Reagan cut Social Security pay, not Clinton

Re letter from George Miller on Feb. 17

He states that Social Security was cut for military/firefighters/police under the Clinton administration. Actually the law was passed on April 17, 1983, by Ronald Reagan and was called the Windfall Elimination Provision. Approximately 900,000 (as of 2006) retired servicemen, who served 20 years plus, lost as much as two-thirds of their Social Security if they worked for civil service after retirement even though they had earned enough quarters under Social Security for full benefits.

Then Ronald Reagan gave the wealthy a tax cut. At the same time he passed the Government Pension offset provision which reduced spousal Social Security under certain circumstances. Let's not forget that he cut the cost of living increases in 1984 for the military retiree and delayed it 11 months in 1985, in essence cutting the cost of living for two years. Reagan is the only president who has ever cut the cost of living increases for military retirees.

Each time he gave the wealthy another tax cut. As for Miller’s assertion that Hitler and Stalin were socialists, that is laughable. Hitler ordered his officers when invading a country to eliminate the liberal leaders as they would cause problems. History shows that he hated socialism and communism and worked to eradicate these ideologies. Hitler was a fascist. Democracy as a political system is liberal in that through our vote we say how the country and economy works.

Communism as a political system is conservative in that only the party has a say in how the country and economy works. The two are far removed from each other. Just trying to set the record straight.

This story was originally published March 2, 2016 at 8:32 AM with the headline "Reagan cut Social Security pay, not Clinton."