Larry Blanchard wrote:
On Sun, 31 Aug 2008 17:29:09 -0500, Tim Daneliuk wrote:
You want a balanced budget? Privatize social security,
get rid of Medicare and return the Federal government to it's
Consitutionally mandated limits.
last I heard, SS was still taking in more money than its paying out. If
not, it'd be taken "off budget" as it has been in the past.
The reality is that the trajectory it is on is toward large amounts
of red ink, today's numbers nothwithstanding.
As far as Medicare, it's the least effective health care plan of all the
industrialized nations. But at least it's a start. When we have a health
care system where nobody goes bankrupt from medical bills I'll be a lot
happier.
Then you will never be happy. No law can change a simple economic
fact: There is more demand for healthcare than there is supply.
Federalizing it does not change this fact (but it does violate
the Constitution which just multiplies the injury to a free people).
You want to see healthcare professionals leave in droves - or never
enter the profession in the first place? Make it a government
run program. For a good example, see how many of our best and
brightest choose to be government union employees as teachers. Not
all that many.
But that won't happen because the
mooching public wants what it has not earned, does not deserve,
cannot pay for, and will not work for.
I paid close to the maximum into SS throughout my working life. I DID
earn it. I'll have to live past 90 to get back what I and my employers
paid in. And for much of the time I was self-employed and paid both
halves.
And for every person like you (and me) in this situation there are many
tens of thousands more who have the inverse situation: They will collect
more than they ever contributed. SS is a ponzi scheme that only worked
so long as people had lots of children. Those days are over and it's
the day of reckoning. Should you be treated fairly? Yes, of course.
But we *have* to get rid of this albatross that is gutting our Federal
coffers and return responsibility for retirement and healthcare where it
belongs: The individual. This should be done gradually and fairly, but
it needs to start now. Like I said, over 50% of the Federal budget is
entitlements. Entitlements that are bankrupting us at many times the
rate of military spending. Entitlements that are flatly non-Constitutional.
Entitlements that are just cheap election fodder for both parties.
And I still pay close to $300 a month for Medicare and a supplement policy
and I still don't have dental coverage or decent drug coverage.
From your postings here, I know you to be thoughtful and well read.
Please cite a single example in American legal history that would
ever lead you to believe any of this is the responsibility of the
Federal government?
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Tim Daneliuk
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