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So before there was SS tax people were investing in their retirements with all that extra money they had? Is that why 50% of seniors were poor at that time?
It's not about you. It's about our country - a country that used to let it's seniors die in abject poverty with absolutely no income. Now they just live in regular old poverty on SS, if they have nothing else.
Yes, the system needs to be tweaked, partly because people are living longer. How about you address some of the points I make rather than just repeating anti-government feel good talking points?
What should we do as a society if we do not have SS and medicare/medicaid with the millions and millions of people that will be homeless, sick and destitute? Just tell them, oh well, survival of the fittest - you die in your own filth on the street?
No - at one time businesses had pension plans for their employees. That was a far better system than social security whish is a mess.
There can still be plans that take out a certain amount each week from a paycheck, employers used to chip into the pension plans. The government attempted to replace these and has created a terrible mess.
The problem is that our government is spending the money that it takes out of people's paychecks and not saving/investing for us to collect when we retire. How is the government a better manager of our assets than we are?
Because they are. Americans suck at it:
It's hard not to be worried when confronted with numbers such as these:
About 43% of American families spend more than they earn each year.
Average households carry some $8,000 in credit card debt.
Personal bankruptcies have doubled in the past decade.
Consumers owe nearly $2 trillion
American consumers owed a grand total of $1.9773 trillion in October 2003, according to the latest statistics on consumer credit from the Federal Reserve. Thats about $18,654 per household, a figure that doesnt include mortgage debt. The number is up more than 41% from the $1.3999 trillion consumers owed in 1998.
How does your debt compare? - MSN Money (http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/SavingandDebt/P70581.asp - broken link)
Location: The Chatterdome in La La Land, CaliFUNia
39,031 posts, read 23,023,210 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Art123
Because they are. Americans suck at it:
It's hard not to be worried when confronted with numbers such as these:
About 43% of American families spend more than they earn each year.
Average households carry some $8,000 in credit card debt.
Personal bankruptcies have doubled in the past decade.
Consumers owe nearly $2 trillion
American consumers owed a grand total of $1.9773 trillion in October 2003, according to the latest statistics on consumer credit from the Federal Reserve. Thats about $18,654 per household, a figure that doesnt include mortgage debt. The number is up more than 41% from the $1.3999 trillion consumers owed in 1998.
How does your debt compare? - MSN Money (http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/SavingandDebt/P70581.asp - broken link)
We are a nation of spenders run by a government of spenders.
No one is saving and no one will. Just run up more debt to cover what you want next.
No big deal here..just tell China to double up on their Treasury purchases because people in American "deserve" something we can't afford.
If the property taxes I'm paying weren't so ridiculously out of line, forcing me to pay for a very incompetent public school system, there would be plenty of money for private schools for my kids.
LOL.. yeah. okay..
Considerign that your taxes are much less than a private school would cost.. BECAUSE the cost of education is spread amongst the entire population of homeowners.. NOT just the ones that have kids in school.
If you remve that money from the system.. the cost of education would only be born by those with children that need to educate their kids.
AND...it would be born unto them per child.. whereas now, y our tax dollars pays for your child's education .. the same amount is taken out wether you have one child or three children.
It's a socialistic policy.. entire population contributing to the education of the children within the society that they live
Again.. tihs was first introduced by Thomas Jefferson and supported by George washington.. among others.
And.. the schools are handled at teh LOWER SMALLER government level.. the problems within your district are unique to YOUR district.. ..
But lets stop for a second.. what corrupts government.. MONEY.. WHO corrupts the government.. THOSE WITH THE MONEY to corrupt governmnet.. and WHO is the one that actually HAS the money to corrupt the government.. CORPORATIONS!!
Yet.. you all want to hand over the everything to them, unabated.. you are basically handing the DEVIL the entire thing.. control of the ENTIRE THING....
How about we start paying attention and elect people that are not corrupted by big corporations and will actually WORK for us. .and NOT work for the entity with the deepest pockets.
Listening to both sides debate this it comes down to this.
One side doesn't want the Democrats version because they can't give facts about how much it will cost,government programs have a history of going red line on budget and expanding beyond it's goal.And,American's don't want to be dictated by a one size fits all plan.
The other side says that healthcare is becoming less affordable to many and many risk living in perpetual poverty in order to receive care and that insurance companies often put profit above patient/customer well being.
I think both sides have valid points......so work out a agreement that will address all concerned to the best of the ability.
It's hard not to be worried when confronted with numbers such as these:
About 43% of American families spend more than they earn each year.
Average households carry some $8,000 in credit card debt.
Personal bankruptcies have doubled in the past decade.
Consumers owe nearly $2 trillion
American consumers owed a grand total of $1.9773 trillion in October 2003, according to the latest statistics on consumer credit from the Federal Reserve. Thats about $18,654 per household, a figure that doesnt include mortgage debt. The number is up more than 41% from the $1.3999 trillion consumers owed in 1998.
How does your debt compare? - MSN Money (http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/SavingandDebt/P70581.asp - broken link)
So....... why was it so different back a couple generations ago?
Incredible as it may sound, at one time Americans bought things they could afford, they even had store programs like layaway where people would make payments they could afford on something they wanted, and when they finished paying, the item was all theirs and they could take it home.
At one time employees could retire and their company's pension worked well for them.
Many Americans saved. Bankruptcy, foreclosures were almost unheard of -- what happened?
Many Americans saved. Bankruptcy, foreclosures were almost unheard of -- what happened?
Access to credit. Credit is nothing more than "debt" but was sold as this magic bullet so you could get it NOW. The banks hit gold with CC interest and, as usual, greed for more money from both the banks and people won via looser and looser qualifications.
Considerign that your taxes are much less than a private school would cost.. BECAUSE the cost of education is spread amongst the entire population of homeowners.. NOT just the ones that have kids in school.
If you remve that money from the system.. the cost of education would only be born by those with children that need to educate their kids.
AND...it would be born unto them per child.. whereas now, y our tax dollars pays for your child's education .. the same amount is taken out wether you have one child or three children.
It's a socialistic policy.. entire population contributing to the education of the children within the society that they live
Again.. tihs was first introduced by Thomas Jefferson and supported by George washington.. among others.
And.. the schools are handled at teh LOWER SMALLER government level.. the problems within your district are unique to YOUR district.. ..
But lets stop for a second.. what corrupts government.. MONEY.. WHO corrupts the government.. THOSE WITH THE MONEY to corrupt governmnet.. and WHO is the one that actually HAS the money to corrupt the government.. CORPORATIONS!!
Yet.. you all want to hand over the everything to them, unabated.. you are basically handing the DEVIL the entire thing.. control of the ENTIRE THING....
How about we start paying attention and elect people that are not corrupted by big corporations and will actually WORK for us. .and NOT work for the entity with the deepest pockets.
It costs far far more to educate a child in a public school than it does in most private schools. Private school tuition is about $3000 -- higher if it's for an elite school that isn't necessarily better. Property taxes here are much higher than $3000 a year on an average house, the public school portion.
The public schools don't attempt any financial responsibility, they don't attempt to contain costs. It seems they don't attempt to educate much either because there's no competition.
OUr problems with our schools are NOT because of the government.
It's more because we have become a complacent and lazy.. yes.. lazy and complacent society.
I had an excellent public education system. .but then I had a mom that was home most of the time.. she only went to work part time later notbecause she had to but because she needed something to do to fulfill the "free time" she had while we were in school
But something started to happen that changed that game. NOW. .two parents HAVE to work, kids are left to their own devices.
The curriculum WHAT we teach nad how we teach needs to change. WE live in a faster paced more global socieity. One in which there are so many other stimulants that compete with the attention of our children.. that we need to make what we teach as stimulating in the HOW we teach it.
No Child Left Behind obviously is not working.. and it FAILED to address the PROBLEM.. However.. I would not trust education and providing it withthe likes of private industry which are only motivated by GREED and money.. I much more trust the intent and motivation.. one of simply IMPROVING education.. over the intent and motivation of GREED and pure profit ANY DAY! The government may make mistakes.. but the intent behind the government.. the intent behind the programs is what is important. Eventually the right out come will come.. once the people start electing officials who make smart choices.
Put private enterprise into education.. than you will simply have the rich being able to buy themselves into the "choices" and the rest left with the scraps...
Most of the education system of the world are ALL government run.. and they operate quite well and afford their population an excellent education. The difference between us and them is the methods of teaching used (I read a study that compared the methods of all the countries.. and particularly those at the top of education.. ) one majory difference is that in the U.S we re taught to "memorize" more so than conceptialize (that is the basic summary of what the study found).
I will NEVER EVER turst ANYTHING that is motivated by Profit.. pure and simple..
No it is due to a lack of competition. Allow the money to follow the child to whatever school they want to go to. You would see schools improve rapidly. NYC schools have 700 teachers who do not teach and sit a room all day because they cannot be fired. The schools are disfunctional.
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