MSNBC news programs: on Social Security


Pat Buchanan: Address solvency first, before adding new programs

Q: How would you save Social Security? A: Before you add anything to it, we ought to make it solvent. That means way out, 50 years into the future, and there's got to be some bullets that have to be bitten there. And before you add drugs or prescription drugs, we've got to make sure that [Medicare] is solvent way out into the future, like Social Security. Than you and I can argue about whether we should add something new, or not add something new.
Source: Interview on MSNBC's "Equal Time" on 2000 election Nov 2, 1999

Pat Buchanan: Option for private investment, with public fall-back

[There should be] an option to privatize part of Social Security, as long as the individual is willing to take the risk, especially for younger people. You [need to have] some kind of fall back, because quite frankly, [for the situation where] some guy goes out and says, look, I blew it all. You know what the government's going to do. Well, we'll take care of you. Some provision in there you ought to be taking a look.
Source: Interview on MSNBC's "Equal Time" on 2000 election Nov 2, 1999

Pat Buchanan: Let people who work past 65 collect benefits

Q: Would you raise the retirement age?
A: I'm open to [the idea of raising it]. But the idea that people are told when you're 65, the only way you get Social Security when you've invested for 45 years, is if you quit work-that's outrageous! If a fellow wants to keep working all his life, he should get his Social Security; if he retired he should get his Social Security. Why do we punish folks who, at 65 and 66, in their prime, and they want to keep working?
Source: Interview on MSNBC's "Equal Time" on 2000 election Nov 2, 1999

Rick Perry: FactCheck: Softened "fraud" rhetoric in current campaign

Rick Perry 1.0 thought Social Security was a "disease" inflicted on the population by the federal government. Rick Perry 2.0 thinks Social Security deserves being saved "for generations to come." Mitt Romney said in the debate, "In writing his book, Gov. Perry pointed out that in his view that Social Security is unconstitutional, that this is not something the federal government ought to be involved in."

THE FACTS: Perry indeed roundly criticized Social Security in his book, but not quite to the point of calling it unconstitutional. Perry branded the program the "best example" of the "fraud" and "bad disease" spread by Washington in Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.

Perry now has abandoned such rhetoric, adopting the conventional Republican view in a USA Today column Monday that its finances must be made whole to protect current and imminent retirees and make it viable for "generations to come."

Source: MSNBC FactCheck on 2011 GOP debate in Simi Valley CA Sep 7, 2011

  • The above quotations are from Rachel Maddow Show and other MSNBC news shows.
  • Click here for definitions & background information on Social Security.
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  • Click here for more quotes by Cory Booker on Social Security.
2016 Presidential contenders on Social Security:
  Republicans:
Gov.Jeb Bush(FL)
Dr.Ben Carson(MD)
Gov.Chris Christie(NJ)
Sen.Ted Cruz(TX)
Carly Fiorina(CA)
Gov.Jim Gilmore(VA)
Sen.Lindsey Graham(SC)
Gov.Mike Huckabee(AR)
Gov.Bobby Jindal(LA)
Gov.John Kasich(OH)
Gov.Sarah Palin(AK)
Gov.George Pataki(NY)
Sen.Rand Paul(KY)
Gov.Rick Perry(TX)
Sen.Rob Portman(OH)
Sen.Marco Rubio(FL)
Sen.Rick Santorum(PA)
Donald Trump(NY)
Gov.Scott Walker(WI)
Democrats:
Gov.Lincoln Chafee(RI)
Secy.Hillary Clinton(NY)
V.P.Joe Biden(DE)
Gov.Martin O`Malley(MD)
Sen.Bernie Sanders(VT)
Sen.Elizabeth Warren(MA)
Sen.Jim Webb(VA)

2016 Third Party Candidates:
Gov.Gary Johnson(L-NM)
Roseanne Barr(PF-HI)
Robert Steele(L-NY)
Dr.Jill Stein(G,MA)
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Page last updated: Aug 15, 2024