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08-11-2012, 05:34 PM
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3,697 posts, read 2,820,619 times
Reputation: 960
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Couldn't the Economic Crisis Be Largely Solved by Cutting All Domestic Programs for 55 & Under?
I know that sounds harsh but we're in desperate times. 100% tax on the wealthiest doesn't even make a dent, but fully one third of all Americans are on some sort of government subsidy. Food stamps for 50 million people alone adds up to real $$$'s. Shouldn't benefits for the elderly (SS/Medicare) be preserved because they are too old to go out and work, while the younger should bear the larger share of the pain because they have more years ahead of them? Younger families will cope. They'll double-triple up; grow gardens; sew their clothes; manage to find ways to meet their needs without sucking on the govt's teat for generations. Seems like the only step we have left, unless we want to elect Ryan and see the elderly out on the street dying on a piece of cardboard. Of course cutbacks in wasteful military outlays should also be a part of the equation.
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08-11-2012, 05:44 PM
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11,104 posts, read 5,540,120 times
Reputation: 3996
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How about not baling out the banks and letting all those houses default back in 2008? How about that? How about not bloating prices with liar loans? You think all these people are getting trillions in assistance?
I know it sounds harsh to make people stick to their contractual obligations and not socialize the trillions in criminality culpable activities by Wall Street and their allies in gentrified neighborhoods, but they are the cause of these desperate times.
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08-11-2012, 06:50 PM
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1,692 posts, read 551,708 times
Reputation: 2306
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thrillobyte
I know that sounds harsh but we're in desperate times. 100% tax on the wealthiest doesn't even make a dent, but fully one third of all Americans are on some sort of government subsidy. Food stamps for 50 million people alone adds up to real $$$'s. Shouldn't benefits for the elderly (SS/Medicare) be preserved because they are too old to go out and work, while the younger should bear the larger share of the pain because they have more years ahead of them? Younger families will cope. They'll double-triple up; grow gardens; sew their clothes; manage to find ways to meet their needs without sucking on the govt's teat for generations. Seems like the only step we have left, unless we want to elect Ryan and see the elderly out on the street dying on a piece of cardboard. Of course cutbacks in wasteful military outlays should also be a part of the equation.
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I think everyone should participate in righting our course. After all, we all voted in the people who have run us into the ditch. And I do mean all, not just the left or the right.
Yes, we can should raise the retirement age again (goodbye 68, hello 70 for me), increase the SS tax, but why not also give smaller increases to well off seniors? The poorest, who rely on SS alone, are one thing, but plenty of seniors could get less of an increase each year and not resort to cat food. We also need to have the SS funds removed from the general fund. The government needs to be accountable and not just raid the funds for other uses.
Last edited by UNC4Me; 08-11-2012 at 07:42 PM..
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08-11-2012, 07:02 PM
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Status:
"a statue of marble"
(set 4 days ago)
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Location: Over the hill and far away
4,300 posts, read 708,562 times
Reputation: 880
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cutting foreign aid and perpetual wars would be a good start.
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08-11-2012, 07:34 PM
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Location: Northern NJ/Amagansett, NY
2,835 posts, read 3,015,105 times
Reputation: 1523
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thrillobyte
I know that sounds harsh but we're in desperate times. 100% tax on the wealthiest doesn't even make a dent, but fully one third of all Americans are on some sort of government subsidy. Food stamps for 50 million people alone adds up to real $$$'s. Shouldn't benefits for the elderly (SS/Medicare) be preserved because they are too old to go out and work, while the younger should bear the larger share of the pain because they have more years ahead of them? Younger families will cope. They'll double-triple up; grow gardens; sew their clothes; manage to find ways to meet their needs without sucking on the govt's teat for generations. Seems like the only step we have left, unless we want to elect Ryan and see the elderly out on the street dying on a piece of cardboard. Of course cutbacks in wasteful military outlays should also be a part of the equation.
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Wow. You really need to go back and read Ryan's proposal. You two have a lot in common. Ryan's proposal did not touch Medicare for current seniors. In fact, it didn't touch Medicare for anyone for the next 10 years. Someone who is 55 now, could relax as they would have the same benefits when they turn 65 as the current seniors have.
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08-11-2012, 07:45 PM
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3,697 posts, read 2,820,619 times
Reputation: 960
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All of these are givens, but the cuts have to add up to roughly 10-15 trillion just for starts because our unfunded liabilities stretching out for 20 years are in the neighborhood of 100 trillion. I cannot even being to fathom such a number. Scientists estimate that the entire Milky Way Galaxy is 100 billion light years across. We're talking a number that is--what, 10,000 times that estimate?
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08-12-2012, 06:26 AM
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Location: Northern NJ/Amagansett, NY
2,835 posts, read 3,015,105 times
Reputation: 1523
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thrillobyte
All of these are givens, but the cuts have to add up to roughly 10-15 trillion just for starts because our unfunded liabilities stretching out for 20 years are in the neighborhood of 100 trillion. I cannot even being to fathom such a number. Scientists estimate that the entire Milky Way Galaxy is 100 billion light years across. We're talking a number that is--what, 10,000 times that estimate?
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That's only ONE galaxy you are talking about.
My point being, it is all relative. Numbers are just numbers. They are abstract. It was not too long ago that $1 Billion was too much to ever pay back. That turned into 10 Billion, then 100 Billion and so on. One day we will probably be in the quadrillions and we will look at the trillions the way we now look at the billions. The problems start to happen when the change comes too rapidly and the debt:GDP gets skewed. If we rack up debt too quickly, it will lead to disaster. Debt downgrading, forced interest rate hikes, etc. Like a Greek tragedy (pun intended) losing our reserve currency status can destroy life as we know it.
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08-12-2012, 06:39 AM
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713 posts, read 377,587 times
Reputation: 569
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So we should let people starve, destroy any upward mobility left, and just forsake everyone that hasn't already got a piece of the pie? "I got mine, so screw them" type of rhetoric. That sounds swell. I am sure the 55 and under that get hosed will be quite gentle when they throw the noose around the neck of the people that perpetrate that. I could make the argument that we should flip it and cut off everyone 55 and older that are just a strain on the economy. They already got to enjoy the largest slice of the pie, so they've had their fill. Let's dump those 55 and up because they have nothing to offer us now.
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08-12-2012, 06:41 AM
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Location: Granby, CT sometimes NH.
2,460 posts, read 2,009,629 times
Reputation: 1666
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Quote:
Originally Posted by AnesthesiaMD
Wow. You really need to go back and read Ryan's proposal. You two have a lot in common. Ryan's proposal did not touch Medicare for current seniors. In fact, it didn't touch Medicare for anyone for the next 10 years. Someone who is 55 now, could relax as they would have the same benefits when they turn 65 as the current seniors have.
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No thank you. Shore up Medicare. I'm just shy of 50 and have paid in for years. A $6000 voucher will get nothing. |
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