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I don't know why you waste your time. Social security, Medicare, and safety nets for the poor aren't going anywhere. You can sit in you bedroom and get your giggity's from Ron Paul and Hayek all you want but if you sincerely think that safety nets for the elderly and poor are going anywhere then you've lost your mind.
Why? Why do you keep on the path of totally unsustainable policies and actions? Provide an explanation.
It's like trying to get from Chicago to Denver, while going down a dead-end road in Nebraska. Eventually, you will either run off the end of the road into the chasm, or you turn around.
You are comparing apples and oranges. Non-contributory pensions were part of the overall benefits package that both employer and employee signed up for. It isn't something they got for free. I know of cases where the non-contributory pension is what kept the employee at the company.
Socil;a Security is something that employees paid hard cash for. It is a deal between the government and individual citizens. You give the government a percentage of your income and, in return, the government guarantees you a pension. Now, what you are saying is that the government should renege on that deal but keep the money. That is fraud, pure and simple.
You couldn't be further from the truth. When you pay SS taxes you aren't buying or paying for anything. The SS program has 2 components, a tax side and a transfer payment side. Once the taxes are paid they are gone and we no longer have any say in what they are used for. The transfer payment side has no real bearing on how much you paid into the system, but how much is currently collected. In 20 yrs the payments will be cut by 28%, however, there is no obligation to make the payments.
If you want an annuity then buy an annuity, but don't try and rewrite history regarding SS.
What are the elements that contribute to rising costs?
Medical innovation?
Prescription meds?
MD comp?
Non MD hospital administrators?
Self-induced lack of competition?
40 million who are uninsured and use the ER for free healthcare?
Lobbyists?
Medicare pays the least because it pays cost ( which includes the bloated overhead).
No, it does NOT pay cost. It pays LESS than cost.
Do you want to know why prices are rising? Do you REALLY, or do you just want to demagogue?
"I see nothing in the plan outlined here that is bad." I do. BIG time.
Those tens of thousands of taxpayers that have paid the MAXIMUM into the system will get NOTHING back.
And you have NO problem with it. I don't think so.
Here is your first error: Learn this, until it's tattooed on your retinas: Government is NOT an investment. It has NO RETURN. Social Security has NO return. It earn nothing.
Many companies used to have non-contributory pensions. Some like IBM, decided to change that in midstream and convert their pension system into an IRA-funded system. From the employee's point of view, that pension was "free". It came out of the shareholders' pockets. That's theft of a kind too! There is no such thing as "free" money. Those people that were only kept from leaving the company due to that non-contributory pension ...are probably long gone. Management's opinion about people who might have whined about the loss of pension benefits are "Don't let the door hit you in the a$$ on the way out! Nobody is that valuable any more!
As far as those hefty state and local public pensions go, I didn't vote for them. Those sweetheart deals made behind closed doors were funded with my hard-earned cash. That's fraud to me as well. If those "bloated pensions" are ever rescinded, I'll be more than happy to reward them with much cheaper SS benefits.
That is BS. The non-contributory pension was as much a part of the remuneration package as the salary. Or do you think that paying employees is also theft. The rest of your comment is entirely irrelevant in the context of means testing for SS.
You want to balance the budget? Start off by making everyone pay at least $25 in federal income tax and stop giving people refunds for tax they never paid in the first place. And stop giving tax breaks for big corporate 'not-for-profits' who just happen to make big profits. But you will not get that from either party because they are all about protecting their own special interests at the expense of the middle class.
So....you'll get a 2K - 3.5K tax break on insurance that will cost a single person over $400 - $500 a month and a family anywhere from $700 - $2K a month? Yeah, everyone will go for that. The number of uninsured will skyrocket, and who do you suppose would pay for that? That's what a lot of you don't get. We pay for the uninsured now.
Competition between HC providers? really? It's unrealistic. Doctors will still be paid what the insurance companies have contracted to pay them. They still have to pay for malpractice insurance, for equipment, personnel, office space, etc. You really want to get to "you get what you pay for" Healthcare providers?
I've explained more than once why buying HC insurance across state lines won't work. It's the way the premiums are calculated. By the overall AGE of the group, the overall HEALTH of the group, and the LOCATION of the group.
Last edited by carterstamp; 11-14-2013 at 01:23 PM..
Why? Why do you keep on the path of totally unsustainable policies and actions? Provide an explanation.
It's like trying to get from Chicago to Denver, while going down a dead-end road in Nebraska. Eventually, you will either run off the end of the road into the chasm, or you turn around.
The plan proposed by Heritage is financially sustainable. All the budget projections show decreasing deficits and eventual surpluses along w/ a significantly decreased percentage of debt to GDP. All of the projections that they've produced indicate sustainability.
So let me ask you this....IF a sustainable plan that protects private enterprise, provides for the less fortunate, advocates pro-business tax cuts, and reforms our entitlement system so that it can exist in a financially stable way......WHY in the hell would we want to NOT do it just to reach some ideological goal of zealous constitutional adherance?
THIS WHY PEOPLE LIKE YOU ARE MARGINALIZED ON THE NATIONAL LEVEL...YOU ARE NOT REASONABLE. PEOPLE WILL NEVER VOTE FOR POLITICIANS THAT BELIEVE THE WAY THAT YOU DO.
The link below is to an economic plan by Heritage that will balance the federal budget within one decade, reduce the debt to 30% of GDP within 25 years and put it on a pace to continue falling, cut the size of the federal government by 25%, and reform the tax code substantially.
I'll sumarize the basics of the plan but feel free to read through the link below.
Caution...the entire plan is a little long...about 55 pages but it is worth a read...if nothing else to debate it.
If nothing...read the bold points and check the charts at the end of the PDF.
Social Security: means test benefits (wealthy older citizens receive no benefit), raise the eligibility age for participation, incentivize workers to stay in the labor force longer by allowing them to retain a higher % of after tax income after they reach the retirement age, and transition SS into more of a social insurance policy against poverty as opposed to a retirement plan.
Medicare: It is currently facing a 75 year unfulfilled liability in excess of $30 trillion. The heritage plan involves means testing and premium support, price transparency, incentives for savings on basic, predictable treatments....etc. The website is a better source for this one...there are a lot of details listed on the link.
Health Care Reform: The Plan calls for the repeal of the ACA and inserts the following as sustainable solutions to healthcare: Remove the tax advantage status of employer provided healthcare and require that all healthcare be listed as taxable income. Businesses will start dropping insurance in lieu of higher salaries. This will create a more robust market for health insurance in the private market and will significantly limit the people that we see dropped because of pre-existing conditions because people won't have insurance tied to their place of employment. By removing this tax break the Plan introduces tax credits for families to purchase healthcare on the private market. The tax credit is 2k for a single or 3500 for a family of four. For very low income people that don't qualify for Medicaid, with no tax liability the advanceable credit would by up to 5500. The plan calls for empowerment of non-physician providers like NP's and PA's, mandated price transparency by health care providers to create competition, and dismantling interstate barriers on purchasing insurance policies
Other major spending reforms: Privatize most federal highway spending...as it stands the under the Federal Highway Program, Washington taxes fuel at 18.3 cents/gallon and takes a large admin fee and then sends it to the state with strings attached...the tax should be cut and sent straight to the states, work to cut defense spending, means test farm subsidies for higher income farmers and institute Farm Savings Accounts, return spending on community job training, economic development, environmental and justice training to the state level, and federal asset sales (the federal government owns massive swaths of commerical land in the West, power generation facilities, underutilized commerical real estate, and other financial assets. Heritage calcultated this could add an additoinal 300 Billion dollars to the balance sheets for property and assets that are being underutilized.
Tax Rates: Flat rate at 25% for individuals and businesses, fewer deductions/credits (higher education, mortgage interest, and charitable donations.) The plan also provides protection for low income earners. Current law hits low income earners hard...the Plan rolls all into the single 25% rate. It then eliminates any all income tax owed through the health insurance credits. In addition...the Earned Income Credit is retained and the calculation of taxable incomes exclude all cash and non-cash benefits like food stamps, and other anti-poverty programs.
So....you'll get a 2K tax break on insurance that will cost a familyanywhere from $700 - $2K a MONTH? Yeah, everyone will go for that. The number of uninsured will sky rocket, and who do you suppose would pay for that?
The assumption is that if the interstate insurance market is opened up and price competition mechanisms (breaking up hospital corporation monopolies, increased competition between non-physician providers, etc) are implemented in the cost of care...coverage costs would decrease substantially.
Would it happen like they are forecasting? Probably not...but it would impact costs positively.
blah blah blah....and another 3 'blah's! Republicans can start with how Reagan screwed up the economy!
Elaborate.
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