153. dan:
if you think Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid are going to remain solvent even if they threaten the US economy, you should step away from the computer and remember to stay away from the polls in November. if the present economic metldown weren’t sufficient, and it probably isn’t sufficient by itself, the coming demographic tsunami as 70 million + babyboomers line up for their checks is going to break the bank. period. and there’s nothing anyone can do about it except to say “look: it just didn’t work out the way we hoped it would. are you going to throw *yet another* ‘it’s not fair!’ tantrum?”
Oct 17, 2008 – 12:37 pm
Well, that was the plan of the Republicans repeated raiding of the Social Security Trust Fund, to put it in Crisis and drown it under a wave of fearmongering about insolvency. First everyone needs to recognize that. The current funding status of Social Security is a PLANNED RESULT of Republican policies.
Second. It is NOT too late to fund Social Security. Republicans and Conservative think tanks have been screaming “the sky is falling” on Social Security since before it began. It was supposed to go bankrupt decades ago already. It’s not gonna happen. Reforms will be needed, yes. But more importantly, WE NEED TO STOP THE CYNICAL, INTENTIONAL UNDERFUNDING OF THE PROGRAMS. And we need to stop raiding the funds that support them. If we put the money that has already been spent on the Iraq War into SS & Medicare, there wouldn’t be a debate today. The programs CAN be funded, it’s just a simple matter of PRIORITIES. And PRIORITIES is why the electorate is moving overwhelmingly towards the Democrats today. Many, many people think the Republicans’ sense of Priority is downright insanity.
