The Joe Biden Thread

If the Dems don't get a Democratic House, it would not matter who is president because government will be at a stand still.



Most ordinary Americans and Democrats want exactly what your post espouses. Unfortunately, with sequestration being implemented in our shaky economy, our growth will take a little longer. If Obama could close many loop holes for the rich and raise the taxes on them, we would not be seeing fewer jobs growth. If we can get rid of Mitch McConnell, Senate Minority Leader, and Speaker John Boehner.....replace these Tea Party jackasses, we would be on our way to stabilizing our economy. President Obama has put SS and Medicare benefits on the table but this will only be implemented if the Republicans allow Obama to raise revenue from the super rich.

At any rate, at your age, your benefits will not be too hard hit. You might have to pay a higher co-pay and you might not get a cost of living increase next year, but primarily the changes will come about for those between 45~50, I think. I think they're pushing the retirement age to 68....This is just off the top of my head and there is nothing official that can be read at this time because everything is still being negotiated.......

By the way, edgar, Joe Biden will be almost 74 years old in 2016. It would seem to me that would be too old. Hillary Clinton will be 70. Right now, it's 2013 and these people might begin to have health problems...Much of course depends on one's genetic background....but there is also the younger Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, and that's all I can think of who will look after the American people's interests and help to advance our social agenda. I'm sure we'll have a wider range of candidates.

It's not just myself I am worried about. I have one great grandchild and will likely have more. It is common to blame our troubnles on the Republicans, but we have a President who actually helps Republicans and ignores the working folks.

You really think Clinton is any different from Obama? Cuomo does not strike me as strong enough to win a national election.

I never thought about differences between Obama and Clinton except I did not want a hawk in 2008. If Obama had not been running I would have gone for Hillary....they are both Democrats. Now that you've mentioned it, there will not be that significant a difference. Obama is reluctant to take America into another war, and he genuinely seem to care for the underdog.....minorities, undocumented immigrants, Gays, etc., whereas Hillary Clinton tend to be more hawkish. She voted for Iraq war, and Obama voted against it.

Andrew Cumo is just as strong as any possible Tea Party candidate the GOP would put up. (Who do you have in mind?) The Tea Party own Rubio, Paul Rand, Paul Ryan and Rick Santorum. The GOP has shown it doesn't give a crumb for the average American....only the rich do the Republican Party serve. All Democrats will try to preserve Social Security and Medicare. But Social Security will have to be reformed if only because people are living longer today. People live into their late 70s and 80s, even longer with some, but when the original Social Security Act came about in 1935, people usually did not live as long. Now the retirement age will have to be raised to 67 or 68. But people are encouraged to invest in the stock market, buy IRAs, bonds, etc as many of us already do.

Encouraged by whom? Obama is forming theories on how much we actually need to have in IRAs, and there is continued interest in greatly increasing capital gains taxes on stocks and bonds. Yes, bonds can also show capital gains.

On capital gains tax, just to jump off topic, I am against capital gains on inflationary gains on tangible property. Financial instruments deserve a different treatment.

Moment-in_Time wrote:




I think these entitlements must undergo a reform so it can extend further into the future; but these changes will not necessarily touch existing seniors. Social Security, well, you're right, there is nothing wrong with it, but thanks to medical innovation, the average American's life expectancy has been much extended. If a person is going to live a decade or two past 70 why not continue working past 66 if he enjoys his work and feel useful?

edgarblythe wrote


I agree Social Security is fine right now,but this program was designed for a much shorter life time even though some people did live into their 90s or longer....this does not take into account the median.

edgarblythe wrote:


Gotta agree with you there. GWB took America into two wars, neither of which was paid for at the time and that is why our economy seem so critical right now. GWB was a cancer to the US and almost destroyed it, causing us also to lose integrity and respect internationally. And if Romney had gotten into power we Americans would be worse off with the GOP getting rid of "Affordable Health Care" and food stamps for the poor, getting rid of many programs that would help the needy, cutting Pell grants for college students and other Federal grants etc.
[/quote]

If you were over 60 and had been dumped into the labor market, you would likely not have to as "why not continue working".

Roger wrote:


I understand what you mean and it does happen.....say a business goes broke and long a long term older employee must go. It's difficult to find a job after 50 let alone 60 unless one is specialized in an area that's difficult to fill. But, Roger, you have missed the significance of my response to Edgar. I was referring to the current retirement age of 66 in America and the scientific medical advancement that has already extended our life span. The suggestion is that the retirement age should be extended to 68...and that if Social Security is suppose to be viable for the long term it must be reformed, after all, it came into existence in 1935 when people did not live as long at that time....

I totally disagree. The main weakness in the old Social Security was the government raiding it and using the money in the general fund. I am sure they keep raiding it now - never heard of the government taking less money. -
Raising the age more is no solution. It is a cop out, as far as I am concerned. The government, corporations and military are all taking the old and the working people's standard of living away by hogging all the money.

All-right, Edgar. I understand.

I don't think I actually missed the significance of your post. It's a good point, and I agree. Nevertheless, if the jobs are not available, I just don't agree that it is a useful point as it's not a matter of whether he enjoys his work or not.

I would go with a somewhat higher payroll tax, and it wouldn't have to be a large percentage of SS taxable income. On the other hand, if we do that, we might take a look at what EB just posted. Greater revenues for SS and/or Medicare won't make a bit of difference if the money disappears.

I wonder what the life expectancy differences are 'tween '35 and now.

Life expectancy in the USA, 1900-98
demog.berkeley.edu/~andrew/1918/figure2.htmlLife expectancy in the USA, 1900-98. men and women ...
1935. 59.9. 63.9
1936. 56.6. 60.6.
1937. 58.0. 62.4.
1938. 61.9. 65.3.
1939. 62.1. 65.4.
1940. 60.8. 65.2 ...

Life Expectancy at Birth by Race and Sex, 1930–2010

Learn the life expectancy (measured at birth) of American men and women, differentiated by race. For the 2010, the latest data available, the life expectancy for men of all races is 76.2 years and 81.1 years for women.

Read more: Life Expectancy at Birth by Race and Sex, 1930–2010 | Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005148.html#ixzz2Qij5fOrr

When Social Security was created in 1935 the average life expectancy was 61.9 years old. Today it is 77..?
In 1935 you had to be 65 to get benefits... (3 years above average life expectancy)

Today should you have to wait until 80 before you can get social security? (3 years above average life expectancy today)
Yep, the Republicans, just like FDR who passed social security, want elderly people to die.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120814181606AAstt8J

If they had invested ss funds rather than putting it into general fund I wonder how much it would have extended the life of the fund. Hindsite which can be applied to most retirement funds including business and teachers funds which have been underfunded forever.

Biden is suggesting he may make a run.

huh, whatever happned to water boy? I forgot that hes not been around for a while.
Ill bet hes back in summer school learning cursive

Bidens gonna be too old. His son Beau is very popular in hi home state of Delaware

Have You Heard the One About President Joe Biden?
That's No Joke. Consider: He is the most quietly effective politician in D.C. (Don't laugh.) The "Most Influential Vice President in History." (Seriously, stop laughing.) One of our nation's most senior statesmen. (Look it up!) So why is the man who could be the next president also the butt of so many jokes? Jeanne Marie Laskas gets to know the most misunderstood man in Washington
BY JEANNE MARIE LASKASPHOTOGRAPHS BY MARTIN SCHOELLER
July 2013


"Keep going straight here," Joe Biden says. We've been at this for hours, climbing in and out of the SUV to look at stuff, a water tower, a stone wall, the house where the most beautiful girl in the world lived, hoagies, Herman the German's gas station, Meyers-eats-tires tire shop, the house where another most beautiful girl in the world lived, and he's holding up better than the rest of us. He never winces, has no achy knees, no lower-back anything, neck, joints; for the guy rockin' the Ray-Ban aviators, 70 is the new 60. "Wait, there's Little Italy down there," he says, peering out the window. "A lot of great Italian restaurants. If there's anybody down there who doesn't vote for me, I haven't found them yet. But I will. I will.

"Okay, in the interest of time, we'll stop here. Let's get out here."

It's his old street. His house. Small white brick. Black shutters. Cement path. A perfectly average 1950s American neighborhood in Wilmington, Delaware, now with a motorcade parked along Wilson Road and Secret Service guys swarming and the vice president of the United States wandering, leading fast. "Hi there," he says to a guy with a leaf blower. "I lived here for twenty years. Mack? Hey, Mack. I'm Joe. You're living in a house a guy named Kenny Horn used to live in. Kenny Horn.

"Okay, the driveway, watch yourself. So this is the house. That was my bedroom. I lived there with my brothers Jimmy, Frankie, and my Uncle Ed. One bureau, four drawers, everybody got a drawer. My sister, the princess Valerie, had her own room. Which was ten by twelve. But she deserved it. And my dad took great pride in having that barbecue pit." He circles the house, heads to the back door. "I wish I knew who lived here, because I would show you my room."

Uncle Ed, they called him Uncle Boo-Boo. Brilliant guy. Sprawling intellect. He stuttered. Way worse than Biden stuttered as a boy, which was bad enough. Uncle Boo-Boo never got past it. Never married. Dud job. Drank. Drank a lot. He served as an example of what could happen if you didn't rehearse, didn't practice getting your mouth unstuck. Biden has never had a drink.

"Oh, what the hell." He charges up to the back door, knocks. "Hello? Hello?" We stand on the back deck, waiting. Two Secret Service guys have their backs to us, stationed like owls by the picket fence.

···
"He wants to be the best vice president ever," staffers told me, months ago, when I first started spending time with Joe Biden. That was all the talk last winter. Hillary would almost certainly be the nominee, not Biden, they said, whenever the 2016 issue came up, which wasn't often. But then, abruptly, Biden's stock started steeply rising, at least in the eyes of the public. Washington had been hyperventilating about the fiscal cliff, and Obama sent Biden in to broker a deal. Then came the killings in Newtown, Connecticut, and Obama sent Biden out to rally the public, Biden in to reason with Congress, Biden over to talk to the NRA. In 2013, Biden has emerged increasingly more visibly potent than his boss. THE MOST INFLUENTIAL VICE PRESIDENT IN HISTORY? one headline proffered.

"Well, he would be crazy not to keep his options open," staffers started saying then, whenever the 2016 issue came up. Which still wasn't often. The parlor game was not my reason for being there. I wanted to get to know Biden. I wanted to understand why "President Joe Biden" has such a preposterous ring to it, and I wanted to know if he knew it did.

There's a joke. Something fundamentally comical. That's where the public starts with Biden. I recognized it in Rome, when I traveled with him to the pope's inauguration. He was meeting with friends, presidents from across the globe. Because Joe Biden has been at this so long, don't forget, that he is the stuff of middle-school civics exams. I saw him freelance a grand Joe Biden entrance into President Giorgio Napolitano's palace, teeth gleaming, arms fully outstretched, ready to hug this guy, that guy, Hey, guys! I'm here! You're here! We're beautiful! Decked out in his smooth blue suit, white pocket square—his broad smile the kind a man reserves for his bowling team. This demeanor contrasted sharply with everyone else's. Guards in shiny helmets sprouting horsehair ponytails, bedraggled White House advance team in smart skirts and solid-color pumps. A Biden entrance can make the stuffiest event intimate, for an instant human and vaguely...funny.

Sunshine, apt and miraculous, broke through the day of the pope's installation Mass. "Your Holiness, this is my sister, Valerie," Biden said. The pope. Joe Biden and the pope. Val was next to him in her long black chapel veil, the two of them together at church just like back in Wilmington, and Scranton before. Except it was the Vatican. In the reception line, Val didn't kiss the pope's ring, and Biden didn't kiss the pope's ring (to be fair, plenty of people didn't kiss the pope's ring), because they are Bidens, equal, not below or above anyone, not the pope, not some schlub on the street. "Nobody is better than you." That's the message their mom hammered into their heads. "You're not better than anybody, but nobody is better than you."

JOE BIDEN DOESN'T KISS UP TO ANYONE, international headlines read later that day, which made it sound way more hostile than his mom ever meant it.

Then an image was tweeted, and for a time retweeted, a picture of Biden in the crowd of worshippers outside Saint Peter's Basilica during the holiest Mass of the twenty-first century. The photo is jammed with faces, Biden in the center of them all. Plenty have on sunglasses. But Biden has on his signature Ray-Bans—the aviators!—and that was what, above all else about his whirlwind trip to Rome, was inexplicably spectacular.



Read More http://www.gq.com/news-politics/newsmakers/201308/joe-biden-presidential-campaign-2016-2013#ixzz2ZXHH6zng