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AP
Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain (R).
Rick Perry garnered a lot of attention -- and criticism from Mitt Romney -- for calling Social Security a “Ponzi scheme.”
But Herman Cain -- whose 9-9-9 plan proposes eliminating the payroll tax, which funds Social Security -- has gone so far as to call Social Security and the tax code “immoral” and “oppressive,” that they impose “involuntary servitude” and that the “system by its very nature discriminates against black men and women,” a review of Cain’s past writings reveals.
Social security remains popular. In a February NBC-Wall Street Journal poll, only 22% said it would be acceptable to cut it as a way to reduce the federal budget deficit, while 77% said it would not be acceptable. In the most recent NBC-Wall Street Journal poll, 64% disagreed with the comparison of the retirement program to a Ponzi Scheme.
Under a 2005 column titled, “Separate Water Fountains,” Cain wrote, “It is now evident that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 did not apply to the Social Security system. Due to the rising retirement age, differences in life expectancy between Blacks and Whites, and mandatory payroll tax deductions, the system by its very nature discriminates against black men and women.”
He went on to call it “built-in discrimination,” before adding, “Under the current Social Security structure, deceased black men essentially fund a large percentage of the retirement income of elderly white women, since they live the longest to nearly 80 years on average.”
He added: “The answer is that congressional Democrats do not want all Americans to drink from the same retirement fountains. They insinuate that we are not smart enough to ride in the front of the retirement bus with them. … At least with separate water fountains blacks and whites each had water to drink.”
Cain -- who during his presidential campaign said, "African-Americans have been brainwashed” into voting for Democrats -- also took shots in his past writing at the NAACP, the Congressional Black Caucus, and “many of our so-called black leaders,” including then-Sen. Barack Obama.
“[B]lack Democratic leaders are willing to see the next generation of Blacks remain in economic slavery on the Democratic plantation, so long as they can deny any Republican a perceived political victory,” Cain wrote.
Cain claimed in another column that Social Security would be insolvent by 2018. And he not only endorsed former President Bush’s effort to push for personal retirement accounts, but waged a campaign in favor of the idea in a series of columns.
“President Bush's vision of an ownership society is the same as that of our Founding Fathers, our grandparents and our parents,” Cain wrote. “The centerpiece of Bush's vision is to restructure the soon-insolvent Social Security structure and instill a greater degree of fairness for all citizens in the outdated income tax code.”
Many viewed that as privatization. But not Cain.
“The second dirty little secret is that personal retirement accounts do not really constitute privatization,” he wrote. “Privatization means someone else owns your account. Bush's Social Security plan provides younger workers their own accounts that they control, not the government.”
And he claimed: “Bush's plan will not turn the public into a bunch of moonlighting day-traders, lining up to be fleeced by Wall Street insiders.” But rather: “The president's plan allows the poorest among us to join the investing class and reap the benefits of the market and compound interest.”
And he touted the strength of the stock market: “Personal retirement accounts as proposed by the president are the first step to fixing the solvency crisis and allowing more people access to economic freedom. The market has never once lost money in any 20-year period.”
In a separate column, he wrote, “In just 13 years the system will be insolvent. President Bush and some congressional Republicans are addressing the certain bankruptcy but congressional Democrats and liberal special interest groups are fighting them every step of the way.”
He went on to say in another column that Social Security and the tax code “thwart the natural, individual motivation of citizens to use their God-given talents to pursue happiness and their respective dreams,” Cain wrote.
He continued, “Any program that undermines an individual's liberty to create ownership is, then, by its very nature, immoral.”
And: “It should not take us another 250 years to cease the involuntary negative return most working people receive from Social Security, or the involuntary servitude imposed by the oppressive income tax code.”
He also said that if Social Security and the tax code aren’t restructured, Congress and the president “will have no choice but to cut benefits and raise taxes again.”
He blamed Democrats for attacking “the President's vision daily. They believe it is right for citizens to continue to receive a negative return on their lifelong contributions to the Social Security system, and in many instances no return at all. The return on contributions is even worse for black people, because of the difference in their average life expectancy.”
Cain also said Democrats are not interested in long-term solvency of Social Security, but rather their “hidden goal is increased control of your life, which is achieved by controlling an ever-growing share of your money.”
And the roots of his support for the Chilean system appear in his columns as well: “The small country of Chile switched to an optional system of personal retirement accounts in 1980 and workers are retiring at 80% of their pre-retirement income. Social Security recipients in the U.S. on average receive about 40% of their pre-retirement income, and they do not own their contributions or benefits after their death. In Galveston County and Chile, your money is yours to keep or pass on to heirs.” And: “We should be embarrassed that the small country of Chile established a system of personal retirement accounts in 1980 that has provided real retirement security for its citizens.”
He said: “Personal account plans have worked in Galveston County, Texas, and the country of Chile for well over 20 years, and have provided their beneficiaries rates of return hundreds of times higher than Social Security over the same period.”
Perhaps signaling why Cain has been popular among Tea Party activists, he also wrote the following, which sounds very much like the modern Tea Party movement: “When we elected a Republican president and a Republican majority in Congress, we thought the runaway spending spree of our money would stop. The excess spending did not stop, and it's not all associated with the war in Iraq. Mandatory entitlement spending alone currently accounts for over half of the federal budget. By the year 2015, mandatory entitlement spending will account for over 60 percent of budget outlays. The persistent overspending has caused the United States to become a net debtor nation instead of the strong net lending nation we once were.”
Cain, who once supported Steve Forbes – and his flat tax - for president also advocated this solution: “Congress, replace the income tax code with a national sales tax modeled on the FairTax. Congress, pass legislation that includes optional personal retirement accounts for workers younger than 45 years of age using 4 percentage points of their payroll taxes. Congress, let's enact a balanced budget amendment, since you have demonstrated that you cannot control your spending addiction.”
And: “As an economic superpower we should be embarrassed that nations once part of the communist Soviet Union, such as Russia, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia and Slovakia recently replaced their outdated tax systems with a single-bracket flat tax system. These formerly backward nations are all experiencing booming economies as a result.”
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I AGREE! i have been working since i was 13 or 14 and when i saw money taken
out of my check i was pissed! my dad told me that's what they government does
boy! screw it! why should the government take money and tell me i have to wait
til i retire to spend it? and now i probably won't get it! this liberal progressive
democrat nanny welfare big government is BS! i was never a conservative
or republican cause they have faults too and i believe in as much freedom
and less government as possible but now seeing for myself how OBOMBO
and the demos are heartless lying hypocrites who use black people and racism
to push their socialism to control people for a European style country! they haven't
helped anyone for over 50 years like Al Sharpton, Jackson and all the other big
mouth Reverends and black leaders like Waters and Jackson who spout about
killing babies and old people whle wearing $500 or more expensive clothes with
big expensive hairdos and jewelry! why not wear a simple dress and give the rest
of your money away! cause they are all HYPOCRITES! I will never be a demo or libo!
Good comment El Duderino! I just noticed it! Great!
Ervin - I think social security was created for people like you - who can't wait until you're retired to spend your money. They when you're old and pennyless, you'd be crying that no one told you that you would need money when you became disabled or decided to retire.
Sir, you are in serious need of counseling....Hatred has really got a hold of you ...sir...you need healing. Pray, son pray.
You really should have stayed in school longer than 4th grade but you have an opinion which is a freedom, but whoever told you freedom was free lied to you. We all have to pay for this freedom or we will lose it.
God help us if any of these mental midgets in the Republican party get elected.
There is no god. You're on your own. Obama can't help you either.
Get a job wing-nut.
Thermen, I have been working for the last 36 years in the chemical engineering field. Working as a contractor since Obama got elected because there are no direct-hire jobs. What do you do for a living, libby?
Js you have been sampling your goods haven't you. At least since Obama got elected you have a job.
Tis,
No, no, contract jobs are available all the time. They are temporary, no benefit jobs that companies make available for the duration of a project. They do pay very well for the travel and inconvenience, but it's motel living. The only effect Obama had on the contract market is more of them because nobody wants to hire permanent and want the option to let someone go quickly if they don't fit in. Obama has made "on the road again" a way of life for alot of us.
There's been lots of talk about doing in the Social security System.. My only question is if they do what happens to all that money that we have paid in... Do we get a refund of it all or does the government just say to bad we get to keep it... How about the part of it that the employers paid in... I haven't heard anyone say what they were to do with that money either... As for Cain and 999 may be good for talking point but bad for almost everyone out there..
No one is talking about scrapping SS overnight. it would be phased out over time. As it stand right now, yes right now, the money going is is used to pay the current recipients. There will have to be something worked out to give people currently putting into the system some value for their contribution. Perhaps a tax credit or cash from the government to be used to seed a retirement plan. You have any good ideas?
social security is successful ?? ---- try telling that to the families of someone who died at the age of 66. ----- that money was withheld from that person's paycheck --- if he isn't there to collect it, his family should get something out of it. ----- $100,000+ is a lot of money to shell out, and get little or nothing back. ----- we need another option.
Social security is like insurance. Some people will get much of what they paid in, but most don't. But it is there if you need it, even if you live to be 100+. Tell me that the average person's IRA would last that long.
maybe, but if i would have had the option to invest some of that in my business, i would have something i could now pass on to my grandchildren. ------- i did not plan my retirement years around SSI, so i don't really need to it to survive, like some older folks, but neither did i invest in 401K or other funds that might rely on the stock market.
So you take that money and invest it in your business and in a few years, your business goes under. Then what? Living on the streets? If you want to leave something for your children, there are many different types of accounts that can be set up to be passed down. If you have other retirement "investments", you should also be able to leave those to your heirs, provided that you have your estate set up properly. The fact is, ss was intended as a safety net. Everyone pays in, because there is no way for you to know that you will be in a position to fund your retirment until you die. Even if you have millions, as we saw with the recent market crash, it could be wiped out, just when you need it the most.
if your business goes under because of poor decisions, chances are you're the kind of person who will also make poor decisions while working for someone else. ----- my idea would be a health savings account option, which if not used, would be more than sufficient for retirement. ---- certainly, bad things can and do happen, but those things happen regardless of what kind of plan you have. ---- i just feel people should have the choice. ----- we already give people the choice to live unwise lifestyles, and yet we subsidize those lifestyles. ---- the way our current system is, you are pretty much forced into a very narrow range of options, and i believe we have the intelligence as a society, to do better. ----- treating everyone the same in a "one size fits all" society is not only unfair, it is inefficient. ----- btw.... i've owned my own business for over 20 years, and have learned to roll with the punches ---- there's no excuse for going out of business other than by choice.
Well, I was starting to listen to what he had to say until he pulled the race card. Racism will continue to thrive as long as people of ANY color pull the race card!! Our financial issues in this country are certainly bigger than race issues!! Our government is out of control, and the voting citizens of this country are powerless to do ANYTHING about it because Congress just writes and passes laws as they see fit!! Vote themselves a raise...no problem; better benefits, no problem; great retirement, no problem; money for pet projects in their home state so they get re-elected, no problem. IT'S A PROBLEM FOLKS!! Until we figure out how to stop them, this country will continue to go to hell in a handbasket!!
I noticed he didn't say ANYTHING about reforming the fat cat pensions and lifetime health care of those in Congress. What about doing away with the pensions and lifetime benefits paid at taxpayer expense for those who work for the government? Maybe that would help balance the budget.
Obviously this man has never studied statistics or actuarial sciences. ANY plan of insurance is funded by those who never have a claim or die too young. If he buys health insurance or home insurance or auto insurance, it is all the same.
Herman Cian is truly an Uncle Tom! He is certainly not presidential material.Say good Uncle Cain! The run is over.
It's funny how different people can look at the same statements and people and come up with completely opposite conclusions.
It pretty much illustrates that we all have our own opinions and mold what we see and hear to match our perceptions.
Those of you who want to opt out of Social Security and Medicare it's easy. Renounce your citizenship and leave the country. I hear the right wing say this all the time. "If you don't like it here, leave." Take your own advice for once!
Black population will live longer if they stop the coca addiction,
stop eating pigs feet, fried chicken and not blaming the world
if they cannot get what they want without sweating.
You are clueless. and ignorant!
Did anyone happen to get the license number of the turnip truck that just ran over ppk?
What is amazing to me, SS is unfair to blacks, sounds more and more like Cain is a racist. and he accues everyone else of being. I would not vote for this man.
I couldn't agree with you more. Well stated.
Compared to the average rate of return on even a modest personal investment portfolio, I admit: the Social Security benefit is not very impressive. Still...I know a few working folks who retired right around the time the market took a dive. Their 401ks took such a bad hit that, without their Social Security benefit--which they paid into--they wouldn't have enough to live on.
I mean...what's the bail out plan if a whole generation of Americans dumps Social Security for private investments that tank when they retire?
I believe that was the purpose when it was created...to provide a "safety net." Privatize it and it's not a safety net.
Which is why it is a really good idea to have a 401k and/or IRA, but if something does happen, at least you'll still have your ss. I work in the investment business, and I know lots of people, both clients and co-workers, who lost huge amounts in their 401ks, and unable to retire at a level of living they want, however, if something happened and they had to retire, they could because they'd still have their ss income.
social security is a insurance not an investment. You basically have a guaranteed rate of return. I am very familiar with IRA's etc and the non variable guaranteed rate is always low- risk/reward
In the book - Attention Obama Haters: What if the Bible is true? Will your hate of this man be worth the price you may have to pay? this issue is addressed:
In the chapter, 'Privatization - Beware!', the following is found:
What does it mean to privatize social security? Wall Street!!! You'll be putting money into a system whereby someone else will invest your money in a stock, which may or may not be profitable to you. You'll continue to contribute, and when it's time for you to retire, they'll simply say the market fell and you have $100 left. If SS is privatize, thousands of investment firms will pop up and promise they'll invest and keep your money secure. They'll lose your money and have to file bankruptcy or ask for a government bailout. They may get the bailout because the Republicans may have to support the investment firms since they were the ones who pushed for privatized SS....What happens to the person who doesn't want to invest their money in one of those plans like an IRA or 401(k)? Will the 'government' force them to contribute?...Would that requirement be considere 'unconstitutional' like the Republicans declare about the mandate in the health care bill?
Go to the 'about the book' to read more at www.booksbyannette.webs.com
this man will never be the president of the united states of america.
next!
Didn't Cain kill his brother? Seems like I read about that someplace. Might have been a different Cain.
to all the tp and repugs-
realize you all hate social security, medicare, and the liberal nanny state. Ever wonder why it was implemented.?
ever read history? think we are SO different and modern that the same things couldnt happen?
those who do not know history are bound to repeat it
We elected Obama in 2008. History lesson learned....Don't repeat the same mistake.
too bad it didnt apply to bush
obama in 2012
Romney+healthcare(heard him include newt the pig in supporting his health care plan which was proposed by Newt as a repug response to hillary care and was created by the coke boys think tank the heritage foundation)+ bain capital+ corporation are people. Love the opportunity
It's still the economy stupid. 5% unemployment got Bush, Clinton and Reagan re-elected. 9% unemployment and talking about jobs after three years in office spells doom for the encumbent.
You don't know anything about anything and that sums it up for you perfectly.
dmac and job seeker
the repugs are all flawed candidates that is why they have been in a lather for months to find an acceptable candidate.
Without these bozo's I think you are correct Obama would be in a world of hurt as we are a very impatient people.
6 of 8 of your candidates do not have the intellectual capacity or the morality(referring specifically to Newt) to be President. Huntsman is too moderate and Romney is- what exactly does he believe in?
You don't understand the fans. They want a winner now. If the coach is still losing after four years, they will demand a new coach. The next coach is no guarantee of a winning season, but at least the fans know he can't be worse than the current coach.
understand the analogy but fans dont vote the ownership does. Fans react.
Romney is a very flawed candidate- being a morman will reduce the impact of evangelicals voluntering for him. His past record is all over the map and NO one is sure what he believes in. Sometimes the devil you know is better then the devil you dont.
Also the cost cutting he and every venture capitalist does will hurt him during this election with the amount of economic uncertainity that exists. Too easily painted as a reason why we are in the position we are in and not the solution.
Repugs got problems. Repugs also have a boat load of money so tighten your belt cause its going to be a bumpy ride
Fans do vote, with the tickets, hotel occupancy, restaurant profits, purchasing endorsed products, etc. It's all about money. In politics, it is also all about money, the pocketbook. If the economy doesn't turn around in three years, Obama is a one termer. Those were his words in 2009. Right now, the Republican primary voters are just trying to get behind the most conservative person they can find. Once the nominee is selected, that person will be the new coach.
look you want to quibble on the analogy but not the points being made about the weakness of your candidates. Interesting.Romney cant move above 25% and he has never been liked by the Republican field for whatever reason.
you got empty suits Obama will eat their lunch in a debate and on points
Paxil, what you don't understand is it doesn't matter how weak or how strong the Republican nominee is. It is how bad Obama is. A Republican candidate once asked the American people if they are better off today than they were four years ago? That person was no strong candidate. In fact, he couldn't even get his party's nomination in previous tries because he was seen as too right-wing. He didn't announce his candidacy until December. Yet, that candidate Reagan won 44 states because the economy was in a total mess and he won re-election with 49 states because the economy was booming after his first term. Who was the last Democrat to win re-election? Clinton, and he was the only one in the last 60 years. Clinton won with the it's the economy stupid slogan. Seems like Clinton was the only Democrat who knew how the economy works.
reagan was a fantastic campaigner, an ex actor with a great ability to communicate and the term teflon coating was applied to him. I dont see any similarities to any of your candidates.
Sorry just dont, and apparently neither do the republicans or why would there be such a "panic" to get Christie in. That is by the "republican leadership" and it was a well known fact that the other Republican candidates detested Romney in 2008. For whatever reason he is not popular with his Republican competetion.
Just saying......
"5% unemployment got Bush, Clinton and Reagan re-elected."
Gee, I don't think so. Unemployment rates during the Reagan years -
1981 - 7.6%
1982 - 9.7%
1983 - 9.6%
1984 - 7.5% (election year)
1985 - 7.0%
1986 - 7.2%
1987 - 6.2%
1988 - 5.5%
http://www.bls.gov/cps/prev_yrs.htm
Cain is just another business man who is tired of payiing into social security for his employees. He's so rich he can't even relate to people who depend on social security as part of thier retirement. If anything he's the plantation owner trying to get out of responsibility to his employees.
Beginning in the late 50's Southern Democrats ( not to be confused with the Democratic Party which was separate from the SD Party) did start to bolt to the Republican Party over the desegregation issue. This was followed by those bolting over the Voter's Right Bill. These BOLTERS were, primarily those that were staunch Segregationists, but, also those of the White Supremest (Neo-Nazi and Neo-Facist) persuasion and most of those within the KKK. About the same time Evangelists (like Jerry Falwell) made their entry into the Republican Party.
Another tidbit: Do you know that New York City almost seceded from the Union over cotton? Or that similar thoughts were occurring in those States that produced , crewed, and managed the ships that were used in the Slave Trade. Not surprisingly that created much of the wealth within the Northern States.
Another tidbit: President Lincoln was fearful in the early years of the Civil War of offending the pro-slave traders, that he delayed his Proclamation decree until the very last days of the Confederacy.
Oh what we can learn if only we desire to learn. But we must learn from past mistakes so as not to repeat them time and time again. Apparently a lesson not learned but often dismissed.
Stealing my money for 35 years is therefore illegal. Where is it?
Caine hates and has no respect for his own race. Someone should white-wash him so he can feel like he fits in better with his rich white friends. The man should be ashamed of himself. His mother should be ashamed of him.
The tree of liberty sure could use some refreshing.
I agree completely with you JOHN A and it doesn't really matter to me if your a dem or repub but that sums it up very well and at one time had he gotten the repub nomination I might have voted for him but no way in hell will I ever vote for that moron now becaus of just what you said "UNCLE TOM", and that does sum it up perfectly.
Give me Cain!
Thailand, they have lots of Cain and they know how to use it too.
Mr. Cain wouldn't know a moral argument if it smacked him in the face. Social Security is a compact engineered by Roosevelt between working people designed to allow seniors too old to work to live decently and with dignity. Like all those that denounce Social Security, Cain is nothing more than a relentless warrior for the wealthy, pushing for privatization of a necessary governmental function that loudly proclaims that this society honors its seniors with dignity and respect after they labored their entire lives as part of the American fabric.
Cain's views are those of an Uncle Tom who advances the Teapublican agenda of utter egoism and that lack of any sense of civic responsibility or community. Ironically, he's now a leader of the crackers and the children of crackers who left the Democratic Party for the Republican Party after the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act because the federal government had the audacity to outlaw their rank discrimination against blacks.
Huckster Cain's attack on Social Security will lead to his political demise.