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A new poll from Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research shows that the public doesn’t want any cuts to Social Security and Medicare, and that they are just as interested in investment in jobs as deficit reduction. In fact, deficit reduction can be seen as a stand-in for jobs and economic recovery, if you read into the poll.
Here are some of the major findings:
68 percent said they would oppose making major spending cuts in Social Security and Medicare to reduce the deficit, while 28 percent said they would favor cutting those programs. That included 61 percent of Republicans and 56 percent of independents.
Strong majorities support progressive solutions for addressing the federal deficit: 63 percent back lifting the Social Security cap on incomes higher than $107,000 a year; 64 percent would favor eliminating tax breaks for corporations that outsource jobs; 62 percent would support a tax on excessive Wall Street bank profits.
Strong majorities also oppose common conservative proposals for addressing the budget deficit: 65 percent oppose raising the Social Security retirement age to 70; 65 percent oppose replacing Medicare with a private sector voucher; 62 percent oppose a 3 percent federal sales tax; 60 percent oppose raising the Medicare age from 65 to 67.
People have a pretty normal view of the economy, overall. They want to invest in the future, rebuild the country and create jobs now, and emphasize that over long-term deficit reduction. This includes federal aid to the states to prevent public safety and education layoffs, seen as positive by 62% of those surveyed. They also responded positively to the completely mundane idea that economic growth would create the revenues to pay down the budget deficit.
Meanwhile, the schizophrenic conservative plan on these matters is to cut spending and waste to lower the deficit, but also give tax cuts for the rich that would cost $36 billion dollars just next year.
The Two Santa Claus theory of endless tax cuts and endless services has traditionally won the day. But according to this poll, voters have a more sophisticated outlook, based on investment in the future. And they don’t want to see the safety net created for them in their old age whittled away.
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The midterms are looking up!
Tough.
The public wanted single-payer. The public wanted a public option. The public wanted Medicare for all.
The public got what Obama wanted. And that’s what will happen here.
Wow where to start with this nonsense?
1. Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research – Never heard of them.
2. To Medicinecat: The public did not want single payer let alone HCR…please try paying attention to the news.
3. Tax cuts for the rich do not lead to deficits they let to economic growth…Tax increases for the “rich” lead rich people to leave making things even worse…i.e. Maryland,
4. Did the poll ask: If you had a choice between cutting SS and Medicare or 50 years of high unemployment, lower standards of living, food and energy rationing and economic slavery…what would you choose.
5. Did the poll ask: If you had a choice between cutting SS and Medicare or going to war with US creditors (China) after a US default, what would you choose?
6. Did the poll ask: If you knew that continuing growth of SS and Medicare debt would ensure that your children and grandchildren lived in poverty for the next 60 years and would not possibly receive any of the benefits of SS and Medicare would you advocate trimming or eliminating the programs?
Details Details….How would that poll work out then?
Whaaaa Don’t Touch My Social Security☂ ☂ ☂ ☂!!!!
Just to make the freaking rich richer! Tax the hell out of them They caused this economic problem!! Make them pay regular taxes on Capital Gains, why the fuck should they get to pay a lower tax rate on cutting coupons than us working class have to on our hard earned wages??? It sure doesn’t add any value to the economy!!
Do you take your Kool Aid with ice or straight up?
Where’d you find a shovel big enough to move all that horseshit?
Wow – so much lack of information –
“1. Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research” – BEEN AROUND A LONG LONG TIME AND VERY CREDIBLE, ALBEIT A BIT RIGHT WING IN SAMPLE MODEL
“2. The public did not want single payer let alone HCR” – SUPPORT NEVER DROPPED BELOW 60% UNTIL PUBLIC OPTION WAS REMOVED – AND IS STILL AROUND 50%
“3. Tax cuts for the rich do not lead to deficits they let to economic growth” 8 YEARS OF BUSH TAX CUTS FOR THE RICH PLUS STIMULUS SPENDING FOR 2 WARS ADDED 1 MILLION JOBS – COMPARE TO 22 MILLION ADDED UNDER CLINTON AFTER A TAX INCREASE ON THE RICH,
“4. Did the poll ask: If you had a choice between cutting SS and Medicare or 50 years of high unemployment, lower standards of living, food and energy rationing and economic slavery…what would you choose.” LOL – THE CHOICE IS ASSERTION THAT INDEED IS DISPROVED BY HISTORY.
“5. Did the poll ask: If you had a choice between cutting SS and Medicare or going to war with US creditors (China) after a US default, what would you choose?” NOW WE ARE GETTING FOX NEWS -GLEN BECK NUTS.
“6. Did the poll ask: If you knew that continuing growth of SS and Medicare debt would ensure that your children and grandchildren lived in poverty for the next 60 years and would not possibly receive any of the benefits of SS and Medicare would you advocate trimming or eliminating the programs?” THAT IS A QUESTION THAT COULD ONLY BE FORMED BY SOMEONE THAT CAN NOT SPELL ACTUARY LET ALONE TALK TO AN ACTUARY AND UNDERSTAND THE WORK THEY DO THAT PROVES THE QUESTION STUPID.
“Motion Denied” per twitter feed no link yet
1. So the poll is invalid because you’ve never heard of the Research group. Hmm-kay
2. Actually when presented with the option, Medicare for all was the preference going away but please don’t let facts get in your way
3. Yeah, all those jobs created after the Bush tax cuts in 2001 led to the worst ten years of job creation evah
4., 5. and 6. Nice strawman – better to ask if cutting overseas Military bases, ending two wars/occupations, tax breaks for out sourcing jobs overseas, and tax breaks and government contracts for companies that incorporate in the Caymans and Lichtenstein might help pay for things. So you do favor the US defaulting on Social Security? Since those are also the same type of treasury bonds that the Chinese own. But nice straw arguments since your way would condemn many folks to poverty today, not some mythical future.
Watching live video, will post when news.
Christ, here I am bouncing around to every news org I can think of and nothin’ yet.
1. So if you haven’t heard of it it must not exist? Gotcha.
2. 72% of Americans wanted some form of single payer insurance.
3. Eisenhower on taxes: “We cannot afford to reduce taxes, reduce income,until we have in sight a program of expenditure that shows that the factors of income and outgo will be balanced.”
From that article:
4. Strawman
5. Strawman
6. Strawman
Which motion denied?
About the stay? Me, too… Can’t wait to hear…
PS Dang ya’ll are fast.:)
Motion to stay.
DDay has a post up, but says reports are still unconfirmed…
Judging from the reaction of the H8ers with signs the stay was denied. No audio on clip.
Are you watching TV coverage?
The dems should bottle this and run on it. It addresses the pocketbook and jobs. Jobs are number one in my book and they should run hard on it. There’s plenty of things the dems can run on. The repugs are just no machines.
“And they don’t want to see the safety net created for them in their old age whittled away.”
The safety net they created for themselves.
We.
Live clip on CNN.com
Riiiight! This poll is whistling past the graveyard on the major issues: Economic growth and job creation.
“invest in the future, rebuild the country and create jobs now, and emphasize that over long-term deficit reduction” are HARDLY exclusively progressive ideas and the ‘devil is in the details.’
The massive stimulus bill failed to produce the desired economic multipliers and has been widely pronounced a failure. The Dem plans for economic recovery and job creation have lead not to the promised ‘summer of recovery’ but a ‘bummer summer’ … and the Dems want more of the same. There is NO serious effort on the part of Dems to control, reduce or cut spending, which is the major source of our deficit problem. And the bailouts and payoffs to cronies continue…
Runaway spending financed with borrowed money and the promise of higher taxes. Sure, claim that ONLY the rich will pay, but all of their wealth cannot foot the bill for the spending and debt we are incurring. Common sense tells us all that our government is living well beyond it’s means with no limit.
It’s the SPENDING stupid.
nothing on CNN or MSNBC yet and they are covering it live… I sure do hope judge Walker denies the motion so our brothers and sisters can marry whom ever they wish!!
If one more person asks What Motion, I’m gonna spew.
Watch out. You’ve been warned.
“4. Strawman
5. Strawman
6. Strawman”
Also, push polling.
What motion?
Thanks! DDay says Freedom to Marry is confirming Motion Denied!
Doesn’t matter what we think? Where the corporations stand–that’s where Obama drops to his knees.
Ya made me crack, You! Gawd, I just love ya, SD!
Sorry demi, not trying to offend, just popped in quick to find out and there wasn’t anything official. As Teddy mentioned over at The Seminal, Walker tends to be punctual…
Hey afterseven! Did you hear that the Dugers want to have another baby?
BS Republican taking points.
Wow, how persuasive.
Every point you made is demonstrably false.
What’s happening in states like Virginia and New Jerseysuggests that voters may support spending cuts more than most American politicians and pundits have assumed. And much more than a value added tax.
It’s okay. I’m happy. Even if the tv hasn’t said so yet.
Some of us have been on tenderhooks for hours. So, you Knew what motion, didn’t you? Really, it’s cool. Nothing can bum this moment for me. And, yes, we still have a road ahead, but every victory is something to cherish and toast
That may be right up to the point that they see houses burning down because city fire departments have had to cut back hours and staffing for fire houses because of those cuts.
Or the city parks are cut or the street lights are extinguished
Get your facts straight Indie… try reading this without getting sick..
Reagan insider: ‘GOP destroyed U.S. economy’
Commentary: How: Gold. Tax cuts. Debts. Wars. Fat Cats. Class gap. No fiscal discipline
I just love this part:
And this:
Whoot Judge lifts ban as of the 8-18 5 PM!!!
Please come back after you’ve done your homework on this and answer with credible, factual information. And no, I don’t mean after you’ve watched the latest episode of Glenn Beck freaks out, nor do I mean after listening to the latest punch-the-hippies rant from your Boss, Limbaugh.
I mean: real, factual info. Try “Google;” I hear it works pretty good.
I saw that earlier. Friedman’s theories are junk and for the govt to continue them is courting disaster.
But Do watch out Google has become the pariah of the internets and they keep track of what you search for….
heh the H8ers are the only ones left at City Hall with signs. Pathetic lot, that.
I think it’s reasonable to view deficit spending like personal indebtedness – good when it’s for an investment, or a temporary need, but bad when it’s a matter of habit.
Sure wish Google hadn’t bought YouTube. I’ve always tried to avoid anything connected with Google.
Yes it is. And you can tell because it just pastes that bullshit with no links and then leaves, not at trying to defend it.
Like me stopping by and posting “The sky is red!” and then never coming back.
Of course my post of the “The sky is red” would actually be closer to the truth than that total bullshit posted at 3. Because, you know, we really do have a sky, and it’s in living color, just maybe not so much red.
Great article SD and he does spell out what they Have done to this country… I say they are in fact Traitors to the good people of this country for doing this in the name of one of the seven deadly sins “GREED”.
I thought all conservatives were “down” with the being spied on and tracked and all that kind of stuff??? After all when Bush illegally approved warrantless wiretaps, I had no end of conservatives lecturing me about how “if you have nothing to hide, then why are you worried about something illegal like this????? It’s for the good of our country! What are you, a traitor???”
This person is clearly a conservative. Ergo, he/she should have no problem with Google tracking their research. amirite?
And another bullshit tactic the right wing uses goes something like this: They pull a quote from the post like the one above and add commentary.
The idiots over that at Firedoglake.com are so stupid they believe the sky is red!!!
Sometimes where I live and the sun sets over the ocean, the sky does kinda-sorta get pretty red (depending on the pollution level that day). So, hey, yeah: feel free saying the “sky is red” bc, for sure, it’s heckuva lot more factual and real than that nonsensical garbage.
Truth be told, the majority of Americans no longer feel that Washington is operating with the consent of the governed. The stimulus bill failed to have ant impact on the economy, the HCR bill remain hugely unpopular for a number of reasons, and the spending and bailouts continue, unabated. There is a huge anti-establishment, anti-Democrat mood in the country right now and no one here can convince me otherwise. On top of that, progressives, the young and even a number of Hispanics are disillusioned with Obama and the Dems and none of this bodes well for November.
Once the GOP is in charge they will be held accountable for their actions, until they have a chance to put the country back on the ‘right track’ and the results are measured will we really see which path the public accepts.
Red sky at night, sailor’s delight
Red sky in morning, sailors take warning
And the last week or so without this reichwinger has been so nice.
So, the question is..why is the Obama administration and the Democratic party following these same failed Reagan austerity policies?
We need to get involved and “active” beyond digital petitions. Please look at these two articles which explain why..
Clicktivism is Ruining Leftist Activism
The Limits of the Internet or The Silence Of the Streets
You were mostly right until this point. The path we are on now is the one Republicans chose for us a decade ago. You could even say it’s a culmination of the path Reagan chose for us thirty years ago. It’s not a path progressives chose.
As for what the public accepts, I suspect they’ll accept whatever confirms their prejudices. If something is shown to work long enough that doesn’t conform to their prejudices, some portion of it might change their minds.
What’s also nice is the way you emphasize the right wings Nazi like fascism by calling them reichwing something I forget until I see you do it again.
It’s a spot on comparison though IMO.
indie – you note that spending is the problem – under Reagan what percentage of GDP was the spending?
Well the 12 years of Reagan Bush started at 22.9% and decreased to 21.4% of GDP for the last 4 years average, for a 12 year average of 21.7%.
Obama is at 25.1% because of the Bush decision on TARP and GM, and is projected to average 23.8 post health care reform.
“Stimulus” for job growth and 2 wars require additional spending – and we saw that the Bush tax cuts for the rich only produced 1 million jobs in 8 years, in contrast to Clinton’s 22 million over 8 years, so it is a no-brainer to conclude a tax rise on the rich to fund a stimulus to keep us out of a second depression is the way to go.
I agree that ““invest in the future, rebuild the country and create jobs now, and emphasize that over long-term deficit reduction” are HARDLY exclusively progressive ideas and the ‘devil is in the details.’”, but you are in error on the idea that the prior stimulus bill failed to produce the desired economic multipliers and has been widely pronounced a failure – it produced exactly as predicted but what was wrong was the assumed starting point that Romer used to get to her 8% UE prediction – at 700,000 jobs dropping a month the stimulus did not start in until the economic situation was much worse than the Nov 2008 data she was using to project.
Yes, more of the same is needed given the proven failure of tax cuts for the rich.
I agree there should be a sane fiscal poicy – controlled and if possible reduced spending – but that does not preclude more stimulous.
To claim that “all of their wealth cannot foot the bill for the spending and debt we are incurring” is wrong – a return to a 63% top rate is about a $4 trillion increase in revenue over 10 years – and does cure just about everything other than health – on health we have to wait for single payer.
I believe the sky is red – on Mars
Obama can veto any bill that “adjsuts” or “reforms” Social Security. My bet is that Rubin, Summers, Geithner and Bernacke will tell him to cut benefits and he will do it, like any other slave to the rich.
They have not been held accountable for Bushes 8 years.
Despite what the polls say the Democrats will be the willful patsies of the Rethugs and agree to raise the Social Security retirement age that the Cat Food Commission will recommend.
The Cat Food Commission is Obama’s idea, the Democrats own it.
Haha… GOP and accountability. Yeah, I’ll make sure to tip the server.
I have to go beyond “schizophrenic” in defining the Republicans’ proposed policies… how about borderline personality disorder? Seems more fitting. To me.
YUP!! four ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ fer ya my friend!!
Why are people still trying to justify back and forth which party is WORSE. It’s the Republicans…no, it’s the Democrats…no, it’s the Republicans. Bottom line – BOTH PARTIES HAVE BEEN COMPLETELY CORRUPTED!
This back and forth gets us no where when you are talking about systemic corruption. We need new solutions for the citizens of this country.
I’m taking heavy flack especially from my relatives(I’m African-American, so you can probably imagine the response) for a t-shirt I designed. It’s called “Obama World: Billions for Foreign Wars, Cat Food For Americans.” I just had 25 printed up and I’m distributing them to friends. You can also find it here: http://skreened.com/PRC/obama-world. Someone saw me wearing one yesterday and went Rambo on me, yelling how I was helping the republicans and how they never heard of the Deficit Commission. And there’s the rub–Americans have no clue about this commission and the nastiness it’s trying to unleash on Americans. Time to wake up people!
Think again.
The party of no is the party of no ideas. Try to gut any more of the social contract(which you have succeeded in shredding) and the only place you’ll find yourselves in the majority is on the planet, Republicanus, which most reasonable people know is in the rightmost corner of a galaxy far far away.
You won’t take the House. You’ll lose seats in the Senate. When the dust clears, the only thing you’ll get in 2012 is a lifetime discount on tea bags.
So. The Public rejects Social Security and Medicare cuts? And the Public supports Progressive economic policies?
Who gives a fuck?
the GOP in charge was 8 years under Bush – and you can see how much they are being made accountable for a multi-year near depression, miserable job growth of only 1 million over 8 years with the economy shedding 700,000 jobs a month as they walk out the door despite tax cuts for the rich (in contrast to Clinton’s raising taxes on the rich and 22 million jobs in 8 years).
Indeed Obama is projected to be at 23.8% of GDP on spending over 4 years (his first year was 25.1%) in contrast to Reagan’s 21.7% of GDP – but the GOP can’t tell us where they would cut beyond unemployment, aid to states to keep teachers and police and firemen employed, and Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security. And after they cut the above we will be better off because THIS TIME they will be held accountable?
Tax cuts for the Rich? They use that money to corrupt more politicians and buy Supreme Court Justices. Hang on! It is going to be an ugly and rough ride for the next three or four years. If this political system survives I will be shocked.
Absolutely agree.
Progressive Taxation with Estate Taxes in a Market Oriented Economy with tough anti-trust enforcement on companies planning to become or already monopolies along with Social Security acting as a safety net is the true solution.
History showed again and again that solution works in creating a better society with people able to achieve the ideals enshrined in our declaration of independence in their own way.
Most of those concepts actually came from Republican Presidents like President Theodore Roosevelt and President Eisenhower. As long as our policy makers shrink from taking battle to do the right thing things will never become better in the long term. They just need to read about President Theodore Roosevelt and President Franklin Roosevelt about battles they faced to bring those concepts to reality.
If Glass Steagall Act was in place we would not have had this recession due to organic growth and if the Social Security was not there at this moment it would have been a depression with whole world in chaos with some worse dictators propping up in some countries pandering to the despair of the people both on far right and far left doing inhuman things no sane mind can imagine. History showed it can happen in real bad tough times and if social security was not there acting as savior at this moment by modifying this possible depression to be still a recession it would have happened again. In my opinion world does not need those types of jingoistic dictators again. Social Security is a progressive concept and we need to profusely thank it for saving worlds economy at this moment. Lets put our energies to bring more progressive concepts to reality.