Ranger Rick: Medicare, Social Security gravy train will end

There are many readers of Townbroadcast receiving Social Security and Medicare, both programs paid for by the recipient by being taxed through payroll deductions and their employers contributing. I keep hearing that we are a capitalist/socialist type government because we all contributed to these programs.  Did we have a choice?  Never. It was pre-ordained through government passage of Social Security in the 1930s and Medicare in the 1960s. Both are inherently unconstitutional in that we have no choice in contributing, we are forced by government oppression.

If you are earning money from an employer or self-employed, you are forced to contribute and if it is found you are not contributing, you are fined, jailed, or both, and your contribution amount in arrears will be paid.  They can confiscate/sell your personal property – car, boat, snowmobile, ATV, motor home, real estate, etc. to make up the shortfall.

Whether you agree with my assessment above or not, the government has responsibility over regulating both programs seniors are dependent on (forced dependency by the very government regulating it).

The dire situation of both programs was in a recent article in the Epoch Times by a Mark Tapscott.  In it, he indicated Sen. Mitt Romney is sponsoring the TRUST Act to fix the ailing federal “trust funds.”  In 2010 Sen. Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles presented the results of the 2010 National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (NCFRR).  The commission offered multiple recommendations that enjoyed bipartisan support, but President Barack Obama ignored them, while a divided Congress focused on other issues.

The stark reality Sen. Romney and bipartisan co-sponsors are trying to unravel and offer recommendations for sustaining both programs is this:

• Social Security’s combined major trust funds have less than $3 trillion left and according to the system’s trustees, will be empty in 13 years.  This is based on current rates of incoming and outgoing funds.

Medicare, the trust fund for backing Part A, which pays for in-hospital treatment, skilled nursing and home care services, will be exhausted in six years.

Something has to give — either taxes must be increased to fund benefits or benefits must be reduced.  However, no chief executive or Congress of either party has the courage to touch it.

I’m sure you can point fingers and gnash your teeth and create spittle in your rage, but it will do no good.  Reality is staring us in the face and I’m sure neither Congress or whoever is President will do nothing with either program unless the citizens push them to do so.

The Congress, over time, has placed IOUs in Social Security – using the “trust fund” as a piggy bank.  Of course, the IOUs were not honored and we have shortfalls.  Herbert Stein – economist, father of Ben Stein, formulated a most appropriate Stein’s Law – “If something cannot go on forever, it will stop.”

If a program runs out of money, it will stop.  But by then, the irresponsible government will be borrowing more with a bigger national debt than ever, so retirees will be out of luck.  So much for socialism and socialistic programs.

Thank you Presidents Roosevelt and Johnson. You’ve delivered the stake in the heart of America.

On the other hand, how much have you put into both Social Security and Medicare out of your hard earned wages over years and years?  Think what you, yes you, could have done with that money?  If you aren’t 50 to 55 years old, you won’t see a penny of it unless the TRUST recommendations are adopted and changes made.  Don’t hold your breath.

Whenever the government is involved in anything, they screw it up.  And young people and idiot seniors want more socialism. What uneducated dupes with minds full of mush!

True capitalism is the only system that lifts people from grinding poverty based on initiative, sweat equity, and individualism.  The United States was a great idea until government started slowly destroying it by being everything to everybody.  The gravy train will soon end.

The rotting of America from within continues…