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Sure, let's blame the President for everything; How about the inaction of the Congress? The debt is due in part to two wars which he did not get us into. The debt is also due in part to extended unemployment benefits and other programs, which helped keep food on the table for many Americans during the Great Recession, which he walked into.
I'm not saying he is perfect or that he couldn't have done a better job, but he was "delt (sic.) a terrifying hand" and had to deal with the worst financial situation since the Great Depression; so you can't blame him for everything.
He hasn't done anything good either. Do we as Americans really gain anything from the astronomical cost of maintaining puppet governments in Iraq and Afghanistan? He could have ended this anytime. Ronald Reagan ended a recession, the worst since the Great Depression, with massive tax cuts and he increased tax revenue at the same time. It only happened thirty years ago but Obama doesn't understand it. He had a Democratic congress for two years; he could have done it. Of course, he did cut 500 billion from the Medicare I paid for. You paid for it too.
According to what I read on "reputable sites" ABC News, etc., the $500B cut is a false statement; typical of this campaign.
It was future revenue growth for Medicare that was transferred to Medicaid. What folks sometimes forget that it is Medicaid that provides nursing home related care for seniors who have exhausted their resources so that transfer/cut of future Medicare funds still is in a pool accessible to Seniors in future years.
The consumer price index is manipulated. If it's a conspiracy it's not a theory; it's a fact.
Yeah, I know the "basket of goods" is shifted around from time to time. My point is that the annual COLA raise has no direct correlation to the present performance of the President.
Nobody sits in some office and takes a poll on Presidential performance to determine what the annual COLA is going to be.
Some like to correlate politics to COLA raises. I don't. And being you can't justify any direct political actions to COLA, it's strictly a political opinion. Most extremist political views, fall into the category of conspiracy theories.
In a nutshell, this is how I see the issues (simplified but to the point):
Beginning under Greenspan (Reagan's man) and continuing through Clinton, the government established a methodology (called substitution) that allowed the CPI to be manipulated so that the the rate of inflation would be less than what it really is. Essentially, by allowing the government to substitute lower quality goods in the CPI formula (there are are actually several formulas), the CPI could be held more or less constant while the standard of living is actually going down. In other words, the CPI was butchered so that the government will have to pay out less.
At the same time, Greenspan, followed by Bernanke, began a policy of printing money which in essence cheapened the value of savings and increased inflation (hidden by the CPI manipulation). This allows bankers who were mired in bad loans inflate their debts away. It also allows for the Federal government to spend trillions of dollars of money that it doesn't have, creating a debt burden that can only be paid back by cheapened money (the Fed Reserve is now the largest buyer of the the government's own debt.
Now, the big question, is how does the government get away with all of this. Well, as it happens, retirees and lower income family's (those who are most affected by the rise in costs in basic living necessities) are the most impacted by these policies and the least organized to fight back (unlike labor unions, oil companies, pharmaceuticals, hedge funds, etc.). Retirees do not organize and may not even agree on what to do about the problem (e.g. some may feel that the government should keep going into debt as long as the medical needs are being serviced, even though their savings are being destroyed).
For quite some time, I have been looking for an organized retirees group that can begin to act and protest what is happening. Maybe retirees are just not in the mood. However, the overall plan by our government (doesn't matter whether it is Obama or Romney, since the bankers are running the show via the Federal Reserve), is for retirees to end up moving back into homes with their families or severely downsizing. I think it is time to act before it is too late.
For quite some time, I have been looking for an organized retirees group that can begin to act and protest what is happening. Maybe retirees are just not in the mood.
I take it you are less than impressed by the AARP, and if so I agree. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting, either. Some retirees do not understand what is happening, some have it good and do not care what is happening, those who understand what is happening do not agree on what to do about it, and there is a general lack of ability to see the whole picture, i.e., to consider the plight of all age groups together.
I take it you are less than impressed by the AARP, and if so I agree. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting, either. Some retirees do not understand what is happening, some have it good and do not care what is happening, those who understand what is happening do not agree on what to do about it, and there is a general lack of ability to see the whole picture, i.e., to consider the plight of all age groups together.
Yes, I am less than impressed by the AARP. They are not an advocacy organization for retirees, they are a marketing organization of insurance and travel. From their point of view, anything that puts more money in their pockets is fine with them.
I agree with the rest of what you have to say. But I'll keep searching for a group of retirees who are willing to act together to preserve our hard earned savings.
Why would anybody vote for Obama? All these increases came on his watch.
Dang I missed that one. He started the wars in Aghanistan and Iraq and did it off the budget balance sheet and really drove spending up so now we seniors are in a bind.
Why would anybody vote for Obama? All these increases came on his watch.
Rather than being partisan on this issue, I think it would help the debate along to admit that under Bush we spent $5 trillion dollars that we don't have and under Obama we spent another $5 trillion. All of these policies are being funded by the Federal Reserve (China is basically out) by virtue of its ability to print money at will.
If you are wondering where all of this money went (in total), the average family income has been decreasing under both administrations, while the only class that has since its wealth increasing (by an amount not seen since the the 1920s) is the top 1% wealthiest in the country. It is the classic case of divide and conquer. The politicians have us fighting over marginal incidentals, while their constituency (the top 1%) races away with all of the money. You can vote for Romney, or if you wish you can vote for Obama, but no matter who you vote for, the trend will continue and you will get poorer. Unfortunately, the two politicians who are voicing objections to these policies, Bernie Sanders and Ron Paul, are not running for President.
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