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A_womon
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1219
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 24, 2005 - 12:41 pm: | 
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Our country never seems to worry about the growing deficit when it come to aiding other countries, so why is it that there is such a problem coming up with the funds to repair our ailing systems here?
I heard the other day that the prez is pushing cuts to medicare!
I truly don't understand this, would someone PLEASE explain? |
Mahoganyanais
Newbie Poster
Username: Mahoganyanais
Post Number: 15
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, January 24, 2005 - 02:01 pm: |
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Good question, with no easy answer (as far as effecting change goes), unfortunately.
Repairing what ails us in this country isn't a matter of having enough funds. It's a matter of priority and concern (or lack thereof) with regard to how the funds are distributed. Ain't everybody in this country ailing, and to the extent that the ailing are politically and economically disenfranchised, their interests will be subjugated.
And make no mistake about it: the U.S.'s "generosity" is motivated primarily by its desire to promote and protect its own (and corporate) interests abroad. Look who gets aid from the U.S. and who doesn't (or who gets less). Again, it's a matter of priorities. |
Always_lurking
Newbie Poster
Username: Always_lurking
Post Number: 25
Registered: 02-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 27, 2005 - 10:27 am: |
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Well, first off, IMO, we have a government in place that is less for social service programs funded by the government in favor of people helping thier own selves out. In that case we will see cuts in medicare, medicaid, Welfar and other government funded assistance in favor for faith based initiatives and the like. My stance on that is a little wobbly because I work for one of those government funded programs and see the need for them if used properly.
In regards to the debt, some economist don't see it as a major factor. Some have said a national debt is not neccessarily a bad thing. I don't see how that can be but the belief is, as long as the economy remains in positive motion the debt is not an issue. It would seem to me that a major defecit, horrible unemployment rates and the like would be a sign that the economy is moving in a negative direction. |
Mahoganyanais
Newbie Poster
Username: Mahoganyanais
Post Number: 20
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 27, 2005 - 02:12 pm: |
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I'm not a fan of George Will, but here's some commentary about Medicare/Medicaid and Social Security.
***
Social Security: Opportunity, Not a Crisis
By George F. Will
The president's second term will begin today, probably with a flurry
of the usual flattery, such as: "My fellow Americans, America is
wonderful because you, the people, are wonderful -- the way you wear your
hats, the way you sip your tea." But his term also begins with Republicans
evidently thinking people must be frightened into accepting sensible
Social Security reform, and Democrats invoking chimeric "risks" to
frighten people away from a reform that enlarges freedom by reducing the
degree to which people are wards of government.
The president says Social Security should be reformed because it is
in "crisis." That is an exaggeration. Democrats say it should not be
reformed because there is no crisis. That is a non sequitur. Social
Security should be reformed not because there is a crisis but because there
is an opportunity.
What constitutes a crisis is a matter of opinion, and everyone is
entitled to his or her own. But not to his or her own facts. Here are
some:
Social Security outlays may exceed revenue by 2018 -- that date
almost certainly will recede further into the future, as it has before, as
the economy outperforms expectations. After that, the government bonds
that Social Security surpluses have bought (money used to fund the
government) will be entirely redeemed, as the Social Security
Administration calculates, by 2042. Or 2052, according to the Congressional Budget
Office, using different assumptions about the rate of economic growth.
That depends partly on the rate of productivity growth: Might a growth
rate unusually high by historical standards become normal? Immigration
rates will affect the ratio of workers to retirees.
Some people warning of a distant Social Security crisis postulate 75
years of 1.8 percent annual growth. But if America has 75 such sluggish
years, Social Security's insolvency will hardly be the nation's largest
problem -- and personal retirement accounts will reflect, not
compensate for, the stagnation.
Changes in life expectancy are certain; what they will be is unclear.
Since 1900, life expectancy at birth has increased 30 years (from 47 to
77), mostly during the century's first half, largely from reducing
infant mortality by conquering infectious diseases. But since 1950, the
most dramatic gain has been in life expectancy at 65. How much more
progress can be made there? How many people who live longer will choose to
work longer? What unknowable public health developments will intervene?
For example, if government succeeds in getting dramatic declines in
smoking, some anticipated Social Security savings -- from the early deaths
of millions of smokers -- will vanish.
All these are just the known unknowns; there surely are, as Donald
Rumsfeld says, unknown unknowns. Which means that today we may be less
distant from the enactment of Social Security (1935) than we are from a
real solvency crisis in the system.
If Social Security is in crisis, what word can describe the condition
of Medicare and Medicaid? Thirteen months ago this administration
improvidently enacted a Medicare prescription drug entitlement that by
itself adds to Medicare's solvency crisis a sum much larger than the
entire Social Security system's shortfall. Given the life-enhancing dynamism
of modern pharmacology, no one knows what the menu of prescription
drugs will be in even 10 years.
And last year America passed an ominous milestone: Spending by the 50
states on Medicaid exceeded spending by the states on elementary and
secondary education. The $4.9 billion gap will widen.
One reason for reforming Social Security is that it is not in crisis
compared with Medicare and Medicaid. But the best reasons rise from the
philosophy of freedom:
Voluntary personal accounts will allow competing fund managers,
rather than a government monopoly on income transfers from workers to
retirees, to allocate a large pool of money. This will enhance the economic
dynamism conducive to an open society. Personal accounts will respect
individuals' autonomy and competence and will narrow the wealth gap by
facilitating the accumulation of wealth -- bequeathable wealth -- by
people of modest incomes.
It used to be the political left that had an exaggerated confidence
in the transparency of the future. The left believed -- because Marx had
deciphered history's unfolding, or because the social sciences had new
analytic tools -- that the future had become knowable. Hence government
could boldly act, sure of society's predictable trajectory. Today some
conservatives, beginning their admirable project of Social Security
reform, lack the conservative virtue of sobriety about the limits of
prophecy. The sober truth is that the philosophic reasons for reforming
Social Security are more compelling than the fiscal reasons.
georgewill@washpost.com
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A_womon
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1221
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 27, 2005 - 03:46 pm: |
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Social Security should NOT be lumped in with welfare and the like. That money is hard earned and taken out by force over the years with no real choice in the matter So if my Dad has worked hard ALL of his life and PAID into this system all of his (working) life, then he is ENTITLED to get what is due to him! and if the government has spent that money on other things, then that should NOT be my dad's or anyone else who worked and paid into this system problem. THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD PAY UP. PERIOD. |
Mahoganyanais
Newbie Poster
Username: Mahoganyanais
Post Number: 23
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, January 27, 2005 - 04:19 pm: |
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A_womon: Social Security should NOT be lumped in with welfare and the like.
Mah: Just to clarify, I agree that Social Security is a separate issue from welfare. When I mentioned the disenfranchised, I was thinking specifically that if lawmakers and others were forced to depend on Social Security for their income upon retirement, perhaps their national spending priorities would be different. |
A_womon
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1225
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, January 28, 2005 - 11:43 am: |
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Mahogany, Ok got it. |
Mahoganyanais
Regular Poster
Username: Mahoganyanais
Post Number: 30
Registered: 01-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, January 29, 2005 - 07:42 pm: |
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DEAR ABBY,
My husband has a long record of money problems. He runs up huge credit card bills and at the end of the month, if I try to pay them off, he shouts
at me, saying I am stealing his money. He says pay the minimum and let our kids worry about the rest, but already we can hardly keep up with the interest.
Also he has been so arrogant and abusive toward our neighbors that most of them no longer speak to us. The few that do are an odd bunch, to whom he has been giving a lot of expensive gifts, running up our bills even more.
Also, he has gotten religious in a big way, although I don't quite understand it.
One week he hangs out with Catholics and the next with people who say the Pope is the Anti-Christ.
And now he has been going to the gym an awful lot and is into wearing uniforms and cowboy outfits, and I hate to think what that means.
Finally, the last straw. He's demanding that before anyone can be in the same room with him, they must sign a loyalty oath. It's just so
horribly creepy!
Can you help?
Signed, Lost in DC
Dear Lost:
Stop whining, Laura. You can divorce the jerk any time you want. The rest of us are stuck with him for four more years!
[Source: the Internet ether]
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