Let's Get Rid of Medicare: Zachary Won't Need It!

Let's Get Rid of Medicare: Zachary Won't Need It!

Ah, Zachary, the folly of youth!  Zachary explains why he doesn't need Social Security or Medicare:

"Getting rid of it seems like a perfect fix to me. I can take care of myself better than the government can, clearly. I mean look, all this money I am paying into Social Security and Medicare ... I would absolutely get MUCH more if I invested it myself. 

Some people are stupid, I understand that. If you don't trust yourself to prepare for your own future then by all means, give your money to the government and hope that they will take care of you.

But I'm not stupid, and I should have the CHOICE of investing my own money in my own future... it is called liberty! 

I took him on.  I started:  

Zachary, it is clear that you are young and don't understand what may yet befall you.

The rest of my reply is here:  Let's Get Rid of Medicare: Zachary Won't Need It!

 

I wrote the original of the article Let's Get Rid of Medicare; Zachary Won't Need It! back in 2012 during the Presidential primaries.  It was my response to people debating the future of our social safety net.  Perhaps it could be a response today to people who think that Gary Johnson and the Libertarians might have the answers they want.  

Let's be clear:  The Republicans STILL Want to Dismantle Medicare, Privatize Social Security, etc.

So I had to write a bit about why we still need the social safety net; why we can't elect Trump and other Republicans to shut these programs down.  (Updated September 26, 2016):

Cold Old People Found Here

The social safety net will certainly be at risk if Trump is elected and Republicans hold onto the Senate and the House.  The misery that this would bring to millions of people is hard to even fathom.. What is harder to fathom right now is that this election is so close. 

So, before you vote, think..

Romney Picks Ryan!

The announcement is all over the news media by now:  

Mitt Romney is going with Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan as his Vice-Presidential choice.

I've talked about Paul Ryan's disastrous Medicare proposals before HERE at "Keep Your Hands off of My (Son's) Medicare."  Paul Ryan is the guy who wants to end Medicare as we know it by privatizing it and giving seniors vouchers which will barely cover the cost of their health care.  Leo Kapakos gives more details on the absurdity of the Ryan plan HERE at examiner.com. 

In my opinion, a country that can't adequately take care of its aged, its poor, its infirm, its children is a backwards country indeed. Let's hope that we have enough people in this country who want to stop moving backwards at the speed of light.

The pick of Ryan is, in my opinion, a gift for the Democrats and Obama.  Apparently, according to this article at Huffington Post, the President's Re-election campaign agrees with me.  Leo Kapakos also comments on the effect of the Ryan pick on the Romney campaign:  

The Ryan budget is political kryptonite for the Romney campaign. Romney’s selection of Ryan, while potentially pacifying conservatives and giving Rush Limbaugh an early Christmas present, is the functional equivalent of putting a giant target on the Romney campaign which already has turned into a disaster.

Don't miss the whole article HERE! 

I'm also glad that Paul Ryan is going to be Romney's Veep candidate, and believe this is the last nail in Romney's political coffin: 

The pairing of two unappealing, personality-deficient characters who lack compassion, empathy, and common sense is a gift for the Democrats and the rest of us. 

Facebook friend Brian adds:  

They're as unappealing as fish and peanut butter sandwiches. Each one of them turns my stomach, but put them together and I need Maalox. 

He's got that right.  Thanks, Brian!.

Visit and like Facebook.com/ItBeginsWithUs

Yep, that's what I thought when I heard this...   Visit and like One Million Strong for Barack Obama on Facebook.

Happy Mother's Day! Social Security Needs to be Strengthened!

Social Security benefits need to be strengthened, not cut.

From the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare:

On average, women receive lower Social Security benefits than men. This Mother's Day, let's honor the women in our lives by supporting proposals that would improve benefits, not cut them. Here is a video from our Capitol Hill briefing this morning: http://cs.pn/LwSvIN 

Happy Mother's Day! 

Remember that the fastest growing segment of our population is women 55+.  We need a strong Social Security now more than ever to protect our mothers and the mothers of the future.  (And fathers as well...)   

More comments HERE.

Let's Get Rid of Medicare: Zachary Won't Need It

A Blast From the Past:  The Republicans STILL Want to Dismantle Medicare, Privatize Social Security, etc.

Why We Still Need The Social Safety Net; Why We Can't Elect Trump and other Republicans to Shut These Programs Down  (Updated September 26, 2016):

I wrote the original of the article Let's Get Rid of Medicare; Zachary Won't Need It! back in 2012 during the Presidential primaries.  It was my response to people debating the future of our social safety net.  Perhaps it could be a response today to people who think that Gary Johnson and the Libertarians might have the answers they want.  

Cold Old People Found Here

The social safety net will certainly be at risk if Trump is elected and Republicans hold onto the Senate and the House.  The misery that this would bring to millions of people is hard to even fathom.. What is harder to fathom right now is that this election is so close.

So, before you vote, think.. Think about what you want this country to be.  Think about your own future.  Think about the future of people you know and love. Think about the future of people you don't... but don't want to condemn to a "retirement" of misery and abject poverty.

Let's Get Rid Of Medicare!  Zachary Won't Need It!

Let's Get Rid of Medicare: Zachary Won't Need It!

A Blast From the Past:  The Republicans STILL Want to Dismantle Medicare, Privatize Social Security, etc. 

Why We Still Need The Social Safety Net; Why We Can't Elect Trump and other Republicans to Shut These Programs Down  (Updated September 26, 2016):

The Republicans want to dismantle Medicare:  

The Facebook conversation about Social Security and Medicare was lively with people talking about possible fixes to these programs and about their future financial issues:

Michael wrote:

"Medicare and social security can be fixed! The GOP doesn't consider fixing it an option."

Zachary wants to get rid of Medicare and Social Security because, well, he's special! 

Zachary, who must be in his late 20's or early 30's,  replied:

"Getting rid of it seems like a perfect fix to me. I can take care of myself better than the government can, clearly. I mean look, all this money I am paying into Social Security and Medicare and what am I going to get out of it 35 years from now? Even IF I get a little of what I am paying for in the end, I would absolutely get MUCH more if I invested it myself. 

Some people are stupid, I understand that. If you don't trust yourself to prepare for your own future then by all means, give your money to the government and hope that they will take care of you.

But I'm not stupid, and I should have the CHOICE of investing my own money in my own future... it is called liberty! Maybe you have heard of it Linda? If not, you can read all about it in the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution ;)

And Linda, I think you are smart for wanting Medicare and SS to stick around. You are close to retirement. I can understand why you want me to keep paying into it... so that you can have that money for your retirement. I can't really hold that against you, after all, you paid into it your entire life too so that your parents generation could retire.

However, can you understand why I want to keep my money? I am afraid it won't be there when it is time for me to retire. Besides that, I KNOW I can create a better retirement for myself if I was able to invest MY own money in MY own retirement.

Robert is right. Eventually we need to stop this kick-the-can-down-the-road Ponzi scheme before we run out of road. It can't work forever and my generation, as it is seeming, is going to be the ones who get screwed. But what does your generation care? You'll be long gone by that time.... like true Ponzi scheme fashion. Shameful!

Ah, Zachary, the folly of youth!

Zachary, it is clear that you are young and don't understand what may yet befall you.

They changed the social security retirement age when I was in my early 30's.  We were all healthy, employed at good paying jobs, and we'd thought we'd keep that good health and those good high-paying jobs (that enabled us to save bundles) forever.  Very few people complained when they raised that retirement age because we thought,   "It won't happen to us; we'll never have to depend on social security."  

What the future holds for us

Now many of those same healthy fully-employed people are disabled, sick, out of work (and not likely to be rehired).  Some wound up with children with disabilities or other problems who required (or still require) significant cash outlays for their care and upkeep.  I know people who were pushed out of their high-paying jobs when they were 50 or 55 and still had children at home to support.  They never again made the money they used to make, and, even though they had been saving regularly, they found that their savings were simply not enough to get through years of low-paying or no-paying jobs until retirement.  I know people who started businesses, sometimes after such a layoff, and the businesses went bust...  taking most of their retirement savings with them.

There is a reason that these social safety net programs were set up and there is a reason that those nasty old liberal Democrats (and some caring Republicans in the past) supported them:  BECAUSE WITHOUT HEALTH CARE and SOCIAL SECURITY FOR THE OLD AND the SICK, the ELDERLY and the SICK WERE LIVING IN ABJECT POVERTY, OFTEN SUFFERING AND DYING OF PREVENTABLE DISEASES.

Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.

Many in the younger generation have NO IDEA what life was like without these "social safety nets" that you scorn.  Most of your parents, people in their 40's, 50's, and 60's, don't know.  The generation that remembers the misery of people who simply could not "save" for retirement is mostly gone.  It's too bad that you didn't pay attention in American history...   There were plenty of books, plenty of stories of people living in misery and squalor here in the United States.  We still have people in poverty, but it is nothing now like it was.        

Zachary, maybe you are one of the superior few who can work enough and save enough and be lucky enough to never need Disability, Social Security, or Medicare... but first of all, as I said, you really have no idea what the future will hold for you, and secondly:  Don't you have one shred of humanity in you to want to make sure that the least of your fellow countrymen don't live and die in misery?  Remember that Social Security and Medicare are not necessarily for you.  They are for all of us. 


Do the words "We the People" mean nothing to you.. despite your seeming desire to invoke the Constitution?

Why So Many on the Government Dole?

Why are so many people getting Social Security. Medicare, unemployment benefits, food stamps, and all of the rest?  1 in 6?     

An article in CNN Money today claims that the Debt ceiling impasse imperils safety net .

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Updated jobs numbers for July on Friday, August 5.

Check back then.

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Well, yeah, the debt hysteria in Washington, brought to us by our Republican legislators and their Tea Party friends, certainly does imperil the social safety net in more than one way:  

• First of all, if the debt ceiling isn't raised, it's unclear which of the many government benefits will be able to be paid and which ones won't. 
• Secondly, if a deal is worked out, it's unclear how much of the social safety net will be left.  It appears that the rabid Tea Party wants to extract many pounds of flesh from the American people.  

A decent strong social safety net is an essential component of a First Class country.

To me, the social safety net is one of the things that makes us a civilized first class country, unlike a place like Somalia with no government, no taxes, and no food.  Seems are current crop of Teabag people should love Somalia.  They could exercise their "personal responsibility" on the "food" part.

Anyway, I replied to this comment to the article about the Debt Ceiling:

"No wonder the country is going broke. Practically the entire country is on the government dole. How did it get to this point?"

I wrote in reply: 

Keep Your Hands Off of My (Son's) Medicare!

Who Is Really Going to Trash Medicare?

Last year during the health care debate, the Republicans were able to convince many older people that the Dems were going to change or trash Medicare.  They had oldsters holding signs that said, "Keep Your Hands Off of My Medicare!".  

Well now, a year later, the Republicans are actually the guys proposing to dismantle Medicare, as laid out in Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan's latest budget.  I'm not surprised; are you?