The fear in America about retirement is about the fear of not having enough money to live reasonably well and have effective health insurance to live up to your potential. We need Social Security to step up to the plate for every working member of America to give us all peace of mind in our older years.

I am on early Soc. Sec. because I needed the income, and it's ridiculous to consider reducing our small COLA increases when the CPI index used for the pct. increase doesn't even include food and energy, 2 of seniors' biggest costs, along with medical and shelter. With govt. workers' pensions out of control, how about reducing those and also, make EVERY govt. worker pay into Soc. Sec. too!

We've PAID for this investment. It is NOT an "Entitlement" ! Keep this petition going! As individuals who have both worked since 16 years of age to pay into the social security system and medicare, we are furious that CUTS, not increases are being considered. Keep in mind, we are elders whose parents and grandparents paid into these funds since 1935, with interest! There should be such a large sum of paid with interest money in the fund to actually raise such EARNED benefits. Oh, that's right, these two groups of money have been placed into the 'general spending fund'. Take both out and place them back into their own untouchable funds again as they were originally set up to be --with interest! We need this for our old age. We were responsible and worked horribly hard and sacrificed all our lives and figured Social Security and Medicare into our retirement. Now they want to CUT them? Politicians ARE vote counters! Let them know! *Also, contact the White House, your Federal Senators and Representative PERSONALLY, letting them know you are a registered voter who objects and their job depends upon how they vote!

President Obama made an offer to Republican John Boehner to cut Social Security benefits and leave in place some of the Bush tax cuts for the top 2%. The cuts in Social Security would amount to "a cut of more than 5 percent and more as the years go by." For many retirees this would mean critical cuts to benefits that cover medicine, food, and other daily necessities. Many senators have promised to oppose Social Security cuts in any deficit reduction package. If they hear from enough of us, we can still get the Senate to reject this proposal and protect Social Security.

I have been unemployed and looking for a job with no success. It has greatly affected my future and present circumstances.

You may have heard that yesterday President Obama made an offer to Republican John Boehner to cut Social Security benefits and leave in place some of the Bush tax cuts for the top 2%. The cuts in Social Security are opposed by an overwhelming majority of SignOn.org members and would amount to "a cut of more than 5 percent and more as the years go by." For many retirees this would mean critical cuts to benefits that cover medicine, food, and other daily necessities.1,2 The good news is that many senators, including Senate Leader Harry Reid, have promised to oppose Social Security cuts in any deficit reduction package. If they hear from enough of their constituents, we can still get the Senate to reject this proposal and protect Social Security. As a SignOn.org member in New York, you can make a difference by launching a petition to your senators, Kirsten Gillibrand and Charles Schumer, and Majority Leader Reid. If you get it started, we'll email it to SignOn.org members in your area to help get it going.

Shortly after 9:30 am on December 14, 2012 a mentally disturbed gunmen entered the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT and used a semi-automatic assault rifle and 2 semi-automatic pistols to murder 20 innocent children, mostly kindergarteners, and 6 courageous adults after he had killed his mother in their home. The hearts of Americans and people around the world are breaking as a result of this senseless violence. While broken hearts reflect our deepest values and humanity, they are not enough! It is time for all Americans to compel our government to make reasonable and common sense gun reforms NOW! President Kennedy, who was brought down by an assassin's bullets , said, "If not us, who? If not now, when?" While Americans are ambivalent about "gun control" in general, in repeated polls the MAJORITY of Americans support 5 simple reforms that can make our country safer for all Americans without infringing on our Constitutional rights: 1. Background Checks 2. Registration 3. No guns for felons/mentally ill 4. No semi-automatic weapons 5. No high capacity clips We are not a Republican America or a Democratic America. We are the United States of America and we believe that the overwhelming majority of Americans support reasonable, sensible gun reforms now. We ask ALL Americans - mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers, sisters and brothers, loved ones and friends, Republicans and Democrats, gun owners and non-gun owners, people of all faiths and people of no faith - to JOIN us in enacting common sense gun controls that protect all Americans, particularly our children, while affirming our Constitutional rights. We do not believe that these two objectives - affirming the Constitution and enhancing our safety are incompatible. In fact, we believe that strengthening both of these fundamental values affirms the highest principles - rights and freedom, compassion and community - upon which our country was founded. While some on both sides would support the extreme of "all guns" or "no guns," and there are those who will oppose us, we believe that sensible reform must balance respect for our Constitution with the protection of the most vulnerable members of society. We believe that common sense gun reform must be based on the following Four Principles: 1. Affirm and Respect the Second Amendment's "....right to bear arms"; 2. Universal Registration and Background Checks; 3. No Guns for Felons/people with Severe Mental Illness; 4. Ban Semi-Automatic Weapons and High Capacity Clips; If you agree with us, please SIGN our petition and SHARE this with everyone you know. In addition, please CONTACT our leaders and compel them to enact common sense gun reform based on these 4 Principles NOW! Contact the President at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact Contact your Senators here: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm Contact your Representative here: http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/ If you agree with these simple principles for common sense gun reform, you must make your voice heard in our democracy! As Abraham Lincoln, who was also brought down by an assassin's bullet, said, "With Malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds." Let us all come together as Americans in honor of the 20 innocent children and 7 courageous adults who were slain in Newtown, CT. and join together to bind up our nation's wounds. Let us not standby and let these 20 innocent children and 7 courageous adults deaths be in vain.

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The Social Security Trust Fund is solvent and only problematic when political leaders see the money and want to use it. This was true of Lyndon B. Johnson, for his war in Southeast Asia, and in 1980 President Reagan and the democratic congress decided to tax the benefits. The COLA, initated in 1975 was used as a means to cope with out of control inflation, but has been kept until it's recent use in the "fiscal cliff" talks.. The SSI program must be taken off the table while the fiscal cliff is under discussion. Any revision of the program needs a concentrated analysis and review that guarantees any contributions to the SSI funds are put in a "locked box" for future generations. To use SSLI as a chip to leverage free income for the top 2% is a further deterioration for the life of older Americans. Remember SSI funds are used to to make Medicare payments and come out of the individuals monthly supplements. Medicare's fee didn't freeze, why keep taking money away from social security recipients. If you freeze the supplement, then make it tax free again.

THERE IS NO REASON WHY WE SHOULD OR EVEN THINK ABOUT SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFIT CUTS IN "FISCAL CLIFF" NEGOTIATIONS.

I have not currently been affected by the cuts but have paid in for over 38 yrs. I want my benefits available when I reach the time I am able to collect.

All people all over the globe should have a home, food and the type of health care they need. Social Security is now being considered as a cut to help with the deficit. I know many who depend on this to keep a home, food and to stay healthy. These cuts should not happen.