How close are you to retirement? That data would help put your comments into perspective.
Many of these programs would be well-funded and healthy if not for what the politicians have wrought over the decades - do you trust them to "handle it"?
Stop funding illegals and turn welfare into a basic subsistence program for those who can't fend for themselves instead of a gravy train and stop all the pork and other wastes and we would see a big swing in the right direction to keep the contract that was forced upon us/them.
I am 73 years old collecting SS, Medicare, and a six digit federal pension. I have been "retired" for 17 years.
Many of these programs would be well-funded and healthy if not for what the politicians have wrought over the decades - do you trust them to "handle it"?
Wrong. They are actuarily unsustainable. SS and Medicare are pay as you go programs, i.e, today's workers pay for today's retirees. SS has been running in the red since 2010 and Medicare since 2008, i.e., payouts exceed revenue. The shortfalls are made up by cashing in the non-market, interest bearing T-bills in the trust funds. Since we borrow about 40% of the money we spend, we have to borrow money in the general fund to pay for benefits.
By law, the premiums for Medicare Part B cover only 25% of the costs. The rest comes from the General Fund. 40% of all Medicare expenditures come from the General Fund.
The politicians need to change the laws for entitlement programs or they will bankrupt us. They are the biggest drivers of debt. They represent a 60 trillion unfunded liability over a 75 year period or well over $100 trillion over a longer period. How else can these programs be reformed if not by the politicians? The laws have to be changed.
Stop funding illegals and turn welfare into a basic subsistence program for those who can't fend for themselves instead of a gravy train and stop all the pork and other wastes and we would see a big swing in the right direction to keep the contract that was forced upon us/them.
We have 80 million on Medicaid, 54 million on SS, 47 million on Medicare, and 46 million on food stamps. Where is the political will to support the changes you want to cut off the "gravy train?" In the next 20 years the population over 65 will double to 80 million. And the number of taxpayers for each worker will decline to two for every retiree.
>How close are you to retirement? That data would help put your comments into perspective.
Et tu, Brute?
>
Many of these programs would be well-funded and healthy if not for what the politicians have wrought over the decades - do you trust them to “handle it”?
>
Well funded and healthy? Let’s start with illegal and unconstitutional. As such, they should be ‘handled’ the same way: immediate repeal, ripped from their roots and the Earth salted.
There is NOTHING ‘healthy and strong’ in any Ponzi scheme, let alone govt interfering in (once) free markets, nor stealing from one to give to another by way of gun/force.
>
Stop funding illegals and turn welfare into a basic subsistence program for those who can’t fend for themselves instead of a gravy train and stop all the pork and other wastes and we would see a big swing in the right direction to keep the contract that was forced upon us/them.
>
It’s *not* (never has been, never will be, nor should be) govt’s ‘property’ to be given....regardless of definition. 5th and 13th mean exactly what they state; govt can but the F* out of people’s lives and pockets/bank-accounts.