Matt Miller:
Oooh, you're so strong, baby, so handsome. You're the greatest.
I'm talking about you, America. You're . . . why, you're exceptional!
Does anyone else think there's something a little insecure about a country that requires its politicians to constantly declare how exceptional it is? A populace in need of this much reassurance may be the surest sign of looming national decline.
American exceptionalism is now the central theme of Sarah Palin's speeches. The supposedly insufficient Democratic commitment to this idea will be a core Republican complaint in 2012. Conservatives assail Barack Obama for his alleged indifference to it. It's part of their broader indictment of Obama's fishy cosmopolitanism, his overseas "apology tours," his didn't-wear-the-flag-lapel-pin-until-he-had-to peevishness. Not to mention the whole anti-colonial Kenyan resentment thing the president's got going.
Real men - real Americans - know America is the greatest country ever invented. And they shout it from the rooftops. Don't they?
Gail Collins:
Senator Lisa Murkowski has just claimed a historic write-in victory against Joe Miller, the Tea Party champion who beat her in the Republican primary. The first thing you will want to know is that this will make Sarah Palin miserable.
Nicholas Kristof:
But there is also a larger question: What kind of a country do we aspire to be? Would we really want to be the kind of plutocracy where the richest 1 percent possesses more net worth than the bottom 90 percent?
Oops! That’s already us. That’s already us. The top 1 percent of Americans owns 34 percent of America’s private net worth, according to figures compiled by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. The bottom 90 percent owns just 29 percent.
That also means that the top 10 percent control more than 70 percent of Americans’ total net worth.
David Ignatius:
The tycoons can relax. Two White House economic officials told me this week that fixing the carried-interest loophole is probably dead, for this Congress and the next. It was hard enough to beat the big guys. But once they successfully hid under the cover of the little guys, it was impossible.
That political legerdemain is making America more unequal every year, and the polls show people are mad as hell at Wall Street and Washington, both. And yet the popular chorus continues: Save the tax breaks for the rich.
Los Angeles Times:
Washington is poised to stop providing extended unemployment benefits despite the huge number of laid-off workers, the paucity of job openings, the high rate of underemployment in every sector of the economy and stubbornly slow economic growth. That's because Republicans in the Senate insist that, unlike the hefty tax cuts they covet for the wealthy, the comparatively slender subsidies for the unemployed must not be financed with borrowed money. This penuriousness is not just hypocritical, it's bad economics.
New York Times:
The world’s nuclear wannabes, starting with Iran, should send a thank you note to Senator Jon Kyl. After months of negotiations with the White House, he has decided to try to block the lame-duck Senate from ratifying the New Start arms control treaty.
The treaty is so central to this country’s national security, and the objections from Mr. Kyl — and apparently the whole Republican leadership — are so absurd that the only explanation is their limitless desire to deny President Obama any legislative success.
The Republicans like to claim that they are the party of national security. We can only hope that other senators in the party will decide that the nation’s security interests must trump political maneuvering.
Yeah, that'll happen.
David Broder:
When the rules of the House of Representatives forced the Democrats to confront a painful choice among their leaders, they did what Democrats are often inclined to do. They changed the rules.
Usually, such a stunt would matter only to the members affected by the change. But this one sends a dangerous signal at a crucial moment, when both parties are being tested on their willingness to respond to the lessons of the last election.
Uh huh. What's really keeping Americans up at night is the internal House procedures of selecting the minority whip and the creation of the position of assistant leader and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... Oh, and he's also bitter that Nancy Pelosi dared to run for House Minority Leader -- and win.
Meanwhile, Dana Milbank claims that Pelosi's victory on Wednesday is actually proof of how unpopular she is. Then he quotes some sore loser Blue Dogs to prove he's right.
Karl Rove does his usual shtick about why Obama sucks and Reagan was the bestest, most awesomest president ever!
Alan Simpson is feeling a little besieged these days. It seems people aren't taking too kindly to his proposals to cut a chunk out of their Social Security benefits, and they're saying so.
But Simpson said that while every interest group that testified before his committee agreed that the mounting federal debt is a national tragedy, they would then talk about why government funding to their area of interest shouldn't be touched.
"We had the greatest generation -- I think this is the greediest generation," he said.
All this hubbub isn't a surprise to Simpson, given how politically polarized the country is these days.
"You don't want to listen to the right and the left -- the extremes," he said. "You don't want to listen to Keith Olbermann and Rush Babe and Rachel Minnow or whatever that is, and Glenn Beck. They're entertainers. They couldn't govern their way out of a paper sack -- from the right or the left. But they get paid a lot of money from you and advertisers -- thirty, fifty million a year -- to work you over and get you juiced up with emotion, fear, guilt, and racism. Emotion, fear, guilt, and racism."Time to go for facts. Everybody's entitled to their own opinion, but nobody's entitled to their own facts," Simpson said, paraphrasing former U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Oh, how right he is. Facts are important. One really important fact that seems to be overlooked in his crusade against Social Security is this one: Social Security isn't contributing to the national debt or deficit. Yet he insists on making it part of the discussion.
Here's another fact: Simpson, at age 79, received his Social Security benefits right on schedule at age 65. He also received his government pension at age 65. Both of those were financed by contributions the Baby Boomer generation made through their work which boosted the economy. Without our contributions, his generation wouldn't have enjoyed their retirement years in relatively good health with a decent financial safety net.
More facts: People Simpson's age working in the private sector were more likely to be covered by a pension plan in their early working years and later by 401(k) plans. They were also more likely to remain with one employer for a longer period of time, allowing them to accumulate a decent pension before they reached age 65. All of that was done on the taxpayers' dime. Pension contributions are deductible by corporations; 401k contributions in the early years were exempt from ALL taxes (later that changed to exemption from income tax only), and funds are accumulated on a tax-free basis.
In plain terms, the Greatest Generation's comfortable retirement has been bought and paid for by those members of the generation Simpson describes as "selfish", and his generation enjoys a far more comfortable retirement than we can expect to receive.
Meanwhile, that so-called "selfish" generation is the one now most likely to have lost significant portions of their 401(k) savings to the market crash, lost their homes or a large portion of their home's value, lost their jobs and are not likely to be employed any time soon. When employers have the option to hire younger, less experienced workers who will work for less money and cost less in benefit dollars, they exercise it, leaving older workers (and particularly women) out in the cold.
Selfishness is as selfishness does, Mr. Simpson. We've paid for you without complaint. Now it's time to step up and really identify who is selfish. Start with the companies listed on the Dow Jones index and work from there.
bench craft company rip off
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
<b>News</b> - Justin Bieber Cancels German TV Gig After Stunt Goes Awry <b>...</b>
The teen singer scraps his performance after a man is severely injured on the popular series Wetten Dass.
Hulu plans its own entertainment <b>news</b> show, but will anyone watch?
As Peter Kafka at MediaMemo reports, Hulu is currently casting for a presenter for the show which will be published daily, taking a 'Daily Show'-style satirical approach to the latest entertainment news. Hulu (backed by US TV giants NBC ...
bench craft company rip off
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
<b>News</b> - Justin Bieber Cancels German TV Gig After Stunt Goes Awry <b>...</b>
The teen singer scraps his performance after a man is severely injured on the popular series Wetten Dass.
Hulu plans its own entertainment <b>news</b> show, but will anyone watch?
As Peter Kafka at MediaMemo reports, Hulu is currently casting for a presenter for the show which will be published daily, taking a 'Daily Show'-style satirical approach to the latest entertainment news. Hulu (backed by US TV giants NBC ...
bench craft company rip off
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
<b>News</b> - Justin Bieber Cancels German TV Gig After Stunt Goes Awry <b>...</b>
The teen singer scraps his performance after a man is severely injured on the popular series Wetten Dass.
Hulu plans its own entertainment <b>news</b> show, but will anyone watch?
As Peter Kafka at MediaMemo reports, Hulu is currently casting for a presenter for the show which will be published daily, taking a 'Daily Show'-style satirical approach to the latest entertainment news. Hulu (backed by US TV giants NBC ...
bench craft company rip off
La luz se puede generar el Levante - Ciencia <b> Noticias </ b> Los investigadores crear un lightfoil que introduzca objetos pequeños hacia los lados.
<b> Noticias </ b> - Justin Bieber Cancela televisión alemana concierto tras Stunt sale mal <b> ...</ b> La cantante adolescente restos de su actuación después de que un hombre está gravemente herido en la popular serie Wetten Dass.
Hulu sus planes de <b> propio entretenimiento de noticias </ b> muestran, pero a nadie ver lo que Peter Kafka en informes MediaMemo, Hulu es actualmente el casting para un presentador de la serie que se publica todos los días, teniendo un "diario? enfoque satírico Show' al estilo de las últimas noticias de entretenimiento. Hulu (respaldado por EE.UU. gigantes de televisión NBC ...
bench craft company rip off
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
<b>News</b> - Justin Bieber Cancels German TV Gig After Stunt Goes Awry <b>...</b>
The teen singer scraps his performance after a man is severely injured on the popular series Wetten Dass.
Hulu plans its own entertainment <b>news</b> show, but will anyone watch?
As Peter Kafka at MediaMemo reports, Hulu is currently casting for a presenter for the show which will be published daily, taking a 'Daily Show'-style satirical approach to the latest entertainment news. Hulu (backed by US TV giants NBC ...
bench craft company rip off
Matt Miller:
Oooh, you're so strong, baby, so handsome. You're the greatest.
I'm talking about you, America. You're . . . why, you're exceptional!
Does anyone else think there's something a little insecure about a country that requires its politicians to constantly declare how exceptional it is? A populace in need of this much reassurance may be the surest sign of looming national decline.
American exceptionalism is now the central theme of Sarah Palin's speeches. The supposedly insufficient Democratic commitment to this idea will be a core Republican complaint in 2012. Conservatives assail Barack Obama for his alleged indifference to it. It's part of their broader indictment of Obama's fishy cosmopolitanism, his overseas "apology tours," his didn't-wear-the-flag-lapel-pin-until-he-had-to peevishness. Not to mention the whole anti-colonial Kenyan resentment thing the president's got going.
Real men - real Americans - know America is the greatest country ever invented. And they shout it from the rooftops. Don't they?
Gail Collins:
Senator Lisa Murkowski has just claimed a historic write-in victory against Joe Miller, the Tea Party champion who beat her in the Republican primary. The first thing you will want to know is that this will make Sarah Palin miserable.
Nicholas Kristof:
But there is also a larger question: What kind of a country do we aspire to be? Would we really want to be the kind of plutocracy where the richest 1 percent possesses more net worth than the bottom 90 percent?
Oops! That’s already us. That’s already us. The top 1 percent of Americans owns 34 percent of America’s private net worth, according to figures compiled by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. The bottom 90 percent owns just 29 percent.
That also means that the top 10 percent control more than 70 percent of Americans’ total net worth.
David Ignatius:
The tycoons can relax. Two White House economic officials told me this week that fixing the carried-interest loophole is probably dead, for this Congress and the next. It was hard enough to beat the big guys. But once they successfully hid under the cover of the little guys, it was impossible.
That political legerdemain is making America more unequal every year, and the polls show people are mad as hell at Wall Street and Washington, both. And yet the popular chorus continues: Save the tax breaks for the rich.
Los Angeles Times:
Washington is poised to stop providing extended unemployment benefits despite the huge number of laid-off workers, the paucity of job openings, the high rate of underemployment in every sector of the economy and stubbornly slow economic growth. That's because Republicans in the Senate insist that, unlike the hefty tax cuts they covet for the wealthy, the comparatively slender subsidies for the unemployed must not be financed with borrowed money. This penuriousness is not just hypocritical, it's bad economics.
New York Times:
The world’s nuclear wannabes, starting with Iran, should send a thank you note to Senator Jon Kyl. After months of negotiations with the White House, he has decided to try to block the lame-duck Senate from ratifying the New Start arms control treaty.
The treaty is so central to this country’s national security, and the objections from Mr. Kyl — and apparently the whole Republican leadership — are so absurd that the only explanation is their limitless desire to deny President Obama any legislative success.
The Republicans like to claim that they are the party of national security. We can only hope that other senators in the party will decide that the nation’s security interests must trump political maneuvering.
Yeah, that'll happen.
David Broder:
When the rules of the House of Representatives forced the Democrats to confront a painful choice among their leaders, they did what Democrats are often inclined to do. They changed the rules.
Usually, such a stunt would matter only to the members affected by the change. But this one sends a dangerous signal at a crucial moment, when both parties are being tested on their willingness to respond to the lessons of the last election.
Uh huh. What's really keeping Americans up at night is the internal House procedures of selecting the minority whip and the creation of the position of assistant leader and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... Oh, and he's also bitter that Nancy Pelosi dared to run for House Minority Leader -- and win.
Meanwhile, Dana Milbank claims that Pelosi's victory on Wednesday is actually proof of how unpopular she is. Then he quotes some sore loser Blue Dogs to prove he's right.
Karl Rove does his usual shtick about why Obama sucks and Reagan was the bestest, most awesomest president ever!
Alan Simpson is feeling a little besieged these days. It seems people aren't taking too kindly to his proposals to cut a chunk out of their Social Security benefits, and they're saying so.
But Simpson said that while every interest group that testified before his committee agreed that the mounting federal debt is a national tragedy, they would then talk about why government funding to their area of interest shouldn't be touched.
"We had the greatest generation -- I think this is the greediest generation," he said.
All this hubbub isn't a surprise to Simpson, given how politically polarized the country is these days.
"You don't want to listen to the right and the left -- the extremes," he said. "You don't want to listen to Keith Olbermann and Rush Babe and Rachel Minnow or whatever that is, and Glenn Beck. They're entertainers. They couldn't govern their way out of a paper sack -- from the right or the left. But they get paid a lot of money from you and advertisers -- thirty, fifty million a year -- to work you over and get you juiced up with emotion, fear, guilt, and racism. Emotion, fear, guilt, and racism."Time to go for facts. Everybody's entitled to their own opinion, but nobody's entitled to their own facts," Simpson said, paraphrasing former U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Oh, how right he is. Facts are important. One really important fact that seems to be overlooked in his crusade against Social Security is this one: Social Security isn't contributing to the national debt or deficit. Yet he insists on making it part of the discussion.
Here's another fact: Simpson, at age 79, received his Social Security benefits right on schedule at age 65. He also received his government pension at age 65. Both of those were financed by contributions the Baby Boomer generation made through their work which boosted the economy. Without our contributions, his generation wouldn't have enjoyed their retirement years in relatively good health with a decent financial safety net.
More facts: People Simpson's age working in the private sector were more likely to be covered by a pension plan in their early working years and later by 401(k) plans. They were also more likely to remain with one employer for a longer period of time, allowing them to accumulate a decent pension before they reached age 65. All of that was done on the taxpayers' dime. Pension contributions are deductible by corporations; 401k contributions in the early years were exempt from ALL taxes (later that changed to exemption from income tax only), and funds are accumulated on a tax-free basis.
In plain terms, the Greatest Generation's comfortable retirement has been bought and paid for by those members of the generation Simpson describes as "selfish", and his generation enjoys a far more comfortable retirement than we can expect to receive.
Meanwhile, that so-called "selfish" generation is the one now most likely to have lost significant portions of their 401(k) savings to the market crash, lost their homes or a large portion of their home's value, lost their jobs and are not likely to be employed any time soon. When employers have the option to hire younger, less experienced workers who will work for less money and cost less in benefit dollars, they exercise it, leaving older workers (and particularly women) out in the cold.
Selfishness is as selfishness does, Mr. Simpson. We've paid for you without complaint. Now it's time to step up and really identify who is selfish. Start with the companies listed on the Dow Jones index and work from there.
bench craft company rip off
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
<b>News</b> - Justin Bieber Cancels German TV Gig After Stunt Goes Awry <b>...</b>
The teen singer scraps his performance after a man is severely injured on the popular series Wetten Dass.
Hulu plans its own entertainment <b>news</b> show, but will anyone watch?
As Peter Kafka at MediaMemo reports, Hulu is currently casting for a presenter for the show which will be published daily, taking a 'Daily Show'-style satirical approach to the latest entertainment news. Hulu (backed by US TV giants NBC ...
bench craft company rip off
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
<b>News</b> - Justin Bieber Cancels German TV Gig After Stunt Goes Awry <b>...</b>
The teen singer scraps his performance after a man is severely injured on the popular series Wetten Dass.
Hulu plans its own entertainment <b>news</b> show, but will anyone watch?
As Peter Kafka at MediaMemo reports, Hulu is currently casting for a presenter for the show which will be published daily, taking a 'Daily Show'-style satirical approach to the latest entertainment news. Hulu (backed by US TV giants NBC ...
bench craft company rip off
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
<b>News</b> - Justin Bieber Cancels German TV Gig After Stunt Goes Awry <b>...</b>
The teen singer scraps his performance after a man is severely injured on the popular series Wetten Dass.
Hulu plans its own entertainment <b>news</b> show, but will anyone watch?
As Peter Kafka at MediaMemo reports, Hulu is currently casting for a presenter for the show which will be published daily, taking a 'Daily Show'-style satirical approach to the latest entertainment news. Hulu (backed by US TV giants NBC ...
bench craft company rip off
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
<b>News</b> - Justin Bieber Cancels German TV Gig After Stunt Goes Awry <b>...</b>
The teen singer scraps his performance after a man is severely injured on the popular series Wetten Dass.
Hulu plans its own entertainment <b>news</b> show, but will anyone watch?
As Peter Kafka at MediaMemo reports, Hulu is currently casting for a presenter for the show which will be published daily, taking a 'Daily Show'-style satirical approach to the latest entertainment news. Hulu (backed by US TV giants NBC ...
bench craft company rip off
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
<b>News</b> - Justin Bieber Cancels German TV Gig After Stunt Goes Awry <b>...</b>
The teen singer scraps his performance after a man is severely injured on the popular series Wetten Dass.
Hulu plans its own entertainment <b>news</b> show, but will anyone watch?
As Peter Kafka at MediaMemo reports, Hulu is currently casting for a presenter for the show which will be published daily, taking a 'Daily Show'-style satirical approach to the latest entertainment news. Hulu (backed by US TV giants NBC ...
bench craft company rip off
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
<b>News</b> - Justin Bieber Cancels German TV Gig After Stunt Goes Awry <b>...</b>
The teen singer scraps his performance after a man is severely injured on the popular series Wetten Dass.
Hulu plans its own entertainment <b>news</b> show, but will anyone watch?
As Peter Kafka at MediaMemo reports, Hulu is currently casting for a presenter for the show which will be published daily, taking a 'Daily Show'-style satirical approach to the latest entertainment news. Hulu (backed by US TV giants NBC ...
bench craft company rip off
Matt Miller:
Oooh, you're so strong, baby, so handsome. You're the greatest.
I'm talking about you, America. You're . . . why, you're exceptional!
Does anyone else think there's something a little insecure about a country that requires its politicians to constantly declare how exceptional it is? A populace in need of this much reassurance may be the surest sign of looming national decline.
American exceptionalism is now the central theme of Sarah Palin's speeches. The supposedly insufficient Democratic commitment to this idea will be a core Republican complaint in 2012. Conservatives assail Barack Obama for his alleged indifference to it. It's part of their broader indictment of Obama's fishy cosmopolitanism, his overseas "apology tours," his didn't-wear-the-flag-lapel-pin-until-he-had-to peevishness. Not to mention the whole anti-colonial Kenyan resentment thing the president's got going.
Real men - real Americans - know America is the greatest country ever invented. And they shout it from the rooftops. Don't they?
Gail Collins:
Senator Lisa Murkowski has just claimed a historic write-in victory against Joe Miller, the Tea Party champion who beat her in the Republican primary. The first thing you will want to know is that this will make Sarah Palin miserable.
Nicholas Kristof:
But there is also a larger question: What kind of a country do we aspire to be? Would we really want to be the kind of plutocracy where the richest 1 percent possesses more net worth than the bottom 90 percent?
Oops! That’s already us. That’s already us. The top 1 percent of Americans owns 34 percent of America’s private net worth, according to figures compiled by the Economic Policy Institute in Washington. The bottom 90 percent owns just 29 percent.
That also means that the top 10 percent control more than 70 percent of Americans’ total net worth.
David Ignatius:
The tycoons can relax. Two White House economic officials told me this week that fixing the carried-interest loophole is probably dead, for this Congress and the next. It was hard enough to beat the big guys. But once they successfully hid under the cover of the little guys, it was impossible.
That political legerdemain is making America more unequal every year, and the polls show people are mad as hell at Wall Street and Washington, both. And yet the popular chorus continues: Save the tax breaks for the rich.
Los Angeles Times:
Washington is poised to stop providing extended unemployment benefits despite the huge number of laid-off workers, the paucity of job openings, the high rate of underemployment in every sector of the economy and stubbornly slow economic growth. That's because Republicans in the Senate insist that, unlike the hefty tax cuts they covet for the wealthy, the comparatively slender subsidies for the unemployed must not be financed with borrowed money. This penuriousness is not just hypocritical, it's bad economics.
New York Times:
The world’s nuclear wannabes, starting with Iran, should send a thank you note to Senator Jon Kyl. After months of negotiations with the White House, he has decided to try to block the lame-duck Senate from ratifying the New Start arms control treaty.
The treaty is so central to this country’s national security, and the objections from Mr. Kyl — and apparently the whole Republican leadership — are so absurd that the only explanation is their limitless desire to deny President Obama any legislative success.
The Republicans like to claim that they are the party of national security. We can only hope that other senators in the party will decide that the nation’s security interests must trump political maneuvering.
Yeah, that'll happen.
David Broder:
When the rules of the House of Representatives forced the Democrats to confront a painful choice among their leaders, they did what Democrats are often inclined to do. They changed the rules.
Usually, such a stunt would matter only to the members affected by the change. But this one sends a dangerous signal at a crucial moment, when both parties are being tested on their willingness to respond to the lessons of the last election.
Uh huh. What's really keeping Americans up at night is the internal House procedures of selecting the minority whip and the creation of the position of assistant leader and zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... Oh, and he's also bitter that Nancy Pelosi dared to run for House Minority Leader -- and win.
Meanwhile, Dana Milbank claims that Pelosi's victory on Wednesday is actually proof of how unpopular she is. Then he quotes some sore loser Blue Dogs to prove he's right.
Karl Rove does his usual shtick about why Obama sucks and Reagan was the bestest, most awesomest president ever!
Alan Simpson is feeling a little besieged these days. It seems people aren't taking too kindly to his proposals to cut a chunk out of their Social Security benefits, and they're saying so.
But Simpson said that while every interest group that testified before his committee agreed that the mounting federal debt is a national tragedy, they would then talk about why government funding to their area of interest shouldn't be touched.
"We had the greatest generation -- I think this is the greediest generation," he said.
All this hubbub isn't a surprise to Simpson, given how politically polarized the country is these days.
"You don't want to listen to the right and the left -- the extremes," he said. "You don't want to listen to Keith Olbermann and Rush Babe and Rachel Minnow or whatever that is, and Glenn Beck. They're entertainers. They couldn't govern their way out of a paper sack -- from the right or the left. But they get paid a lot of money from you and advertisers -- thirty, fifty million a year -- to work you over and get you juiced up with emotion, fear, guilt, and racism. Emotion, fear, guilt, and racism."Time to go for facts. Everybody's entitled to their own opinion, but nobody's entitled to their own facts," Simpson said, paraphrasing former U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan.
Oh, how right he is. Facts are important. One really important fact that seems to be overlooked in his crusade against Social Security is this one: Social Security isn't contributing to the national debt or deficit. Yet he insists on making it part of the discussion.
Here's another fact: Simpson, at age 79, received his Social Security benefits right on schedule at age 65. He also received his government pension at age 65. Both of those were financed by contributions the Baby Boomer generation made through their work which boosted the economy. Without our contributions, his generation wouldn't have enjoyed their retirement years in relatively good health with a decent financial safety net.
More facts: People Simpson's age working in the private sector were more likely to be covered by a pension plan in their early working years and later by 401(k) plans. They were also more likely to remain with one employer for a longer period of time, allowing them to accumulate a decent pension before they reached age 65. All of that was done on the taxpayers' dime. Pension contributions are deductible by corporations; 401k contributions in the early years were exempt from ALL taxes (later that changed to exemption from income tax only), and funds are accumulated on a tax-free basis.
In plain terms, the Greatest Generation's comfortable retirement has been bought and paid for by those members of the generation Simpson describes as "selfish", and his generation enjoys a far more comfortable retirement than we can expect to receive.
Meanwhile, that so-called "selfish" generation is the one now most likely to have lost significant portions of their 401(k) savings to the market crash, lost their homes or a large portion of their home's value, lost their jobs and are not likely to be employed any time soon. When employers have the option to hire younger, less experienced workers who will work for less money and cost less in benefit dollars, they exercise it, leaving older workers (and particularly women) out in the cold.
Selfishness is as selfishness does, Mr. Simpson. We've paid for you without complaint. Now it's time to step up and really identify who is selfish. Start with the companies listed on the Dow Jones index and work from there.
bench craft company rip off
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
<b>News</b> - Justin Bieber Cancels German TV Gig After Stunt Goes Awry <b>...</b>
The teen singer scraps his performance after a man is severely injured on the popular series Wetten Dass.
Hulu plans its own entertainment <b>news</b> show, but will anyone watch?
As Peter Kafka at MediaMemo reports, Hulu is currently casting for a presenter for the show which will be published daily, taking a 'Daily Show'-style satirical approach to the latest entertainment news. Hulu (backed by US TV giants NBC ...
bench craft company rip off
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
<b>News</b> - Justin Bieber Cancels German TV Gig After Stunt Goes Awry <b>...</b>
The teen singer scraps his performance after a man is severely injured on the popular series Wetten Dass.
Hulu plans its own entertainment <b>news</b> show, but will anyone watch?
As Peter Kafka at MediaMemo reports, Hulu is currently casting for a presenter for the show which will be published daily, taking a 'Daily Show'-style satirical approach to the latest entertainment news. Hulu (backed by US TV giants NBC ...
bench craft company rip off
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
<b>News</b> - Justin Bieber Cancels German TV Gig After Stunt Goes Awry <b>...</b>
The teen singer scraps his performance after a man is severely injured on the popular series Wetten Dass.
Hulu plans its own entertainment <b>news</b> show, but will anyone watch?
As Peter Kafka at MediaMemo reports, Hulu is currently casting for a presenter for the show which will be published daily, taking a 'Daily Show'-style satirical approach to the latest entertainment news. Hulu (backed by US TV giants NBC ...
bench craft company rip off
Light Can Generate Lift - Science <b>News</b>
Researchers create a lightfoil that can push small objects sideways.
<b>News</b> - Justin Bieber Cancels German TV Gig After Stunt Goes Awry <b>...</b>
The teen singer scraps his performance after a man is severely injured on the popular series Wetten Dass.
Hulu plans its own entertainment <b>news</b> show, but will anyone watch?
As Peter Kafka at MediaMemo reports, Hulu is currently casting for a presenter for the show which will be published daily, taking a 'Daily Show'-style satirical approach to the latest entertainment news. Hulu (backed by US TV giants NBC ...
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