Moo-chelle Obama

[jcb986]

Remember, Congress is suppose to be good stewards of the people's money (taxes). I firmly believe, if Congress hadn't turned the SS into the General Fund, it would be self sustaining properly invested. As for Medicare & Medicaid, fraud is the culprit plus government regulations...oh, throw in AMA spending millions to get their say so on what benefits them most, add trail lawyer lawsuits, you have system that is corrupt into itself. Strong we must stay and you can thank the Bush administration of getting the military back in shape. But what I fear the most, is, the idiots who put Obama into office.:ah:

[2003S]

Originally Posted by jcb986

you can thank the Bush administration of getting the military back in shape

Ken Kesey called, and requests you remove "Old Hippie" from your sig, particularly while praising the military-industrial complex.

[jcb986]

Originally Posted by 2003S

Ken Kesey called, and requests you remove "Old Hippie" from your sig, particularly while praising the military-industrial complex.

Can't do... even old hippie's where and still are patriots first:dance:

[Perfectlap]

Originally Posted by RandallNeighbour

Perfectlap, I did some quick math and SS recipients would have to live to well past 107 years old to get out all the cash they put into the program. Now Medicare might be a different animal, but SS is not going well because the fund's been robbed from repeatedly by Congress through the years.

Am I not correct on this?

The Trustees Report for SS projects that it can pay out FULLY until 2036. After that checks need to start shrinking or , and this is the important part that is left out of most calculations, wages for Americans need to start going UP instead of falling as they have been for the last decade. Our workers are unksilled and the private sector are not really interested in spending the money to train, despite their lowest ever taxes. Corporate taxes today equal barely 1% of GDP, half of what it was 40 years ago. The largest exodus of workers (baby boomer) this economy has taken in one shot are only compounding the problem. The jobs that up and coming generations are taking now pay less than the jobs the baby boomers took on when they started paying into the entitlement programs.
ANY shifting of the status quo, or actual reform to healthcare results in a political bloodbath (See summer 2009 townhall screaming) those now lower wages of American workforce will not allow for continued funding of social security AND Medicare. Every nickel is going to get eaten up by Medicare and military defense spending and of course the monumental interest payments on both. If you strip away the deficit element of both of these sure...social security will probaly see a barely 1% increase as a share of GDP -- from 5% to 6%. But the rightwing on one side and left on the other are neck deep in grid-lock. Reagan's budget man David Walker famously said "guns, butter and tax cuts. You can't do all three". We simply can't afford to keep spending on Medicare, the military, servicing the national debt interest and balk at any increases in taxes. It's madness stuck in park.

[RandallNeighbour]

You make good comments about what could be done to fix it and the consequences of such fixes.

I'm just pissed off Congress robbed from the SS fund and didn't pay it back with interest. How the heck did we vote in such short-sighted idiots? We only have ourselves to blame. Now we're paying out billions for disaster relief from funds we don't' have and no cuts are being made elsewhere to cover it.

Our government is a house of cards. I say blow it over sooner than later so we can get back on track... or have we ever been on track?

[Perfectlap]

^ one term limit for all politicians. The minute they start worrying about getting re-elected they start opening their wallets to special interests. Doesn't matter if you're a Republican or Democrat, politicians do not ge better with age. Two term limits are useless. They need to understand that they only get one shot. And there needs to be 5 year waiting period before a politician can work as a lobbyist after leaving office.

Also, if your state takes out more in federal spending than it pays in on federal income taxes (predominantly and ironically the most far right states), then all that money should be returned to the states that are getting short-changed (the most left wing). For states with major military installations those funds should be given directly to the military officials running those bases and should not make their way into the state budget through any other means. If roads or any other infrastructure in or near a base need to be improved, the military facility should fix those and not the state govt. The states should be forced to balance their books on their own state's share of federal and state income taxes. Some of these states are receiving $2 in federal spending for every $1 of federal taxes paid. That needs to stop.

[RandallNeighbour]

Perfectlap for president!!!!!!!!!!!!

[silver arrow]

Originally Posted by Perfectlap

^ one term limit for all politicians. The minute they start worrying about getting re-elected they start opening their wallets to special interests. Doesn't matter if you're a Republican or Democrat, politicians do not ge better with age. Two term limits are useless. They need to understand that they only get one shot. And there needs to be 5 year waiting period before a politician can work as a lobbyist after leaving office.

Also, if your state takes out more in federal spending than it pays in on federal income taxes (predominantly and ironically the most far right states), then all that money should be returned to the states that are getting short-changed (the most left wing). For states with major military installations those funds should be given directly to the military officials running those bases and should not make their way into the state budget through any other means. If roads or any other infrastructure in or near a base need to be improved, the military facility should fix those and not the state govt. The states should be forced to balance their books on their own state's share of federal and state income taxes. Some of these states are receiving $2 in federal spending for every $1 of federal taxes paid. That needs to stop.

I'm not crazy about 1 term. The turn over would be to great and you would lose too much experience all at one time. I think 3 terms is a much better and workable solution.

+11ty on the 5 year ban on lobbying, but as Newt has demonstrated, you can lobby unofficially and not be called a lobbyist.