Posted on 03/13/2011 8:02:16 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The anti-government “throw-the-bums-out” crowds have had their chance to speak out on how to curtail the deficit and what to do with those hated entitlements that are the antithesis of the America they pine for. A recent WSJ/NBC News poll provided a glimpse of just how dependent on big government entitlements Americans have become–even among the Tea Party. Not that this should be a surprise to anyone watching the slow shift of the American mindset from citizen, to consumer, to ward of the State over the past century.
According to the Wall Street Journal who co-sponsored the poll, “Americans across all age groups and ideologies said by large margins that it was ‘unacceptable’ to make significant cuts in entitlement programs in order to reduce the federal deficit.”
No wonder President Obama in his State of the Union speech only paid lip service to Social Security and Medicare reform, mentioning each by name only once in over 7,000 words of text. He knows what Americans are really about as summed up in the old adage: “It all depends on whose ox is being gored.”
And the poll exposes a potentially discrediting hypocrisy within the Tea Party movement who claim to be for smaller government and a return to a libertarian Nirvana. Consider: by a nearly 2-to-1 margin, self-described Tea Partiers declared significant cuts to Social Security “unacceptable.”
In fact, as the poll reveals, less than a quarter of Americans support making significant cuts to Social Security or Medicare to tackle the mounting deficit about which they cry warnings of impending doom.
Before Tea Partiers accuse me of trashing them, although I am not one of them, I have defended the movement many times when I felt it unfairly attacked by the left. You see, I agree whole-heartedly with their deficit concerns. But, unlike them, I am willing to give up my benefits to set things right. They clearly are not, Gadsden flags and tri-corn hats notwithstanding. So I find myself in the minority…even among my own kind it seems.
Despite the fact that such entitlements are already in the red, when asked directly if they thought cuts to Medicare were necessary to “significantly reduce” the deficit, 18% of respondents said yes, while 54% said no; the rest were not sure or had no opinion. On Social Security, 22% said cuts would be needed, while 49% said they weren’t.
Well then…now what guys? What’s your plan then?
Ah, the poll goes on to say that there are two solutions that more than half of those responding would support. And they reveal that many Americans are, in fact, quite selfish.
Solution one: More than half support extending the retirement age to 69 by 2075. Or as I like to call it, the “deal with it after I’m dead” solution. Of course a person in their 40s and above in 2011 would have no problem with this. I am 43, in good health, but I am not Methuselah. The odds of me being anywhere but with my Maker in 64 years are pretty slim. So, even though many Americans rant against saddling the future generations with a deficit, they’ll be damned if they don’t first cash in all their Social Security chips before they check out. Very noble.
Solution two: Over 60% of those polled support reducing payments to wealthier Americans. In other words, when it comes to their benefits at risk, it’s time to what? Spread the wealth by reducing my benefits so theirs will remain intact because I made more money. Penalize the rich? Honestly, it matters little to me as I expect reduced benefits anyway. It’s just the principle…and the Tea Party and similar movements are very much about “principle.” Until it comes down to sacrificing their precious benefits, that is. Then they suddenly gravitate towards that very wealth redistribution model over which they crucified Mr. Obama during the campaign as personified by Joe “The Plummer.”
So what this latest poll shows is that when it comes to putting their money where their mouths are, most Americans, even Nobamanauts, show their true colors and demonstrate that we are hopelessly mired in an entitlement culture that in the end will only be solved by one guy: Mr. Mathematics. An American retiring today will have put roughly $114,000 in contributions into Medicare but will receive over $355,000 in services throughout their ever lengthening retirement. If left unaddressed, this formula will eventually collapse anyway so one way or the other, austerity is a comin’. Tick-tock.
More than seven in 10 tea party backers feared GOP lawmakers would not go far enough in cutting spending. “It may be hard to understand why someone would try to jump off a cliff” to solve the debt crisis, said pollster Bill McInturff of his fellow Republicans, “unless you understand that they are being chased by a tiger, and that tiger is the tea party.” Yet, as his own survey shows, this is a false premise as only one in three will be waving pitchforks. The other two-thirds, suffering from an astounding case of cognitive dissonance, will be cashing their checks. Certainly, the Tea Party verve and libertarian ire that demands “brave measures” from the new Congress to get the deficit under control dissipates dramatically when the firing squad of benefit reductions is trained on them. Then, suddenly, they propose to kick the can down the road to their kids, and to spread the wealth. Sound familiar? “Oh…and keep government out of our lives!” Riiight.
Hypocrisy is not an exclusive property of the far left it seems. So good luck to the GOP in their quest to make significant cuts in the deficit…If they’re serious, I hope they like being one-termers.
There is no money.
I'm amazed at the number of freepers who think government spending should be drastically cut -- just so long as they keep getting their own personal benefits. After all, they paid for 'em.
You got conned. We all did. I'm sorry. But there it is.
I call “cuckah”!
I’m ready to gut it all.
It’s not going to happen, we’re screwed I fear.
I’m ready to gut it all.
It’s not going to happen, we’re screwed I fear.
Defund all collectives. Let them live or die on their own. It’s 2011. Wake up.
I have friends whose granddaughter receives over $1,000/month in "benefits" from SS because her father died. She will receive this every month until she's 18 I believe. This will be far more than her father ever paid into the "system."
As for means testing, I'm totally opposed to that no matter how "rich" somebody may be.
I totally agree. Taxpayers are left on the hook with a promise of goodies for all. When we finally get to the head of the line, after the pols, bosses, end execs, we’ll all be in for a rude shock. Better to go ahead and shut down the ponzi-scheme ASAP.
There’s a sucker born every minute.
Well put. I have said similar things to the “I ‘paid in’ all my life” crowd. It all is going to collapse, perhaps sooner than later, depending on the bond market.
I wish I could say I was surprised. It's the same reason Socialist Security hasn't been dealt with for decades. It would be too much to expect a sudden turnaround. I'd be interested in seeing the demographics on the survey, specifically the male/female breakdown.
Virtually every poll reveals the same thing. Americans are extremely wedded to the social welfare state and even with the emergence of the Tea Party there is no fundamental shift in American attitudes to spending at all. In the abstract, Americans will generally say they support spending cuts - but when you ask them about cutting specific programs they will almost always oppose funding reductions.
Because paying into Social Security is mandatory I am not sure why it is considered an “entitlement” unless I misunderstand the usage of the word. To me an “entitlement” is welfare or other programs that one did not pay into. I do not see Social Security, Medicare or Veteran’s benefits to be entitlements, though I know politicians, media and many others do see them that way. I do understand that most people draw far more in benefits than they pay in, but what do the numbers look like if you factor in the interest you could have drawn over the same number of years if you had invested the money on your own? If the number is as a rule far more than what is paid in plus interest then I can understand how it could be at least a partial entitlement. As to Veterans benefits, that is a promise we made to Veterans when they agreed to serve and if we cannot afford the benefits then we need to quit making the promise.
Yep we’ve reached the tipping point where more Americans are on some type of “welfare” (including SS and medicare) than are not. Politically this means that there is no way they’ll be able to stop the printing presses. We are officially F’d, would recommend buying property in a foreign country because when we hit the wall this won’t be a very pretty place to live. If you can’t swing that then guns and food and some way to grow/hunt more would be a good thing. I’m not totally sold on the gold/silver thing, it may be a good hedge against the fed money printing machine but it may not as the paper market is heavily manipulated.
Government made a promise -- if they tax X number of dollars from your paychecks, later on in life, they will give you Y number of dollars every month for as long as you live. That's the promise that was made. People therefore feel "entitled" to receive that which was promised.
But here's the thing -- government lied. Government can't keep the promise.
So, although people think they "had a deal" and are "entitled" to receive monthly checks, it just isn't going to happen.
First of all means test Social Security, then review all of the SSDI recipients, how many want to stay drugged up and on SSDI instead of working. Make private insurance held by Medicare recipients the primary payer and Medicare secondary instead of giving private insurance nearly a free ride.
End all grants and awards for various BS, when we have grant writing classes going on all over the country, that is way out of hand. End non profit status period. Make non profits file tax forms at least as detailed as private forms, especially when they are dealing in tens of millions in income and assets.
While Social Security is a problem, it is not nearly as bad of a problem as Medicaid/Medicare. At least Social Security has been funded by those that receive it (at least part of it). I have no problem with limiting both Social Security payments and Medicare/Medicaid payments if that is needed or raising the age limit.
You should at least understand that many folks just get by on Social Security (very minimal monthly amounts) and the Medicare/Medicaid monies are not only much more but will have to be curtailed. So, the death panels will become a reality whether we want it or not... After all, who can justify some of these expenses for someone over say 80?
This will happen regardless of other changes - it will become much like European Countries regardless, because of elderly health care requirements. It just simply has to happen or we will bankrupt our young...
If we actually become so selfish as to continue on this path (selfish actions by the elderly), the future will be very dim.
Elections, demonstrations, fancy rhetoric and elections are all irrelevant. The US is broke, cannot ever pay its debts and will have to default. The USD will lose its status as the world’s reserve currency, and the bulk of the progressive social programs will simply have to be discontinued, because there will be no other choice. That’s reality, deal with it.
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