Dave Zweifel in the Capital Times:
When Social Security was enacted as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal reforms in 1935, about half of U.S. senior citizens lived in poverty. Many had to live out their lives in shameful places that people at the time called the “poor farm.” It was forever a family’s shame when during the Depression, grandma and grandpa had to go off to live in one of the county’s makeshift homes for the elderly because they couldn’t afford their own places and their children couldn’t afford to help them.
Today, fewer than 10 percent of America’s elderly live in poverty. More than 53 million Americans receive Social Security benefits to at least cover the basics of life. And as Bernie Sanders said, in the more than 75 years since, the program has never failed to pay out every nickel it owed.
Now Ryan and his compatriots want to mess with that success story. They want to begin the privatization of Social Security by turning over part of the funds that America’s working people pay into the program to Wall Street investors — yes, the same investors who have such a great track record, like blowing up the economy and requiring federal bailouts to save them.
Dave Zweifel in the Capital Times:
When Social Security was enacted as part of Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal reforms in 1935, about half of U.S. senior citizens lived in poverty. Many had to live out their lives in shameful places that people at the time called the “poor farm.” It was forever a family’s shame when during the Depression, grandma and grandpa had to go off to live in one of the county’s makeshift homes for the elderly because they couldn’t afford their own places and their children couldn’t afford to help them.
Today, fewer than 10 percent of America’s elderly live in poverty. More than 53 million Americans receive Social Security benefits to at least cover the basics of life. And as Bernie Sanders said, in the more than 75 years since, the program has never failed to pay out every nickel it owed.
Now Ryan and his compatriots want to mess with that success story. They want to begin the privatization of Social Security by turning over part of the funds that America’s working people pay into the program to Wall Street investors — yes, the same investors who have such a great track record, like blowing up the economy and requiring federal bailouts to save them.
Palin Quoted Writer Who Once Lamented Failure To Assassinate FDR
Thomas Frank has an interesting little scooplet: It appears that during her convention speech, Sarah Palin quoted an anonymous writer who, it turns out, once lamented that Franklin D. Roosevelt's would-be assassin hit the wrong man.
Here's what Palin said in her her speech:
A writer observed: "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity." I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman. I grew up with those people. They are the ones who do some of the hardest work in America...
The anonymous writer who , it turns out, is the right-wing columnist Westbrook Pegler.
Palin trespasses into Democratic territory.
These were collected from her speech comments:
* Palin describes her husband as a proud member of the United Steel Workers Union. Conservatives have hated labor unions since early in the industrial revolution.
* Palin offers tribute to Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton, both Democrats, who are still hated and demonized by conservatives.
* Palin credits Hillary Clinton with massive advancements on equal pay for equal work for women. Massive advancements would not have been necessary without oppressive conservative opposition.
* Palin mentions women winning the right to vote as a great milestone in American Democracy. This measure was vigorously opposed by conservatives.
* Palin offers Harry S. Truman, Democrat, as an example of a relatively unknown Vice-Presidential choice who not only became Commander-in-Chief but a distinguished chief executive who history has anointed as one of the all time best. She leaves out that Truman was an Army Captain serving in Field Artillery combat in World War I and was chosen largely because of his experience as a U. S. Senator and a working advocate of Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal". She also leaves out that conservatives brutally attacked Truman every day that he was in office.
Largest Travelling Collection of Presidential Memorabilia to be in Denver during the Convention
Host Committee Press Release:
Franklin D. Roosevelt
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