SOCIAL SECURITY (OBAMA'S VERSION)

A couple of Netroots workshops in Las Vegas where David and Geoffrey went. Although Geoffrey did not attend any workshops. He's sorta apolitical.

Curious how Obama gets the moniker of a Socialist when he is following pretty closely in the footsteps of our past great president, Bush. In fact, in a lot of respects he exceeds the expectations we had for our former president who could not muster the support to privatize social security. Remember the stocks that we were supposed to substitute for social security payments plunged 30% or more.

Obama’s Social Security "Death Panel": Engaging Activists to Defeat the Drive to Cut Critical Social ProgramsThursday, July 22nd 3:00 PM - 4:15 PM
Panel, Brasilia 1
Time: Thursday, July 22nd, 3:00pm - 4:15pm
Room: Brasilia 1

This panel will detail the push by anti-government organizations and the president’s debt commission to solve the “deficit problem” by slashing Social Security and other critical federal programs. It will describe the real factors driving the federal deficit, including tax cuts for the rich, two wars, rising health care expenditures and the Great Recession. The panel will debunk the most basic falsehood of the debt commission: that Social Security contributes to the deficit. Panelists will expose the hypocrisy of addressing the deficit without considering deep cuts to the bloated military budget or increased taxes on corporations and the wealthiest Americans. Panelists also will describe a newly formed coalition working to blunt attacks on Social Security and other domestic programs and how activists can get involved online and offline.

Immigration Reform's Strange Bedfellows: The Surprising Consensus that Reform will Improve American Jobs and Bolster Our Economy
Thu, 07/22/2010 - 3:00pm, Brasilia 6

Panelists will discuss how meaningful immigration reform will be beneficial to our economy and society, due to overwhelming evidence that the current policy of enforcement-only action does not work and costs our country billions of dollars. This cycle creates a system of virtual slavery for many undocumented workers in the U.S. and drives down wages and benefits for all workers, immigrant and native-born, in many industries. Panelists will discuss various aspects of reform and how enforcement-only tactics are ineffective and hurt our economy, as well as ways in which the netroots can build coalitions around the issue.

President Johnson on Social Security

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010073030/lbj-medicare-because-we-owe-it-them