Suppose you’re in a bar and you overhear a couple of guys in the next booth talking about a plan to steal from people’s houses. As you eavesdrop the plan unfolds: one will come to the front door pretending to be from the gas company warning the homeowner about a gas leak down the street. [...]

It looks like President Obama is still open to negotiations with Republican economic terrorists.  Details of the president’s budget, set to be released April 10th, show that he will offer significant spending cuts to so-called “entitlement programs”- like Social Security and Medicare – in hopes of attaining a “grand” budget bargain with Congressional Republicans. The [...]

Today’s news was a one-two punch in the gut for the middle class. First, a terrible jobs report, then a Democratic President offers a budget that proposes cuts to Social Security and Medicare. The only thing on the public’s mind is that we need jobs — and the President comes out with a plan to [...]

Mark this day. For the first time in history, a Democratic president has officially proposed to cut the Democratic Party’s signature New Deal program, Social Security. God help us if the Republicans wise up and take this deal. After all, it’s a more conservative budget than even their hero Ronald Reagan ever submitted.

Jonathan Chait flagged this quote from Eric Cantor today and came up with an interesting theory as to why he said it: Mr. Cantor complained that the president, while insisting on additional tax increases, still has not embraced the structural changes to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security that he says are needed to strike a [...]

“We must embrace the need for modest reforms—otherwise our retirement programs will crowd out the investments we need for our children.” President Obama, State of the union address, 2013 Is that really true?

Today, The Week published my essay “Why Obama’s Legacy Doesn’t Need a Grand Bargain.” While austerity ideologues like Alan Simpson are insisting that President needs a “grand bargain” – swapping entitlement reform for tax reform – to have a great historical legacy, I showed that 1) “history yawns at budget deals” and 2) neither Social [...]

The Peterson syndicate has just released another volley in their campaign to undermine Congressional support for Social Security – this time a report from its Moment of Truth arm entitled “Measuring Up: The Case for the Chained CPI.” It makes a series of specious claims to support switching to the chained CPI for a range [...]

Prominent Democrats — including the President and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi — are openly suggesting that Medicare be means-tested and Social Security payments be reduced by applying a lower adjustment for inflation.

This is even before they’ve started budget negotiations with Republicans — who still refuse to raise taxes on the rich, close tax loopholes the rich depend on (such as hedge-fund and private-equity managers’ “carried interest”), increase capital gains taxes on the wealthy, cap their tax deductions, or tax financial transactions.

It’s not the first time Democrats have led with a compromise, but these particular pre-concessions are especially unwise.

Watch this video, Movin’ in, kids! Then click through and give it a rating because the video with the most view and best rating wins! This video comes to you from Just Scrap The Cap. The Story The Peter G. Peterson Foundation — the people who are funding this huge effort to cut Social Security, [...]