Social Security is NOT an "entitlement" in the way that the word is being used today. I've paid into it all my life and am living on it now so, yes, I AM entitled to it! Too bad it's been robbed for so many years (by both parties) and is in the shape it's in today, but it's MY money!

As I have pined before on this discussion board the Both Boehner and Obama are being hamstrung by thier constitutents. The Filthy Rich and The Ones That Believe The Government Owes them Everything. I Don't envy any of them.

Finally....the Democrats and PLs are given the message by the majority of voters that real entitlement reform has to be on the table with an increase in revenue. Means tested Medicare and raising the elligibility age for SS and Medicare should just be the starting point. The cuts may hurt, but they are necessary for the long tern fiscal health of the country. Too bad we now learn of some of those Obamacare hidden taxes which only make our recovery that much more difficult. "Tax and spend" Democrats need to become "tax and spend less Democrats".

Sure. It has to be done NOW. Tax increase AND spending cuts (big time). Get rid of these f..... entitlement programs.

Anybody who believes Obama that he will cut spending AFTER he got a tax hike is delusional. That man lies the moment he opens his mouth.

Conratz by the way to Jimmy Carter. He is not the worst president in USA history any longer.

Just give me all my money; they're been taking from my salaries over, all of my working years. I'll figure how to LIVE OUT, my retirement years, on my own. THANK YOU!

Both sides say the other side is inflexible and for once they are both right! As the partisan herds wrestle for an advantage in the arena of public opinion there so many different culprits and victims. We are spending more that ever as a nation and while the wars have been costly they are not the majority of the problem according to the numbers. Should we tax the rich at a higher rate, i guess so but will it solve the problem? Hardly. The fact is both sides need to grow up and do what needs to be done and what needs to be done will be painful. Ignoring reality however will be much more painful and that is the truth and neither side is willing to face the truth just rant like a bunch of ignoramuses.

Alaskagirl, I'll tell you why the re-pubs get a chub going when they talk about SS and medicare IT DOES NOT EFFECT THERE POCKET. That is why they worry about raising the taxes on the top 2% that directly effects them or there corporate sponsors who put them into office. These slithery snakes are not put into office for the 98%. They gambled that Romney would win the election and would not have to worry about this predicament were in now, but now we are and there waiting until the last of days to figure this out those rotten SOB's are for surely messing with our bread and butter and yes hopefully we wake up in 2014, but they know our short attention span so who knows we could do it all over again.

Congress should cut the military budget by most of those overseas bases that are not needed...thereby cutting the welfare checks to most of those nations in our back pocket.

Congressional entitlements should be cut....and I mean the extravagant benefits package that Congress receives! Their benefits should be more in line with what a typical middle class American gets similar to social security and medicare.

The Congressional payroll should be suspended until they come to an agreement....including the president's salary!

Last but not least...under no circumstances should social security and medicare be on the table for any entitlement cuts because our seniors are more deserving than the welfare paid to all those countries where we have military bases.

As with all Ponzi schemes everyone involved put into it. Social Security is no different. But when you let the overseer of the scheme to touch the funds the Ponzi scheme's demise will be hastened. Thus the problem with SS. And yes SS is a Ponzi scheme, it survives by finding bottom layer participants to pay the returns of the higher layers. Perhaps we should demand public employee retirement funds be added to the government coffers to help pay SS recipients.

If they would stop the abuses and spending wildly maybe we would not be so against them wanting more. It seems like they would rather take more from us than fix the spending problem.

I say have a vote of NO CONFIDENCE in Beohner and have him removed. It appears he wants to be president...he does not negotiate in good faith for the people...he is a stubborn JACKASS

And everyopne talks about social security..REGAN addressed this issue and he was a republican...there is no reason why it shoul;d be touched that money is seprate from...but the new republicans are greedy bastards want to steal everything

If the Republicans agree to raise taxes on the top 2 percent, the Democrats need to cut welfare, food stamps, and section 8 housing and place time limits on each. Seniors and disabled would be excluded. Also, no Social Security benefits to illegals or people that have never put a dime into it.

Social Security and Medicare are not entitlements. For years I paid a medicare tax out of my pay check and I also now pay a monthly premium. The same for Social Security; having paid into it all my life.And now the Republicans want to "steal" some of that money from me? Fine, crack down on the Medicare abuses but don't cut my benefits.A lot of people don't know that Congress is exempt from Social Security.So they won't won't be affected by any changes to it.And the Bush tax cuts were supposed to be a temporary relief.The top 2% don't want to contribute anymore; whey just want the Middle Class and poor to redeem the National Deficit.

Stay stubborn GOP don't let the Dems screw us over worse. Government is to big and unefficent. Almost 51% now of Americans that don't pay taxes we need more private sector jobs.

NO cuts to Medicare... balance the pool by letting college kids buy into it... by letting those who are unemployed by into it rather than expensive COBRA.... by making it part of the exchanges in states that fought Obamacare....old people use their insurance!! The private market does not want to insure people who use their insurance. Social Security does not add to the deficit!!!! Wake up to the facts and keep your hands of these great programs that help the middle class!

Until our elected people start spending wisly and have a balanced buget- They should not be allowed to raise any taxes and they should not recieve any pay until they do their jobs -period!

Lets be honest and forget about which party you prefer. This country is in shambles because of the massive spending and it is the Congress who never gets the job done and we continue to have gridlock. I say why do we pay these losers to represent us? I am certain a coupld of third graders could agree on cutting spending! This of course is an entilement society and is moving to the far left each and every day so we must accept the fact they are going to want to have the government give them handouts.

If these morons don't get the handouts they will riot or act stupid like those idiots union morons in Michigan. If you want to join the union then join and shut up and if you don't then you should not have to! This country is full of imbeciles who think everyone should feel or do as they do. This comes to joining a union or believing in God, the Easter Bunny or whatever.

There is no respect for others anymore and everyone is wanting to shoot and kill someone because they are either mentally ill or they want to take what you have. You can see the downfall coming of a great country because we have uneducated, selfish, without parents, too many drugs infested morons running around loose.

Take a look at the number of idiots that are in prison. There are approximately 2 million locked up. Why? Because they are idiots that never received any values from their parents or they did not have any parents or they are selfish morons who lack any intelligence or morals. There are too many brain dead people in this country. How do you expect this country to stay great with this many fruit cakes roaming the streets or in jail?

There are how many now on foodstamps?? 47 million! How many without a job and homeless?? Give me a break, things have to change and it isn't going to change as long as we keep raising morons!!

Wealthy are able to "shelter" money offshore, so tax breaks are redundant. Agree changes will be needed in service (not rights) programs. IE; Revamp disabilty to re-training when possible before full disabilty. Big government is a result of popular laws from a big population. Congress persons need to honor their oaths to govern for The United States of America - not theirs and their favorite lobbyist's wallets.

Anyone with common sense knows in tough financial times what is needed is more revenue and some spending cuts. I don't get it that Boehner and is cronies don't get it. And yes cut finanacial subsidies to big oil, big corporations, big farmers, cut and make welfare more accountable, cut military spending, there are alot of things that could be done, but no let's just worry about soc. sec. and medicare - the easiest group to target!!

SOCIAL SECURITY hasn't added a single penny to the deficit. My mother paid into social security out of every paycheck. She worked until she was 78 to keep health insurance and didn't receive Social Security payments until she was 70. When she got medicare part A and B; deducted from her Social Security check every month was a premium. When she got Medicare Part D she paid a high premium every month. It irritates me that these programs are labeled entitlements.

Let the wealthy pay for the Iraq and Afganistan wars that added immensely to our deficit. Afganistan still adds 7 billion to our deficit every month. The Middle Class families paid their fair share for these wars with the lives of their Mothers, Fathers, brothers and sisters who were sent to these wars.

Let's make cuts in the current office holders in the House and Senate's pay, health benefits, perks and pensions. I believe they only have to serve one term to get lifetime pensions.

The Replicans hate social security, medicare , the Federal Govt and democracy and will do anything they can to destroy them.

They have already jammed thru Right to Work, here in Michigan. Now they are trying to squash abortion rights, womens reproductive rights. They are proposing fetus dependent exemptions of $169 if the physician determines the fetus is at least 12 weeks old as of the end of a tax year. Apparantly a fetus to them is only worth $169, claiming the money can help for prenatal care. And under the health care exchange get rid of some other tax benefits for families with children, including a $600 deduction for children under 18. They want to protect the fetus but don't care what happens to the fetus after it is born.

Abe Lincoln and George Romney would be outcasts in this Republican Pary.

Ok, Here is the problem, all the dead beats out there that are not worth a rats ass, want a free hand out. Of course they want to tax the rich, that is their gravy train. Duh!! We don't live behind the iron curtain in American. Companies and the people who own them can move elsewhere, which they have and will continure to do so as the their tax burden increases. This is something that Obama does not mention in his equation. I know many Companies and Individuals who have left this country for this reason. Second, in California you have 23% of all the people on food stamps are the Children of illegal immigrants, thats 11.4 million people. Thats another Black hole. These are U.S. Government statistics. U.S. Corporate tax is 35%, Mexico is 19% China is 17% Ireland is 12 1/2 % and that is where companies are moving. Cross the border from San Diego into Tijuana, you will find Samsung, Sony Hitachi Sanyo and 102 electronic manufacturing companies. Why? because of high taxes they cannot compete in the U.S. They use Mexican Companies to shield their income. In 2010 over 50,000 Americans with their companies moved to Panama alone. Look at John F. Kennedy, He said. "Ask what you can do for your Country, not what your Country can do for you. Look Obama is a liar, he said he was going give amnesty to the illegals which he did not. He said he was going to cut the National deficit in half, he didn't, and on and on. I am non partisan, I didn't think Bush was that great. The last good president we had was Reagan who created 28 million jobs by cutting taxes. This is not theory, this is fact. I think that Kennedy would have been good if the CIA had not murdered him. And Eisenhower who left us with no debt and the Interstate freeway system. Pretty soon the U.S. will price themselves out of business and this country will be left with a bunch of blood sucking dead beats.

I agree with Obama on this issue. Let us go over the cliff, hit the bottom, then start over again. That is what the democrats want because no matter what happens, they will blame the republicans anyway.

Eventually we are going to have to embrace means testing for SS benifits. It is called Social Security Insurance. If you have a predetermined level of income from IRA/401 K investments or pensions from large companies then perhaps you will receive less in SS. Should your other assets eventully be used up you will still be eligible for Social Security. We are going to have to treat it as insurance for those not able to save.

Kudos to those who are able to recognize how powerful forces -- of all political persuasions are able to kidnap the discussion by defining for all comers what language means. First example is the word "entitlement". To economic liberal and conservative Right Wingers, this word ALWAYS slips into a discussion of how to reduce or eliminate truly democratic social programs (e.g., Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security), which just happen to be among the few examples of programs that allow Americans to refer to their nation as a democracy. Well, how about we look at how to reduce or eliminate "entitlements" of conservative and liberal right wingers: how about reducing or eliminating US military forces outside the nation they are supposed to be defending? How about cutting or even eliminating the redundant Department of Homeland Security? Hows about ending the mortgage interest deduction for investment property and second/third/etc. homes?

What do you all think? Do we need to expand the definition of what constitutes "entitlements"? I think so!

It doesn't seem like an important poll. Everybody wants a balanced deficit -- meaning we spend no more than we take it. Nothing much new there. Most people agree that taxes should be raised, but we've known that for at least a month. The question is: Whose taxes? Not MINE!

And people are applying the same reasoning to cutting entitlements. Let someone else's ox get gored. One of the proposals is to raise the eligibility age for Medicare. I can't think of a worse solution. It's true that people are living longer than when Medicare (and Social Security) were passed, but that doesn't mean they're getting sick and disabled at a later age.

It just means that it's possible to keep people alive longer -- long enough for them to develop expensive chronic conditions that often land them in a modest nursing home that costs $1,300 a week. And when the insurance runs out, you go out too.

We're collectively ready to make sacrifices, according to this poll, as long as it's the other guy doing the sacrificing. Except for the job creators like Paris Hilton and the corporations, who seem to be immune from any further payment into the kitty.

Our national motto should be changed from "E Pluribus Unum" to "Every Many For Himself."