John McCain: Town Hall Meeting 07/07/08

John McCain
Town Hall Meeting
Denver, CO 07/07/08

TRANSCRIPT:
QUESTIONER: "[...] Many of the proposals that are being created for people of my generation no longer include Social Security because of the belief it will not be there. Tell me how you plan to fix it."

JOHN MCCAIN: "Thank you very much. I'd like to start out by giving you a little straight talk. Under the present setup, because we've mortgaged our children's futures, you will not have Social Security benefits that present-day retirees have unless we fix it. And Americans have got to understand that. Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that's a disgrace. It's an absolute disgrace, and it's gotta be fixed."

MCCAIN: "Now how do you fix it? [...] You fix it by reaching across the aisle and you say to the Democrats: sit down with me at the table. Sit down with me the way Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill did the last time that Social Security was in deep trouble. And that was way back in 1983. Ronald Reagan, conservative President from California, and Tip O'Neil, the liberal Democrat from Massachusetts, sat down together and they walked out of the White House together and they say, we're gonna fix Social Security. And they did for about 20, 30 years. Right, Hank? Hank and I were part of the Congress at the time. And we were proud. We were proud to see the kind of bipartisanship that was exhibited for future generations.

MCCAIN: "Well now it's broken again. [...] Nothing is forever in American. I want to promise you, that I'll say to the Democrats and I'll say to the American people, here's a chart, here's a chart, here's how much is coming in, here's how much is going out, and here's where there's more money going out than coming in, and here's where there's no money left. Now are we going to hand it off to your generation to fix it, or are we gonna do the hard things? I wanna be President to do the hard things. [...] It's gonna change and it's got to change. And I will change it."

LABEL: JM CO 7-7 (SD#24) GIDT-ClipK

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Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• TRACKING
• John
• McCain
• social
• security
• system
• broken
• disgrace
• disappear

[HeavyIntoNothing]

Oh no more thing, John McCain did not answer the question at all. He just side stepped it by throwing around a bunch of names. He does not have a clue how to fix the system.

[HeavyIntoNothing]

Second, we need to eliminate the early retirement age of 62 and change it to 65 and we should progressively raise the retirement age to 70

Third, we need to raise again the payroll taxes on all income groups.

And last and most important. Remember the 2000elections and the LOCK BOX. We need to stop borrowing from the Social Security system and allow that money to get an annual return just as a certificate of deposit would get.

[ricehq]

I've watched this video over and over.

Can someone point out exactly where is his answer to the question?

[LAWAGO]

HE DIDN'T ANSWER THE QUESTION!

[HeavyIntoNothing]

That my friends would give us a temperory solution to our problem. It would make Social Security secure until at least 2050.

These are ideas that a bipartisam commission had come up with and no one seems to listen.

Ronald Reagan knew and even stated that he was not equipped to fix Social Security. He needs far greater minds than his. That is why he created the bipartisan commission. And that is what we need to do today to fix the problem.

[HeavyIntoNothing]

Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill didn't sit down and come up with a solution to Social Security back in 83. They created a bipartisan commission that worked on the problem and found a solution.

The solution? Raise payroll taxes and increase the retirement age. Not easy choices but choices that need to be made.

Our solutions now?

First we need to eliminate Social Security payouts to people who have a certain high income level. This level needs to be determined.

[twisteeR6]

You can tell when he bullshits a question, he always does this: When he doesn't know the answer, he'll start naming all of these other guys and what THEY did. I want to know what YOU"LL do, not them. He's such a fuckin dumbass

[ann1983iv]

What does he care about seniors? NOTHING! He is a multi-millionaire. He owns seven or eight homes and a GUARANTEED taxpayer-funded pension. McCain is a liar and an adulterer. He is not to be trusted. McCain was against torturing before he was for it. McCain was not tortured to make him tell the Vietcong how to fly a jet plane.

[whitymale]

the question is how do you fix it ldiot,going across the isle without a plan won`t fix anything MCBUSH

HOW DO YOU FIX IT ?