Politics: President Obama threatened Social Security checks would be delayed if Congress didn't play ball on the debt ceiling. Once again, he turned pensions into a political football. There are ways to stop this.

Americans should know: Social Security payments won't be affected by debt-ceiling talks, and Obama knows it. Still, it's not as if the Social Security system is healthy. In a Page 1 story Monday, IBD's Jed Graham reported that 2013 marks the first year new Social Security retirees will outlive the trust fund. Their benefits will be slashed 25% as the system goes bust in 2033.

So much for lifetime "promises," as Democrats always assure at election time, when they aren't making false claims about the trust fund being fundamentally sound.

Now there's President Obama playing politics with the same supposedly sound pensions Tuesday, declaring, "Social Security checks and veterans benefits will be delayed" if Congress doesn't raise the debt limit.

"Highlighting a threat to the most popular products of the government is a time-honored Washington tactic for turning up the heat on the other side to negotiate and settle," the Associated Press noted.

The sad thing is that this will be the story for the next four years — as spending soars and Obama rules out spending cuts, the elderly will be threatened.

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