The budget and medicare reform

[GenSeneca]

I would need to see numbers before I could get behind a bond sale. The idea of borrowing more money seems somewhat fishy.

We already sell bonds, treasury bonds, to cover the debt. 14 trillion in debt right now and we're paying interest on that debt. Selling 14 trillion in bonds to cover that debt still leaves us 14 trillion in the hole plus whatever interest rate is required to make the bonds "attractive" to buyers. Seems like that is more of a shell game than a solution.

The federal government holds 264 million acres of land. Anytime there is a deficit, federal lands should be sold off to make up the difference to prevent adding to the debt. Selling off 200 million acres at an average price of $50,000 per acre would net $10,000,000,000,000 (10 trillion). That is enough to prevent running a deficit for many years.

Obviously this does not solve our debt problem, only massive cuts in spending can accomplish that, but it would give us some breathing room so that government could still function with deficits - without adding to the national debt - while we get the fiscal house in order.

If we do manage to get federal spending under control and actually spend less than we bring in, we could still sell off land to reduce the national debt, thereby reducing yearly outlays for interest on the debt, which would reduce yearly spending that much further.

 

[dogtowner]

After promising a person who has paid into the system his whole life that he can retire at a certain age, changing the age would be cheating him.

What promise ? Did you know that there is no guarantee anywhere in SS that says it has to pay you anything at all.

FDR made speeches that had no semblance of what became law.

 

[Gipper]

After promising a person who has paid into the system his whole life that he can retire at a certain age, changing the age would be cheating him.

I don't think so. Plus, who can retire on the measly SS benefit? Secondly, SS was never intended to retire on and it was initially designed only for the very old. Now with much long life expectancy, its time to raise the retirement age.

If the dipsh*t politicians do nothing, which is exactly what the Communist Party of America (Dems) want to do, SS and Medicare will disappear because they are unsustainable.

 

[Dr.Who]

I don't think so. Plus, who can retire on the measly SS benefit? Secondly, SS was never intended to retire on and it was initially designed only for the very old. Now with much long life expectancy, its time to raise the retirement age.

If the dipsh*t politicians do nothing, which is exactly what the Communist Party of America (Dems) want to do, SS and Medicare will disappear because they are unsustainable.

You are right and I am wrong that they should be able to expect to retire on their ss benefits.

Since no can reasonably use the money to support themselves in their retirement all the more reason to just return the money to those who paid in.

Raising the retirement age would just allow the unfair system to operate longer and continue to cheat even more people of their earnings every time they die before they can collect their own money.

 

[Gipper]

This from the Great Charlies Kruthammer...

Everyone knows that the U.S. budget is being devoured by entitlements. Everyone also knows that of the Big Three - Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security - Social Security is the most solvable.

Back-of-an-envelope solvable: Raise the retirement age, tweak the indexing formula (from wage inflation to price inflation) and means-test so that Warren Buffett's check gets redirected to a senior in need.

The relative ease of the fix is what makes the Obama administration's Social Security strategy so shocking. The new line from the White House is: no need to fix it because there is no problem. As Office of Management and Budget Director Jack Lew wrote in USA Today just a few weeks ago, the trust fund is solvent until 2037. Therefore, Social Security is now off the table in debt-reduction talks.

This claim is a breathtaking fraud.

The pretense is that a flush trust fund will pay retirees for the next 26 years. Lovely, except for one thing: The Social Security trust fund is a fiction.

If you don't believe me, listen to the OMB's own explanation (in the Clinton administration budget for fiscal 2000 under then-Director Jack Lew, the very same). The OMB explained that these trust fund "balances" are nothing more than a "bookkeeping" device. "They do not consist of real economic assets that can be drawn down in the future to fund benefits."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/10/AR2011031005932.html?nav=emailpage

How much longer will the American people allow is fraud to continue? The solution as Mr. K indicates, is very simple.

 

[GenSeneca]

The solution as Mr. K indicates, is very simple.

Anyone arguing in favor of means testing for SS is arguing for expanding the forced redistribution of wealth at the hands of the State.

 

[Gipper]

Anyone arguing in favor of means testing for SS is arguing for expanding the forced redistribution of wealth at the hands of the State.

Agreed.

I do not agree with Mr. K on that one. I think merely raising the retirement age right now should be sufficient.

The bigger point is the Dems and BO have no intention of doing anything about entitlements other than demonizing the Rs.

This last paragraph by Mr. K could be telling. If the American public believes the lies by the Dems, BO, and the left media resulting in BO's re-election, say goodbye to the American Republic.

On Tuesday, Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia denounced Obama for lack of leadership on the debt. It's worse than that. Obama is showing leadership. With Lew's preposterous claim that Social Security is solvent for 26 years, Obama is preparing to lead the charge against entitlement reform as his ticket to re-election.

 

[Dr.Who]

This from the Great Charlies Kruthammer...



How much longer will the American people allow is fraud to continue? The solution as Mr. K indicates, is very simple.

Mr. K's solution is to turn it into a welfare program and redistribute the money from the rich who paid in to the poor who paid in less. That is inherently wrong.