Cracks in the armor, too little too late

[Lorax]

That is completely debunked right wing rhetoric.

It will never happen, so it's a moot point, but it's not going bankrupt. All unfunded mandates will be funded in time, as they always have been. You're believing the spin machine.

[elganned]

With the former [privatization], they have the potential of far exceeding the performance as far as return on investment...is concerned.

They also have the potetial to watch their retirement savings disappear altogether through reckless manipulation of the credit markets, as has happened during this past decade when 401[[k)'s shrank to 101[[k)'s.

[oladub]

That is completely debunked right wing rhetoric.

It will never happen, so it's a moot point, but it's not going bankrupt. All unfunded mandates will be funded in time, as they always have been. You're believing the spin machine.

Lorax, Leaving right wing rhetoric behind, Clinton's Comptroller General, his head of the General Accountability Office, disagrees with your rosy belief. He wrote this before President Obama came into office and further cranked up the printing press.

" by 2040 we are projected to see debt as a percentage of our economy that is double the record set at the end of World War II. Based on GAO data, balancing the budget in 2040 could require us to cut federal spending by 60% or raise overall federal tax burdens to twice today's levels.""Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security already account for more than 40% of the total federal budget. And their portion of the budget is expected to grow so fast that their cost, and the cost of servicing our debt, will soon crowd out vital programs, including research and development, critical infrastructure, education, and even national defense."

http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/28/maga...tune/index.htm

Technically, you are correct. We could eliminate much of our educational system, infrastructure, and national defense to continue funding Social Security and Medicare according to David Walker. Other options he didn't discuss are cutting doctor pay, tort reform, Zimbabwe like money printing to pay off federal debt, or finding someonw with a magic wand.

Almost forgot; President Obama recently said that Obamacare could be partly financed by reducing certain Medicare payments to hospitals. "Forced to improve their profitability, hospitals may close certain units or clinical programs that operate at a loss, Keckley says. Typically, such programs serve Medicare or Medicaid patients, including pediatric practices, neonatal intensive-care units and burn centers. As a result, some patients, including many Medicare recipients, may have to travel further to receive certain types of care."

http://www.smartmoney.com/personal-f...means-for-you/

[Lorax]

What also seems to be forgotten in this debate, is the spending of the military, Pentagon, the Bush Tax Cuts for the Rich, instituting a 90% tax on personal income over a certain dollar amount, as was the case under Republicans in the 50's, ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, etc.

There are dozens of ways to pay for it, including the current health care reforms which really needs to be a single-payer system, or at least a public option. Economies of scale would bring costs down, just as Walmart does with 4 dollar prescriptions.

I'm even farther to the left in this, I feel nationalizing health care [[Medicare for All) AKA a single payer system, and nationalizing the pharmaceutical industry would be a good thing. These are additional ways to pay for it.

[ccbatson]

Military and pentagon are one entity, defense. Defense is one of the few constitutionally delineated powers of government.

Tax cuts are never to be equated with spending as it is a matter of confiscating less privately held property from it's rightful owner.

Is that the best you can do?

[Lorax]

Military and pentagon are one entity, defense. Defense is one of the few constitutionally delineated powers of government.

Tax cuts are never to be equated with spending as it is a matter of confiscating less privately held property from it's rightful owner.

Is that the best you can do?

Are you serious? The money is all around us, it just needs to be spent more wisely. Yeah, it's the best I can do, since I've solved the issue of paying for single-payer health care for all, and saved Medicare and Social Security, all in one fell swoop! Tax cuts are a part of it, since when they expire, the additional monies collected go to solve the funding problems.

And a egregious, evil Rethuglican tax policy is gone for good.

[gibran]

While I agree our spending trends have increased but it has a multivariate cause...a perfect storm of an ailing or transitional workforce, shifting populations, funding of two wars [[one that was supposed to pay for itself by now) and having to bailout the greed of the Randians...I agree that Debt due to social services will continue to rise due to the aging of America [[that was hardly an Obama thing) but that variable or canary in the mine was described years ago..

we need reform in healthcare we just have to slow this train down and examine it more closely...we are throwing the baby out with the bath water because a segment of the "I got mine" crowd knows how to scream louder and the Demo's have no balls ...funny we have a great president with a confused congress...that is open fodder for the far right whose hubris and greed has ruined our country...I would welcome real conservatives that have a social conscious that would role of their selves and work with our president...but the current [[hide behind the Bible and practice everything but Christianity) false patriots is scary..remember a real patriot makes sacrifices for their fellow country men.. like the Brave soldiers who fight for your freedoms despite the rhetoric back home...they fight for an Ideal America not the one that limits their benefits and makes it difficult to transition back from a war that was started for NEOCON agenda,,and now that we are war weary we are fighting a war againts an entrenched enemy in the country that attacked us in the first place...and no one seems to notice.opps tangent alert,,,

we need to work collectively to fix the economy and not use the crisis to divide ...ohh ok back on track.

[oladub]

Gibran, Randians and other factions of Libertarians, have not been running the country under Bush. Bush and the rest of his neocon crowd are statists as are liberals. They fund the same illegal wars and corporatist agendas. Both groups are responsible for our country being technically bankrupt and for our collapsing dollar. Prime Minister Mugabe might have had good intend. That may be why he printed so much money to pay for all his new programs. But now that he has made his currency worthless, he can't deploy his good intent and most people there suffer. I see President Bush and President Obama taking us down the same path although, I agree with you, that President Obama's intentions seem better.

[ccbatson]

Oladub...Objectivism is not the same as Libertarianism. In fact, Rand herself felt Libertarians were the most dangerous and incorrect ideology of the time [[while she was alive).

True that modern day conservatives are also somewhat statist and therefore deeply flawed. However, nowhere near the evil monstrosity that is the present day liberal.

The only real chance and hope is to reform the conservatives/republicans to become more objectivist [[capitalist being a better and simpler label).