Moose asked:
With the announcement of the deficit today the dots are connected. McSame: we cannot meet our financial obligations. Bush: the largest deficit ever contributing to an astronomical national debt.
With the announcement of the deficit today the dots are connected. McSame: we cannot meet our financial obligations. Bush: the largest deficit ever contributing to an astronomical national debt.
The answer: eliminate Social Security and Medicare.
You do realise that Dems have been telling old folks for the last 40 years republicans were gonna take away social security? Good thing only Republicans use fear to win elections! LOL
sounds to me like he is telling it like it is. I guess numbers and dollars arent your strong points.
Getting rid of social security is fine with me. The program was meant to be temporary anyway.
And you accuse the conservatives of fear mongering?
At least the terrorists are real.
I don’t think anyone believes Social Security will survive, Dems or Reps, but you can’t just axe it. Too many people have paid too much into it. You have to simply reduce disbursements and hobble health care, that way, you save in the short term without just telling people, “That’s it! All gone!” and reducing life expectancy is the cheapest and vastly most effective measure to save the money you’ve already spent!
I sure hope so. I could put the money in an IRA and actually end up with something in 30 years.
sounds good to me.
i don’t need the government holding my money. i’ll put it in mutual funds and invest it myself, and i’ll make a heck a lot of more money than if i held it in ss.
And puppies, they want to kill puppies.
DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes. They also want to eliminate Public Education as well. I am sure of it.
LOL
Dems refuse to pay for it. But, the Ponzi Scheme gets votes.
Odd how Dems love things that are handouts for themselves.
Sounds like welfare scheme.
We should get rid of them. I don’t want it. I don’t want to pay for anyone else. And, I don’t want anyone else to pay for my family.
Social security was going to be eliminated in about 30 years anyway. I never like a republican agenda, but this question is moot. It doesn’t matter. The government screwed up the program along time ago.
I hope so. I think I can invest my money A LOT smarter than the federal gov’t can.
and Troy B…..if the education system were a business, it would have gone bankrupt a long time ago. Maybe it is time for the gov’t to get out of that business, too.
(of course, that would mean no more liberal indoctrination of our kids….that wouldn’t be okay, would it?)
Haha! Oh no, they are doing you a favour! Weren’t you listening?! The terror alert was raised – you are supposed to be too scared about having your *** blown off today to think about tomorrow!
Yes, that is our plan.
Now are you convinced the Republican plan is the elimination of Social Security?
I hope so.
If the Republicans ended social security it would be committing *******. Do you really think they are that stupid?
I’m 30 yrs old and I’m worried that all the money I’ve been paying into Social Security and Medicare will not be there when the time comes (after the baby boomers use it all…). Since it is not realistic or probably even feasible to suddenly eliminate Social Security, perhaps then can institute an “opt out” policy. I’ll forgoe whatever money I’ve already contributed, for the chance to keep the rest of my money and invest it as I see fit. This could even be a boon for the economy (rather than a ridiculous rebate that actually cost taxpayers MORE than what was poured back in). What I mean is, if more people could actually choose HOW to spend their money rather than have it dictated for them (btw about 75% of taxpayers pay more in SS and Medicare than in federal taxes), some people would choose to spend more on goods, while others like myself would choose to invest in an IRA or mutual funds.
If you are worried about those who won’t save for their future, we can already see the failings of Social Security evidenced around us. For instance, my mom unfortunately retired one year before my dad passed away. She had to choose between her social security or his. She chose his, therefore she had to kiss all the thousands of dollars she poured into it over the years goodbye. One of my friends tried to explain how this socialist concept is beneficial for the orphaned, disabled, etc. but aren’t there other agencies available to service these segments of the population? If not, I don’t mind having my federal tax dollars used for this purpose, but I don’t think the gov’t can invest my Social Security money better than Vanguard can.
As for the less fortunate, luckily there are churches, the Salvation Army, United Way and a host of other civil and gov’t sponsored agencies available to those who need a leg-up or even a hand-out.
For you people that are not to enlightened on the subject you might need to do some homework. Social Security is not a investment vehicle it is a insurance policy, and a very inexpensive one for what you get. Just look at the numbers and you will see it saves a lot of old people from living in boxes. Read the last report on Social Security that was published in 2/08 NASI.org : The findings
Only 1 in 12 elderly people live in poverty in this country.
Take SS away 1 in 2 would live at or below the poverty level!
SS pays benefits to 853 widowed spouses and 2,377 children of 9/11 victims!
also to 642 disabled due to the attack
SS pays benefits to 12,290 children of fallen servicemen in our recent wars!
14% of 50 million beneficiaries are paid death benefits for to surviving spouse and 2 children
17% of 50 million are paid disability benefits due to physical or mental illness
Elderly with incomes of $16,350-$25,590 get 66% from SS
Elderly with incomes of $25,590-$44,130 get 50% from SS
Elderly with incomes of $44,130 plus get 20% from SS
Looks like it really helps those who need it for only 6.2% either raise it 1% for 75 years or raise the income cap and take care of it for good ! I volunteer my 1% or raise my cap to take care of the elderly!
From david v: You do realise that Dems have been telling old folks for the last 40 years republicans were gonna take away social security? Good thing only Republicans use fear to win elections! LOL
David, it’s not the Democrats telling people that Republicans are going to take away SS, the Republicans have been very up front about it themselves – it’s no big secret, they’ve been trying to dismantle the SS system practically since its inception. If you’re not aware of that, you should do some research before you post.
That’s the whole point of privatization, to eventually eliminate Social Security. Haven’t you figured that out yet? Social Security is a very efficient program that has functioned quite well as a safety net for seniors. Something like 95% of the money coming in is paid out in benefits (sorry, don’t have the exact percentage at my fingertips, too lazy to look it up), very little goes to administrative expenses.
SS has broad bi-partisan support among voters. It would be politically unpopular to simply get rid of it, so there has been speculation that our record deficits were deliberately created to force the issue. You know – it won’t be their fault that they have to get rid of SS because oops, we can’t afford to pay you even though you’ve contributed to the fund all those years because we started an unnecessary war and gave huge tax cuts to our wealthy political donors.
So sorry.