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Depression era mother
Library of Congress
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!Tip: |
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Do NOT use or
repeat the radical Republican's language. Learn to
theme your conversations and presentations with our
values and keywords instead.
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Inventing a Crisis and
Fake Crisis, both by economist Paul Krugman
Social Security Con Job
What Social Security Crisis?
Chart of the Stock Market Crash
Paul Krugman on Social Security at Democracy Now!
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Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library
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Social Security is
Death and Disability Insurance |
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Position statement:
Democrats maintain that Social Security is a guaranteed
insurance policy that we own; a safety blanket that
protects Americans from old age poverty and working age
disability. If nothing is done to
change Social Security today, it will remain solvent for
another fifty years, and then it can still pay 80% of
benefits. We believe that Social Security should be
strengthened and not weakened.
By contrast, radical
Republicans believe that Social Security should be
changed from a government administered insurance policy
to a private opportunity for a Wall Street windfall.
Every American could see their secure retirement
benefits drop through the floor as our safety net is
cut. Stock market investments provide no
guaranteed income whatsoever upon retirement, death,
disability as does our current social security insurance
policy.
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Frame using these
values:
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Guarantee
-
Protection
-
Security
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Safety
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Interdependence
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Repeat these ready-made frames:
"It's a Guarantee not a Gamble";
Insurance Policy; Guaranteed Safety Net; Secure
Nest Egg |
| Reframe using these
concepts:
"People not Wall Street"; Privatization of our
retirement is "Social Insecurity"; "Pirate Accounts"; Good for Corporate interest, bad for People's interest; Fake crisis; "High Stakes Gambling"
with our retirement; "Wall Street Windfall" at the
people's expense; 2 trillion dollar giveaway of our money
to Wall Street; Tweak Social Security not gut it;
strengthened, not destroyed; [Return
to] "Old Age Poverty"; "On the Streets" if you become
disabled; Increases the $36,000 "Baby Tax" (deficit
spending) for every child born in America today; Triples
the "Instant Debt" for babies born in America; Replace
the guaranteed benefit that Americans earned with a
guaranteed benefit cut of 40% or more; Radical, reckless
and extreme; |
| Contrast
using these words: "Piratizers"; Radical "Robber
Baron Republicans"; Irresponsible "Credit Card
Republicans"; Reckless "Borrow and Spend Republicans";
"Red Ink Republicans" |
| Avoid repeating these
words:
"crisis", "problem", "reform" |
Know the tools in the
radical Republican tool chest:
1. Republican's 100 page messaging playbook
Gut Social Security Playbook
(PDF)
2.
The Radical Republican
Manifesto:
The Integration of Theory and Practice: A Program for
the New Traditionalist Movement by Eric Heubeck;
3.
Frank Luntz Republican Playbook — Searchable Text-Version
4. "14
Words Never to Use"
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Quick facts*:
- Current system is making money
and is solvent until the year 2042.
- Cost is 2-3 TRILLION
dollars just to set it up.
- Current program is the most
successful government program in history, working
for 75 years.
- Current program is solvent
until 2050, and even then it can still pay out 80%
with no changes at all.
- 2 easy ways to smooth out any
wrinkle in Social Security
- Remove the $90,000 cap.
This fixes any future problem with little or no cost to us.
- Applying a "means
test" — If you don't need social security,
you don't draw it. This fixes any future
problem with
little or no cost to us.
- Radical Republican plan will bankrupt
Social Security in 2006.
- Radical Republican plan cuts
benefits by 50% for children born today; 40 years
old or older? Get a 35% cut in benefits by
retirement age.
- The Social Security Trustees
(unnecessarily) pessimistic estimate is that
over the next 75 years the program faces a
budget shortfall of $3.7 trillion.
Persident says this will impact the federal
budget. Look at the President's
irresponsible* plans already passed:
—$8.1
trillion is the cost of the worthless Medicare drug
plan over the next 75 years.
—$11.6 trillion over the next 75 years, is the
cost of the President's 2001 and 2003 tax
cuts (if made permanent)
(These statistics from this
budgeting summary from the
Center on
Budget and Policy Priorities.)
*Remember to frame any facts within a
values statement or metaphor.
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Talking Points for target audience:
For the younger crowd that appears to
favor changing Social security from an insurance policy
to a privatized account
Social Security is an insurance policy, with a
guaranteed payout when certain circumstances arise.
It's not a personal account. We have personal
accounts already, why not change the rules for 401K's
and IRA's instead of cutting our guaranteed safety net?
What if the stock market dropped, or even
busted like it did for the dot coms or the Great
Depression? Do you want to support your parents?
What will you do if you become disabled and unable to
work in five years? You are gambling your nest
egg, dropping your insurance policy and entering a high
risk betting scheme with something you can't afford to
lose. Do you know that Social Security is solvent
until 2042? And to fix any problem, all we have to
do is remove the $90,000 cap on contributions and we're
there. Social Security is an insurance policy
designed to be there when we need it. Guaranteed.
So let's strengthen it, not destroy it.
For every audience
How
much will you lose under Bush's privatization
scheme? Click on the calculator to find out:
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