NAACP + SS = Confusion

Tonight at Wayne State, there was a panel discussion hosted and sponsored by the NAACP.

There were a couple of mixed messages sent.

1. Social Security is not in a crisis, it is fine, it just needs to be fixed, or it will become a crisis, the President's plan is bad, it will make Social Security collapse because the stock market is shaky, we should change Social Security in another way, like adding taxes or upping the age for collection.

Now some of you may say, "Wow, bad grammar again." But that is my point, listening to this panel made my head spin. I felt dizzy, which is how the readers must feel after that run-on-sentence they just read, because the issue kept spinning.

2. Republicans are unethical and hate old people and black men. Why? Because if they weren't they would simply make the wage threshold (any income above this level is not used to pay into the SS system) from 90,000 to a higher amount.

My question is, how many people who make over 90,000 need to worry about SS? Probably zero. If so, raising that threshold puts more money in, but it will also take more money out. Also, why do they need a solution to something that isn't a problem?

There was no press, and the panelists contradicted each other. The worst thing was during the Q&A. On separate occasions there were long pauses after questions were asked before someone answered. Yet, once questions were answered, the panelists on more than 2 occasions said, "I don't think I answered your question but..."

Maybe it was good that there WASN'T any press.

Super Size My Tax??

America's "First HIP-HOP Mayor" is sparking more controversy. During a speech today he slipped in a comment or two about the ever controversial "Fast Food Tax."

This has been floating around since January, and the idea is to put a 2% tax onto all fast food purchases.

The obvious implications of this are stunning and horrifying enough... but supposedly there is an even deeper and more vile situation which runs in the shadows. Allegedly the reasons behind the tax, which is coupled with a new property sales tax, are that the city is looking for new revenue sources to fund the newly proposed budget. This is a budget that was supposed to have cut-backs and eliminations within it, to fit into the current city income structure.

Why does the city need more revenue if it is proposing a reduced budget that is supposedly lower and leaner than previous ones? Why are there new revenue sources proposed? We aren't 100% sure, because the City has been vague on this.

More analysis to come after Kwame answers press questions on this tomorrow...