A: Social Security should be moved to a private trust, out of the hands of politicians who constantly steal to funds for other purposes. The social security taxes should go directly to and be controlled by the private trust.
Q: What government spending would you reduce in order to balance the budget?
A: I like Rand Paul's penny plan.
A: Why do we always ask working people to make sacrifices when it was Frankfort lawmakers, Wall Street lobbyists and retirement system board members who put us in this position today? This system will not work until it is fully funded, but the system will never be able to fulfill its goal of providing a stable retirement for hardworking government employees until it is cleaned up. For too long, Frankfort has been run by those who are more focused on helping out the good old boys or giving contracts out for kickbacks than on Kentucky's working families. I think that every Kentuckian should be asking why the legislators' pension system is nearly fully funded. When I'm governor, no one who donated a dime to my campaign will be given a say in where working people's pensions are invested as some kind of shady political favor.
A: Our educators, first responders, city, state and county employees already sacrifice so much. They work their whole lives to make Kentucky a better place to live. The last thing they should sacrifice is the pension they've earned. The best way to fix our state retirement system is to find new sources of revenue like closing tax loopholes for luxury items like private jets.
A: Retired and current state employees should not have to make any "sacrifices" regarding legal as well as moral obligations that were made to them through inviolable contracts when it comes to their retirements. I do not believe that any "sacrifices" must be inordinately applied to Kentucky's taxpayers when it comes to raising taxes either. We can solve these problems without harming our retired and current state employees or asking more from the taxpayers of Kentucky.
A: Public employees and teachers should not be further burdened with fixing their promised pension; these employees have paid their share into the system. Teachers have already been contributing more each paycheck since 2010 because of reforms that the legislature passed to strengthen their retiree health insurance. We must keep the 2013 reforms in place and continue to fully fund the ARC. Teachers do not receive Social Security and they are especially dependent on their pensions. Removing them from a defined benefit plan would also make it tougher to lure the best and brightest to Kentucky classrooms. We need to also look at closing loopholes in our current tax code. Closing just 10% would generate $1.3 billion to shore up our pension system.
Andy Beshear took aim at Bevin: "This is a landmark win for our hardworking teachers, police officers, firefighters, EMS, social workers and all city, county and state employees," Beshear said. "Our government broke its promise and betrayed its people."
Bevin's bill proposed a new 401(k)-style plan. While the Supreme Court ruling doesn't fix the state's huge pension debt, it does maintain the same plan educators expected.
Republican Gov. Matt Bevin has opposed legalizing casinos. Bevin called the proposal "a tired tenet" of the Democratic Party.
Beshear's letter makes familiar arguments for expanding gambling--primarily that Kentuckians are already wagering big money at casinos in five neighboring states, including Indiana. It does not estimate how much money legal casinos would generate for Kentucky, but he wrote, "Commercial gaming in Indiana last year alone netted over $600 million in direct tax revenue." He said legalized sports betting could raise "an additional $30 million" in annual revenue.
Kentucky's eight pension plans recently reported having $42.7 billion in unfunded liabilities, including both pension and health plans.
Bevin said lawmakers must examine every aspect of the tax code and that there will be "sacred cows" that are turned into hamburger.
Jim supports measures to ensure long-term stability, raising the revenue cap is one option. And Jim will fight any measure to cut or privatize Social Security. He believes in keeping our promises to our nation's seniors by paying what we owe and preserving these programs for our children and grandchildren.
After a lifetime of hard work, our seniors deserve to know that Medicare will continue to guarantee their health coverage for life.
Instead of strengthening and preserving these critical programs, Mitch McConnell plans to end Medicare as we know it. Thousands of seniors would be forced back into the prescription drug "donut hole," costing them approximately $13,000 more by 2022 than under current law. I believe we've got to balance the budget, but we've got to do it the right way, and that means protecting the benefits and programs seniors have paid into over a lifetime of hard work.
In an interview with ABC News, Conway said that Social Security represented an "area of stark contrast in the race." During the course of the campaign, Paul has suggested raising the retirement age and Conway has alleged his opponent believes Social Security is unconstitutional.
It's a claim that Paul denied as recently as Sunday night: "I've never challenged it and I do not challenge the constitutionality of it," Paul said at a debate.
In an interview with ABC News, Conway said that Social Security represented an "area of stark contrast in the race." During the course of the campaign, Paul has suggested raising the retirement age and Conway has alleged his opponent believes Social Security is unconstitutional.
It's a claim that Paul denied as recently as Sunday night: "I've never challenged it and I do not challenge the constitutionality of it," Paul said at a debate.
PAUL: Well, you don't do anything to people who are currently receiving Medicare or Social Security. But we do have to admit that we have the baby boom generation getting ready to retire. There will have to be changes for the younger generation.
Q: So you would raise the retirement age?
PAUL: For younger people, yes.
Q: So higher deductibles or higher premiums, for people 55 or younger?
PAUL: Yes. You're going to have to have eligibility changes for the younger people. And I think all younger people, if they're honest and will admit to it and have an adult discussion and not demagogue the issue, will admit that younger people will have to have different rules.
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Democrats running for President:
Sen.Michael Bennet (D-CO) V.P.Joe Biden (D-DE) Mayor Mike Bloomberg (I-NYC) Gov.Steve Bullock (D-MT) Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D-IN) Sen.Cory Booker (D-NJ) Secy.Julian Castro (D-TX) Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI) Rep.John Delaney (D-MD) Rep.Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) Sen.Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) Gov.Deval Patrick (D-MA) Sen.Bernie Sanders (I-VT) CEO Tom Steyer (D-CA) Sen.Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) Marianne Williamson (D-CA) CEO Andrew Yang (D-NY) 2020 Third Party Candidates: Rep.Justin Amash (L-MI) CEO Don Blankenship (C-WV) Gov.Lincoln Chafee (L-RI) Howie Hawkins (G-NY) Gov.Jesse Ventura (I-MN) |
Republicans running for President:
V.P.Mike Pence(R-IN) Pres.Donald Trump(R-NY) Rep.Joe Walsh (R-IL) Gov.Bill Weld(R-MA & L-NY) 2020 Withdrawn Democratic Candidates: Sen.Stacey Abrams (D-GA) Mayor Bill de Blasio (D-NYC) Sen.Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) Sen.Mike Gravel (D-AK) Sen.Kamala Harris (D-CA) Gov.John Hickenlooper (D-CO) Gov.Jay Inslee (D-WA) Mayor Wayne Messam (D-FL) Rep.Seth Moulton (D-MA) Rep.Beto O`Rourke (D-TX) Rep.Tim Ryan (D-CA) Adm.Joe Sestak (D-PA) Rep.Eric Swalwell (D-CA) | ||
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