RE: The Democrats, the Deficit, and Social Security

Article can be read here

This guy is just unbelievable.

First: An editorial in the NYT IS NOT official. I would accept a press release from the White House to be official. Since Obama said Medicare/Social Security would go untouched in his address, I would even say officially, they won't be touching those programs. (This is not to say they won't, Obama lies a lot after all, but the official stance of the White House is what it is, don't infer more)

Second: The problem with America's health care is that it is way too expensive. As a Canadian I find it funny when I travel and I get medical insurance which applies to every country except the US. By definition Health Care is expensive, but when doctors have average salaries well above that of other countries - you're going to have a problem. Americans as a whole get paid more then they're worth for a lot of jobs (sports coaches, athletes, doctors, union workers). But hey, that's their culture and I'm not the one to judge...but the offshoot of this culture is increased costs for certain industries such as health care. As the next dominoe falls, any public effort will be too expensive and likely mediocre (medicare/medicaid). Same goes for SS.


Third: Shamus actually makes the case that the solution to the deficit is to tax the rich as high as 90% - what a moron.

Deficit and debt were not caused by lack of income from loss of taxation, it's from over spending. Yes, you are correct, military is one of those big expenditures, but medicare, medicaid and social security are much worse. Worse yet, THEY DON'T SCALE!!! They may have appeared to work over the last 30 years, but the ratio of workers to those collecting SS benefits was much greater then it will ever be again (same goes for medicare/medicaid). This means that the cost of SS will balloon, while the income (those paying into it) will tapper. Fundamentally this means it's doomed. The solution is not more taxation, it's sadly a decrease in benefits that shouldn't have been promised to begin with.

The issue with increased taxation is that it stifles innovation, creativity and drive. Without those 3, there will be no prosperity.

IMHO, it is a travesty that SS might be gutted, I hate to think of how many people are going to have the rug slipped out from under them. But truth be told, if the US gets into hyper inflation because they default on all their debt then those people will face the same fate. The US was supposed to be the land of opportunity. What does this mean? It means if you work hard, save hard you can make it rich. It doesn't mean you can work hard, spend hard, then continue to live on the backs of taxpayers.

SS should only ever exist as a form of forced retirement planning. And no, I don't mean that measly few bucks that come off the paycheck, but a colossal amount coming off the paycheck. Then the amount you put in you get back with interest when you retire...that is a system that would work.