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But both workers and employers contribute to these programs so they are not 100% government funded like welfare and medicaid.
No, no one "contributes" to these programs. Everyone pays A TAX, thats how it got passed into law, and anything they give back is government funded, JUST LIKE welfare and medicaid.
Once you pay your TAX, the money is no longer yours, so anything you get back is WELFARE...
Quote:
Originally Posted by jmking
Medicare and Social Security maybe government assistant but I take serious offense that you call it welfare. It's not welfare and it is not a handout. You maybe one of the few who've opted out of SS but millions pay plenty into the system and have paid multi-trillions in the last 70 years. There are some faults in the system that should be addressed, but make no mistake those faults will never be steered to common hustlers in suits on wall street, period.
The fact that you take offense to calling something what it is, isnt my fault. Its 100% welfare by definition. It IS a handout, if it wasnt a handout you would have a pot of money THATS YOURS, that would be handed to your estate. YOU HAVE NOTHING paid to cover these TAXES..
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roadking2003
Not exactly.
SS is a retirement insurance program that is funded by participants. And with some small adjustments, can continue to be self sustaining.
Medicare is partially funded by participants, so it's mostly a welfare program.
Madicaid is a 100% welfare program.
Wrong, medicare is not funded AT ALL by participants.. You pay A TAX.. Once you pay A TAX, that money IS NOT YOURS.. Anything you get back IS WELFARE.
welfare:
aid to people in need: financial aid and other benefits for people who are unemployed, below a specific income level, or otherwise requiring assistance, especially when provided by a government agency or program
No, no one "contributes" to these programs. Everyone pays A TAX, thats how it got passed into law, and anything they give back is government funded, JUST LIKE welfare and medicaid.
Once you pay your TAX, the money is no longer yours, so anything you get back is WELFARE...
Label it however you want. It's MY money I'm giving back to Uncle Sam who promised to invest it and give it back to me when I got older.
Instead, Congress STOLE it to spend on other things.
Also include the many 'disabled' (my back hurts!) who plague this board. Pay in a little, take out a lot.
$115 billion last year paid out in Federal disability benefits. $75 billion more for associated Medicare payments.
(I am not talking, of course, about those with truly debilitating diseases, who spend their days in nursing homes, etc. I am talking about those like my brother-in-law, who says he is too sick to hold a job, but by god can sit at a computer all day and rant about the 'liberals' ).
This one really upsets me. Growing up, one of my parents was legitimately disabled (blind/unable to walk). Applying for disability was a lot easier back then. You simply needed a note from a doctor describing your disability. With all the fraud (and yes it is fraud) related to disability, the application is much more complex and may require a lawyer. This makes it far more difficult and expensive for people who need these programs to access them.
Also, I know someone kind of like your brother-in-law. This person can walk, can see, can use a computer, has the manual dexterity to cook, can drive and doesn't have any debilitating cognitive disorder. And yet they're attempting to get disability because "their back hurts". GTFO I don't see why it would be that much more painful to sit in a chair in front of a computer at an office than it would be to sit in a chair in front of a computer at home. It's not like the only jobs out there are farming, mining and construction.
Thank you, when are the some people going to understand this? They love to say, these are entitlement programs like other government program, they refuse to accept them as programs we paid or pay into just like any investment. Even medicare is an insurange program, it is not welfare. Madicaid is a totally different game.
NIta
YOU DO NOT PAY INTO THESE PROGRAMS LIKE AN INVESTMENT..
Here is the problem with your comparison.
If you die at 50, how much of your investment do you receive back?
Medicare is NOT an insurance program, its a WELFARE program which perpetuates poverty.. Its sad that so many people view the fact that you pay a TAX, as justification to collect welfare!!!
Label it however you want. It's MY money I'm giving back to Uncle Sam who promised to invest it and give it back to me when I got older.
Instead, Congress STOLE it to spend on other things.
Its NOT your money.. Do you understand what the definition of a TAX is?
Again, if its YOUR money, and you die at 50, how much of it goes to your estate?
This one really upsets me. Growing up, one of my parents was legitimately disabled (blind/unable to walk). Applying for disability was a lot easier back then. You simply needed a note from a doctor describing your disability. With all the fraud (and yes it is fraud) related to disability, the application is much more complex and may require a lawyer. This makes it far more difficult and expensive for people who need these programs to access them.
Also, I know someone kind of like your brother-in-law. This person can walk, can see, can use a computer, has the manual dexterity to cook, can drive and doesn't have any debilitating cognitive disorder. And yet they're attempting to get disability because "their back hurts". GTFO I don't see why it would be that much more painful to sit in a chair in front of a computer at an office than it would be to sit in a chair in front of a computer at home. It's not like the only jobs out there are farming, mining and construction.
I will say this: those who are truly disabled (blindness, for example) usually get approved quickly by their state's DDS. Once they file, they may be approved within 60 days. At the hearing level we get those who do not have a 'presumptively' disabling impairment (did you know that obesity used to be presumptively disabling if you weighed a certain amount for your height? That was finally discarded some ten years ago).
Nowadays, every case that hits the hearing level seems to include an allegation of 'bipolar' disorder, which is the disease de jure.
Previously popular claims included: chronic fatigue syndrome (not as prevalent as it used to be); fibromyalgia (was No. 1 until Bipolar came along), and post-traumatic stress disorder (everyone, and I mean everyone, living in the USA was sexually abused as a child, only to discover or 'recover' said memory as an adult, after being fired from work and filing for disability).
Recently we had a guy who filed claiming post-traumatic stress. He had enlisted in the Army, spent a grand total of 19 days in said Army, left the Army, and filed for disability claiming that the stories of mayhem he heard sitting around the chow table caused post-traumatic stress.
More people taking out of the system than people putting into the system.
The clock is ticking folks.
It is expected in an economy that has promoted ideas resulting in a decline in prosperity where the majority of the populace has been left behind. I picked three income groups (Top 1%, Between 25-50% and Bottom 50%) and two years two decades apart to arrive at the following (all numbers in constant 2007 dollars).
1987
Top 1% (1.0 million tax filers) AGI: $626 Billion (AGI per filer: $626K)
Top 25-50% (26.5 million tax filers) AGI: $1197 Billion (AGI per filer: $45.2K)
Bottom 50% (53 million tax filers) AGI: $793 Billion (AGI per filer: $15.0K)
2007
Top 1% (1.4 million tax filers) AGI: $2008 Billion (AGI per filer: $1.43 Million)
Top 25-50% (35.3 million tax filers) AGI: $1675 Billion (AGI per filer: $47.5K)
Bottom 50% (70.5 million tax filers) AGI: $1078 Billion (AGI per filer: $15.3K)
What could go wrong when 75% of Americans have seen virtually no growth in income while the richest have seen their income more than double over the same period?
Cut the federal workforce by a third and consolidate all redudancy. Cut military spending in half. End military operations in Iraq & Afghanistan and send all of those troops to the US/Mexico border that they would patrol as strictly as a prison wall. Cut federal subsidies to billion dollar companies and invest that money into small businesses and vocational training.
Lastly, adopt strict a pay-as-you-go spending policy. No new bonds. Period.
Idealistic and unrealistic-I know. But that's what I would do.
In attempt to show everyone how I would balance the budget I spent the last three long evenings in front of a spread ****.
It is really difficult. If you get into the numbers you will find out how badly everything is screwed up. Real scary stuff.
I thought maybe taxing the rich more but discovered there aren't that many rich people. If you took everyone earning $250,000 and up taxing them at a 100% rate to include taking 100% of the first $250,000 there isn't enough money to balance the budget.
For all the talk of the super rich you could take everything over $1 million they made and it isn't a drop in the bucket.
I am coming to the conclusion the problem is the 47% who pay no taxes along with the cap on earnings social security is subject.
We're in a real mess and if anyone wants to sit down and work on the budget I am all ears on how to do it.... I tried hard and so far no luck.
About the only thing left to do is to institute means testing.
What could go wrong when 75% of Americans have seen virtually no growth in income while the richest have seen their income more than double over the same period?
We'll find out soon enough as our debt increases by the billions each month.
And that's just interest on the debt, not the debt itself.
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