James Rosen — Obama’s bid to squeeze Social Security enrages his core backers

Liberal groups angered by President Barack Obama’s proposed Social Security cuts say they’ll take a page from conservatives’ campaign playbook and work to oust Democratic lawmakers who go along with the plan.

The revolt within Obama’s political base and a related divide in his party may complicate the president’s mission when Congress returns to Washington next week to settle the budget and meet a looming deadline, May 18, for raising the federal debt ceiling.

As part of his budget plan now before Congress, Obama wants to slow the inflation calculator for Social Security benefits and payments to some military veterans, their survivors and college students.....

Prominent liberal activists – among them groups, such as MoveOn.org and Democracy for America, that helped Obama gain re-election in November – view his willingness to reduce future Social Security payments as a betrayal of core Democratic commitments to help the needy and ease the burdens of old age.

The groups are vowing to run primary challengers against Democratic members of Congress who back the president’s controversial quest.

McClatchy Newspapers
Obama’s bid to squeeze Social Security enrages his core backers
James Rosen

Christian Science Monitor — Obama's budget offends just about everybody. Is that compromise?

Obama's budget offends just about everybody. Is that compromise? (via The Christian Science Monitor)

Copyright ImageClick to View President Barack Obama speaks at the Police Academy in Denver Wednesday. Obama's proposed budget will call for reductions in in the growth of federal Social Security pensions and other benefit programs in an attempt to strike a compromise with congressional Republicans.(…

Ryan Grim — Chained CPI Only Acceptable As Part Of 'Balanced Package,' White House Says

OMG. What's the superlative of moronic?

The president's move makes him the first Democratic president to propose cutting Social Security.

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) responded to the president's offer on Friday by suggesting that if he wants to cut Social Security, he should just go ahead and do it. “If the president believes these modest entitlement savings are needed to help shore up these programs, there is no reason they should be held hostage for more tax hikes. That’s no way to lead and move the country forward," he said in a statement. 

There it is, folks. President Obama has just dropped a bomb on the Democratic Party. It will be interesting to watch the fall out. This is the moment of truth for Democratic politicians.

The president knows exactly what he is doing. This is a direct strike at the left in an effort to solidify the Democratic Party as the moderate Republican Party in the belief that American politics is center right, ending the Democratic coalition built by FDR in an effort to "capture the center."

Will the base roll over again to prevent the take over of the country by right-wing extremists? I would not be putting any money on that bet. There is already a firestorm rising. Obama Budget Proposal Cuts Are 'Unconscionable,' Says AFL-CIO. Make that moronic and unconscionable.

The Huffington Post
Chained CPI Only Acceptable As Part Of 'Balanced Package,' White House Says
Ryan Grim

Dean Baker — The 3 Percent Cut to Social Security, a.k.a. the Chained CPI

And remember those pledges not to cut benefits for those currently retired? Oh right, no one meant that to be taken seriously.

The benefit-cutters' argument is another nice piece of DC humor. The argument is that the current index overstates inflation. However, there is an experimental index produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics which shows the current index actually understates inflation for seniors.

That is just an experimental index, but if the concern really is accuracy, then the obvious answer would be to construct a full index to examine the cost of living for the elderly. But that suggestion just draws contempt from the Social Security cutters.

In order to avoid feeling too badly about their plan to cut Social Security, many of the cutters want to protect some programs for low-income people. For example, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) a program for the disabled and low-income seniors, will be protected. The word is that SSI will continue to be indexed to the current inflation index.

truthout
The 3 Percent Cut to Social Security, a.k.a. the Chained CPI
Dean Baker | Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research
(h/t Kimball Corson via Heterodox Economics on FaceBook)