People against socialism, do you support medicare and social security? (Congress, generation)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I disagree..welfare and food stamps are socialism. Take the money from those that have it and give it to those that don't.
I'm not familiar with the exact definition of socialism but people usually refer to universal health care as socialism so...How about medicare, do you consider that socialism? Subsidizing old peoples health care who can't afford it.
I'm not familiar with the exact definition of socialism but people usually refer to universal health care as socialism so...How about medicare, do you consider that socialism? Subsidizing old peoples health care who can't afford it.
Medicare payments also come out of my paycheck.
Medicaid, on the other hand, is socialism. Take from those that have ($$) and give to those that don't.
Isn't that a forced redistribution of wealth ?
How are they socialist when you pay in and then get back YOUR own money ?
Socialism, by definition involves state or a direct worker ownership and administration. It has nothing to do with what you pay versus what you get back. Medicare is similar in concept to a single payer health insurance system, but with an age requirement. Would you not call such system socialist if administered by the state? Social security falls under it as well. Now, whether one gets more or less of what they pay is debatable. It is debatable in a capitalistic set up too. For example, when I pay for health insurance, do I really pay for only myself, or do my contributions help others and help bring down the cost for others? (Applies to medicare as well).
If only people who are sick and in need of health care were to pay for insurance, the costs will be exorbitant. By design, the healthy are included and expected to pay, so the costs are lower for those who generally need it, with a promise to the healthy that they will be covered by someone else eventually. And you can't get your money back when you drop the plan. It is not a guarantee.
Quote:
Originally Posted by HappyTexan
Medicare payments also come out of my paycheck.
Medicaid, on the other hand, is socialism. Take from those that have ($$) and give to those that don't.
Medicare isn't capitalism, or is it? What economic philosophy do you think it entails? BTW, when Adam Smith proposed that the rich should share, (taxes) not only in a proportion of their wealth but something greater, he wasn't exactly advocating socialism.
Well shoot me now because I am getting real close to collecting both. I've paid into them since I was 15 years old and I deserve my money. Ideally, I would like what Happy Texan said. Give me my money back now and I will be happy.
Does it suck for the generations behind me? Oh yeah big time. You are getting screwed. But don't blame the ones collecting SS and Medicare, blame the government for the way they have mishandled both those funds.
They should have been set up as sacrosanct trusts never to be used for anything other than the people that paid into them. But nooo. The government kept taking money from it.
And yes, we did plan for retirement aside from relying on SS. But damn those pesky illnessess that suck the money right away from you.
I grew up with the old American Dream. Work hard, save, retire, get your SS and medicare and move to Florida. Well there ain't no dream. And if I didn't know that for sure, I can look at my friend who worked for one company for 30 years and was in their pension fund. A couple of months before her retirement, bang, the market collapesed and so did her retirement fund. Sucks big time belive me.
The advantage the following generations have is they know it isn't going to be around and they know not to trust their retirement funds so they are ahead of the game.
Welfare and Medicaid should be long gone. That comes from our taxes, not what was paid into them by having someone suck money from your paycheck every two weeks.
The Boomer generation is the largest and there should have been more than enough money from what we put in to cover our benefits.
Another in the long line of brilliant moves by our wonderful government.
I fully support voluntary charity, and caring for the sick and aged.
I am opposed to compulsory charity, under threat, duress, and coercion of government.
"No one should suffer because they lack {fill in the blank}" must always be prefaced by "No one should be compelled to labor for the benefit of another so that..."
Slavery is never an acceptable solution to the ills of mankind.
I have been paying on SS for over 60 years and was never asked it that would be alright. I don't pay much anymore but I still do work so it is withheld by the employer because they have no choice. I don't think you have been paying on that nearly as long as I have but do believe that you will probably not get a whole lot out of the program.
Is it possible that the real problem with SS is the corruption of our Congress? The original plan of FDR and his Brain Trust was that the surplus money not needed each year to pay recipients would be held in trust for future people, however in the early 50s the Congress wanted heavy amounts of money to pay out in foreign aid and guess where they looked for the money. After that money was no longer needed they started spending that "surplus" on pork projects for themselves so as to "buy" votes. Many people called attention to all this by the 1970s but so many failed to see or just didn't allow themselves to get excited. The past several years we have known what to do but neither political party ever had the guts to increase taxes so they went ahead "stealing" from the "trust" fund.
As for Medicare I bet you would be surprised to know that 1/10th of my monthly SS check is withheld as my share of Medicare. Yep, I collect more than that from Medicare but with the program no insurance will take me because I am too old or because I just don't have the loot to keep them going.
I think that you need to reassess what you have been saying about those socialistic programs. Socialism takes from those who have to give to those who do not have and that isn't how those two programs work. Are you, indeed, 60, the amount of time I have been paying into SS?
Same thing as paying into a universal health care system and getting back your money through the health care, it's socialism.
Also, you are paying for people on SS now, not toward your SS in the future. From what I know. SS is already in the red.
But do you know why SS is in the red? Do you know that the Congress, has, over about 60 years spent what was called surplus when money was left after each year? Yes they owe the people over $3 trillion for that "stealing" of our money. I just told the story a few posts back. Look at that one and see if you can recognize anything that was started in the early 50s. FDR may have been a socialist but it would have worked if not for the corrupt Congressmen and the blind voters.
You just explained the healthcare bill you know.
The healthy ones will pay the fine and not bother until they are sick and need it.
Healthy ones have always paid for the sick. Any insurance works that way. Otherwise you might as well start paying the premiums when you start using them. Auto insurance, for example. Do people with clean driving records not pay? And when someone has an accident and cost is in tens of thousands, where do you think the money came from?
With health care, one surgery has the potential of costing as much as lifetime contribution from the person. Medicare is mandatory, because that is the only way payments can be sustained for the riskiest pool of the populace. That, and being administered by the government makes it a socialized system.
In fact, an expanded medicare system by taking out the qualifying age requirement would make it a single payer health care system, something you would call socialistic. Won't you?
Yes I understand that but that is not my fault. That is the government's fault for not being a prudent investor with my money.
Prudent investor? The Congress spent over $3 trillion dollars of what they called surplus SS money over the years. That is not prudent in my mind, but the worst kind of corruption. Since they stopped using the surplus for foreign aid in the early 50s they have been spending it on pork projects to buy votes for themselves.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
