Americans' retirement plans have lost as much as $2 trillion in the past 15 months, Congress' top budget analyst estimated Tuesday. [...]

As Congress investigates the causes and effects of the financial meltdown, the House Education and Labor Committee was hearing from retirement savings and budget analysts on how the housing, credit and other financial troubles have battered pensions and other retirement funds, which are among the most common forms of savings in the United States.

"Unlike Wall Street executives, America's families don't have a golden parachute to fall back on," said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., the panel chairman. "It's clear that their retirement security may be one of the greatest casualties of this financial crisis."

Yet, John McCain stlil wants to privatize Social Security.

And while Sarah Palin is in Florida promising that John McCain will "protect' entitlement programs, his economic advisers are telling the press that there will be massive cuts into Medicare and Medicaid. Perhaps she hadn't read in the newspapers her what her campaign wants to do just yet.

Wall Street joined a “selloff around the world” today, with the Dow Jones dropping more than 400 points and falling to below 10,000 for the first time in four years. As the AP reports, the “markets have come to the sobering realization that the Bush administration’s $700 billion rescue plan won’t work quickly to unfreeze the credit markets, and that many banks are still having difficulty gaining access to cash.”

Think about it -- while untold thousands of Americans lose their life savings or retirement funds because of the greed of Wall Street, John McCain wants to "turn the page" on the financial crisis.

Then again, we've seen this before from John McCain. He knows a thing or two about thousands of Americans losing their life savings.

Staff at the Hillsborough County Democratic Party offices in Tampa have been getting barraged with phone calls from party members who have received what they say are deceptive mailers.

Some of the mailers sought support for Republican presidential candidate John McCain; others simply asked for a donation to the Republican National Committee. Most of the voters who have received them are elderly and registered Democrats, local party officials said.

"I still don't understand their angle," said Michael Steinberg, the county Democratic Party's executive committee chairman. "Frankly, it doesn't really make any sense."

One possibility, he suggested, was "vote caging." By sending the mailings to registered voters in envelopes that can't be forwarded, groups can compile lists of voters who might have moved or are part-time residents. Those lists could then be used to challenge the voters' registration and prevent their absentee ballots from being counted in the general election.

An editorial in the St. Petersburg Times calls the mailings some of the "sleaziest campaign tactics."

It apparently uses incorrect or fraudulent voter identification numbers, and it arrives on official-looking forms titled "voter registration tracking forms.'' One of its devious aims appears to be to build lists to challenge the eligibility of legitimate voters. Such an effort to confuse older voters is contemptible, and McCain should denounce it.

Roosevelt notes that, when President Roosevelt created Social Security, he did so over the objection of a small conservative minority who "believed that government should not have a role in ensuring a retirement with dignity… John McCain agrees with that old way of thinking." Last month, McCain told an audience in Colorado that the way Social Security has operated for 73 years is an "absolute disgrace." He has consistently supported President Bush's reckless plan to privatize Social Security, even touring the country with the President in 2005 to promote the failed Bush plan. McCain even voted to raise the retirement age.

Roosevelt concludes the video by saying "On the 70th anniversary of Social Security, Americans stood together and said no to George Bush's attempt to privatize Social Security. On this anniversary, let's make sure John McCain hears the same message. Tell John McCain to keep his hands off of our Social Security."

To watch the video, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L24eLUdT6bc

The following is a full script:

DNC Web Video:
"Roosevelt"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L24eLUdT6bc

"It's hard to remember now, but before Social Security, nearly half of America's seniors lived in poverty. After a lifetime of playing by the rules and working hard, there was no guarantee of a secure retirement.

"My grandfather, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and a majority of Americans thought that was wrong.

"They believed that lifting our seniors out of poverty is a reflection of our nation's core values.

"That's why my grandfather signed the Social Security act seventy three years ago today. One of the great successes of the 20th Century, today Social Security lifts nearly 13 million seniors and 1.3 million children out of poverty.

"Back in 1935, a small minority did not share those values. They opposed the creation of Social Security because they believed that government should not have a role in ensuring a retirement with dignity or helping seniors stay out of poverty. They said, "You're on your own".

"John McCain agrees with that old way of thinking. Like President Bush, he wants to privatize our Social Security, turning it into a gamble with our futures, and making 8.6 million American seniors vulnerable to poverty. John McCain has even said Social Security is "a disgrace".

"I couldn't disagree more.

"Our Social Security isn't a disgrace; it's a compact, a trust between generations of Americans. It's a reflection of our values.

"On the 70th anniversary of Social Security, Americans stood together and said no to George Bush's attempt to privatize Social Security.

"On this anniversary, let's make sure John McCain hears the same message. Tell John McCain to keep his hands off of our Social Security."

It turns out, they won't get them.

John McCain, whose support for privatization of Social Security is well known, refuses to provide the details of his plan because it would, according to one senior adviser, "politicize the debate."

Consider McCain campaign senior adviser Taylor Griffin’s description of his candidate's plan for fixing Social Security:

"The history of the Social Security debate has taught that too many specifics, especially during a presidential campaign, has polarized the debate," he said of the program that McCain called "an absolute disgrace [that's] got to be fixed."

Will he contrast his plan to that of his opponent? "Sen. McCain believes this is so important that we do not politicize this debate during an election season."

This explains why John McCain's "Jobs for America" economic plan is only thirteen pages and economists widely criticized as thin on the details. It is not that John McCain wants to hide his massive tax cuts for the rich, and massive corporate tax breaks, he just does not want to politicize the debate.

And really, who needs to discuss policy details in a presidential campaign? John McCain doesn't want to cause a distraction from talking about Britney Spears and Paris Hilton -- you know, the things that matter.

It's more than just his private accounts, since all that does is divert where money is currently going (away from retirees, creating a gap in funding the current system). As a result, the other part of his plan is to dramatically cut benefits that future retirees would receive. It's all particularly odd, as the LA Times points out, because he's "endorsing a new reliance on the stock market in the same week that the Dow Jones industrial average dipped to its lowest point in two years."

His response, so far, is to say he's never been for privatization. Too bad he's on YouTube calling for -- you gussed it -- "privatization."

But why?

McCain and his aides say the lack of specificity is intentional -- the result of lessons from 2005, when Bush tried to sell a skeptical public on private accounts.

In fact, according to WisPolitics.com, McCain is now saying that "he almost wishes he had never talked about private accounts." Not that he isn't in favor of them, but just that he wish he hadn't slipped by saying it's his intention if he gets elected.

Straight-talk!

Gramm told the Washington Times an interview published last week that the economy has "never been more dominant" and said we have become a "nation of whiners" constantly "whining and complaining." The McCain campaign may be quick to throw a top economic adviser under the bus but that does not hide the fact that John McCain offers four more years of George W. Bush on the economy.

We released this web video highlighting the shared belief of John McCain and Phil Gramm that these troubling economic times are "psychological" and a figment of your imagination.

“Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that’s a disgrace. It’s an absolute disgrace, and it’s got to be fixed.”

There's so much wrong with this, it's hard to know where to even begin. The Carpetbagger has a good collection of thoughts on how radical McCain's statement really is. It's not some gaffe, either -- this is what he really thinks. McCain's solution, though he won't admit it anymore because it polls so poorly, is not only to "privatize" (his former word for it) Social Security, but to also dramatically cut benefits like President Bush unsuccessfully tried to do in early 2005.

What John McCain describes as a "disgrace" is, in fact, the very idea of how Social Security works. As the MoJo blog put it, “McCain is saying, again, that the problem with Social Security is that Social Security is Social Security, instead of something else.”

This isn't a fix; this is a radical proposal to privatize the entire system.

This afternoon at a New Hampshire townhall, John McCain was challenged on his policy to divert part of the Social Security taxes into the stock market. McCain claimed that "I'm not for quote privatizing Social Security, I never have been, I never will be." Thought, shortly after the 2004 elections McCain told a questioner that "...without privatization, I don't see how you can possibly, over time, make sure that young Americans are able to receive Social Security benefits."

You can watch both clips on YouTube. It's remarkable -- another direct contradiction on a major issue. Makes you miss Mitt Romney.

Assembly Republicans defeated a bill that would close the so-called "sloop hole" that allows owners of yachts and private planes to dodge a use-tax by parking the vehicles out of state for the first three months after purchase.

California loses an estimated $26 million a year because of the current law...

Currently, the state is facing a $14 billion budget deficit. To give you a sense of the misplaced priorities, while California Republicans were protecting yacht owners, hundreds of disabled and seniors rallied at the State Capitol to protest 18 percent cuts to the In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS).

Local activists have bombarded the state GOP with calls. When they turned off their phones, they found other ways to voice their displeasure.

*The minimum rebate is $300 for anyone with at least $3,000 in qualifying income. Even low-income workers who don't owe income taxes will get a check as long as they earn $3,000.

*Anyone who qualifies for a rebate gets $300 for each child.

*The maximum rebate is $600 for a taxpayer and $1,200 for a couple. The rebate phases out for singles with incomes of $75,000 or more and couples with more than $150,000.

*Businesses will get tax benefits for buying equipment and putting it to use this year.

*The Federal Housing Administration will be able to raise its loan limit for mortgages to $271,050 and even more in expensive areas.