I've already heard numbers being floated as high as two more trillion dollars they will ask for to fix this "problem". But change is COMING!!

Originally Posted by GatbTester

If you think many residents of TV give a good hoot, you are wrong. Softball, Golf, Swimming, Pickle Ball, etc. etc. That is what's important. Meanwhile you don't hear of the foreclosures in TV, or the people forced to sell their homes, and there are plenty. If you have not prepared well for retirement, then this bill may eat you out of house and home. Be prepared not only applies to the Boy Scouts! This bill is nothing more than smoke and mirrors disguised as a pay back for all that got Obama elected........flat out PERIOD!

I suspect there are 2 categories of retired Villagers: one group is on a fixed, guaranteed pension such as a gov't or military pension, often with health care benefits .... the other group is in trouble... that's the group that retired on a 401-K nest egg (these are the pvt business owners, retired profesionals, etc). This group has seen their retirement plan melt away like an ice cube on a Florida summer day. Believe me, this group is paying attention. This would be another interesting poll for Russ to put together: how many Villagers are here on a safe and secure fixed pension and how many are here living on a 401-K retirement type of plan.

Originally Posted by rshoffer

I suspect there are 2 categories of retired Villagers: one group is on a fixed, guaranteed pension such as a gov't or military pension, often with health care benefits .... the other group is in trouble... that's the group that retired on a 401-K nest egg (these are the pvt business owners, retired profesionals, etc). This group has seen their retirement plan melt away like an ice cube on a Florida summer day. Believe me, this group is paying attention. This would be another interesting poll for Russ to put together: how many Villagers are here on a safe and secure fixed pension and how many are here living on a 401-K retirement type of plan.

No matter what the source of their income, there are always folk who "Peter Pan" their way through life, and don't pay attention to anything that happens around them. It's always someone else's problem to fix, as they abhor responsibility for their own lives or anything else.

Originally Posted by Sally Jo

Kayaker. do you really want Rahm Emanuel in charge of the 2010 census???

It's simple.
After the way the Republicans have manipulated past census numbers, America no longer trusts the GOP and wants Obama to handle it.

There’s a recipe for success. Maybe they will convince us we are in a census crises and will need another trillion dollars to fix it.

retired with fixed pensions from non 401-K sources.
Do not ingest a false sense of security in that thinking. A friend whose company placed their retirement in life long annuities has recently received a letter stating the monthly amount will be reduced for all the horrible reasons we all know. And that there is a possibility under a continuing down turn, the fund could run dry.

That same condition exists more or less with all pension funds. So I would not contemplate being invulnerable.....not likely but not invulnerable.

BTK

PS a sad reminder is all the pensioners with GM who got taken last year....and that was before they publicized their demise before Christmas 2008....happens to the best and more will fall if the bad news continues...and so far it is the only sure thing!!!

Originally Posted by KayakerNC

It's simple.
After the way the Republicans have manipulated past census numbers, America no longer trusts the GOP and wants Obama to handle it.

I beg to differ. "America" never said anything about trust, the census or wanting Mr. Obama to be the guardian ad litem for all humans within the national boundary.

Personally, I don't trust the GOP or the Democrats, and I sure don't trust forked-tongue politicians who sell snake-oil during campaigns and weasel-word afterwards.

For those Americans who need someone to be in charge of their lives and want Mr. Obama to manage their existence, they got what they wanted, but it sure isn't "America" or all Americans.

Originally Posted by KayakerNC

It's simple.
After the way the Republicans have manipulated past census numbers, America no longer trusts the GOP and wants Obama to handle it.

Are you serious or is your Alzheimer's disease worse than my wife's? The Census bureau has always been run by statistical professionals who gave zero accountability to partisan politics.

The Bureau has pioneered both statistical analysis and the use of large Mainframe computers in doing that analysis. It has always been objective and worked hard to do the most accurate analysis of our population possible.

For the first time, this proposal takes the Census Bureau from the supervision of a Senate ratified member of the cabinet to the one of the most rabidly partisan politician in the history of this country - Rahm Emanuel.

All of us, both Democrat and Republican, need to work towards an honest democracy. This requires a Bureau free of White House influence, be it Democrat or Republican. Until now, this has happened - do you support Obama's attempt to the put the Census on the same level as Chicago voting registers? I know it is hard for a democrat, but do try to answer the question honestly.

is toward centralization of power in the WH???
Look at the stripping of the Secretary of State's responsibilities. The increased number of staffers and the size of the so called inner circle are indicative of things to come.

In a normal political environment (I don't know if that really exists) the word bi-partisan, when used by either party, in any context, at best is empty rhetoric for the uninformed.

We have yet to see Rahm Emanuel at his best yet...if I were to try to find a word that creates a parallel or generates a vision, the best one I can come up with, appropriate for those of our age groups...is.....GESTAPO (WHEN USED AS AN ADJECTIVE)

Ge⋅sta⋅po
   /gəˈstɑpoʊ; Ger. gəˈʃtɑpoʊ/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [guh-stah-poh; Ger. guh-shtah-poh] Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun

2. (sometimes lowercase) of or resembling the Nazi Gestapo, esp. in the brutal suppression of opposition: The new regime is using gestapo tactics.

Some may view "brutal suppression of opposition" a bit harsh, but these are wors used regularly to describe his methodology.

We'll see.

BTK