4 responses to “Congresswoman Fly-by”

1. Lorne

   August 19, 2010

   Dear Hon. Speier: Don’t eat all that cake tomorrow; please leave some left-over slices for us younger, working folk 🙂
   http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704476104575439792287255372?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsForth

2. Jeff

   August 20, 2010

   Two things according to Jackie – first, left as is Social Security will be solvent until 2037; second, by removing the wage cap, currently $106,000 annually, the system would remain solvent forever. Currently, once your wages exceed $106,000 in any given year, you and your employer stop paying into Social Security. Seems like an easy fix to me.

3. SJM

   August 20, 2010

   Don’t believe everything you hear. There is no way the current cash flow will survive until 2037. She’s a lawyer not an accountant and doesn’t understand the reports. Removing the wage cap is just another tax increase. If benefits are fixed why should some pay more than others?

4. Joe

   August 26, 2010

   I found this blurb in John Horgan’s column interesting:
   In the not-so-distant past, a popular member of Congress would have considered a chat with senior citizens a routine matter. Not anymore.
   Last week, as Jackie Speier, a Democrat from Hillsborough, talked to a small gathering of older folks at the Burlingame Recreation Center, two armed police officers stood silently in the rear of the hall.
   They were there for precautionary purposes. Not that long ago, such measures would not have been deemed necessary. But these are different and divisive times.
   There is anger, and some real fear, afoot in the land, as a deep and damaging recession persists and serious doubts about the nation’s financial health and overall future are front and center.
   Many town hall meetings have not gone well for elected federal officials, as vocal critics, some of them rude and downright hostile, have dominated the proceedings.
   The outbursts, shown on national TV and the Internet, have been disturbing, particularly for the targeted politicians themselves.
   But Speier’s graying constituents, several of whom needed walkers and canes to get around, were not looking to storm the barricades. Instead, a discussion about Social Security proceeded politely.