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Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Some Thoughts on the Debt Ceiling, Politics and Social Security.

TV’s talking heads (including my friend Charles Krauthammer) believe that Obama’s winning the PR war as Republicans and Democrats battle about how much and under what conditions the debt ceiling will be raised. And of course the rest of the MSM is reinforcing this belief.

This has given Obama and the Democrats the courage to force a showdown. If what they know of the mood of the country is what they read in the NY Times, Washington Post and catch on the TV news they are misreading what the American people who don’t work for these media outlets are really thinking.

The latest Gallup poll shows that most people don’t want the debt ceiling raised, even after Obama threatened to shut down social security payments.  (H/T Instapundit).

“Despite agreement among leaders of both sides of the political aisle in Washington that raising the U.S. debt ceiling is necessary, more Americans want their member of Congress to vote against such a bill than for it, 42% vs. 22%, while one-third are unsure. This 20-percentage-point edge in opposition to raising the debt ceiling in Gallup's July 7-10 poll is slightly less than the 28-point lead (47% vs. 19%) seen in May.”

My discussions with clients throughout the country indicate that they are worried about the effects of the government running into the debt ceiling, but their concern is how it will affect the markets. Regarding the debt itself, they are very concerned about the size of the debt and the government’s inability to control its propensity to spend.

The most amazing thing about the social security and the other “entitlement” programs is that the younger generation – the thirty-somethings - has long ago decided that Social Security will not be there for them when they retire. My generation – the baby boomers – grew up with s social security system that matured as we did. The younger generation looks at social security like they look at us: old, creaky, and destined to pass on; the only question is … when?

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