Posted on 07/03/2011 4:03:53 PM PDT by rabscuttle385
One of my earliest memories of revulsion against war came from seeing a photograph from the First World War when I was a teenager. It was nothing gory. Just a picture of a military officer, in an impressive uniform, talking to a puzzled and forlorn-looking old peasant woman with a cloth wrapped around her head.
He said simply: “Don’t you understand, madam? The village is not there any more.”
To many such people of that era, the village was the only world they knew. And to say that it had been destroyed in the carnage of war was to say that there was no way for them to go back home, that their whole world was gone.
Recently that image came back, in a wholly different context, while seeing pictures of American seniors carrying signs that read “Hands off my Social Security” and “Hands off my Medicare.”
They want their Social Security and their Medicare to stay the way they are — and their anger is directed against those who want to change the financial arrangements that pay for these benefits.
Their anger should be directed instead against those politicians who were irresponsible enough to set up these costly programs without putting aside enough money to pay for the promises that were made — promises that now cannot be kept, regardless of which political party controls the government.
Someone needs to say to those who want Social Security and Medicare to continue on unchanged: “Don’t you understand? The money is not there any more.”
(Excerpt) Read more at newhampshire.com ...
Like many here, I've paid near on 40 years. I've paid the maximum for several decades, so have my employers. Last time I checked, both were a little over $200K; I'll never see that - ever. Why? It's because me (yes, still) and the young pups here will still be required to "contribute" to a systems so corrupted, raped and plundered by Congress, our President, AND an endless stream of fat asses claiming SS disability, immigrants who 'sponsor' their aged parents and get them jobs long enough for SS qualification, and immoral young women (brood mares) popping out future criminals for that 'under 18' payment [while also getting points on EITC yearly splurge checks]. It isn't 'blue haired tax paying Americans' that are stealing your money, pups. Go tell your mama and poppa they're stealing your shit and see what happens.
“accusing them of being selfish for having HAD to pay into a Democrat scheme”
What’s bothersome for some of us “pups” is that many older folks knew full well for DECADES that this ponzi scheme would collapse and yet took no steps to secure their own retirements. Now being dependent on it, they demand getting their “own” back when, as has been patiently explained time and again on this thread, “your” contributions have been spent. There is nothing left. To insist on maintaining the system is to endorse theft against the young. End of story.
Must be nice to live in your head with Peter Pan and the Easter Bunny....
1. Those currently on the system stay on with benefits frozen. (inflation will lower the value over time, but other forms of assistance from the private sector, churches, etc. will make up the difference)
2. Offer a one-time incentive to those of us within striking distance of receiving benefits to opt out. This would apply to anyone within 10 years of retirement. Part of the "opt-out" agreement would include a provision that SSI and medicaid taxes would no longer be collected from our paychecks as an admission from the government that they had stolen enough from us already.
3. Those who are within 10 years of receiving benefits who do not opt out face whatever benefits remain after legislative actions to correct the problem.
4. Those workers within 20 years of receiving benefits will have their SSI and medicaid taxes cut in half, then eliminated when they reach ten years from the benefit age. In addition, the benefits themselves for this age group will be severely cut. They will have 20 years beforehand to make up the difference.
5. Anyone who is over twenty years away from receiving benefits will not be eligible to receive them. The amount of SSI taken from their paychecks will be reduced as the number of those receiving benefits declines over time. At some point, the program will simply cease to exist as the last remaining beneficiary dies.
This approach would ease the transition for everyone involved and spread the sacrifice in a fair way to all.
You are incoherent.
I never insisted anything. I pointed out who the enemy is.
You can bitch at us but you’re still left with nothing having spent all
Your effort by complaining. I’ve never voted for a Democrat in 43 years yet your generational contemparies flocked to Obama in droves. Look elsewhere.
Thank your lucky stars...
If nothing else...I am polite.
Just look at all the Democrats and RINOs we've put into office over the past 40 years. Washington is no longer the "shining city on the hill".
About the only thing we did right was to put Ronald Reagan in the WH for 8 years, and ended the Cold War.
I'm a Tea Party member because I don't want to leave my children and grandchild with a fiscal mess. I fear we're too late.
We've been the frog in the pot of water, and the Washingtonians have been gradually increasing the temperature.
I'm in favor of a strategic default. The credit card in DC must be cut up, or we'll assuredly end up like Greece.
Retirement's not in my dictionary...I'll be 70 by the time my youngest child completes 4 years of college.
I believe my tag line pretty much sums things up.
I’m with you. - We just started out about 50 years or so ago, noses to the grindstone. Weren’t paying much attention until Carter. - This “class warfare” between the old and youngish ought to tickle the cockles of the Democrats’ hearts.
The main thing is that until the people of this country get desperate enough to elect honorable people to public office who will do what it takes to fix the many problems we face, even if it does mean they only get a limited amount of time in office due to badly needed term limits, not much is going to change.
I’m willing to do whatever it takes for my part in getting ALL the messes straightened out. My “Medicare” card kicks in this month. I can keep on paying my own bill at the nurse practitioner’s just like I’ve always done and buying my own little dab of blood pressure medication. - The socialist career politicians (so-called public servants) have just about wrecked this country. . and now a few of them are WORRIED that rioting is going to start up in the streets. Unintended consequences. - Speaking of which, where’s Carville crowing a year or so ago that we need 40 more years of Obama and his socialist policies?
“It can only be done by phasing it out over a generation.”
When it ends it will end overnight. Some will still be surprised.
Those that depend on it and are unable to work will depend on charity. That’s what people should be talking about - how do you house and feed and attend to medical needs of dozens/hundreds/thousands of elderly in each community all over the country so they don’t starve when the checks stop.
And they are going to stop, because nobody has the political will to do anything about it proactively.
The inter-generational squabbling is amusing, but it is also irrelevant. Dignified, independent retirement paid for by Social Security/medicare is not possible for everyone that expects it.
Tweak the system, fix it, quit RESENTING us. Quit electing these Democrat Socialists who delight in forming as many welfare queen voting blocs to bribe for votes as they can. HOP TO IT and shut up!
You sound like someone who invested in Bernie Madoff's little racket, discovered all of the money is gone and now want your neighbor to make you whole.
None of us make "contributions" - we, the Producers, are taxed at the point of a gun to the SSI program. You and I didn't lend money to the government, and you and I are not entitled to receive anything. Why do you think they talk about "means testing" if there is no legal obligation to fulfill "promises" made by previous generations of lawmakers?
Lets say that you were part of a lobbying group that managed to insert language into a 2000 page health bill that no one read, that would guarantee that you and every generation of your descendants would each receive $100,000,000 each year, inflation adjusted, for life. Now another Congress a few years later comes along and decides that this line item is absurd and they vote to remove it in the next piece of legislation. Can you sue? Are future generations decades, if not centuries from now obligated for the life of this country to pay this sum to you and all of your descendants? Of course not. Dittos with SSI. Previous congresses can not obligate future congresses to continue a hand-out program.
Furthermore, what in hell were you doing during the Reagan Revolution when complete sloths and retards were able to pull down large money in salary and investments? You had your chance to make yourself independently wealthy rather than foolishly depending on an utterly corrupt and bankrupt government to steal with the threat of violence on successive generations. Now we are entering into a Thousand years of Darkness where its difficult to make any money that isn't taxed or inflated away - and you want to compound the misery of the few remaining Producers by making them responsible for promises made by others that you foolishly believed and accepted. That is evil.
This nation is bankrupt, your generation slaughtered tens of millions of future workers and taxpayers through abortion and after squaring off the Ponzi Pyramid of SSI, you want to pretend that all of the sabotage and undermining of society will be forgotten and people will live in poverty so that you can fight and claw your way to the teat of government wealth transfer.
Don’t worry, though. You will continue to do reasonably well financially for the relatively few years the SS and Medicare charades will be able to continue as they are. The ones whose futures are being thoroughly destroyed by these programs (and others) are your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren.
That is what is really troubling. Twinkie is in no danger whatsoever of not having a place at the table feasting on the Carcass of what is left of the united States. Not a single politician is even talking about changes that would effect those at least a decade away from receiving SSI, so Twinkie is just taunting us and is a tool for the Progressives advocating and pushing their cause to take down the united States.
You are right, FDR and the Progressives were brilliant in exploiting the worst of man's sinful and carnal nature and you see it in the posts of these people who are demanding that we work harder and longer, sacrifice even more so they can coast easier.
That generation had it all, and now that they have kicked away the ladder of success, they want us to continue to liquidate the country until there is nothing left to pass on just so they can continue to enjoy the luxury they feel entitled to. Another poster had the audacity to suggest that the country sell off assets. IOW, these thieves looking towards SSI are actually advocating trading away American soil to the Chinese and Arabs so that they can have the premier satellite package on their RVs.
Other tools of this Administration are also supporting the idea of confiscating the wealth stored up in 401ks and IRAs. These so called conservatives will gladly use the Police Powers of the State to loot and pillage the younger generation, sell off the country to the highest bidder, and liquidate everyone's assets (except their own) because they are convinced that they have an inalienable rights to your wallet, your bank account and your future.
Its pretty evil considering they have nothing to fear since their seat at the table is guaranteed at the total expense of your viable future.
Thanks for posting. That was a great breakdown in numbers. Years ago, each fiscal year a report was generated that showed what future tax rates would be required to maintain the status quo going into the future. Clinton put a stop to that, and it hasn’t been resumed since. Last estimates from the report predicted an eventual 90% rate of taxation for future taxpayers. This was primarily driven by “social security” and other “entitlements”. I’m constantly amazed at how willing people are to enslave their children and their children’s children as long as they don’t personally have to go out and steal their money. As long as it is the impersonal government taking the money under threat of imprisonment, or death, it’s just fine and dandy, even to alleged “conservatives”.
The Government FORCED me to pay into what it described as a retirement compensation plan put forth for MY future. Expecting them to live up to their commitment makes me a thief? WOW. I posted a possible solution earlier in this thread. I want this entire program ENDED and the government out of my life to the greatest extent possible but it must be done rationally. "Thief talk" is not going to get you anywhere in trying to solve this problem or save this nation.
For a start, "No government payments, Federal, State or Local to anyone not in the country legally".
In general, cancel any part of the Federal Government not clearly called for in Article I Section 8.
Department of Ed? Cancel immediately, just like a company going through bankruptcy liquidation.
Department of Agriculture, and the DEA, likewise. ATF? Unarmed tax collectors.
Department of Energy? Cancel any part not associated with nuclear energy development immediately.
Social Security is a bit more complicated. Anyone over 65, means-testing benefits; if your personal savings/private pensions plus SS put you over the median income in your area, that part of "your" SS payment that puts you over the median income goes away. Yeah, some people, the responsible ones, get screwed. No matter what happens, a lot of people are going to get screwed. Anyone under 40, an immediate guarantee that they will never receive a cent from it, which they generally already know, but also they don't have to pay a cent in FICA taxes, ever again. For those between 40 and 65, a sliding scale for both FICA taxes and SS benefits; the closer you are to 65, the more FICA tax you pay, and the more you'll receive, closer to 40, you pay little and are promised little.
Medicare? No more scooters. No treatments for obesity- or smoking-related illnesses. No more tax-funded Viagra.
That's a first pass.
One other thing I forgot to mention, though it was implied in previous list: “No payments to any individual except in compensation for services rendered.”
That is already the law of the land.
Department of Ed? Cancel immediately, just like a company going through bankruptcy liquidation. Department of Agriculture, and the DEA, likewise. ATF? Unarmed tax collectors. Department of Energy? Cancel any part not associated with nuclear energy development immediately.
The combined budgets of these agencies amount to a rounding error for a $3.7 trillion budget. Their abolishment would have no effect on our budget problems.
Social Security is a bit more complicated. Anyone over 65, means-testing benefits; if your personal savings/private pensions plus SS put you over the median income in your area, that part of "your" SS payment that puts you over the median income goes away. Yeah, some people, the responsible ones, get screwed. No matter what happens, a lot of people are going to get screwed
That kind of solution appeals to the Leftists and socialists. It is just another redistribution of wealth schmeme that would never garner political support except from the Left. I prefer we go to personal accounts and get the governmnent out of the pension business except for a small defined benefit system for the disabled and survivors.
Medicare? No more scooters. No treatments for obesity- or smoking-related illnesses. No more tax-funded Viagra.
LOL. Not even close to solving the Medicare problem. You don't have a clue to the enormity of the problem and the amount of money involved. Medicare as currently structured is unsustainable. It can't survive.
Okay, so WHAT ELSE DO YOU THINK WE “SENIOR LEECHES” SHOULD DO? More than we are already doing, that is?
We are already STILL WORKING AT 68 & 65, and paying MORE TAXES.
I have sincerely stated that I will gladly continue taking care of my own medical expenses & what few medications I take.
So, what more am I supposed to do than what I am doing?!
What about you? What are you doing - other than making wild, unfounded accusations based on wild guesses, even fabrications?
Don’t get pissed at younger generations who are already starting to realize that their money was voted out of their pockets years ago
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.