kick your dog

The other night my friend Dan said something about how he knew he sounded like a silly liberal, but he couldn't get through the paper without getting irate about some asinine thing that was being perpetrated by the right.

I had this in mind the other day when I read about opposition to Bush's suggestion that he may propose raising the ceiling on wages subject to payroll taxes. A number of high profile Republicans (Hastert, DeLay and even Cheney) say there's no way that they can support imposing taxes on those folks who make more than $90,000 (the current cap). However, they are willing to consider raising the age of retirement. It's one of those blatant "screw the poor" lines of thinking that leaves you wondering if these people would kick your dog if given the chance.

According to an article in Friday's Washington Post, raising the ceiling "could help mitigate expected shortfalls for Social Security". If we raise the ceiling , we bring in more money, thereby better ensuring security for those who rely on the program for retirement. If we raise the retirement age, we put out less money, thereby making those who rely on the program for retirement work harder for what has been promised to them.

If you're sitting behind a desk and doing work that you find to be gratifying (intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, financially or otherwise), then you might be okay with the idea of working later. In fact, you might prefer it. Keep the brain busy. If you're standing up all day or using your body to do your job (and likely making a smaller paycheck), a later retirement age may simply be out of the question.

Raise the damn ceiling.