ahead and file bankruptcy now, keep what money I have and make myself a ward of the state?
Republican plans to force us to buy private health insurance at 65 instead of going on Medicare changes everything.
How do I pay my 0.00 premiums as I do now in retirementment?
Oh well. Maybe they will give back the money I already paid in all these years.
The Democratic candidate has apparently won the New York special election for Congress by campaigning on a platform of kicking the can down the road. Apparently, demagogic attacks on Paul Ryan’s proposal to save Medicare by the Democrat candidate were the deciding issue.
I am certainly no fan of the Paul Ryan budget. It is deeply irresponsible to wait to balance the budget in 25 years. The government should cut its spending enough right now to have a balanced budget. If that is not possible for some reason (actually, it is, so long as Congress refuses to raise the debt limit), then the goal should be to balance the budget within a few years (the only budget plan that balances the budget within 5 years is the great Senator from Kentucky Rand Paul’s plan).
Yet, although I am no fan of Paul Ryan or his big-spending budget, it is disturbing that the Demagogic Party can now win elections in safe Republican districts by attacking any efforts to fix the problem and denying the very existence of the problem itself. If this continues, this country is doomed to bankruptcy.
If the American people elect extremists who want to bankrupt our country, then the only conclusion any reasonable person can draw is that democracy is an unworkable system and that we need to find some alternative. Already in Europe, efforts to fix the fiscal crises in those nations have led to riots (from Greece to France to the UK to Spain). In past generations, people throughout the West have elected irresponsible politicians who made promises on behalf of future generations (us) that could not be kept. Now when the bills have come due, it seems that demagogues now win elections by running on a platform of bankrupting their country. If the world’s democracies go bankrupt because the voters elected reckless demagogues to office, I don’t think any country will become a democracy again for a very long time. When democracy failed in Athens, it was over 2000 years later before anybody tried democracy again.
There is plenty of room for reasonable differences of opinion in a functioning democracy. However, there can be no room for fanatics who advocate bankrupting their own country and if such candidates win elections, that country is doomed.
Please read all of the following to understand my concern before responding.
Saying up front, I’m not a lefty or a righty. I want the best person for the job at whatever level in politics. So, I’ve been getting started on my research. While making dinner last night, I heard something disturbing on TV. The subject was about how Newt Gingrich went against his party and his quote about “right wing social engineering” or something like that. Then a picture of a Republican who was head of something, I didn’t catch it, followed by an audio of him saying “….Medicare as we know it has to change or it will go bankrupt by 2024.” Later, I went on the Internet for info on this issue and became acquainted with the terms “right” and “entitlement”, as they relate to these issues. “Entitlement” was used in the same context as welfare or a gift. Then I began to consider these facts:
1)My sister, who is retired and disabled, worked for over 30 years and paid into Medicare via mandatory FICA deductions
2)I worked for over 30 years and did the same
3)Neither my sister nor I were given a choice. We were forced to pay.
4)Just because the Republicans say Medicare will go bankrupt by 2024, does that make it so?
I then read that Republicans think that what my sister and I were forced by the government to pay into for over 30 years, with a promise that we’ll be covered after age 65, is NOW somehow the equivalent of us asking for welfare? They want to change it later so that my sister and I will get a “voucher” to go buy our own insurance from the insurance company of our choice, but we won’t be able to afford the difference between what the voucher allows us and what the insurance company will charge for the same coverage. Seems to me, we should be guaranteed the same or better coverage for no additional financial burden on us, since the government made us pay for 30 years without asking us if we want to or not.
On the other hand, I’m reading that the Democrats are saying no to Republicans on changing Medicare, saying to the people, “You have worked and paid into it, you deserve it, and you will continue to receive it.”
If the above is true, then label me what you want: liberal, lefty, whatever. I’m about fairness. In this issue, if the Republicans, or “conservatives”, were successful in this, then for me, the “conservatives” would be bullies, and the “liberals” would be their victims. The fox was allowed into the chicken coup by dropping regulations for Wall Street, corporations, and the banking industry. Greed ran rampant and unchecked, creating an economic crisis. The American people as a whole already bailed out banks and corporations. Now they want to rape Medicare, and senior citizens, to make them all richer. How low down and dirty is that? Do you think this is right or fair?
@John: Given what I wrote above then reading your "contribution", I was about to call you an @$$ Hole of the highest order. Then I realized you’re just jealous, bitter, and ignorant, and you deserve my pity.
will have no more unemployment to pay put, medicare, social sec!
What will happen if even just 50% of the States in the U.S go broke, ?
They are predicting that could be by 2012…
Man, conservatives sure do want everyone to buy into the notion that the only answer to Medicare is to not have it. They go on and on about how Medicare is going to go bankrupt. But what is never mentioned is the actual end of that sentence "…under current spending levels."
Let’s remember that there are two sides to that coin. One way to deal with rising costs is to drastically cut benefits. But that doesn’t reduce the existence of the need for those benefits, it simply transfers the costs to the individual, who is on Medicare because they cannot afford private insurance. As in our current system with those who are uninsured, if those individuals can’t pay those costs, they get passed on to everyone else in the form of increased premiums and bloated medical charges (nothing like paying for a box of tissue during a hospital stay).
But the other way to deal with it– which is apparently unthinkable to Republicans–is to increase spending, in the form of tax increases. Yes, I said the dreaded phrase: tax increases. At the time that Medicare was enacted in 1965, the top marginal tax rate was 70%. Now it’s less than 40%. Of course there’s no money…we’re too busy allowing the uber-wealthy and corporations to skate on their share of the social fabric to create huge population-sized holes in the safety net.
Why don’t Republicans want to do the sensible thing and return tax rates to where they were when Medicare was enacted?
30 trillion…40 trillion?
Bush added to it plenty and Obama will explode it beyond anything sustainable.
Medicare, Medicaid and Soc. Sec. are all bankrupt so why not have another program bigger than them all?
If you believe the "deficit neutral" garbage I have a bridge to sell you.
so can someone tell me if he has expalined how medicare can afford a 500 billion dollar cut to services provided for seniors if it is going bankrupt as we speak. some clarity please. thanks
The number of people filing for bankruptcy protection in retirement has soared in recent years — even before the recession.
In fact, people 65 and older are the fastest-growing segment of the population seeking bankruptcy protection, according to a recent study from the University of Michigan Law School.
The problem is simple math, said Johanna Sweaney Salt, a CPA with Kaufman, Schmid, Gray & Salt in Claremont, Calif. Their medical expenses, taxes and other costs keep going up, while their income is going down. Social Security hasn’t had a cost-of-living adjustment in a long time and pensions and retirement accounts took a huge hit during the recession. Reverse mortgages and other alternatives presented to them as "solutions" often just dig them further in the hole.
"Most people think ‘Oh, I have Medicare — I’m covered,’" said Jean Setzfand, director of financial security at the AARP. "But in fact, there are quite a lot of out-of-pocket expenses — and those continue to rise." The biggest one, she said, is long-term care costs. Plus, a lot more people are going into retirement carrying a mortgage. So it is not so good as we think
On Tuesday, a bipartisan group of senators agreed tentatively on a plan to squeeze an additional billion out of Medicare over the next decade and larger sums in the years beyond, according to congressional officials, a step toward Obama’s goal of curbing the growth of health care spending.
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TRSUM/
The United States was set to go bankrupt anyway, with the baby boomers retiring with its huge Medicare and Social Security cost, plus the social welfare growth, etc.
Now, the United States is granting amnesty to 20 miilion or so illegal aliens who will brink about six relatives each to our nation once the amnesty is official, increasing the poor by about 120 million.
Question–how many years before we become classed as 3rd world? In other words, when will the typical American city look like the typical city in Somalia?
20, 40 75?
I say I say 35 years. What do you say?
Linda,
It does not matter who we elect. Neither the Democrats notr the Republicans care about national sovereignty or the welfare of our future–all they care about is THEIR power. Ckinbton and Carter we jsut as bad as both Bush presidents.
Crusader,
There is a saying that "so goes California, so goes the nation", meaning CA is the trend setter. You are right–California is pretty much third world now in many areas, and we will see the same thing in every American city soon.
Salvatrucho,
You think the US can"profit from this"???
You better start doing some research. These illegals drain money from our taxes at a rate that DWARFS any taxes some of them pay in, and most do not pay in.
When they bring their relatives here, just think–youhave a very low poverty rate past illegal alien (future amnesty citizen) who can’t afford to support himself/herself. How do you think they will support a bunch of relatives? OUR TAXES and social welfare will support them.
Yes, our nation WILL look like Somalia soon, just as some here have described some of California’s cities already do.
I say 35 years as antion as a whole we will be third world status, but in just 10 years, a good portion of the nation already will.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/12/president-obama-federal-government-will-go-bankrupt-if-health-care-costs-are-not-reigned-in.html
First off the Dems, progressives or lets just call them what they are the socialist start taxing us next year and do not provide anything for 3 of 4 years. So they can say the bill reduces the deficit.
How stupid do they think people are.
Does anyone think that at the end 15 or 20 years this bill will be budget neural.
Then there is the 500 Billion in cuts to Medicare waste. Really if they could cut that much why have they waited to do it.
Is Obama and the Dems, sorry socialists in congress just liars or stupid?
The federal government is spending more than we can possibly earn or pay back…what would we be willing to forego in order to turn this sinking ship around? Would we be willing to forego social security? Medicare? Medicaid? Healthcare? Government jobs that pay more than civilian jobs? Pensions that bankrupt the very companies that attempt to provide them? Since we are going to lose all of these perks anyway when the nation collapses under the weight of it’s own debt…would we be willing to "voluntarily" start cutting back on what we expect from our government now, before they decide it for us…like many states are having to do now with their budget crisis’s which are forcing them to cut services to the public.
Hard times are coming, which will make the recent recession look like good times…when and how are we going to start cutting back in order to save our nation?
To Krystal…we have never been 107 trillion in debt before, so this is a doomsday situation…each and every American owes 345,000 in debt…and it climbs everyday…just the interest on our debt alone will destroy us…this is as bad as it has ever been or ever will be and it is US who has to fix it.
How are we capable of looking into the eyes of our children and grandchildren if we bankrupt the nation with high Government spending and entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare.
How are we able to sleep straight at night and say all is well, when our children might not be able to pay our spiraling debt?
Seeing as to how Obamacare is heavily debated and let’s be honest the GOP haven’t put a viable alternative so what are your thoughts on some reform
What should be the main goal of health reform in the US, should it Decrease the cost of health care, Improve the quality of health care, Improve the access to health care or make most Americans receive at least basic free public care. What would it be like for the US if an Australian system like the Medicare service is implemented where all taxpayers pay a 1.5% income tax levy (with exceptions for low-income earners), an additional levy of 1% is imposed on high-income earners without private health insurance. There is also a private health system where people pay for health insurance to go to a private hospital if they wish for quicker service. Bankruptcies from lack of funds to pay for medical bills is the largest reason for personal bankruptcies in the US accounting for over 60 % of all bankruptcies, while in Australia it is almost negligible.
Check out these videos for some information:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObhifImr4G8
http://www.newscientist.com/articlevideo/dn17512/30590602001-the-scientific-arguments-for-us-healthcare-reform.html
So what do you guys think?
My fiance recently got his credit report and has about ,000 in debt that he was unaware of. He’s been drawing disability for several years and has medicaid and medicare. The majority of his debt is medical bills that he thought the insurance paid for, but obviously it didn’t. About ,000 of it is basically identity theft. His former roommate opened up two accounts in his name and ran the bills up. We know he did it, but we have no way to contact that person. Well, my fiance decided his only way out of this is to file bankruptcy. However, he doesn’t have enough money to get a lawyer. Would he just totally be screwed if he filed himself? He doesn’t have any assets. No car. He rents his house. So, I’m assuming it wouldn’t be as complicated as it would be for someone with assets. However, I’m sure it’s no easy task either. Yes, I’ve heard the saying that if you represent yourself, you have a fool for a lawyer or whatever.. but we just don’t know what else to do. We have to get this taken care of before they start getting his pay check. He just started working again and isn’t drawing disability anymore so we’re really tight on money. Is there any way a lawyer could help him file bankruptcy and then we just pay the lawyer payments? I’m sure that seems pretty contradicting, but we could afford payments for the lawyer if we didn’t have all this other crap that we’re paying on.
… even though many of the elderly never worked a day in their lives?
I’m not saying to cut care for the elderly, but why is it good to allow families to suffer a choice of not going to the doctor or going bankrupt?
By the way, I’m a republican.
By the way, we already have socialized medicine. Over 1/3 of treatment is paid for by Medicare/ Medicaid.