Posted on 05/08/2005 9:39:54 AM PDT by pickrell
No Reader's Digest version, huh? : )
Can I get the Cliff's Notes version? :)
wow. You've been busy
I understand the thought, but must sadly say... not now. Not at this late date. Not with so much at stake. Mea Culpa
:^)
Now it is much easier to understand why "W" is having a hard time explaining his program to the American people.
Social security reform is not an easy topic to discuss.
Nice try though.
A better title for this screed would be...
"A thoughtful Lament by an autistic RINO.."
For any real republican knows they have been screwed blued and tattooed.. by that ol' "Unite'er NOT a Divide'er".. He has been uniting with democrats since 2000.. just like his daddy did.. And any real republican knows you don't unite with democrats you divide from them.. If a democrat is FOR SOMETHING it is always wrong or a ruse.. and has been that since the 1930's...
Just to BE a RINO shows you are very confused or you would be a democrat outright.. unless you are really a MOLE, a spy, or a ringer..
That same thought was in my mind as I read this article. The Bush's have issues and conflicts of conscience that Ronald Reagan never did.
All that said, looking at your proposal...
Over 65, and under, say, $15,000.00 yearly income, a check is mailed. Period.
Technically, I have no income & haven't had any for a number of years. I get no money from the government on any level, but instead I get to pay taxes, though right now it's just sales & property taxes. I'm not part of the underground economy. Can I see what I'm trying to tell you? Do you want to force me to disclose all of my assets and/or my net worth the the federal government? If not, you're saying that I'd be among those deserving "welfare".
If Social Security is to be a retirement program, or if you prefer, an involuntary, post-retirement, supplemental income for worker's, then it's funds MUST be invested.
Demographics are a strange & funny thing. There is a dirty little secret that everyone seems to be trying to pretend can't be true. All of our markets depend on activity. As old boomers downsize their homes or sell out of the housing market completely as they are sent to senior citizen warehouses or into the gutters, there will be an over abundance of houses & all of the gewgaws necessary for them.
I only hope I have enough saved to ride out the inflation that will be the only "out" that I can see. There is a small possibility of our getting into yet another "new kind" of economy, one that we don't see or know about yet, though we're barely into this one, the "information age". Some currently unimagined new fuel source or "thinking machines" could the the trigger that would set if off.
One congrescritter's pork is another's essential government program to benefit humanity...
for contrast with the US' relatively parlous fiscal position, here's some Australian news to make your eyes water:
It should be noted that the three levels of government here in australia eat about ~1/3 or so of GDP, marginally higher than the US, or roundabout the margin of statistical error. Meanwhile the federal government has surpluses up the ass (from the article):
THE Federal Government will be debt-free in just over a year regardless of whether it sells Telstra, a leading economic forecaster says.
Australia debt-free in a year - cool!
George Bush ... has carried through his promises for tort reform, education reform, bankruptcy reform, and effectively checkmated the left... And all while contending with the open, ferocious opposition of the vast bulk of the organized media, the collectivist movements of the world, and the Democratic party, in a manner never before witnessed in time of war.
Now he's tackling Social Security. For those of us lonely voices in the woods, it is the last, best chance to avoid "the other threat". The Democrats have pushed in all of their dwindling chips in opposition...What folly it will be if we understand the dangers external to this country, and summon the will to act upon them, and yet... cannot find it within us to confront an internal debt addiction that will surely remove our freedom of action as a society and subject us to economic shock and awe.
If you are not yet convinced...that a problem exists, and that we cannot continue on our present course, then no further analysis is of any use...As in any honest examination of options, one of the most important is that of pre-exposing the "weasel options"... This battle is about the undecided voter always courted at each election. If a large number of workers who have minimal savings and have only the succor of the State to look forward to, suddenly are faced with owning their own retirement funds, then tectonic plates would rattle. The control of the Democratic party upon power has always depended upon their successful imposition of fear upon older voters. Their control of the elderly would be in jeopardy, and the fight will be vicious. The propaganda war will reach new lows...Could it be that the President has no committed intention of carrying through the true reform of Social Security? This, too, seems unlikely in the extreme, given his history in office of focus, committment, and results, regarding tort reform, bankruptcy reform, the start of education reform, etc... It cannot be fish and fowl at the same time. We must steer either right or left. Attempting to steer in both directions at once will land us in the canal, once again, as we shall see.
The weasel factor available for this "means test", is that once a maximum income is established, the "personally owned, individual retirement account" is suddenly... no longer personally owned, but instead subject to revocation by the government, at the whim of Congress. It will at a stroke nullify everything that has preceeded it...These are not the Newt Gingrich "cuts" in medicare that were intentionally distorted by the Media, from the truth of limiting the growth of medicare....
bttt
Do you have room downunder for a guy too old to enlist, too fat to fight and too ugly to run for office? I have my own roto-tiller...
Regarding your situation, I don't know of anyone who has proposed a "balance sheet" means test. Your assets, balanced against your liabilities, are totally your business. What has been proposed, in several versions, is a means test of income, not net assets. And while arguably it would be intrusive, and generally insert the camel's nose under the tent flap, to question your assets, it will be difficult to argue that you should receive the effective FICA taxes of two young fathers sweating at the local gasoline station, but should have no obligation to disclose whether or not you receive "sideways" income by renting out several properties and having your wife or some other relative collect the rents, as an example.
I have no interest in verbally sparring with someone who was born two years after me, being then 48 or 49, and yet who has "no income", and wishes to receive subsidy from the government. There are many reasons why you may have no income, perhaps injury or infirmity, or causes beyond your control. Many fine men served their country and deserve much more than they get. It is not for me to opine on your condition. My analysis piece merely argues that IF the Social Security program is to be a "welfare" type of program designed to insure that no person reaches old age, normally considered mid to late sixties, by the way, without having an adequate income, for whatever reason, as such an adequate income may be defined from time to time, it would obviously necessitate that the "inadequate" income be tested and certified. If this seems too intrusive, you are obviously welcome to upbrade the ones who are tasked to implement the system, should it be enacted as the law of the land. As for calling for your early demise, perhaps you have reason to feel slighted or badly treated. On this, I have no help to offer you. Frankly, I don't know you. If my analysis gives offense, I stand convicted. But I wouldn't place all of my hopes on some new magic technology that will re-enable us to spend money like spoiled teenagers. I think a better solution will be for us all to grow up and pull our share of the wagon, and keep a tight grip on the IOU's we write on our grandchildren's futures. But then, that's just me.
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