[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 11]
[House]
[Pages 15576-15577]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  SOCIAL SECURITY IS AN EARNED BENEFIT

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. A group of millionaire and billionaire CEOs that call 
themselves the Campaign to Fix the Debt is visiting the White House 
today. According to Lloyd Blankfein, the CEO of Goldman Sachs, Social 
Security must be reduced.
  It didn't contribute anything to the debt or deficit, but that's his 
solution. What did he say? He said:


[[Page 15577]]

       You're going to have to do something undoubtedly to lower 
     people's expectations of what they're going to get.

  He went on to say:

       Social Security wasn't devised to be a system that 
     supported you for a 30-year retirement after a 25-year 
     career.

  Well, his arrogance is only exceeded by his ignorance. That's not the 
way Social Security works, Mr. Blankfein. It's an earned benefit. I 
know you wouldn't know about that because you've got $11.9 million in 
your retirement fund, and you're not too worried about the future of 
Social Security. The average benefit is $14,000 a year, and most people 
work 45 years to get that. And you say they need to lower their 
expectations?
  Well, I've got a solution for you: pay Social Security tax on all 
your income, and you too will get a benefit. And you might need it 
because we're not bailing out Wall Street again.

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