Social Security and Medicare are OFF THE TABLE!

The system is broken. For the record, VL can pound sand.

Jekyll wrote: The system is broken.

Youre like a parrot

The system is broken
The system is broken
Squawk!
The system is broken
The system is broken
Squawk!
The system is broken

What the f*** do you know about the system? Yeah- lets lets our elderly live under bridges and deny them healthcare so we can build another aircraft carrier...

You people talk like your all gonna have 5 million in the bank when youre 60, when I know- I know that most of you rightwingnuts are the biggest low rents on the 285corridor. Jerkle, are you like 25 and think retirement is 100 years away?- cause I got news for you you little brat..It's tommarow and just like today, you ain't gonna have nothing, nothin but a $1500 SS check and a medicare card to keep you from livin in a cardboard box...Ya stupid POS

LadyJazzer wrote: Makes my eyes water in sort of a Federalist/purist, Libertarian, TEA-party sort of way... The usual stuff I would expect from no-taxes/screw-you-if-you-didn't-achieve-enough-to-care-for-yourself-in-your-old-age crowd.

However, I've been paying into Social Security and Medicare since I was 15, along with everyone else, and it's not an "obligation" that you pay...It's what I've paid into the system that I expect to get back. Ronnie Raygun's trickle-down bullcrap notwithstanding. I paid for those that went before me, as was my obligation; and I will receive what was promised to me, as is the contract that I have with the government. If we have to deprive those poor suffering oil companies of their feeding-at-the-trough tax-breaks; if we have to force those millionaires and billionaires to have to pay that extra 3.6% of rate that they were paying under Ronnie Raygun and Clinton--(when Clinton added 23.1 million jobs)--instead of the unpaid for tax breaks that they've had for 10 years under Bush--(when he only added 3 million jobs in 8 years)--; if they have to eliminate some of the breaks that they've gotten a free ride on for the last 10 years, ... excuse me while I shed a tear.

I would expect no less from the "compassionate conservatives"....

There is nothing wrong with you getting back what you turned in. Have you ever calculated just how little that is compared to what is getting paid out? I guess that is why you are so eager to get everyone who makes money to pay for the benefits you and me have not paid for and the paid in funds that simply have not grown as much as expected. But everyone is entitled, right LJ? It doesn't matter where it comes from, just as long as it is there. Yes, you sound a lot like the Greeks. The country is broke, borrowing like crazy, and no one wants to get less than they are entitled to. Let the government make it up magically.

Let the government stop spending the money it wastes on weapons systems, unnecessary wars, tax-cuts for millionaires, and start generating some revenue from the rich deadbeats. Then there will be enough.

Let them actually do something about reducing the COSTS of providing health care, and not just transferring the premiums on to the backs of seniors. Single payer/medicare-style helath care for ALL (which would include EVERYONE in the risk-pool) would do it.

I'm tired of just hearing the 'system is broke'... You need some new material.

I thought the taxes collect or spending cuts were to go to reducing the deficit. Now I hear you think it ought to go to paying government social programs?

If you wish to see health care costs reduced, perhaps the best way is to begin by legislation eliminating frivolous liability suits that spawn a plethora of unnecessary tests and high insurance rates for doctors. Likely there are lots of other ways to reduce those costs, but that is beyond me.

Whether you wish to hear that the system is broke or not is not relevant or a mantra, but a reality. Refusing to acknowledge it is wishful thinking. It does not take a genius to see the end result of the grounds we are about to tread upon. What we need is to accept where we are headed and to do something about it.

BTW, I'm experiencing the health premium and costs, so I'm keenly aware of what you refer to.

LJ, I'll admit I'm not smart enough to figure a way out of this mess. My simple approach would be to cut government spending ( you can choose what programs you want to cut) and every American entity and person making their own cuts.

It's simple from my perspective, like many people over ..hrmph... years old I've payed a great deal into the 'trust fund' with the understanding that an annuity of sorts was at the end. We didn't have a choice, but we went along with the deal. Now without lending respect to where fault lies, the fact remains that when a fund begins to have trouble it's reasonable to loose confidence, perhaps even abandon it completely. Frankly, under the circumstances, I'd rather have my money back, but I judge there's a fair chance hell would freeze before that event.

However, wanting to earn my keep, I figure I can give back something when I begin drawing SS benefits and I recon there are other that can do the same. Volunteering is a way of balancing the scales. I'm willing to teach, especially kids in community colleges where part-time teachers are needed. Now, I 'm not saying that teaching (or any other public service) should be a stipulation of receiving benefits. I am saying that volunteerism is an American principle just like the principle of earning one's keep. Retirees' donated time and effort, their volunteerism, shouldn't be discounted to the point where it does not appear on our civic balance sheet and is forgotten as practical means to limit government.

Rockdoc Franz wrote: If you wish to see health care costs reduced, perhaps the best way is to begin by legislation eliminating frivolous liability suits that spawn a plethora of unnecessary tests and high insurance rates for doctors.

"Tort reform would save $11 billion (0.42% of total health care expenses) since they estimate $55.6 billion (2.1%) is spent annually on defensive medicine. "

"The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) stated in an Oct. 9, 2009 letter to Senator Orrin G. Hatch, "CBO's Analysis of the Effects of Proposals to Limit Costs Related to Medical Malpractice," available at [url=http://www.cbo.gov" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;]http://www.cbo.gov[/url]:

"On the basis of newly available research, CBO has updated its analysis of the effects of tort reform to include not only direct savings from lower premiums for medical liability insurance but also indirect savings from reduced utilization of health care services. Many analysts surmise that the current medical liability system encourages providers to increase the volume or intensity of the health care services they provide to protect themselves against possible lawsuits...

CBO now estimates, on the basis of an analysis incorporating the results of recent research, that [tort reform]... would reduce total national health care spending by about 0.5 percent (about $11 billion in 2009). That figure is the sum of the direct reduction in spending of 0.2 percent from lower medical liability premiums, as discussed earlier, and an additional indirect reduction of 0.3 percent from slightly less utilization of health care services."

That one is getting old... 0.42% of total health care expenses? You STILL need some new material....

LadyJazzer wrote:

Rockdoc Franz wrote: If you wish to see health care costs reduced, perhaps the best way is to begin by legislation eliminating frivolous liability suits that spawn a plethora of unnecessary tests and high insurance rates for doctors.

"Tort reform would save $11 billion (0.42% of total health care expenses) since they estimate $55.6 billion (2.1%) is spent annually on defensive medicine. "

"The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) stated in an Oct. 9, 2009 letter to Senator Orrin G. Hatch, "CBO's Analysis of the Effects of Proposals to Limit Costs Related to Medical Malpractice," available at [url=http://www.cbo.gov" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;]http://www.cbo.gov[/url]:

"On the basis of newly available research, CBO has updated its analysis of the effects of tort reform to include not only direct savings from lower premiums for medical liability insurance but also indirect savings from reduced utilization of health care services. Many analysts surmise that the current medical liability system encourages providers to increase the volume or intensity of the health care services they provide to protect themselves against possible lawsuits...

CBO now estimates, on the basis of an analysis incorporating the results of recent research, that [tort reform]... would reduce total national health care spending by about 0.5 percent (about $11 billion in 2009). That figure is the sum of the direct reduction in spending of 0.2 percent from lower medical liability premiums, as discussed earlier, and an additional indirect reduction of 0.3 percent from slightly less utilization of health care services."

That one is getting old... 0.42% of total health care expenses? You STILL need some new material....

Not to mention the fact that it would TAKE AWAY ONE OF THE PILLARS OF DEMOCRACY!!! The right to have your day in court...Rockdoc parrots the corporate line everytime doesn't he? The facist thinks he's smart but he knows nothing, nothing! If you wanna know how Hitler got Germans to exterminate other people, Rockdoc is the perfect example..Very nationalistic, easily brainwashed and born to follow..I couldn't possibly be more different than this guy

[youtube:3954mrjf][/youtube:3954mrjf]

Vice Lord wrote: I couldn't possibly be more different than this guy

One of the truest things you have ever said.

Please Right Wing people...Please educate yoursevles. You keep repeating the same simple talking points over and over ("the system is broke, the country is Bankraupt")as if you really don't know where our money is going.

This is a fun tool- and it's very inlightening...Just pick what you want and don't want government to provide and see the tradeoffs...Its very educational
http://nationalpriorities.org/en/tools/ ... aid/10000/
http://nationalpriorities.org/en/tools/ ... tradeoff/0