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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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Well, if life expectancy is the measure of whether someone should pay into Social Security and how much he should pay, then I'm excited, since I've been diagnosed with a terminal illness and will not live to ever retire. So, I guess I shouldn't have to pay it anymore. In fact, please refund the money I've paid in since my diagnosis eight years ago. Please.
There is a candidate worse than Perry and thy name be Cain. Cain makes Gingrich look moderate.
It is clear that Cain does not recognize any other ethnic groups but Whites and Blacks only. I think that he'd better started changing his discourse to include us all when he refers to the American voters. Otherwise, I will think that he has a dangerous pipe vision of our country's diversity.
As any other person who contibuted to a personal social security account to fund a government mandated retirement account, I know that if I die before using up my contributions, then a beneficiary of my choice will receive the excedent on the account. Hoping that all workers will be able to fund retirement accounts is a felse hope on Cain's mind.
Maybe he despises the fact that employers are mandated by law to help workers fund those accounts...
What I find really immoral and a completely sinful proposition is Cain pushing his 9-9-9 tax rate on us. I can see rich folks already salivating about this, and the poor ones better beware we are about to be hanged to dry.
We can save on the sales tax part if we buy second-hand cars, colthes, furniture, tools, etc.. That is very progressive thinking Mr. Cain
Cain is just one of many who will be left out the republican establishment wont allow a far right republican or tea-partier to be there nominee ! it makes no difference who the primaries support, remember those super delegate's to the convention and there power ! yes those super delegates have more power than any of the primary voters !!!!!!
NBC poll: Cain beats Obama if election held today.
What you have is about 40% diehards who will vote for Obama no matter what, and anyone who hasn't made up their mind by now will go with the anti-Obama.
dear posters ! please i enjoy all post but always remember someone will certainly check your facts out !!!
They say cain has appeal to the right, so did Hitler.
not to worry, harry reid said that SS is sound, remember?
probably even better off today with him contending that the private sector jobs status is ok, and that it is public sector jobs that are in trouble.
thanks Nevada, thanks libs, thanks so much.
idiots.
Another KOCH BROS rich guy who would just love to see the elderly living in cardboard boxes and die, he can kiss my grits, that's why you'll never be Prez Herman.
Digging his own grave......
The man is b@t $hit crazy.
But Obama's job approval rating hit an all-time low of 38% this week (Gallup). Crazy looks pretty good now.
The self destruction of another GOP Front runner is now in progress.
Film of the soon to be also-ran at 11.
And the ignorant are ruled by the evil.
Has Obama found his teleprompter yet?
Give it a rest. The man can speak well without the teleprompter. Watch any of his interviews or press conferences. He's almost as good as Clinton in his recall of policy specifics and alternatives. The teleprompter is used too often, when a sheet of notes would suffice, but it is a silly complaint for your ilk to keep dredging up when it isn't a crutch being used to keep him from looking like an imbecile. It is used to keep him on message in a world where one false step is seized upon by partisan media hacks.
its true, liberal "compassion" is just slavery. dependency created for the specific purpose of influencing votes.
i dont know why everyone is so shocked.
Democrat John Dingell said during the heathcare debate, "It's take a while to control the people."
notice, no libs have argued my post. its been almost 3 hours now.
NONE!
mitchj, MOST OF US HAVE YOU ON THE "IGNORE" SETTING.
+1
mitch j
Though I may or may not fit your target audience for a response, I'll give it a go, once anyhow.
That would be similar to the Mafia giving drugs to the Ghetto Folks to get them hooked, but different, right? I only toss in "Ghetto Folks" to stay in line with your slavery inference connotation.
Peace Out
Dear friends the post that said Cain could defeat obama is another example of the many lies posted here or at the very least misinformation ! for true poll results please consult (real clear politics .com )a group that compiles all polling agency and no Cain could not defeat Obama ! this pollster is use by both professional and novice politicos !
Boycott the idiots Pizza!
Cain is totally repulsive and repressive in his outlook and comments about everyone who isn't rich in his eabagger eyes. He'd be happy if slavery were brought back, the sick killed off to save money, and his policies be made to rule and invade every part of a person's life. Maybe that's why the brain dead teabaggers like a brain dead Cain.
another braindead teabagger for the garbage can
#45.1: Dooo Whaaaad Naaaaaaaow?
Social Security is not and has never been an insurance program where it based payouts on life expectancy tables. Your payout is based solely on how much you (or your spouse) contributed during your working years. Should it pay based on a different schedule based upon life expectancy? That could be looked at, but I don't know how accurate it would be. The single largest factor for people 65 and up is their health. If you wanted to do a truly fair assessment on life expectancy, then their general health and lifestyle are the way to go regardless of race or gender. That factors out all the people who didn't live to retirement age skewing the average life expectancy of the people actually in the pool.
Politically, though, this is another nail in Cain's coffin since it could cost him Florida in the primaries which is a critical win for him to stay in the game as a top contender.
Mike: I stated several weeks ago that Cain is simply softening up the vote for The Mormon.
Before Social Security, families took care of their parents when they could no longer work. It would great if we could go back to those days again, but we cannot. Today it takes two paychecks to get by so there is no one home to help. Besides, today, their children complain about having to visit their parents more than once in awhile and are held up as martyrs if they elect to have a parent live with them. Yeah, let's get rid of Social Security and see how many children step up to the plate! Talk about a crisis! Social Security was put in place for a reason. Medicare was put in place for a reason.
While I forget the exact quote or its source, it goes something like this: History will judge a nation on how it treated its elderly, poor and infirm. I like to think that our nation will be judged as one of the few that have put social responsibility ahead of greed.
God Bless Franklin Roosevelt's "New Deal"; Kennedy/Johnson's "War on Poverty" and their "Civil Rights Legislation."
Question: Are we a United Nation who looks at the overall good and security of its people, or are we a Nation of Individuals looking out for their own, selfish interests?
No, I am not a bleeding heart socialist, liberal. I just like to look at our history and want to be proud of our country, not just for our wealth and military strength, but for our caring hearts.
Doc - RVN 1967,1968
Who is Obma? Do cons ever learn? Do they even know what socialist means?
I have worked since I was 12 years old. I have paid into social security and medicare most of my life. My father did the same, actually paying into social security at its very beginning. Socialism? No it is Entitlement with a capital E.
Is there a minority who use and abuse the system? Yes, but that is our government's fault. My point is that we are better than most of the world in that we have a conscious, a heart and an understanding that life is more about "me" and more about our great country, our great society.
What have you done for our country? Have you, or will you take in a disabled child, or your parents for that matter? If you think that our Democracy is just about you, then go join one of Mexico's drug cartels. Read the inscription on the Statue of Liberty. We are different than the rest of the world. We are humanitarians, not socialists.
Life is more than just "me." Otherwise I would not have, nor would my Father have risked our lives voluntarily for his fellow man during times of war.
What have you done? I, "Ask not what my country can do for me, but what I can do for my Country." That includes the elderly, disabled and poor. I do not subscribe to the "I got mine" screw those who have been less fortunate. What you have today can be gone in the blink of an eye, no matter how hard you think you worked for it!
The man is delusional. His Empowerment Zones are a renaming of the practice of Redlining. He enjoys the laughs he got over electrified fences, and now is making the claim that privatizing SS is the "correct" way to handle retirement?
Wait! didn't 9-9-9 eliminate the 4.2% payroll deduction for Social Security with the claim that 9-9-9 would cover it all and now is saying younger workers need to make an additional <voluntary> 4% 'investment' in private retirement accounts?
Talk yourseld right out of the race, Cain.
Cain believes SS is immoral?
I don't know, but I am amazed that the first Confederate State to succeed, (S. Carolina) now has a black man ahead in the republican polls.
I------------do not know what to think.
Alright, Herman Cain, your 15 minutes are up!
Fifty-two years ago when I was six years old my father died of a heart attack. I received social security survivor benefits of about $80 a month until I was 18. It wasn't a ton of money, but it was enough to cover the mortgage payment on our house. It gave my mother the time she needed to find a job and stabilize our finances. It meant that I grew up in a good neighborhood, went to good schools, and eventually to college. I pay more in income taxes that my mother earned in her best year. When my mother was 85 years old and no longer able to live alone she came to live with my family. We sold the house she was thankfully able to keep and used the money to provide for her needs. Things worked out well for us because Social Security was there to help. Everybody in our family worked - I started mowing lawns when I was 12 to earn spending money. Social Security is the best program that this country has. I can't imagine what life would b e like without Social Security or how devastating a 9% sales tax and 9% income tax would have been for our family at that critical time. Herman Cain and people like him just don't get it. If he is on the Republican ticket then I will work night and day to make sure that he is not elected.
in most cases its true, liberal "compassion" is just slavery. dependency created for the specific purpose of ensuring votes.
i dont know why everyone is so shocked.