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Then you obviously have reading comprehension issues because all she did was confirm my original post was accurate..
You can use as many of these that you feel necessary to drive your wrong opinions or views, but, in the end, we know where you're coming from: the far out right.
This is what you (not CBO) posted that was false -- Let's face it. Medicare and Social Security will have to be deramatically cut or eliminated to avoid insolvency.
Meanwhile, there is no reason to treat Social Security and Medicare together, as they are two separate authorities that function in two distinct environments. There are no major problems looming in Social Security unless, as I said, this recession lasts a decade or so.
LOL. I talk to CBO people on quite a regular basis. Your problem is you don't understand what they are saying, so you let some right-wing disinformation specialist tell you what they said instead. Bad idea.
Health care reform, Doctor. It's in your future. Learn to cope.
Gee, Saggy, maybe you need to read those CBO reports again. They tell a different story than your spin. Is it that liberals cannot read, or that they just don't understand what they read? I would have hated to see those ACT reading comprehension scores for you, Saggy. That probably kept you out of a good school and forced you to eventually become a government tool, rather than working in the real world.
Health care reform? We need unlimited COBRA, elimination of pre-existing conditions and caps on total out of pocket medical debt that can be acquired- that is it. We do not need a marxist take over.
Saggy, in your authoritarian socialist mind, I can see you think you will just enslave the medical profession and force them to work under your plan. I think the Supreme Court and the Emancipation Proclamation eliminated slavery, so you may want to come up with a new plan. Keep in mind that guys my age and older will just quit, as I (as well as most docs my age and above) have enough money that I do not have to work if I do not want to work. I have actually been declared 100% medically disabled due to cancer and could make 50% more money if I decided not work (no taxes on disablity payments with premiums paid in post tax dollars). However, money is not the issue for most of us physicians- we work because we enjoy working. If the feds lean on us too hard, the enjoyment from working is eliminated and we will just quit and find something else to do.
Oh give me a break. The Social Security Trust fund has $2.5 Trillion dollars in it. Social Security is not broke. It needs some tweaks as have happened in the past, but no long rage program persists without tweaks.
The Social Security Trust Fund has no such thing. That surplus has been spent, the assets in the SSTF are treasury bonds, that need to be repaid from general tax revenues. The problem is that there is no plan to do so, and that liability is off budget, meaning it has been ignored. Argueably, the SSTF isn't broke, just that the general fund will be strained paying back it's obligations.
Last edited by Toyman at Jewel Lake; 02-11-2010 at 09:44 AM..
The 8%+ cap on GSA investments is a yearly yield.. Is there a reason why the 10 year note rates are relevant to the topic, other than to show that they are up 40% from a year ago?
And not at all relevant to 10-year Treasuries, which for a time in the Fall of 2008 were trading below 0%. Wednesday's yield of 3.72% and anything near that is an historically low rate indicating continued strong demand for US debt. And yes, as you should have known, there is a reason for quoting the 10-year note. It is the most widely held issue, and therefore the one most frequently quoted by anybody.
Because other insurance companies hold hard assets, real assets, which provide accounts receivables to pay claims..
Are any of these assets US Treasury securities? They're quite popular you know. Why, according to his financial disclosure forms, even former President Bush had a very sizable chunk of his personal fortune invested in them at the same time he was going around telling everybody else that they were useless IOU's. But I digress. Please do tell why Treasuries are hard, real assets when held by private insurance companies, yer are mere worthless IOU's when held by public insurance companies.
Quote:
Originally Posted by pghquest
There isnt an insurance company alive on the planet which could operate by claiming their assets are held at another company, also controlled by them, with the other company being broke and in debt trillions of dollars..
I think that would not be the case if the debt of this controlled company were the world standard for reliability and security. But of course, none is. That role already is and long has been played by US Treasury securities.
...Please do tell why Treasuries are hard, real assets when held by private insurance companies, yer are mere worthless IOU's when held by public insurance companies...
The issue isn't that they are not a real asset for the SSTF (though that's questionable since the bonds held by SSTF are a special class that cannot be traded), the issue is that those bonds are an obligation (liability) on the general fund, that will have to be repaid by tax dollars.
Have you bothered to read the financial statements for the program?
Depending on how you look at it... the program is belly up come next fiscal year.
I doubt that the Democrats alone caused that to happen.
It's called the greedy Baby Boomer mentality.
Let them choke on their own greed. Revel in the fact that the economy is going south and they will not get off scott free. That they will have to work and barely retire. After all... they created Social Security for their benefit and now they are spending all they got to keep it. Gotta love the irony.
Peace!
Get your FACTS straight:
BABY BOOMERS (born 1946-1965) HAVE NOT YET STARTED TO RECEIVE SOCIAL SECURITY. They will not start UNTIL 2011.
The folks you are speaking of that "created Social Security for their benefit" was the GREATEST GENERATION (born between 1910-1925) - the ones that fought in World War II.
The ones who have reaped the benefit of Social Security to date are the GREATEST GENERATION and SILENT GENERATION (born between 1925-1945)
Baby boomers have deductions from their pay for Social Security just like you - and they have yet to collect a dime, at least not yet.
Funny to talk about Greed and Baby Boomers in the same sentence. Baby boomers will be the first generation that has paid into Social Security their ENTIRE working lives and have paid into Medicare, and will receive lower or no benefits from either program if/when they go broke.
I'd call Baby Boomers: Carrying The Backs Of Their Grandparents and Parents Generation
Since 1983, when it first began to collect more Social Security taxes than it needed to pay benefits, Congress has told the American people that the extra money is invested to help pay for the impending retirement of millions of baby boomers. The reality is very different. The excess taxes were really given to the federal government to spend on whatever it wished.
To make matters worse, the money siphoned from the Social Security trust fund has been used to hide the real level of deficit spending. A dollar borrowed from the Social Security trust fund is a dollar that Congress will not have to borrow from the financial markets. As a result, if Congress borrows $50 billion from the Social Security trust fund, then $250 billion worth of overspending can be reported as only a $200 billion annual deficit.
Our government has borrowed money from Social Security to pay for Our Military, among other things.
Go figure
Gee, Saggy, maybe you need to read those CBO reports again.
Maybe you should read your entirely inaccurate quote again. I'll make it easy for you...here it is...
Let's face it. Medicare and Social Security will have to be deramatically cut or eliminated to avoid insolvency.
Still false, and stubbornly refusing to move from that spot.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hawkeye2009
I would have hated to see those ACT reading comprehension scores for you, Saggy. That probably kept you out of a good school and forced you to eventually become a government tool, rather than working in the real world.
Oh, I came from your "real world" to get here. Took a 30% pay cut, but the WH Fellows program was too good an opportunity to pass up. And no regrets. It's all certainly worked out rather well in the long-run.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hawkeye2009
Health care reform? We need unlimited COBRA, elimination of pre-existing conditions and caps on total out of pocket medical debt that can be acquired- that is it. We do not need a marxist take over.
Ah, COBRA. That's a fine example of affordable health care, right there. Let's definitely put everybody into that. As for marxist takeovers, the next one to be proposed will be the first. As a nation, we WILL be forced into a national health care plan, you know, and quite a bit sooner now than later. Should have happened 15 years ago (if not more), but the sands in your hourglass are most definitely running very low right now.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hawkeye2009
Saggy, in your authoritarian socialist mind, I can see you think you will just enslave the medical profession and force them to work under your plan.
I'd very much look forward to that. I've put the word out over at 1600 to let them know I'd be most interested in the job if it were offered.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hawkeye2009
Keep in mind that guys my age and older will just quit, as I (as well as most docs my age and above) have enough money that I do not have to work if I do not want to work.
Not to worry. We have plans to issue quite a number of H1-B visas, so you go right ahead and retire if that's what you feel you need to do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hawkeye2009
I have actually been declared 100% medically disabled due to cancer and could make 50% more money if I decided not work (no taxes on disablity payments with premiums paid in post tax dollars).
Well, I don't have anything worse than bunions and a little carpal tunnel syndrome, but I don't think any of that is relevant to the discussion, so I'll just note wishes for the best of future health for both of us.
Quote:
Originally Posted by hawkeye2009
However, money is not the issue for most of us physicians- we work because we enjoy working. If the feds lean on us too hard, the enjoyment from working is eliminated and we will just quit and find something else to do.
So it isn't the medicine part that makes your profession enjoyable -- you know, the compassion and healing and all that. Instead, it's the not being leaned on by government thing. Can't do diagnoses without adequate liberty? Unable to stomach the thought that the government might say, you know, in cases like this around the country, 50 mg of obamacin bid has shown the most consistent results?
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