Just a couple of points here. Eliminating and or cutting SS and Medicare is not just for republicans. Obama had made a concerted effort to cut SS and Medicare since the time he first took office. He (Obama) promised to cut SS during the second debate last year. "I don't differ from Mitt Romney that entitlements need reforming" ring a bell?

Matt Stoller runs down the 8 corporations that won gobs of $$$ in this manufactured cliff deal to the tune of $205B (yes, billion). Instead of cutting SS and Medicare, lawmakers should focus on cutting corporate welfare.

Here's the thing. In this economic climate, austerity is not what is called for. Quite frankly, if we continue down the road of calling for austerity, 1. we will continue to vastly increase the wage gap and 2. we will look an awful lot like Greece in the end. Europeans have finally woken up to realize that the austerity plans have done nothing more than make the populace worse off.

Shades of 1932...read the whole article, it's quite interesting.

Seniors & Social Security | The White House

"To put us on solid ground, we should also find a bipartisan solution to strengthen Social Security for future generations. We must do it without putting at risk current retirees, the most vulnerable, or people with disabilities; without slashing benefits for future generations; and without subjecting Americans’ guaranteed retirement income to the whims of the stock market." -PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA IN THE STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS, JANUARY 25, 2011

Also from the same link:

The President is committed to protecting and strengthening Social Security—and securing the basic compact that hard work should be rewarded with dignity at retirement or in case of disability or early death. That’s why he has called on Congress to work on a bipartisan basis to preserve Social Security as a reliable source of income for American seniors and as a program that provides robust benefits to survivors and workers who develop disabilities. He believes that no current beneficiaries should see their basic benefits reduced and he will not accept an approach that slashes benefits for future generations. The President also stands firmly opposed to privatization and rejects the notion that the future of hard-working Americans should be left to the fluctuations of financial markets.

Implement taxes to pay for government spending with no borrowing.

The GOP should do it and call them Obama's taxes.

Everyone with half a brain knows that increasing taxes on the 1% won't pay the bill in the end.

The 15 or so Democrats, who also did not vote for the bill, know this.

Let's raise the taxes now in line with the continued spending.

Then we will see how 2014 goes.