Dealing With The Devil Redux
by digby
Tommy Christopher: Thanks, Robert. I have three quick questions. First, does the President have any reaction to renewed calls for Alan Simpson to be removed from the deficit commission, based on an email that he sent to the president of the OWL, comparing America to a –
MR. GIBBS: Senator Simpson sent an email that he’s now apologized for. We regret that he sent that email. We don’t condone those comments. But Senator Simpson has and will continue to serve on the commission.
It’s fairly clear they will keep Simpson on the panel. The question is why. I think it’s a pretty good guess that he’s a guy they can “do business” with. And if you pay attention to what he’s saying that’s fairly alarming.
I just want to say to all the young people who read this blog that I’m really sorry about all this. I’m old and I’ll probably get most of my social security. You, on the other hand, are going to face a vastly more insecure old age if this happens. Right now you don’t think much about it. You figure you’ll make a lot of money someday or you’ll at least be well compensated enough to be self-sufficient. And it all seems so far away that you can’t even relate it to yourself at all. I remember. It seems like only yesterday I was arguing with my Dad about how I knew SS wasn’t going to be there for me so I wasn’t planning on it anyway.
The thing is that you just don’t know what might happen. If you’re lucky and work hard you’ll probably live a long and prosperous life. But life throws you curve balls. You might not have your dreams work out the way you planned. Social Security is one of those things you don’t think about until you get to be about my age and you’re staring into the abyss, a decade or two away and you suddenly wake up knowing that you aren’t likely to be wealthy in your old age no matter how hard you work between now and then. You’ve watched your parents become geriatric. Your own health is getting a bit compromised. You’re beginning to feel what being old is going to be like. And you realize then that you’re going to need that money.
I hope for your sake that when you get to that point you’ve made your millions. If the Democrats fail this time to protect the safety net and the Teabaggers take over the government you’re going to need them. They’re just getting started. And I’m sorry about that. You can’t expect young people to understand how important this is for all the reasons I just stated. It’s our job to leave the next generation at least as well off as we were and I’m not at all confident that we’re going to do it.
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