It's no new realization, but rather one that haunts most working Americans that they are supporting more and more "no-loads" every day. Here's some examples on how the honest citizen taxpayer is getting screwed:
You work 40 hours or more a week, work overtime when you can get it for the extra money, pay your bills, pay your federal, state and local taxes, pay for medical, auto and home insurance, have a mortgage, live with your spouse and two small children in a two bedroom house. You worry about the next months rent, dental costs for the kids, and replacing the older vehicle you have as your only means of transportation. The electric bill is getting higher and you forego installing air conditioning because of the cost, using only fans to help through the sweltering summer months. You seldom eat out as the cost of doing so is prohibitive. Your vacations are time spent at home fixing up the house, gardening and keeping your property well maintained. The last decent vacation was 4 years ago, a five day trip to the beach for which you worked countless of overtime hours to pay for. Your kids want a large breed dog, but the costs of care exceeds what you can afford right now.
Meanwhile, down the street lives a family consisting of a mother and three children and two large dogs. The fathers of the children are missing or incarcerated, and pay zero toward the support of the children. They live in a 4 bedroom home, about twice the size of yours and are on welfare, as well as Section 8 housing. They pay only $200 on the $1800 dollar a month rent, have a newer vehicle in the driveway, do not work, and receive numerous other social program benefits such as SNAP, WIC, and an EBT card that they frequently use at the local fast food place. Their medical is paid through Medicaid or MediCal and the children under 18 receive free dental care as well. Having the babies was free through more give away programs and both pre-natal and post-natal care is covered. In addition, they received a new refrigerator, reduced electric rates, a free cell phone for the family and reduced rates on cable TV. Their house is air conditioned and it seems to run constantly. If they need to go to the doctor and the car is not available, they receive transportation vouchers. They carry no auto insurance, letting it expire after one payment, and you note the registration on their car has expired long ago. Two of the children are teens who also do not work, but hang out on the street all evening. Their yard is a mess but they have no interest in cleaning it up and the landlord is not pro-active in cleaning it up either.
But it doesn't end there. Need legal help? You will have to pay for it, but the No-Loads can get it for free. And, if they think the landlord is not keeping the home up to their requirements, they complain to Section 8 and that entity will withhold payment to the landlord until any and all issues are fixed. And if they keep complaining, they won't pay rent until they are evicted. Oh, wait, they know how to use the housing courts so they can stay in a home rent free until the case is adjudicated, usually in a stipulation where they are allowed to stay months rent free before the landlord has to try and get rid of them again. Damages to the house? What did I do is a familiar cry. No matter how bad they keep the place, it's never their fault.
The teens drive the family car and don't have driver licenses. Because in their minds the law does not apply to them. No insurance means if they hit you, they will likely run and say they were not driving. And you will get stuck with the bills. And what are you going to sue them for...their welfare payment? You're just screwed.
My dad always said if you don't work you don't eat. Simple enough. A 400 lb person who says they have to have disability because they can't breathe well or their legs are problems might lose some weight? I guarantee losing weight has a positive health effect on both of those issues. Sure there are some honest disabilities but why can these people go to the club and drink and dance and produce more illegitimate kids, but not work? Veterans injured in combat have more problem getting disability than the no-load who sits at home every day. That's because the administrative law judges blow these welfare cases off and it impacts your Social Security. Note how the politicians shored up disability at the cost of Social Security? Why...for votes! And those who payed into the system all their working lives have to contend with potential shortfalls in the future.
Time to wake up and smell the garbage. If you are sick and tired of this crap you need to dump the people who continuously add to the burden of the taxpayer and make your life difficult while supporting no-loads. You might not agree with all Trump's ideas but when you consider the alternatives it is scary as hell for the working people of America.
Showing posts with label social security. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social security. Show all posts
Thursday, July 7, 2016
Saturday, February 20, 2010
The Middle Class Becoming Poor
I've recently read accounts where the middle class working Americans, those who have supported those who never worked, have now suddenly and through no fault of their own, have become poor. And know what? The government turns their back on them!
That's right. The people who worked, paid taxes, paid for all those lazy bastards to sit on their asses and have illegitimate child after child, receive subsistence from state and federal agencies and free health care, are suddenly finding themselves with no lifelines or safety net when their lives go bad. It's not a black, or white, or any color issue, folks. This crosses every line you can think of. It's an AMERICAN ISSUE! It's happening to your fellow countrymen and women each and every day, and could happen to YOU! As one of my co-workers used to say when we saw a homeless person: "There but for a few paychecks go I." How very true!
One article was about a Nevada couple who both worked their whole lives; the man unfortunately tripped and fell and broke his back. Then a broken hip, skin cancer and the onset of dementia. Out of work and living on social security, his wife had to quit her job due to non-flexible hours, and take a low paying job to be home to take care of him. They lost their home, have no insurance, have nothing, yet the government says they're not poor. Don't qualify for food stamps or Medicaid. WTF? We support all these people with multiple illegitimate kids who never worked, and the illegals, yet an American who worked his whole life can't get help because he gets a meager Social Security check and his wife works for what amounts to fast food wages?
A woman from Mississippi worked her whole life and now has become disabled and living on a very meager $679 Social Security check plus $41 in food stamps. She has to decide which of her 15 prescription medications she can live without since state regulations limit Medicaid recipients to 5 low-cost prescriptions each month. By the Federal government's standards, this lady is living in poverty, and receiving aid, which she obviously needs. But in my estimation, it's clearly not enough! Why should she have to pick and choose what medications she has to live without?
It doesn't just happen to people on lower incomes. A Hollywood prop master making $100K a year ended up living in a trailer in a mobile home park Nevada after sickness wiped out his savings and cost him his home in a once affluent community in California. He stopped repairing his car and let the tags expire to save money; he sometimes overdraws is bank account to pay the utility bills, costing him large bank fees. According to the Federal government, he is not poor enough to get assistance.
A health care bill is not going to fix the inequities in our system. What will fix it is getting the politicians off the dime and stop paying welfare to those who are able bodied and can work, put them into public service jobs , limit the amount of time welfare is paid, limit the payment of welfare to one child per mother, and quit all the payments to illegal aliens for anything.
If an illegal has a child, bundle them both up and ship them back to the country of origin. Close the border tight and quit pandering to those who seem to have no consideration to the sovereignty of our country, and who think we should be the great provider for every other person on earth. If a politician thinks Mexico is so great, send them there and let them live there as an ordinary citizen for a year. Then come back and tell us how nice it is. If you want to spend money, make Mexico nicer for those living there so they want to stay, not come here and live off of us!
I understand the want for a better life and the "streets paved with gold" north of the border story. But it's not true, and life here isn't about making good for those making the trek north anymore. It's hard times for everyone and work isn't plentiful for immigrants. Americans are tired of bearing the burden of health care and welfare for so many illegals. We have enough problems with our own recession, and our government isn't taking care of our own people. The system is failing us, yet people still want the system to take care of them. Is it any wonder there is a deep resentment that continues to grow?
It's not racist. It's not anti-Hispanic. We'd feel the same, and do, about anyone who illegally comes here and mooches off our system. We feel the same about the generations of welfare recipients who perpetuate the same fraud upon the government by raising yet more generations of recipients. Unwed mothers who give birth to yet additional generations of welfare recipients, who do likewise and continue to pump out burdens on the public dole. It's an unending cycle that the government does absolutely nothing about.
Daycare in high school so the unwed pregnant teens don't drop out? And just where do you think most of them go or do after that? Have more kids and live off the system! Sure, there are some success stories and we laud those teens who do go on to bigger and better things. But listening to the multitudes of kids who are still teens or maybe twenty and on their third child or more, all with separate fathers who don't support any of the kids, makes me sick. Because we support the kids simply because they exist, and some dumb ass wasn't smart enough to keep her knees together!
Yet our disabled and elderly who worked their entire life can't get enough to live on when they're out of work and ill.
Shame on our government for failing the Americans who pay the bills.
That's right. The people who worked, paid taxes, paid for all those lazy bastards to sit on their asses and have illegitimate child after child, receive subsistence from state and federal agencies and free health care, are suddenly finding themselves with no lifelines or safety net when their lives go bad. It's not a black, or white, or any color issue, folks. This crosses every line you can think of. It's an AMERICAN ISSUE! It's happening to your fellow countrymen and women each and every day, and could happen to YOU! As one of my co-workers used to say when we saw a homeless person: "There but for a few paychecks go I." How very true!
One article was about a Nevada couple who both worked their whole lives; the man unfortunately tripped and fell and broke his back. Then a broken hip, skin cancer and the onset of dementia. Out of work and living on social security, his wife had to quit her job due to non-flexible hours, and take a low paying job to be home to take care of him. They lost their home, have no insurance, have nothing, yet the government says they're not poor. Don't qualify for food stamps or Medicaid. WTF? We support all these people with multiple illegitimate kids who never worked, and the illegals, yet an American who worked his whole life can't get help because he gets a meager Social Security check and his wife works for what amounts to fast food wages?
A woman from Mississippi worked her whole life and now has become disabled and living on a very meager $679 Social Security check plus $41 in food stamps. She has to decide which of her 15 prescription medications she can live without since state regulations limit Medicaid recipients to 5 low-cost prescriptions each month. By the Federal government's standards, this lady is living in poverty, and receiving aid, which she obviously needs. But in my estimation, it's clearly not enough! Why should she have to pick and choose what medications she has to live without?
It doesn't just happen to people on lower incomes. A Hollywood prop master making $100K a year ended up living in a trailer in a mobile home park Nevada after sickness wiped out his savings and cost him his home in a once affluent community in California. He stopped repairing his car and let the tags expire to save money; he sometimes overdraws is bank account to pay the utility bills, costing him large bank fees. According to the Federal government, he is not poor enough to get assistance.
A health care bill is not going to fix the inequities in our system. What will fix it is getting the politicians off the dime and stop paying welfare to those who are able bodied and can work, put them into public service jobs , limit the amount of time welfare is paid, limit the payment of welfare to one child per mother, and quit all the payments to illegal aliens for anything.
If an illegal has a child, bundle them both up and ship them back to the country of origin. Close the border tight and quit pandering to those who seem to have no consideration to the sovereignty of our country, and who think we should be the great provider for every other person on earth. If a politician thinks Mexico is so great, send them there and let them live there as an ordinary citizen for a year. Then come back and tell us how nice it is. If you want to spend money, make Mexico nicer for those living there so they want to stay, not come here and live off of us!
I understand the want for a better life and the "streets paved with gold" north of the border story. But it's not true, and life here isn't about making good for those making the trek north anymore. It's hard times for everyone and work isn't plentiful for immigrants. Americans are tired of bearing the burden of health care and welfare for so many illegals. We have enough problems with our own recession, and our government isn't taking care of our own people. The system is failing us, yet people still want the system to take care of them. Is it any wonder there is a deep resentment that continues to grow?
It's not racist. It's not anti-Hispanic. We'd feel the same, and do, about anyone who illegally comes here and mooches off our system. We feel the same about the generations of welfare recipients who perpetuate the same fraud upon the government by raising yet more generations of recipients. Unwed mothers who give birth to yet additional generations of welfare recipients, who do likewise and continue to pump out burdens on the public dole. It's an unending cycle that the government does absolutely nothing about.
Daycare in high school so the unwed pregnant teens don't drop out? And just where do you think most of them go or do after that? Have more kids and live off the system! Sure, there are some success stories and we laud those teens who do go on to bigger and better things. But listening to the multitudes of kids who are still teens or maybe twenty and on their third child or more, all with separate fathers who don't support any of the kids, makes me sick. Because we support the kids simply because they exist, and some dumb ass wasn't smart enough to keep her knees together!
Yet our disabled and elderly who worked their entire life can't get enough to live on when they're out of work and ill.
Shame on our government for failing the Americans who pay the bills.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Wanna Buy A Government Motors Car?
Good Grief, the government is in the car business! Obama stressed that they took 60% of GM simply to bail them out, but I find it difficult to believe the government will be able to keep their grubby paws out of the car makers business when and if they finally emerge from bankruptcy. Obama stated further the government would only be involved in the "most critical" decisions...which to many translated dictating what kind of cars they make to meet his greenhouse gas emissions mandates. Socialism and a bailout all rolled into one. Pretty neat package at the taxpayers expenses. Oh yeah, one more thing, Obama stated that the predictors were wrong in thinking the car business would "fall off the cliff" and Chrysler sold more cars in May than they did in April. DUH. Of course they did...they cut the prices by ten to fifteen thousand dollars on some models, and had to liquidate inventory by June 9 as dealerships were told they lost their dealership franchises with Chrysler. Plus, some dealers purchased vehicles from other dealers at below invoice prices to beef up inventory in markets where they were able to move vehicles. What the hell is this guy thinking? Does he think we're too stupid to see the spin?
For those who thought the Democrats were going to save America, you were sadly deluded. They will sink the country with their free spending, just as they have California. Yes, California has a Republican governor but he has been unable to bridle the run away spending of the Democrat controlled legislature and look at the mess we're in. A state that will again run out of money by July and that held up Tax refunds this year because there was no money to pay them. A state that throws billions at welfare and illegal immigration costs and cuts education and mental health benefits for the most needy.
And, the Democrats in Washington will do the same. Spend every penny they can print and watch while the country sinks so far into debt we'll never get out. Did anyone notice that the personal savings rate went up for the first time in 14 years? That's because people are scared of what's coming, and squirreling away cash as best they can to prepare for the future. When Washington talks about playing with Social Security and Medicare, and is silent on welfare, that speaks volumes about where the administration is coming from. People who earned the money and placed it into a trust with the government will likely get screwed, as those who put zip into anything continue to enjoy a free ride on the taxpayer and the backs of the retired.
What happened to Social Security? Why is it being drained so fast? The government neatly blames all those retiring due to the recession and not enough going into the plan. But what about all the borrowing from the plan that took place over the years? What about the movement of money from and to Social Security that wasn't repaid with adequate interest? Why didn't the government act to increase the Social Security tax gradually over the years to accommodate retirement potentials and only use the money for retirees?
What about the millions or tens of millions of Form 1011 charges for illegal aliens that are charged to Medicare annually to drain a separate portion of the fund? Why should the illegals get free care and then the Americans be told their Medicare is on the verge of collapse? Go to another country illegally and see how good your health care is. Wait, go to another country legally and see if you get free health care. Not only no, but hell, no! Looks like their politicians have more brains than ours do. We're not talking about emergency, absolutely needed care either. We're talking about every little damned thing that you can show up at the ER for. Just be illegal and you're home free. And the taxpayer is paying for it.
Sad
For those who thought the Democrats were going to save America, you were sadly deluded. They will sink the country with their free spending, just as they have California. Yes, California has a Republican governor but he has been unable to bridle the run away spending of the Democrat controlled legislature and look at the mess we're in. A state that will again run out of money by July and that held up Tax refunds this year because there was no money to pay them. A state that throws billions at welfare and illegal immigration costs and cuts education and mental health benefits for the most needy.
And, the Democrats in Washington will do the same. Spend every penny they can print and watch while the country sinks so far into debt we'll never get out. Did anyone notice that the personal savings rate went up for the first time in 14 years? That's because people are scared of what's coming, and squirreling away cash as best they can to prepare for the future. When Washington talks about playing with Social Security and Medicare, and is silent on welfare, that speaks volumes about where the administration is coming from. People who earned the money and placed it into a trust with the government will likely get screwed, as those who put zip into anything continue to enjoy a free ride on the taxpayer and the backs of the retired.
What happened to Social Security? Why is it being drained so fast? The government neatly blames all those retiring due to the recession and not enough going into the plan. But what about all the borrowing from the plan that took place over the years? What about the movement of money from and to Social Security that wasn't repaid with adequate interest? Why didn't the government act to increase the Social Security tax gradually over the years to accommodate retirement potentials and only use the money for retirees?
What about the millions or tens of millions of Form 1011 charges for illegal aliens that are charged to Medicare annually to drain a separate portion of the fund? Why should the illegals get free care and then the Americans be told their Medicare is on the verge of collapse? Go to another country illegally and see how good your health care is. Wait, go to another country legally and see if you get free health care. Not only no, but hell, no! Looks like their politicians have more brains than ours do. We're not talking about emergency, absolutely needed care either. We're talking about every little damned thing that you can show up at the ER for. Just be illegal and you're home free. And the taxpayer is paying for it.
Sad
Thursday, August 28, 2008
When the Freight Train Takes a Dirt Road Detour...
When the Freight Train takes a dirt road detour, it's time to start believing that something is really wrong with the economy, and those running the railroad. And, friends and readers, this freight train we call our nation's economy has not only taken that dirt road detour, but has run through the swamp as well!
What was a well oiled locomotive, pulling our train through the hills and valleys of the economy, sometimes straining a bit uphill, and sometimes free-wheeling and getting a good ride on better days, has been derailed by the political machine that was designed to serve the nation, not bankrupt it. That and the giant corporations that keep bleeding us dry, and filling their pockets while ours have nothing but lint left in the bottom!
For those who believe in paying more taxes, be sure to vote democrat in November. Regardless of what you think of Bush, the war or anything else, remember who has been at stoking coal into the locomotive for the past two years...the democrat controlled house and senate, and not the republicans. Ol' Bush might be the throttle man, but the train doesn't run very well unless you have good backup fire, and he sure as hell hasn't. I don't agree with some of his decisions, but it takes a consensus and that he hasn't had. In-fighting and pork-barrel spending just hurts everyone. Just look back to the Clinton years and the tax tables to see how much more your taxes will be, and get ready.
The government thinks you're an endless source of money. You paid all that money into Social Security in preparation for retirement, if you can ever afford it, and then they tax at least part of it. They constantly entreat you to save for your retirement in a 401(k) or an IRA, and if you do, they tax it when you withdraw it, no matter how little it is, or how much you have left.
If you work hard and pay taxes, you pay for those who sit on their butts and collect welfare, or who are here illegally, and have baby after baby free on your dollar, yet you can't afford to pay your medical insurance co-pays when you get sick or have to be hospitalized! The hospital writes off the care for those people but do you think they will write yours off? No way! You'll go to collections and they'll put a lien on everything you own to try and collect. All while the illegals and welfare cases go merrily on their way for free! And, for those on welfare, every free baby gets them more welfare money, WIC money, food stamps, etc. And you're paying for it. They won't admit who the baby's father is because the State might actually make the father pay, unless he is in jail, as many are. Plus, they get more on welfare if they just claim they don't know. Some women have six, eight or ten children each with a different "baby daddy"! Sure makes a case for involuntary sterilization, doesn't it! Or at least cut off welfare after one! Work or no welfare works too!
The government simply increases taxes to cover any and all shortfalls. politicians have diarrhea of the mouth and promise no new taxes but then sneak them in the back door so you won't notice them. Or at least hope you won't. Increase the sales tax by one cent seems minuscule and they tell you it's also paid by all the tourists and transients so it's a good thing. But when do tourists and transients but cars and appliances and the big ticket items that costs the most where that extra cent really hurts? Nobody tells you that, do they? Plus, the tourists go away and you're stuck the rest of the year and for many years with the tax!
Same with taxes to cover hospital districts, such as the one that was defeated narrowly this week for Tri-City Medical Center. They spent 400K on the election, 400K on TV ads, God knows how much for consultants and newspaper ads (couldn't that money have gone to repairs and modernization?) and the bond measure failed. For the third time! Here's a hospital that can't govern itself effectively, and has been whining for years about the same issues. They constantly put a proposition before the people asking them to tax themselves, using scare tactics that the hospital will close if the people don't approve a new tax. Didn't work before, and didn't work this time either. People are saying No More Taxes! Especially when you want to tax people who don't use the hospital (their insurance requires they use other facilities), tax only part of the cities covered so most of the people who use the hospital don't get taxed, the high use by illegals who pay nothing and no taxes, etc, etc.
Big business is suffering in this country, and in some cases, rightfully so. Take the auto industry. I don't drive foreign cars, so let's go from there. We took too long to catch up to the quality of the foreign imports, and we let them get too great a foothold in the US. Their pricing was more attractive, they lasted longer and didn't have to be replaced every few years. Their fuel economy was better and during the first fuel crisis we learned absolutely nothing. The US automakers didn't downsize vehicles and the public didn't really seem to want smaller cars, so as soon as it was over, we went back to burning gas and diesel like it was never-ending, and here we are again in a worse situation than ever.
And now, like then, the gas companies are raking in monumental profits,while we're standing with empty pockets wondering how to fill the tank on the behemoth in the driveway! And the US automakers are in trouble, trying to figure out how to survive in the marketplace. They're losing billions, yes billions of dollars every quarter, trying to stay alive, closing plants and laying off workers, stopping production of some SUV and truck lines and minivans, etc. Did it take this long to learn that the time was coming that gasoline and diesel would run short or too costly to fuel everything? And that fighting higher fuel mileage standards wasn't a prudent thing to do?
And, maybe some introspect is in store for some workers themselves, to see where it's actually worth the price they are paid to fit nuts and bolts onto a vehicle. Here's some amazing information and it goes to show how our own unions and workers have priced their own companies right out of the market. Sure, the buyouts are fine for them, since an autoworker worker making 60K could receive 100K and up to 81 weeks of severance pay to accept the buyout. (This varies by company, time worked, etc. Some Ford workers are offered $140K after 10 years)
Per the Center for Automotive Research: " On average, active union members cost automakers $130,000 a year, whether they are working or not, according to the Center for Automotive Research. That cost drops to $50,000 a year when someone retires early or takes a buyout, and once that retiree is old enough to move onto Medicare and Social Security, the cost drops to $20,000 annually. " Any wonder the cost for an automobile is so high?
Regardless, we're on that freight train and taxes and big business have derailed us and only government and big business are going to get those rails back in place to a healthy economy. We need to stabilize jobs in sectors where people can make a reasonable wage, have healthcare benefits, reduce taxation that is based on giving away to everyone and every nation that won't do for themselves, and start being America again. Maybe we need to reinvent the railroad and lay the tracks ourselves to assure it's done right, and use the cowcatcher to fling off the politicians who stand in the way enroute to a strong and healthy economy!
What was a well oiled locomotive, pulling our train through the hills and valleys of the economy, sometimes straining a bit uphill, and sometimes free-wheeling and getting a good ride on better days, has been derailed by the political machine that was designed to serve the nation, not bankrupt it. That and the giant corporations that keep bleeding us dry, and filling their pockets while ours have nothing but lint left in the bottom!
For those who believe in paying more taxes, be sure to vote democrat in November. Regardless of what you think of Bush, the war or anything else, remember who has been at stoking coal into the locomotive for the past two years...the democrat controlled house and senate, and not the republicans. Ol' Bush might be the throttle man, but the train doesn't run very well unless you have good backup fire, and he sure as hell hasn't. I don't agree with some of his decisions, but it takes a consensus and that he hasn't had. In-fighting and pork-barrel spending just hurts everyone. Just look back to the Clinton years and the tax tables to see how much more your taxes will be, and get ready.
The government thinks you're an endless source of money. You paid all that money into Social Security in preparation for retirement, if you can ever afford it, and then they tax at least part of it. They constantly entreat you to save for your retirement in a 401(k) or an IRA, and if you do, they tax it when you withdraw it, no matter how little it is, or how much you have left.
If you work hard and pay taxes, you pay for those who sit on their butts and collect welfare, or who are here illegally, and have baby after baby free on your dollar, yet you can't afford to pay your medical insurance co-pays when you get sick or have to be hospitalized! The hospital writes off the care for those people but do you think they will write yours off? No way! You'll go to collections and they'll put a lien on everything you own to try and collect. All while the illegals and welfare cases go merrily on their way for free! And, for those on welfare, every free baby gets them more welfare money, WIC money, food stamps, etc. And you're paying for it. They won't admit who the baby's father is because the State might actually make the father pay, unless he is in jail, as many are. Plus, they get more on welfare if they just claim they don't know. Some women have six, eight or ten children each with a different "baby daddy"! Sure makes a case for involuntary sterilization, doesn't it! Or at least cut off welfare after one! Work or no welfare works too!
The government simply increases taxes to cover any and all shortfalls. politicians have diarrhea of the mouth and promise no new taxes but then sneak them in the back door so you won't notice them. Or at least hope you won't. Increase the sales tax by one cent seems minuscule and they tell you it's also paid by all the tourists and transients so it's a good thing. But when do tourists and transients but cars and appliances and the big ticket items that costs the most where that extra cent really hurts? Nobody tells you that, do they? Plus, the tourists go away and you're stuck the rest of the year and for many years with the tax!
Same with taxes to cover hospital districts, such as the one that was defeated narrowly this week for Tri-City Medical Center. They spent 400K on the election, 400K on TV ads, God knows how much for consultants and newspaper ads (couldn't that money have gone to repairs and modernization?) and the bond measure failed. For the third time! Here's a hospital that can't govern itself effectively, and has been whining for years about the same issues. They constantly put a proposition before the people asking them to tax themselves, using scare tactics that the hospital will close if the people don't approve a new tax. Didn't work before, and didn't work this time either. People are saying No More Taxes! Especially when you want to tax people who don't use the hospital (their insurance requires they use other facilities), tax only part of the cities covered so most of the people who use the hospital don't get taxed, the high use by illegals who pay nothing and no taxes, etc, etc.
Big business is suffering in this country, and in some cases, rightfully so. Take the auto industry. I don't drive foreign cars, so let's go from there. We took too long to catch up to the quality of the foreign imports, and we let them get too great a foothold in the US. Their pricing was more attractive, they lasted longer and didn't have to be replaced every few years. Their fuel economy was better and during the first fuel crisis we learned absolutely nothing. The US automakers didn't downsize vehicles and the public didn't really seem to want smaller cars, so as soon as it was over, we went back to burning gas and diesel like it was never-ending, and here we are again in a worse situation than ever.
And now, like then, the gas companies are raking in monumental profits,while we're standing with empty pockets wondering how to fill the tank on the behemoth in the driveway! And the US automakers are in trouble, trying to figure out how to survive in the marketplace. They're losing billions, yes billions of dollars every quarter, trying to stay alive, closing plants and laying off workers, stopping production of some SUV and truck lines and minivans, etc. Did it take this long to learn that the time was coming that gasoline and diesel would run short or too costly to fuel everything? And that fighting higher fuel mileage standards wasn't a prudent thing to do?
And, maybe some introspect is in store for some workers themselves, to see where it's actually worth the price they are paid to fit nuts and bolts onto a vehicle. Here's some amazing information and it goes to show how our own unions and workers have priced their own companies right out of the market. Sure, the buyouts are fine for them, since an autoworker worker making 60K could receive 100K and up to 81 weeks of severance pay to accept the buyout. (This varies by company, time worked, etc. Some Ford workers are offered $140K after 10 years)
Per the Center for Automotive Research: " On average, active union members cost automakers $130,000 a year, whether they are working or not, according to the Center for Automotive Research. That cost drops to $50,000 a year when someone retires early or takes a buyout, and once that retiree is old enough to move onto Medicare and Social Security, the cost drops to $20,000 annually. " Any wonder the cost for an automobile is so high?
Regardless, we're on that freight train and taxes and big business have derailed us and only government and big business are going to get those rails back in place to a healthy economy. We need to stabilize jobs in sectors where people can make a reasonable wage, have healthcare benefits, reduce taxation that is based on giving away to everyone and every nation that won't do for themselves, and start being America again. Maybe we need to reinvent the railroad and lay the tracks ourselves to assure it's done right, and use the cowcatcher to fling off the politicians who stand in the way enroute to a strong and healthy economy!
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Social Security Going Broke?
Well, the Social Security system is telling it like it is, that it's going broke. It's been telling us this for years, but the politicians have been see-sawing between hopefully optimistic, and sticking their heads in the doo-doo created by their political manure in Washington, and basically ignoring the problem, while borrowing billions from the SSA to put into other programs.
Now the well is running dry, and the politicians are running around like Chicken Little screaming that the sky is falling. Good grief, does this surprise anyone? We've been told this was coming, yet the bureaucrats in Washington sat on their partisan hands, and did nothing to solve the problem, but yap about it, and blame the other party for the problems, as they always do.
Obama has this idiotic idea to change the basis for paying Social Security taxes and start collecting it when people make over $250,000 a year, but still stop collecting when your salary exceeds $102,000. That's ridiculous. I say place the Social Security tax on full income no matter what it is, with no gaps at all. If you make $175K, apply the tax. Then adjust the benefits accordingly. What's the logic of having a tax gap between $102K to $250K? That doesn't help the "true" middle class, or lower-class family with multiple income earners. Sounds more like pandering to some "phantom" class to me, than any sense of fairness.
If you want to balance the system, stop all the giveaways. Stop the Section 1011 free medical for illegals that is part of the Medicare Fund. Don't you think that drains your tax dollar and your future ability to get medical care through Medicare?
Check out the pdf below and look at the address...Direct to good ol' Social Security to pay for those illegals we can't stop at the border. It cost California $10.4 billion dollars in unreimbursed costs last year alone, so imagine the federal bill.
http://www.scha.org/documents/cms-10130A_aliens_determination_of_pmt_form_1.pdf
And, overhaul Medicare because that's going for broke before Social Security! Quit giving benefits to those who never put a damned thing into the system! For example, it's a welfare system for many; in addition to the Section 1011 already mentioned, many people presenting Medicare cards with the letter "M" following the number are usually alien residents who are collecting benefits under another family member, and frequently the recipient of an organ transplant or other costly medical procedure.
Since Medicare will ostensibly go broke before Social Security, this is even a bigger issue in my mind, as we attempt to salvage our old age safety net.
Getting older in America is not a such good thing anymore. Those who worked to bring us where we are today, who fought to guarantee freedom and hope are losing ground, and their legions are slowly fading from sight. The new warriors are sadly unappreciated after a flash-in-the-pan welcome home. Many young Americans are being abandoned by their parents in form of guidance, if not love, and have no semblance of familial unit to guide them, turning to gangs instead.
And our elected officials seem to be either ineffective, unwilling to correct the wrongs of the system, so entrenched in party politics that they don't know right from wrong, prone to corruption, or like so many we've seen over the past few years, in court or prison for their misdeeds.
America, it may not be too late to wake up and make a change, but soon it will be, because if you don't, history is destined to repeat itself all over again.
Now the well is running dry, and the politicians are running around like Chicken Little screaming that the sky is falling. Good grief, does this surprise anyone? We've been told this was coming, yet the bureaucrats in Washington sat on their partisan hands, and did nothing to solve the problem, but yap about it, and blame the other party for the problems, as they always do.
Obama has this idiotic idea to change the basis for paying Social Security taxes and start collecting it when people make over $250,000 a year, but still stop collecting when your salary exceeds $102,000. That's ridiculous. I say place the Social Security tax on full income no matter what it is, with no gaps at all. If you make $175K, apply the tax. Then adjust the benefits accordingly. What's the logic of having a tax gap between $102K to $250K? That doesn't help the "true" middle class, or lower-class family with multiple income earners. Sounds more like pandering to some "phantom" class to me, than any sense of fairness.
If you want to balance the system, stop all the giveaways. Stop the Section 1011 free medical for illegals that is part of the Medicare Fund. Don't you think that drains your tax dollar and your future ability to get medical care through Medicare?
Check out the pdf below and look at the address...Direct to good ol' Social Security to pay for those illegals we can't stop at the border. It cost California $10.4 billion dollars in unreimbursed costs last year alone, so imagine the federal bill.
http://www.scha.org/documents/cms-10130A_aliens_determination_of_pmt_form_1.pdf
And, overhaul Medicare because that's going for broke before Social Security! Quit giving benefits to those who never put a damned thing into the system! For example, it's a welfare system for many; in addition to the Section 1011 already mentioned, many people presenting Medicare cards with the letter "M" following the number are usually alien residents who are collecting benefits under another family member, and frequently the recipient of an organ transplant or other costly medical procedure.
Since Medicare will ostensibly go broke before Social Security, this is even a bigger issue in my mind, as we attempt to salvage our old age safety net.
Getting older in America is not a such good thing anymore. Those who worked to bring us where we are today, who fought to guarantee freedom and hope are losing ground, and their legions are slowly fading from sight. The new warriors are sadly unappreciated after a flash-in-the-pan welcome home. Many young Americans are being abandoned by their parents in form of guidance, if not love, and have no semblance of familial unit to guide them, turning to gangs instead.
And our elected officials seem to be either ineffective, unwilling to correct the wrongs of the system, so entrenched in party politics that they don't know right from wrong, prone to corruption, or like so many we've seen over the past few years, in court or prison for their misdeeds.
America, it may not be too late to wake up and make a change, but soon it will be, because if you don't, history is destined to repeat itself all over again.
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