By Tom Conway –
The far right wants to stiff workers who’ve already paid in.
Cliff Carlton was the 10th of 11 children and one of three still living at home when his father, a coal miner, died unexpectedly at 67.
Only his dad’s Social Security benefits, along with vegetables from the family’s small farm in southwestern Virginia, kept the household afloat during the lean years that followed.
That battle for survival made Carlton a lifelong champion of Social Security and a tireless opponent of Republicans in Congress who keep trying to kill this lifeline for the middle class.
“It’s not a gift. It’s money that we’re due,” explained Carlton, a 70-year-old retired tire manufacturer and longtime member of the United Steelworkers (USW). Now president of the Virginia Alliance for Retired Americans, he’s advocated for Social Security for 30 years.
Now there’s a new threat. To secure enough votes to become speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy toadied to extremist Republicans whose demands for radical budget cuts once again put Social Security and Medicare at risk.
They’re openly plotting to cut Social Security benefits and raise the retirement age, moves that would force millions of Americans to work longer. Some even want to slash payments to retirees with other income, regardless of how much they’ve paid into the program.
The National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare warns that this kind of con, called means-testing, would end Social Security as Americans know it and take benefits even from those with “very modest incomes.”
“If you lose something, you don’t ever get it back,” observed Carlton.
Social Security is the only resource many retirees have when they outlive the nest eggs they accumulated during their working years.
“My grandmother is 102 years old. She retired at the age of 65” and “still lives on her own,” said Mike Budd, who credits Social…
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