social services eventually made a concession and offer the rental as ten meetings with social workers but the family only went to two because i had heard rumors that a criminal case might be brought against her she and her son moved in with relatives in st petersburg and after a while robert's father joined them. but just as well of course it was hard to make the decision to move to another country but in our case it was an assessor. they persecuted us in finland and they were not likely to give up on us so two years ago we had no other alternative like us though i took this decision to be together with my family my son and my wife. know the rental as live in a small one room apartment on the outskirts of some petersburg but that doesn't matter to him she says her family is happy now because they are at last together. they watched us closely because we were only ones who did to rebel and fight for our child will read they were interested in us not because they wanted to see if we did anything wrong or not. it was because we were just no because who didn't want to conform to the system

social security. ♪ host: good morning. welcome to "washington journal" on this wednesday, december 12, 2012. negotiations continue over the so-called looming fiscal cliff. yesterday president obama and john boehner spoke by phone. washington post reported however that they are still working on a deal and nothing is locked down yet. we will talk more about the fiscal cliff this morning on "the washington journal." what tax deductions would you give up as part of a solution to the deficit problems? here are the numbers to call. for republicans, 202-585-3881. for democrats, 202-585-3880. for independents, 202-585-3882. you can also find us online. send us a tweet, twitter.com/c- spanwj. find a son facebook and weigh in there. at journal@c- span.org. "the christian science monitor," asked what we would be willing to give up. "americans would be willing to give up the tax deduction for charitable giving over other popular tax breaks." host: let's take a look at the results of this poll. 25% said that they

we need to fix social security. when the trust fund disappears in 2032, we still will be running deficits for the remainder of the 75-year estimate period. guest: we agree there will be a funding gap that begins in 2033. folks need to know that social security will be there for them and what kind of benefits they will receive. i do want to respond that as a% of gdp, social security is relatively stable. once you get out of the baby boom cohort, you see the same kind of projections from cbo or the actuaries that expenditures stabilize as a% of gdp. social security's expenses are stable but we do have a funding gap and that is what we need to address. guest: that funding gap is about taking the inflation out. it is about $300 billion a year. that is about $1,000 a year for every man, woman, and child. that is not a tiny amount. host: is that a tiny amount? guest: we do not think it is a tiny amounts. that is the amount of retirement income that folks do not know will be there for them. it is roughly 25 cents for every

social security is structurally sound.eaked the way it was by ronald reagan and democratic speaker tip o'neill. >> tweaked meant cut. i told you it meant cut but a lot of liberals didn't believe it. he won't do that, he's a dealt he's a progressive. he won't cut social security. of course he will. he told you he was going to cut it. he offered it last time, he's offering it this time. he can't wait to cut social security. why? because then he gets a big pat from the washington media you did something to center right even though elected to be center left. congratulations for violating the trust of the voters. terrific job. he can't wait for that pat on the back. how about gun control? there he's got to be a progressive after all these shootings on his watch now newtown, connecticut. here's his grade on gun control. f. another issue he's deeply conservative. how about drugs? who's michelle leonhart? >> she recognize the head of the dea. who was she before that? she was appointed to be deputy administrator of the dea by georg

social security dramatically reduces poverty among seniors. cutting social security would be cruel. the white house is defending the proposal. >> the president has always said as a part of this process when we're talking about the spending cuts side of this that it would require tough choices by both sides. and that is certainly the case if you want to reach an agreement. secondly, this is a technical adjustment that supporters of it and economists, outside economists say it is meant to make the government's estimates of inflation more accurate. >> we could save money and bring down the debt by adjusting social security benefits. but many analysts don't trust the republicans to take care of seniors in the process. joining me tonight, pulitzer prize winning journalist and author of "the fine print: how big companies use plain english to rob you blind," david cay johnston. technical adjustment. what does that mean? in the interest of fairness, is there any scenario in which chained cpi does not hurt seniors? >> no. chained cpi is a good measure for the whole economy, but not for senio

why steal from social security? >> social security and medicare are not entitlements.s that i am going to fly around and slap them so hard their teeth rattle. they are earned benefits. >> bill: earned benefits. absolutely, linda. i hear your passion. i share it. to say hello to jean from albuquerque, new mexico. these are the numbers. if you are making $1,100 a month, i checked out social securityworks.com. over the courts of 20 years you get $28,600. >> that's how much you would be cut. >> by the chained cpi? >> yeah. >> bill: that's a lot of money. >> it's a lot of money. you know what? this is did be these are such hardship cuts. i think for the president to throw social security into a budget deal like this is despotism. i'm sorry. at least george bush when he wanted to privatize social security, he didn't try to weasel it through in a budget deal. i can't believe i am saying this about george bush but he opened a national dialogue and the nation rejected it. i don't think the president -- and by the way, nancy pelosi yesterday on andrea mitchell was saying she tho

the deficit bears repeating you could cut social security all you want you could even end social security altogether and it wouldn't reduce the budget deficit by a single penny social security is completely self funded it's a self contained program and that sitting on a surplus over two point six trillion dollars last year showed a surplus of over fifty billion dollars and it's the signature program that makes american people think of the democrats a santa clause so the number one priority the republican strategists is to get a democratic president to take a shot at santa claus since f.d.r. brought a social security not one single democratic president has ever in the history of our republic suggested shooting or even nicking the social security santa clause until obama if obama goes along with the chain c.p.i. he will be the first democratic president in the history of the party to actually cut social security even though it won't do a thing nothing to reduce the budget deficit and as we saw with bill clinton reforming welfare once the republicans can corner a democratic president into sh

one day as norman thomas said we will wait to find that we have socialism but thanks to l.b.j. and the democrats medicare survived that rhetorical attack from reagan and has provided critical health insurance to senior citizens in america for forty years however it may not survive this current assault by tea party republicans in congress between paul ryan's budget which voucher rises and basically ends medicare as we know it and the new so-called fiscal cliff demands from republicans to cut six hundred billion dollars out of the insurance program and raise its eligibility age from sixty five to sixty seven years old medicare may be in trouble and one of the reasons why it may be in trouble is because republicans don't want you to know four key secrets that are critical to their assault on medicare but richard has got will tell us these four secrets he is the senior fellow at the campaign for america's future and he joins us now from our los angeles studios richard welcome back. it's good to be back thanks for joining us let's talk about these four secrets i confess i cheated i

your social media. you're different. >> big, small. >> i don't know. >> big, bigger. >> yeah. >> she's tall. i'm short. >> let's not go there. >> the first thing i wanted to say this is an awesome day. i haven't seen this until now coming together of law enforcement, educators and industry and a variety of other folks and nonprofits organizations and really understand the issue and dive into it. it's been awesome and a ton of learning has gone into this. alice is amazing. everything that happened with time warner and got together a year ago and partnered up on this and wouldn't it be great if we got two major media organizations together, one traditional media which has a a lot of strength in eaching people via tv and one reaching people socially and if you could gather these together imagine what we can do? and so i think you called sizzle real. it was a sizzling experience to be in a high school in hare land and felt like a football pep rally but it was about bullying and they all took the pledge to s

nation facing economic desperation historic levels of wealth inequality in a rapidly disappearing social safety net occupy was the way forward a community in every city that conservatives as an example of what we as americans should be striving for during a time when wall street suits were choking the lives out of most of us but if you're an f.b.i. agent then occupied looked like something completely different to the f.b.i. occupy was a breeding ground for violence and domestic terrorism thanks to a freedom of information act request by the party. movement was a favorite target of the f.b.i. even before the surveillance operation conducted against the occupy movement and its participants by the f.b.i. and the department of homeland security working with local law enforcement for the protection of corporate america and it wasn't just on wall street occupy encampments in indianapolis milwaukee memphis richmond jacksonville and even freakin anchorage alaska were put under watch by the f.b.i. and described in internal memos as potential domestic terror threats but why did the f.b.i. consider

story behind that and republicans are just trying to destroy medicare they're trying to get rid of social security to the republicans only attacking social security because they're afraid to admit that it proves government can work. you need to know this michigan is now a right to work for a lot of state republicans rammed through the law this afternoon and was promptly sign behind closed doors our republican governor rick snyder in response as many as fifty thousand workers converged on the michigan state capital today for the latest labor battle in what's been a three decades long losing war by and large for labor rights in america and with their backs against the wall michigan unions face annihilation and the subsequent annihilation of organized labor across america or possibly redemption its or unions that working americans got living wages the forty hour a week benefits engine so that they could raise a family reach the american dream and retire comfortably the middle class was quite literally built by organized labor. but today unions or die it was disconcerting back in february of

social security. and he was here during the time of ronald reagan and he plead sure that social security, which was enacted under the democrats, and i will never forget newt gingrich said he wanted it to wither on the vine. that's been their philosophy. now, i feel that medicaid, medicare and social security is the difference between us and many of the thirled-world countries. in fact, it has been the bedrock of american politics as far as helping to raise the standards. and you know, many of my colleagues often talk about the bible. well, the bible says -- i never heard them say let's help the rich. the bible always talks about the poor and what we need to do to help raise the standards. that's what we're supposed to be doing in the people's house. during the campaign, they constantly confused the american people, talking about the $715 billion that was in both proposals that was savings that we put back into the system that helped people that was receiving their prescription drugs. we were helping t

stand up to the republicans but will he leave americans in the dust and let republicans hack away at social security and medicare. you need to know this the big picture last week i spoke with former reagan and george h.w. bush adviser bruce bartlett bartlett is a republican he's also a radical truthteller about the state of his republican party today here's a bit of what he said to me last week. somehow or other they believe as an ran did that the rich are like john galt they are the only ones who are productive the whole the rest of us are just lazy bums and mooch things have changed so dramatically since the days when i first got involved with the republican politics when the republican party was the the party of ideas announced the party of crazy people ignorant tea party people people who know nothing and are proud of. it was talking about those ignorant crazy people who are proud of it he was also referring to the gun nutters that have taken over the halls of congress and the rest of washington politics over the weekend just twenty four hours at the connecticut shooting suicide massacr

devastating cuts to social security and medicare in the process. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so for lengthly you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom hartman welcome to the big picture. here is mitt romney trying to figure out the name of that thing that we americans call a dog. i'm sorry i'm just a guy who cares an awful lot about what use are on our floor you know what kind of terrorist cells in your neighborhood all want to give us a defeat terrorism they are liberal and the current public. can secure the borders . if you know that we're going to distract us from what you and i should care about because they're profit driven industry that sells a sensationalistic garbage he calls it breaking news i'm happy martin and we're going to break that. it's rude news to president obama switch political parties over the weekend president obama's latest fiscal cliff offer throws the middle class and senior

nation facing economic desperation historic levels of wealth inequality in a rapidly disappearing social safety net occupy was the way forward a community in every city that conservatives as an example of what we as americans should be striving for during a time when wall street suits were choking the lives out of most of us but if you're an f.b.i. agent that occupied looked like something completely different to the f.b.i. occupy was a breeding ground for violence and domestic terrorism thanks to a freedom of information act request by the partnership for civil justice fund we now know that the occupy movement was a favorite target of the f.b.i. even before the movement got off the ground going all the way back to august two thousand and eleven a month before the occupation of zuccotti park even began the f.b.i. in new york was notifying bankers and business owners of a pending threat against them even though from its inception occupy has always been a movement aimed at bringing about political and social change through peaceful nonviolent action. this early threat was just the beginnin

social justice -- getting education is a social justice issue. we don't want kids to feel they can't go to school or go home. we want other's worth intact and appreciate the worth. justice is a public face of love and 60% of kids who are discipline read likely to drop out of school, so if we attach the same concerns that we have for all of the students and comparing with the evidence base data that suggests there are a lairming rates of suspensions and explullions and how does that push the conversation or do other things that we are innovative with and coming up with real solutions? not just to bullying but all of the social factors that affect students and adults and there are several adults that need training as well. that's my point. >> yeah. actually the work place bullying institute which has good data i am told and found that 35% of american employees say that they have been bullied in the work place. that is about double over the figure for kids so this is not a kid problem, but so are you asking if there should be programs and campaigns

s want to target social safety nets like social security and good reason is they don't need them they're all sitting on massive retirement assets averaging over nine million dollars each by bank blankfein himself has nearly twelve million dollars in retirement assets it's easy to call

to social security.bert weissman joins us on our news line. very outspoken about this. president of public citizen. good morning. >> hey bill, good to be with you. >> bill: first of all this gets so wonky. we shouldn't let it get wonky. what is the difference that the president has accepted? what is this so-called chained cpi and what does it mean? >> well, hopefully he hasn't accepted it and hopefully it won't be part of any final package. >> bill: i agree with you on that. >> the simplest way to understand it, it is a stealth cut to social security benefits. a little bit more explanation is as any social security recipient knows, they get cost of living increases every year. what they're talking about is changing the way the cost of living increase is calculated so that it will be less. >> bill: which means benefits are less, right? >> the benefits are less. so you're going to get -- if you're getting $500 a month right now next year it would be $510. under the current system. under the change system,

you don't get social security automatically. have to go down to the office of social security and apply i tell them "if you feel that strongly about it, you don't need it, there's a form on the social security web site that you can fill out and you won't get your benefits. >> pelley: so you're saying it can be done on an individual by individual basis? >> i think so. i think changing social security from an earned ben nate you pay for while you're working into a means-tested program, let's be frank, that turns it into welfare and welfare doesn't have a lot of support in this country. >> woodruff: finally, what about this concept that these are programs that, yes, americans have paid into them but they -- every economist who's looked at them virtually talks about how they are not sustainable in the long term and that what has happened is that it was senior citizens, politically influential, have been able to stave off any trims in benefits or any changes but that ultimately will be harm to feel the next generation and the next ge

it's a case of social security skills, like autism is a social disability. one thing we have to do a better job and michael milbury's essay speaks to this is how do you educate the entire community about disabilities like autism or learning disabilities so it's not up to the person whose art is struggling to up were already struggling with social hierarchies to make sure everyone else knows this is the autism looks like. this is why kids with autism may respond differently. this is by someone with autism may have a tick or do behaviors that i don't understand but i see them have been. how can we get kids more aware of differences among them and say we're going to support this person and not ostracized them or pick on them because they're different because now we understand what's going on. >> host: is some of this about there being an petite? talk that. >> guest: absolutely. this is why are bush for the film was what it was and wanted to bring the same approach the book. we feel this is an issue so many of the snow is going on. we know numbers are extraordin

basically, all that does is for social security. people working really do not need it, and the employer does not need it. and the bush tax cuts, they talk about this hurting the rich and famous, but basically, people have 401k's, ira's. after the depression, things did not get back in line until 10, 15 years later. host: another point on this, we cannot get tax reform with the current congress. they do not have the capacity. guest: i am not ready to write it off completely. host: you are more optimistic than stan collender. guest: we had a disagreement on this last week. there is an underlying consensus on the hill that we need to do tax reform, mainly because you have these tax expenditures which have grown in size. we lose as much in revenue to tax expenditures that we taken through the individual income tax, and there is consensus that you need to start broadening the base and getting rid of some of these deductions and credits and expenditures, and that allows you to not raise rates higher than they would have to go, if that is

it reminds of the term "social justice". we think we know what we mean by it but i can't tell you the emails i get from individuals. >> if "if you don't get me in the school i want to you're denying me social justice" and it's usurping of the teerm and let's call bullying what it is and assault and make it clear to what it is and make it clear to other individuals and there are other grades and issues of classroom management and it's okay and let's get focused and ready to go on the lesson, but when you're talking about hurting somebody's feelings that is often times in my experience been an issue of power. >> yeah, i would like to add to that. i think there has been dialogue in the nation throughout the issue in the last year, and when you look at recent report that the federal department of education presented basically has the definition of bullying in every single state and also a list of i think 37 components and ranks that show you state by state which ones include those components of it. as we heard earlier the federa

they kept taking the social security taxes. now this is no cap on social security. reagan signed a bill not to touch social security. what happened to all this money? every individual that were had a separate account. all of that money has to be established because the government was supposed to make interest to pay us back when we retired. guest: you are correct in the 1980's there were major changes the captain on the amount of income was lifted -- the cap on the amount of income was lifted. i think it is out about $109,000 right now. after that, if you are no longer taxed. in terms of protecting the social security trust fund, what did happen for many years when we were running deficits in the 1980's, the government did read the socialists contrast fund to pay for general revenues. they did give the administration an i.o.u. they are paying that back now. that is what insures it does not go insolvent until 2027. it is taking money out of the general fund to pay for social security benefits. we're getting some of that money back. social security was about to go ban

there isn't the financial potential, bottom line, for the social entrepreneur but the social entrepreneurs driven by that same passion of an idea of how do we make the world better in a more effective way. so one young man jordan who we feature was in optetry school in south africa and put glasses on a 7-year-old nearly blind and saw his life change and he decided he's going to become the lenscrafters for the third world. >> how wonderful. that's a great story. were you inspired yourself by some of these individuals? what did you learn? >> oh, yes. oh, yes. well, you learn that if people have had tragedy happen to them or if there is something in their lives that influence them mightily, then if they have more than just the normal amount of courage and more than just the normal amount of passion, they took this difficulty and turned it into something that did good for others and saved other people's lives. >> charles, you've signed the giving pledge originated by bill gates and warren buffett, promising to give away half of your fortune to clarity. >> it's not an unusual thing actually in

that are jockeying for power or they are figuring out how to use their social power. is complicated. the child who may be the most popular person on their sports team may be the same person who is holy clinic it on their boss. so it reflects the social dynamics of the group and the semantics or ice changing so i think that's part of what makes it really not just one thing that we can say and we need to stomp it out wherever we see it. the kids who really are sophisticated in a lot of understanding the dynamics of who has power and who doesn't. >> host: how prevalent is bullying? can you give us some information about like, how likely children generally are to face bullying and also whether there are are special populations of kids who are particularly vulnerable? >> guest: absolutely. we know that 13 million kids will people lead in the united states this year. that is a lot of kids. we know that kids who are lgbt are four times more likely to be bullied than other kids. >> host: and that is kids that are transgender, bisexual or perceive to be? >> guest: absolutely.

dynamic if you are a young person who knows you have some social cachet in your circle in your social dynamic you may feel more comfortable than those around you and more confident. i think for kids to have that confidence and who know their influential among their peers i think for those kids to be educated about bullying come for them to say i want to be a student leader and i am committed to standing up, one of the contributors to the book talks about being brave against bullying and that there are wristbands that the american federation of teachers has made available so that any teacher who wants to can get the wristband on line and that they are now displaying a visible sign that kids know they are a safe person to go to and they are someone who has made a decision to prevent bullying and respond to it when they see it and visible signs like that not only for teachers and administrators i think those are really effective but i think also for young people there are a number of different kinds of creative things that you can do to make a visible sign to say i am a safe person for y