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.
I didn”t ask for this SS sir. But I paid into it for 36 years. I deserve to get some of my $ back. Let’s differentiate between those of us who paid our dues and those who are still paying or just starting. surely there can be something done to save these folks.
Those young folks didn't elect the politicans who taxed us; we did. Those young folks didn't elect the policians who recklessly spent all those taxes; we did. We should pay the piper for what we did, not the young folks.
Those of us who are older are really quite a generation, aren't we?
Gimme, gimme, gimme. Oink, oink.
I will believe it when I see it. I would like to know how many of the older folks polled have already pulled out what they had confiscated from them and are now collecting checks from future recipients. If they have already gone through their pay in, will they just walk away? I don't expect to see a dime when I age into SS, but there is a mindset for the older people that this is owed and that is that. If it goes bust, no one will win.
Americans like being conned and lied too — they love TV. ALL of TV including Fox protects, promotes and loves the muslim. Idiots who watch TV end up supporting their serfdom. Fools.
I take it you’re OK with raising the debt ceiling this April, then? Becauase I suspect that’s the only way that you’ll be paid back.
Either that, or they’ll just print the tens/hundreds of billions of dollars to pay back contributors, and thanks to the wonders of inflation, we’ll all be a little poorer than we expect in the end.
If it goes bust, no one will win.
If there were some politicians hanging from lamposts after it busts then it might not happen again..if you just punish a small group of people instead of everyone, Congress won’t change their ways. First they came for means testing then for raising age limit then for whatever...We need mass anger at politicians look right now the country is broke and they wont even cut 100 billion dollars and wont shut down the country...idiots are still talking about legalizing millions of low paid unskilled illegals who will drain social services even more..get rid of them before cutting benefits to citizens.
its near pitchfork time, dont let them weasel their way out.
Discretionary spending is less than half of the entire US budget. The money bleeds out from all the non-discretionary spending and that includes ALL of the entitlement programs.
Through the years Congress made all the unconstitutional welfare spending non-discretionary so that it could not be touched and it would keep buying them votes; especially for the Democrats but also for the the RINO Repubs.
While huge amounts of money are wasted in Defense it is a drop in the bucket when compared to everything else the Government does unconstitutionally. All that garbage needs to be stopped NOW and then we can focus on better spending in the DoD. Cutting our nose off to spite our face is not a very good solution. We can not afford to just cut Defense Department spending now as it has already been cut by the Dems and our readiness is being affected.
Yes, I am retired military, but I also have been around DC and the budgeting process for years and the leftists and their lapdog politicians have brainwashed us to think of the DoD first when talking cuts while deflecting the Truth of all the non-discretionary garbage that has no right to exist under our Constitution.
Go ahead and hack at the DoD, one of the few Constitutional things the Govt. is supposed to do, and then start screaming when the bad boys start doing stuff on our shores and the Chicoms and Russians start asserting themselves. With oil prices well over $90 the Russians can, and are, bankrolling new conventional and nuclear weapon systems.
The fact is that I didn't like the concept of SS from the day I started working. Even way back then I had read enough to understand it was a ponzi scheme.
I voted against people who praised it, and for people who wanted to reform it by putting the SS surplus into hard assets such as common stocks, private sector bonds, and even real estate.
I was overruled by the mob, hungry for their bread and circuses. I was taxed every paycheck to pay for this monstrosity.
But one thing is absolutely certain -- my government promised me benefits when I retired.
I am not on welfare, I earned every cent I receive. Although if I calculate how much I should earn from my "investment" if I had been allowed to put even half of that money into my own investments, I realize I have been robbed on the installment plan all my life.
And now you come along and tell me I shouldn't be on welfare...
The struggle isn't between you and the government and the struggle isn't between you and others of our generation. The struggle is people like you and me versus a whole generation of young people who really can't afford to support those of us who don't need their help because we can support ourselves.
Those young folks had nothing to do with the elections you claim you lost. They are the real victims here.
Yeah, it's welfare - no doubt about that part.
Whatcom County. I am about to join with the “Re-Sources” sustainable community group to fight this coal terminal, if you can believe it.
I was kind of blind sided at the Republican meeting on Saturday. It was supposed to be a sort of sound off type of meeting where everyone got to speak on their favorite subject. I had no intention of speaking about the coal terminal and didn’t know that there was any controversy over it among the Republicans, but the Chairperson wouldn’t call on me to speak and for awhile I gave up. Then at last call she finally allowed me to read the excerpt of an article that I had posted on FreeRepublic about SEIU pensions and the budget shortfall, but before I could finish reading the excerpt, this guy that is a strong proponent of the coal terminal started going crazy waving his hand. I started to ask him if he had a question and the Chairperson just kind of shoved me aside and took over getting back to pushing the train terminal.
After the meeting, I tried to speak to her about it and she told me that she knew that I was opposed to it and went on to tell me that her husband drove trucks that carried freight to the Vancouver terminal and hoped to do the same to the Whatcom county terminal.
The interesting part is that I am a PCO and for some reason they have held up my approval. They cannot hold it up for long because I was elected to represent my district.
It is so disheartening to find out that the people in your own county Republican party have no core values.
Interest on the Debt has to be paid or there is no USA. It’s like not making the minimum payment on the credit card.
The government has made $88 trillion worth of promises it can't keep. Ryan: What’s Driving our Debt
What’s causing our debt problem?
Ryan: “The reason we have all this debt is because too many politicians have been making empty promises to Americans about all of this borrowing and spending, and this is going to catch up with us. The question is: Will we get honest leadership and fact-based budgeting, stop the accounting gimmicks and all the fiscal sleight of hand and actually address this issue, fix this crisis before it really gets out of hand and out of our control?”
Exactly much have politicians over-promised?,/b>
Ryan: “The Government Acocuntability Office tells us we have about $88.6 trillion of unfunded liabilities. That means we are $88.6 trillion short of being able to fulfill government’s promises that are being made to everybody in America today.”
The biggest drivers of that deficit — Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security (in that order) — are projected to ultimately consume 100 percent of tax revenue within the next 30 years. Absent meaningful reform, our entitlement programs are simply unsustainable.
Ryan explains: “We’re going from 40 million retirees in America to 77 million retirees in America. And these are pay-as-you go programs — current workers pay current taxes for current beneficiaries. So when you have a 100 percent increase, virtually, in beneficiaries, but only a 17 percent increase in workers paying into those programs , that’s part of the problem.”
A problem that is getting worse to the tune of $10 trillion per year. That is why Republicans plan to step up and lead on the issue, by releasing a 2012 budget that includes meaningful reform to entitlement programs. President Obama, on the other, has decided to sit on the sidelines and issue languid proclamations about the need for a “conversation” about entitlements, after completely ignoring the recommendations of the bipartisan deficit commission that he appointed to do just that.
Are you serious?
1) SS is an entitlement program as is Medicare and Unemployment.
2) Your money was given to your parents and grandparents. The money you are demanding “back” will come from your children and grandchildren.
The disability rate thing is just horrendous.
I have seen numerous people here on FR who are unable to think and speak clearly on the subject of our nation’s entitlement mess.
This is somewhat understandable. Almost all of the political rhetoric over the last few decades regarding the entitlements programs has been deliberately untruthful and misleading.
We have a lot of work ahead of us just getting the conversation started on a rational and factual basis.
I agree with all you said, Tammy8, in post #13!
Perhaps we should use Obama’s words and refer to SS, Medicare and VA benefits as “investments”, rather than entitlements. We’ve invested through military service or through our payroll deductions and, just like playing the stock market, we may experience a gain or a loss.
I disagree with the author’s contention that elderly folks will each use $355,000 of Medicare benefits. I’ve been on Medicare for 3 1/2 years and have used about $80 of such benefits at a walk-up clinic. I still pay for Medicare through the deduction from my SS checks.
If they want to cut an excessive entitlement, then cut the Medicare Part D (Rx drugs) that RINO Bush implemented. That might save a lot, if regular Medicare would pay a percentage of GENERIC drugs; and it would reduce the kickbacks that Doctors get from the Pharms for prescribing their higher priced drugs.
JMO, as an involuntary retiree since age 59.
On the contrary.
My history and political science teachers taught that it was a ponzi scheme in junior highschool and highschool.
I never expected to get anything.
Your money was given to your parents and grandparents. The money you are demanding “back” will come from your children and grandchildren.
This guy is mentally deficient.
Builds a straw man from his data points, then plays “catch the hypocrite” -
The government FORCIBLY takes SSec - for 30, 40, 50 years - and we are asked to look away? I tell you what - they can keep my SSEC - under the following conditions -
OH - what is that - a tea partier may ask for conditions? How quaint This guy is a serious bonehead -
1. IMMEDIATE cessation of SSec taxes from my paycheck.
2. IMMEDIATE company payment of their match to ME.
3. Steps 1 and 2 to be TAX FREE income.
4. ALL Welfare stopped. If the government doesn’t have the money to pay back taxpayers from whom they have taken - how the heck can they have $ to pay for freeloaders?
5. Since they have defaulted - at this point - on a $330K loan (forcibly taken) (not counting any interest) - eliminating MY SocSec retirement - I think it only fair that ALL State and Federal retirement plans be reduced to <50% of current liability, and be frozen at current value. No further accrual allowed.
There - how is that - for a start.
Oh - and just for fun - any foreign national operating under a stolen Soc Security number wil be treated as a spy, punishable by hanging. A foreign national acting under an assumed identity? WTF does that look like?
A reasonable path to balancing the budget is to cut Medicare/Medicaid and Defense by about 30%, cut non-defense discretionary spending by about 50%, raise the age limit for SS such that it runs in the black and increase income taxes to the historically sustainable 18% of GDP.
Your favorite program is defense. Fine. It’s my favorite too but it has increased from $540billion to $850billion since 2004. Surely you agree it could be cut back 30% to $595billion with a minimal loss of capability.
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