process. former president ronald reagan would turn 100 next month. as his family prepares to mark the milestone there are new disclosures about his battle with alzheimer s. so help me god. reporter: ronald reagan was the oldest president ever, 69 when he took office. he was diagnosed with alzheimer s disease five years after leaving the white house, but in a new book,s son ron reagan writes as early as three year into his first term i was feeling the first shivers of concern that something beyond mellowing was affecting his farther. he was alarmed by the first campaign debate against mondale. the system is still where it was with regard to um the with regard to the progressivity as i said. my heart sank as he floundered through responses, fumbling with his notes, lost for words. he looked tired and bewildered.
let s listen to mr. defazio. the white house is putting on tremendous pressure, making phone calls. the president s making phone comes saying this is the end of his presidency, if he doesn t get this bad deal. you know i don t feel that way. i think this is potentially the end of his possibility of being re-elected if he gets this deal and it s a trap, it s a trap on social security and on progressivity in our tax system and a tax on huge cuts to programs we care about about because this adds half a trillion buckings to the deficit next year, and the next year the new republicans come in whoa, we ve got to cut the heck out of everything because we have a $1.7 trillion obama deficit. they won t be talking about their role in creating that. this apocalyptic phone call that the president is going to lose it presidency if he doesn t get this bill, mr. defazio found out from his office a few minutes ago didn t get that call himself. he reports that he got it he heard another member go
a problem. it has nothing to do with right wing, left wing. how do we keep social security sustainable? what s the labor issue? you re with the afl-cio. i m with the afl-cio. what s the labor proposal? i think if we raise the cap of the income that s subject of the social security you get about 3/4 of the shortfall that you need. and there are a couple of other changes that you can make. but those people whether never get that money back. no, that isn t right. increase their benefits. it is a somewhat progressive system. you re basically taxing people in a way that they ll they ever get it back in benefits. therefore it s becoming more like welfare. we ve understood for a long time the social security system is a pay as you go system and rich people pay so middles class people can benefit. that s what you re proposing. there s always been some element of progressivity. we need more job, not less. how are you going to deal with social security problems? i t
right in the middle, the average person will pay about, you know, 14% of all of his or her income in taxes. right. federal taxes. that ignores the state s. and the people at the very, very top only pay 24%. so people in the middle are paying 14%, people in the top 24%, people one notch lower, about 7.5%. that s, you know, some progressivity but not a whole lot, right? where did you this is from the brookings institute. these are numbers from the irs and all the others. okay. eliot, did you bring your charts and graphs here today? i didn t think you did. can we talk about the movie and the politics? i know you i m not an economist. there is plenty of people you can get on besides me to find out about. you can find a bah zillion people who agree. people who work hard don t want to hand over all their money to the government, who will then redistribute it to other people. but wait a minute. you re a capitalist, you degree with that, come on.
person will pay about, you know, 14% of all of his or her income in taxes. right. federal taxes. that ignores the state s. and the people at the very, very top only pay 24%. so people in the middle are paying 14%, people in the top 24%, people one notch lower, about 7.5%. that s, you know, some progressivity but not a whole lot, right? where did you this is from the brookings institute. these are numbers from the irs and all the others. okay. eliot, did you bring your charts and graphs here today? i didn t think you did. can we talk about the movie and the politics? i know you i m not an economist. there is plenty of people you can get on besides me to find out about. you can find a bah zillion people who agree. people who work hard don t want to hand over all their money to the government, who will then redistribute it to other people. but wait a minute. you re a capitalist, you degree with that, come on. i m a capitalist. i m not a foolish libertarian.