|
|
|
Last Updated: Jul 10, 2008 - 12:32:05 PM |
Like the Energizer bunny on steroids, the spin cycle of 2008 grinds on and on. I wonder if any of our current crop of heroes and messiahs will stop pandering long enough to realistically address a topic having a direct bearing on our lives – a topic that I believe is a major factor in the future history of the rise and fall of the United States. I’m speaking of our ever-growing entitlements.
Look at Social Security, for example. For years, side A tells us the system’s broke and the only thing that can fix it is massive infusions of more money; while side B agrees, “Yes, it’s broke,” and their answer is more money, only instead of using a liberal five-inch hose to pour it out, they want to use a conservative three-inch hose.
This has become a stock piece of political theater. In every spin cycle, side A accuses side B of wanting to gut Social Security so the tin men without hearts can have the joy of watching their own grandmothers freeze to death eating cat food, while side B bravely shouts, “We won’t starve Granny, ’cause we’ll spend more money, too!”
In reality, no one has ever cut Social Security since it started. Any attempt to even slow the rate of growth to a mere multi-billion dollar increase in the magical Land of Oz becomes a ruthless cut. And any charges of gutting or promises of reform have proven to be real as a scarecrow’s brains.
How did the sons of the pioneers get here? Once the magic of payroll deductions miraculously transferred our money to the federal bean counters, the gravy train started rolling, and the Wizards in the Emerald City saw how much swag poured in, they tapped it to pay for everything from studies of “Why Eggs are Bad” to studies of “Why Eggs are Good.” This worked well for a while, but then someone had the great idea to get elected by “ending welfare as we know it!” Fortunately for us, that’s a promise they kept. Unfortunately for us, they kept it by transferring the welfare population to Social Security, or as the Good Witch of the East said, “Poof! You’re not on welfare; you’re on SSI.” Combine this with the fact Americans no longer have a birth-rate supporting an ever-growing body of milk cows – I mean, taxpayers – and a direct line can be drawn from today to bankrupt. Without a constant infusion of new blood, pyramids all eventually crumble into, “Hey! Where’s my residual income? I’m trying to lay on a beach and make some money here!”
What we need are politicians who have the courage to tell us what everyone in fly-over country knows: “the Wizard has no clothes.” The charade parade of Social Security lockboxes and trust funds Oz creates whole-cloth are nothing more than the shells used to make us believe this multi-level con makes sense. However, while we’re watching the shells, they moved the cheese.
Social Security was devised to offer citizens a supplemental retirement plan, set conveniently to begin at an age when most people would be dead; and since we’ve obstinately kept living, I guess any shortfalls really are our fault. Perhaps we should apologize for living so long and messing up their cooked books.
Like most Americans, I want to help people. I don’t want to see anyone starve, or not have a color television in every room or heaven forbid, not have digital cable. But if we want to provide a living wage for people who never paid into the Social Security System or who do not qualify for retirement, let’s be honest enough to just cut them a check.
Social Security was meant to supplement a citizen’s retirement. It’s supposed to be a safety net, not a hammock. And if changes have to be made to keep it solvent, isn’t it better to do so before it goes bust? This isn’t rocket science. Most people realize somewhere after getting a driver’s license, preventive maintenance beats roadside service; and you can’t spend more than you make every day and expect it to work out well; and it probably makes no difference to who’s behind the curtain.
© Copyright by Village Publishing
Top of Page Comment
on This Article
The
Village News office is located at 4607 West Hundred Road Chester
Mailing address is PO Box 2397 Chester, VA 23831
Phone: 751-0421 Fax: 751-9155
Office hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday - Friday call ahead for
other hours.
Statement
of Journalistic Ethics
|
|
|
Village News:
Read right 'round the world.
|
|
