Everywhere we turn today we are faced with the dastardly acts of the newly formed “Tea Party”. Most recently they are being chastised for doing what they were elected to do; “reduce government and cut government spending”. From where did these perverts emerge and what poor informed citizen had the audacity to vote for them? Look around folks, your neighbor and their neighbor must have voted them in. Maybe you and I are part of that group? They were sent there in place of both Republican and Democratic nominees and incumbents. We listened and bought into their mandate that we must trim government size and spending. Well folks, it’s time to pay the Piper. But let’s be realistic, they are not the problem, we are. Or at least I think we are. Yes, you and me, the voters, especially those of us that are age challenged. We want our cake and we want to eat it to boot. We say to cut spending on the one hand, yet on the other we say don’t touch our Social Security, our Medicare or our Medicaid. Well hell folks, that’s about 50-60% of our spending and it grows day in and day out, hour by hour and minute by minute. The unfortunate thing is that we want them to cut any and everything unless it effects us. Take our freebies and we will hate you. Actually they aren’t freebies, since we, or most of us, have been paying into them for 40 or more years. And we damn well want our pound of flesh. However the time to reconsider is here and now. And better we do it and not pawn it off on the future generation. So here is what I consider proposing.
Social Security could consider:
1. Pushing early retirement to age 65 and full retirement to age 70
2. Have a declining scale of benefits based on a persons financial worth with a minimum floor for all, no matter how wealthy
3. Increase the wage ceiling but only charge 1/2 the rate over $150,000 and reduce it to 1/4 the rate over $500,000
4. Tax 100% of benefits, not the 85%, for all recipients with income over $175,000
5. Change mandatory withdrawal from IRA’s and others to age 73 but increase the minimum.
6. Obviously we will need a formula to consider inflation, deflation et. al.
7. Have a start date that eases us in, and out.
Now that is just for starters. Put on your thinking caps and add or subtract from this if you have the mettle. Then let your Congressperson know what you want them to do
Medicare and Medicaid are next up.
2 comments:
The president formed a bepartisan commission to evaluate the budget deficit and how to reduce it. They came up with a broad based plan that works. Congress and the president should follow what is recommended by the commission. Only when America is out of debt will we return to prosperity as a country. Every day we wait to really adress the problem it gets harder and harder to ever recover.
The bipartison committee made numerous recomendations, most of which have been totally ignored by the Congress and the President. Most discouraging is the fact that they all cringe like cowering dogs when it comes to an overhaul of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. And to think in terms of being out of debt, just remember, "it will never happen in our lifetime nor our childrens and grand childrens.
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