, Lonestar, he is very close.
    December 31, 2012 10:24 am
    Why, already, the economy is running like a car engine with water in its tank.
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  • Stevebo wrote...
    Well Chuck...
    December 31, 2012 10:31 am
    In fairness, all politicians are master baiters... ;)
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  • anotherfencewalker wrote...
    Thugs in Tuxedo's
    December 31, 2012 10:34 am
    THose are the only people in Washington D.C. today.
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  • Fuego wrote...
    Mathematicians everywhere
    December 31, 2012 10:42 am
    are shaking their heads. Our problems can't be solved by taking more money from an ever diminishing group. Our quality of life is going to have to go down as the baby boomers hit retirement.
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  • Forrest wrote...
    Fuego wrote... taking more money from an ever diminishing group.
    December 31, 2012 4:09 pm
    Wrong. The 1% continue to increase their share of the nation's total income and wealth while paying a smaller percentage in taxes.
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  • Fuego wrote...
    Forrest....
    December 31, 2012 4:45 pm
    Simple math will prove my point. Look at all the unfunded liabilities and answer the question "how does the country pay for this?". I know all these numbers contain a lot of zero's but try and figure it out, if you need help, talk to someone in Greece.
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  • logical open mind wrote...
    forest-simply tell me how much more u think the Feds could get out of the 1%
    December 31, 2012 6:04 pm
    come on and dont chicken out. How much more per year out of the 1%? Hint-ever hear that the rich hire tax accountants and put their money off-shore? why r libs so simple minded? Have u worked in business at a medium to high level? Dont lie.
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  • Ron_Spins wrote...
    Win the battle Lose the War
    December 31, 2012 12:11 pm
    The Democrat's wont get the Debt ceiling raised.Today is the day we technically hit the Debt ceiling on borrowing.You think the fiscal cliff was tough you ain't seen nothing yet , the Democrats are going to have to roll up their sleeves and work to "help" fix the "Real" problems and it ain't a lack of taxes.
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  • clevesside wrote...
    The timing of the agreement today smells......
    December 31, 2012 12:14 pm
    ...like dead bait, the worst imaginable. You suspect they knew this outcome all along, and would rather preen and posture than provide some faint example of leadership and direction, on all sides. 2013 will the Mayan Calendar, one year late in America. I'm getting my gunnysack and cutting holes in it.
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  • Forrest wrote...
    I always expected the republicans to go over the cliff and allow taxes to go up for everyone.
    December 31, 2012 4:54 pm
    I then expected them to reduce taxes on the middle class to compromise with Obama. That way they could tell Grover that they didn't raise taxes on the wealthy but reduced taxes on the middle class. Republicans don't do anything unless Grover gives them permission.
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  • longwayhome wrote...
    Forrest
    December 31, 2012 9:56 pm
    Grover is history along with most republicans in office today. 2014 will be a really good year, the last remaining republicans holding on to their positions will be voted out and some new, educated Democrats will make some sense of the chaos the republicans have caused the Americans in the last 8 long tortured years of the bush/cheney debacle. Obama has just started in his plan to rebuild the U.S.A. after the republicans ruined our economy and infrastructure with the on-going wars and bankruptcies that could have been avoided if there was a good, strong govt. to support it.
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  • Ron_Spins wrote...
    The bill will not be accepted "as is" by the House.
    January 1, 2013 2:53 am
    http://www.businessinsider.com/breaking-full-text-of-the-157-page-bill-to-avert-the-fiscal-cliff-2013-1
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  • HLC wrote...
    I just wish forrest and longing for home would get their new years wish.
    January 1, 2013 7:47 am
    That would be to have their parents take them back to the soviet union where they came from. Their dribble is really getting old.
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