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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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Can anyone say "Uncle Tom", "Stepan Fetchit", "Aunt Jemima", or maybe its really 'Rochester", in any case this guy has some serious problems with his own race. He must have suffered greatly in his own mind from being Black. This kind of identity dishonesty will not serve him well, and it would be a disaster for the country.
Good Bye Herman, I think you are done.
really !if equal opportunity hadn't been sought out.This guy would have never gotten were he is now.Which he still isn't at the top.It's funny how he shuns the things which gave him opportunity to get where he is now.He truly needs a reality check.
God, I hope Cain's at least 13 1/2 minutes into his 15 minutes of fame! What an a$$h0le!!
He's spouting off a lot about religion lately. Who in hell made him such an expert? Maybe he can team up with Andy Schlafly, who's trying to re-write the Bible to remove references that Schlafly deems too liberal. Will the miracle of the loaves and fishes become the miracle of the pizza and wings?
Cain is one helluva crazy black dude. He is an embarassment to the black community and all Americans.
wow, Brendan 4, what an attitude. Perhaps you thinks seniors would be better off being used to create Soylent Green for the younger generation. I'm 66, a veteran, and still working 60 + hours/week (and contributing to social security) I don't collect social security and haven't signed up for Medicare yet. Why shouldn't I, when the time comes? I've been paying into it since I started workinking in the mid 60s. I never begrudged the seniors when I was younger so I don't know what your problem is. Maybe I was raised better. Sheesh - whatta grouch!
Cain loves to play the race card all the time, but pretends he doesn't. This guy is CRAZY!
Wow...and this is the man who's ahead in most of the polls? None of these Republican presidential wannabes are the cream of the crop, but Cain and Bachmann have to be the worst of the bunch. He's had no experience in holding any kind of political office, and obviously it shows. Wasn't that the rap on President Obama? Only 2 years in the Senate. That's a lifetime compared to this joker. My theory is he got into the race to sell some books and make some money.....now the neocons think he's the next best thing to sliced bread and he has no clue as to what to do or say next. Becca Becca Stan Stan? Really....you neocons what this doofus in the White House?
Cain's tax plan may be flawed, but what about our current plan? It's so complicated you have to hire a tax attorney to help you understand it. Obama has no plan, the health care reform is blowing up in his face. If the GOP runs someone with a pulse, Obama is a one term president. The end of an error.
Let's try this instead: Warren Buffet said....
"I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election
The 26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only
3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it. That was in 1971...before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.
Of the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.
Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of those to do likewise.
In three days, most people in The United States of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should be passed around.
Congressional Reform Act of 2011
1. No Tenure / No Pension.
A Congressman collects a salary while in office and receives no pay when they are out of office.
2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social Security system, and Congress participates with the American people. It may not be used for any other purpose.
3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all Americans do.
4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.
5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in the same health care system as the American people.
6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the American people.
7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective 1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with Congressmen.
Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves. Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s), then go home and back to work.
If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message. Maybe it is time.
THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!!
And no, I won't vote for Cain, he's a big business sell-out that is completely for the wealthy (again... like all Republicans).. and who even disdains his own race. How can you tell people who never had any opportunities (and yes, there are many people like this) that it's their own fault?
The GOP has proven, time and time again, that THEY ARE NOT FOR THE PEOPLE, they are for Wall St, Big Business, the wealthy and for those that are in THEIR club and ONLY for them..... We have to evict them from office and vote in liberals or independents or those that are truly public servants. Giving protections to the people, making social services & medical care available to everyone IS NOT SOCIALISM, THIS IS THE TRUE LEVELER that makes everyone EQUAL. We need to pare down the top 1% and bring elected officials salaries and benefits to be EQUAL to the rest of US.... stop racism and discrimination of all kinds, clean up the highest court in the land (and I do mean Thomas and the rest of his ilk that are doing so much harm, all Bush appointees) and leave the consumer protections in place against banks, Wall St, businesses, healthcare, fix education and then maybe, just maybe, we will be EQUAL UNDER THE LAW.
Well if you include the President in that too we might have an idea worth pursuing. And while we are at it. lets get a balanced budget amendment too.
If we only balance the budget, the National debt outstanding never goes away. The government has to run at a surplus in order to pay down the debt, not just make the interest payments.
Great idea. We also need to add that all campaign contributions received from a a lobbyist or special interest affected by the legislation should be treated as a bribe and prosecuted as a felony.
That's correct Paul, but we need a balanced budget mandate in order to force the idiots in Washington to stop the deficit spending and debt building. And they can include a line item in the budget allocating certain monies to be used to pay down the debt under a balanced budget.
He's got 5 more years to prove you wrong. Take a deep breath.............
If (koch)CAIN claims he isn't PC, what was the big deal about N*****head?
The "NI66ER-HEAD" issue seems to have been glossed over already.
Even when Mr Cain points out the inherent discrimination in how Social Security is funded and paid out the "progressives" still attack him and essentially call him a racist. I guess the "progressives" think it is just fine that black males are subsidizing the Social Security benefits of those that live longer than them (white females in particular). What ever happened to social and economic justice? I guess the liberals are quick to forget about that mantra once it means that the programs they cherish the most, to keep people beholden to them at the voting booth, are determined to be booth socially and economically unjust.
Once a guy like Herman Cain starts pulling the wool off of the eyes of the black community and uniting people of all races behind the facts, thereby endangering the Dems coveted black vote, the powers that be in the liberal progressive wing of the Dems party (Mr Obama's wing) have to resort to attacking Mr Cain and others like him with all sorts of vitriol that has nothing to do with the issue being discussed. See the posts at the top of the page, for example, calling Mr. Cain an Uncle Tom etc...
Of course any black person that strays from the liberal "progressive" Dem party line is automatically castigated and subject to all kinds of name calling etc..It is standard attack mode for liberal Dems.. If you can't deal with the facts deal out the hack smears.
In fact, the overwhelming majority of younger people today know that SS is, for all intents and purposes, a broken system for them. Couple them with the black males that are being discriminated against by the system and you have taken away a significant chunk of those Mr. Obama is relying upon to vote for him to get reelected. And that is what the liberal "progressives" fear most about Herman Cain.
KingK.
A large number of Black Males die before they are thirty, so just when should benefits begin to balance out the disparity?? A Large number of Black males have low or no paying jobs so they don't really pay a lot into the system, I kind of get the feeling that if we take the race issue out of the equation and just look at the numbers the system would hold up as reasonably fair. Got any stats on this?
I remember the gloating after the 2008 election when the political pundits were saying that the Republicans were history ... and look what happened. Monetfan, your realistic appraisal is something the Democratic leadership needs to emulate. In politics, and in general, don't take things for granted. I see the Tea Party GOP blind-sighted by their 2010 election wins making the same blind-sightedness to mandate. Let's hope the OWS keeps steady in its protest. More to come on www.americaspring.net.
If the best Republicans have is people like Cain, Perry and Bachmann, the Republican Party just may be history. The way I see it -- after they take another drubbing in the 2012 election the few sane Republicans left will take charge and bring the party back to something like it was under Reagan. The leadership in the 21st century Republican party is nothing more than a collections of clowns. The so called "debate" this week is a prime example of what's wrong with the current Republican party. It reminded me of a bunch of 5 year old kids arguing in a sand box. I've seen kids running for class president acting more adult that what I saw from that gang of idiots.
You know what you call 2 1/2 years of 9% unemployment????
"Obamanomics"...... Keep'em on food stamps.
I call it the RE-peat-the-lie-to-the-PUBLIC-an game plan for pushing this country into a Feudal fascism. The Fake Filibuster in the Senate has allowed the CON-MEN_servatives to stymie all reform and populist progress.
F*ck Cain. He's a rich "Unlce Tom" who has sold his sole to the devil WASP republican party. He wants the poor, needy and elderly to just die and go away. HE'S A TYPICAL RICH AZZHOLE!
Most successful blacks like Cain. He makes them feel proud, a great role model. It's the entitlement crowd that likes Obama. Which are you?
You sound like a typical baby-boomer who couldn't care less where the money comes from so long as you get your f#$%ing checks.
The cost of Social Security is likely to destroy this country like other social programs are destroying Greece. Don't your children deserve better?
Social Security isn't an economic problem for this country. Medicaid and Medicare are the programs you should be b!tching about, but Wall Street can't salivate at the thought of raiding those funding streams so they pay people like you to act as if Social Security is a problem.
See ya a-round like a pizza Mr. Cain.
Test. Is anyone having trouble getting from page to page?
No, but that motorcycle ad is pissing me off!!!!!!
Social Security and Medicare separate the country between those who will receive benefits and be taken care of in their old age and those who must pay for those benefits. Since the benefits are far too large for the program to sustain itself long term, those paying in today will find nothing when they retire.
Even Ronald Reagan called Social Security an intergenerational Ponzi scheme.
With the exception of a few years during the Eisenhower administration, Republicans have been trying to eliminate Social security. It's nothing new. They failed for the last 75 years and they will continue to fail.
Social Security is destined to bankrupt itself leaving my generation with nothing. The Republicans will not have to kill it.
It is sad that those currently under 50 are destined to spend so much of their labor on a program that was never intended to cover them.
Jem, that is just not true, there is a lot of falsehood being disseminated by the enemies of Social Security, don't buy into that. SS has a Trust Fund with a balance of $4.5 TRILLION dollars in it. There is more than enough to provide benefits for your generation, its really up to you, you can put your bets on Wall Street but I can't recommend that as your only recourse.
Hey Republicans -- please, please, please, please nominate Cain. And make either Perry of Bachmann his running mate.
NBC poll: Cain beats Obama if election held today.
NBC poll: Cain beats Obama if election held today.
BULL!!! In an Associated Press poll- -- Oct. 13 - 17
Obama 48% -- Romney --42
Obama 49 --- Cain -- 41
Obama 51 -- Perry 42
So against Obama, Cain is doing worse that either Romney or Perry.
But hey -- do the Democrats a HUGE favor --- Nominate Cain.
Job Seeker
You're a liar. Lastest AP poll as of 10/13/11 - Obama 49% Cain 41%
I see libs don't see the difference between NBC and AP. OH BTW, Obama's job approval rating has hit an all-time low at 38% (Gallup).
Hey Jeb --- Obama's job may approval rating has hit an all-time low at 38% but he still beats every Republican candidate. That shows you how bad the Republican field is. With the economy in the shape it's in -- his approval rating should be in the low 20s --- like Bush's were. Again -- this shows you how terrible the Republican field is.
Here you go - a Rasmussen phone poll conducted yesterday, 19 Oct.
"...businessman Herman Cain has now jumped to the front of the Republican pack in Iowa.
"A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Iowa caucus-goers shows that Cain is in front with 28% followed by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney at 21%."
So Cain is the Republican flavor of the week. He joins Palin, Pawlenty, Huckabee, Trump, Bachmann, Romney and Perry. Who's next?? But NONE of them are beating Obama.
Having read Mr. Cain's ridiculous remarks from 2005, has lost him at least one vote from "Whitey" I love the guy who commented about folks running for president and the scrambling like cockroaches, when the lights go on. I paid into Social Security over forty years, and his comment about deceased Black Men supporting retired white women. Not only makes no sense, it's troubling on a number of levels. I'm so sick of hearing white folks being accused of racism over any issue that arises. If you want to talk racism, look up statistics on violent crime involving blacks on whites. It's open season. The sad thing is, that Mr, Cain was beginning to look like the best man to me, but that went out the window with his bigoted comments. I'm officially an Independent, but it looks like I'll be voting for any Republican (except Cain) who wins the nomination. No power on earth could make me vote for Obama. It shames me to say it, but I voted for him in 2008. My mistake.
Cain is immoral. Aside from his comments about Social Security and Medicare, "joking" about electrocuting border crossing people is a sure signature of his lack of morality.
Lol. Wouldnt it make the democrats job so much easier if this whacko actually could get the Republican nomination.
lvingbarefoot:
Capitalism is without a doubt the greatest in-equalizer of all time. The system itself is based on exploitation and inequality. To prove this assertion consider this: if two business are equal in price, quality and convenience, theoretically they would split the total revenue from their community 50%/50%. However, this scenario never happens. What will happen is Business A will be driven to lower the quality of their goods (by using lower quality goods, employing illegal labor, etc). This does nothing but provide the consumer with lower quality goods whilst raising profits for the business. By doing this, Business A has just created inequality in the system. To counter this, Business B must also now lower their costs to keep up due to the fundamental importance of competition within capitalism. Now, instead of providing quality goods to the consumer while being fair and creating legitimate jobs for citizens, both businesses now are engaging in economic immorality; they are putting profits ahead of people, as it were. Also, consider the fact that the salary of your average CEO has increased more than 500% in recent years, whereas the average wealth of a typical middle class family has been stagnating ever since Reagan (the poster child of modern conservatism) took office. Another example to back up my contention is the fact that some of the largest and most profitable corporations in the world such as Nike and Microsoft outsource jobs to India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, etc, simply to raise their own revenues. This means that instead of spending some of the extra BILLIONS in profit they have to hire Americans, they would rather increase their own benefits by laying off Americans and employing cheap, unregulated labor, often in inhuman working conditions. The consumer still has to pay $120 dollars for a shoe, whereas the worker who actually made the shoe could be paid as little as 70 cents per day at the cost of his health. And all he is trying to do is feed his family. Does that sound like the "great equalizer to you"? Also, if capitalism is indeed the great equalizer, then why has the average American's debt increased while their salary has decreased? Shouldn't capitalism, if it does exist as you say it does, reverse this trend? Capitalism is flawed in the exact same manner as communism, or the Dark Side of the Force; it is an idea that has the potential to bring prosperity and power, but human nature (greed, jealousy, wrath) all inevitably corrupt each one of these systems to the point that they are now institutions of oppression. Bottom line, Wall Street cannot be trusted, nor can capitalism. This is why government is essential to the well-being of a population. The government answers to the people and has the public's interest in mind. A corporation, on the other hand, has one singular interest, which is of course to make as much profit as humanly possible. Additionally, they answer to no one but their shareholders, whose only concern is seeing a return on their invest each quarter. They care not for you or me, our welfare, our health or our safety. Instead, they attempt to maximize profits; they accomplish this by laying off workers, outsourcing jobs, taking advantage of tax loopholes (which Republicans and conservatives absolutely refuse to touch, I might add), buying cheaper materials (and therefore producing a lower quality good). An example of the lower quality good in production of commodities is the presence of cellulose (yes, actual cellulose made from wood) in a wide variety of food items. Why may a food company put this in your food, you may ask? Well, the answer is simple: Cellulose is 30% cheaper than the natural, non-synthetic alternative. The message here is clear: companies would rather feed you wood and synthetic, mass-produced garbage and make 30% more profit than actually provide you with a quality product. I agree that capitalism is basically a good idea, for example rewarding those who work, empower citizens with upward economic and social mobility, but in the current system in the United States, this is unsustainable. It is social injustice, and the refusal of the Republicans to even acknowledge any problem on Wall Street simply shows who they value more: the people who write them the biggest checks.
At first Cain seemed like a reasonable candidate but the more I listen to him the more he sounds like nut.
I don't care about how educated he is or what jobs he's held, I don't think he is the best person for the job, unless your one of the 1%.
From what I hear, he would ruin the country at a faster pace than it's happening already. Although, in reality, it probably doesn't make any difference. It's getting clear, the people have no more voice, it's all about the money.