I’m pretty sure we’re lost without a seriously painful renaissance. Entitlements would have to be cut to, essentially, zero. We would have to go back to tariffs for financials, which was how it was prior to the income tax. We would need to have a SERIOUS conversation as a nation and basically tell all of these infantile idiots on the left to sit down, shut the Hell up, and let’s let the adults take the con.
This nation, our media, everything is bordering on obscene. We have become the laughingstock of the planet.
Bump! Also to your number eight above. Excellent!
As a military retiree, I can only shake my head each time Barry and his cabana boy, Chuckie Hagel, take a cleaver to the defense budget (again). Much of the “savings” are illusory, but the impact on readiness and training are very, very real.
Consider the recent effort to limit military pension increases. How much does DoD spend on retirement pensions? About $4 billion a year, and as the number of retirees who began their service in WWII, Korea and Vietnam declines, the required amount of funding will decrease. Meanwhile, food stamp payments have increased more than 30% over the past five years, with no end in sight.
In the very near future, “traditional” military retirement 50% of base pay after 20 years of service) will be replaced by some sort of 401K arrangement, so everyone will get a little something—but the first payout won’t occur until age 62 (or later). Meanwhile, it will become even more difficult to attract new recruits from the dwindling pool of young Americans who actually meet the requirements for military service. Why invest 20 years (or longer) in the armed forces, “retire” in your late 30s or early 40s, but wait another 20 years for the payout?
Or better yet, do what millions of aging baby boomers and large numbers of younger Americans have done: go on disability. From what I hear, approval of a disability claim through the Social Security Administration is virtually automatic, and the number of Americans receiving those checks is at an all-time high. When I lived in Mississippi, I knew a young man who claimed disability due to “anxiety,” and was receiving a monthly check of more than $800. That doesn’t sound like much but when you multiply it by millions, you’ve got a problem.
Here’s my quick fix for entitlements, beginning with the grand-daddy of them all, Social Security. Theh government can tell you, to the penny, how much you’ve contributed, along with your employers and that amazing 1% return on your investment. Under my plan, that amount is what you’d get from the program, and you can take it lump sum or in monthly checks until it runs out. Enforcing that kind of requirement would trigger a flood of savings and investment that (coupled with the right energy policies) trigger a huge economic boom.
As for the other programs, limit disability to only the truly deserving, with high standards of proof. No more checks because your ability to speak English is limited. Slash Medicaid to the bone, and means-test Medicare. And did I mention the complete elimination of Obamacare?
The entitlements monster can be tamed...but no one wants to have a serious discussion because too many Americans are counting on a check.