Social Security in the Future

First, I suppose it is safe and reasonable to say that Social Security will not be able to pay full level benefits to retiring citizens in another 20 years or so. The estimates vary, but we should just assume that those of us in our mid-40s will not get a full share.

Hopefully we are all putting money in a 401-K, Roth IRA, IRA, or some other retirement vehicle. Then we have heard suggestions about privatizing of the fund or some part of it so that we can manage our own money. Seems like a great idea - except too many of us will not put the effort in, thus we will farm it out to "professionals" who will manage it for us.

Do you think they will do their best for us? Who will get rich? The professional money managers of course. At first they will probably do a good job and only moderately rip us off. Then as they need more money to buy bigger boats, gold faucets, and larger estates, they will rip us off some more.

Then when it becomes a crisis, the government will let the scam artists off the hook and pay the lost money to the people who were scammed. Of course they will get the money from those of us who paid into Social Security and decided that one broken system is not better than another and stayed with what we knew was broken.

Sound familiar? Think mortgages. Think Savings and Loans.

The government is incapable of running these huge programs. They cannot manage immigration, education, defense, etc. They have botched nearly every endeavor they have tried. Yes I know it is better than any other place on earth - that only makes us more tolerant of the endless rip-offs.

Totally unreasonable.

Peein' in a Jar

This is not an original thought. It was sent to me and reprinted, in part, here as I couldn't agree more.

URINE TEST

"Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job. I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a random urine test with which I have no problem. What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test. Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check, because I have to pass one to earn it for them?

Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet. I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping someone sitting on their ass doing drugs while I work. Can you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check?"

Now this is a reasonable stance if you ask me!

Is this the best we can do?

The news today is that Hillary is now the majority choice for the Democrats. Add to that fact that the Democrats are raising more money that the Republicans, and you have to wonder what is going to happen in this presidential election.

The Republicans on the other hand are longing for Ronald Reagan to lead them out of the abyss that George has created. There is no Ronnie - unfortunately - to bail out the Republicans. The only chance here for the Republicans in 2008 is deep seated prejudices coming to the surface.

When the curtain closes on the voting booth (yes I know most of us don't really get to go in a booth any more) will Reagan Democrats and Independents actually vote for a woman? Or a Black man? Or a Tort Lawyer? Even Democrats have prejudices and if they boil up, they may vote for Rudy Giuliani!

Of course if Al Gore gets any inkling around January that deep seated prejudices might in fact come into play, you can count on Al, Tipper, and the Nobel Peace Prize to jump into the fray.

All of this begs the question, "are Hillary, Rudy, John, Barack, and the others the best we can do in this country?" If yes, that definitely is unreasonable.

Mortgage Bailout

As usual, the hard working, honest person who endeavors to live within his/her means gets screwed. Some mortgage companies decided a few years ago that business was not brisk enough so they dreamed up sub-prime loans with teaser rates and interest only loans. I imagine some investors got fabulously wealthy on those loans.

Now, surprise-surprise, people cannot pay the bill on the big house with the ever expanding mortgage payment. So our government says, we will bail you out of your bad decision. In other words, reward bad behavior. The executives of the mortgage companies will get sweetheart deals on their way out for their fine work, people with huge houses or worse, those that took out equity from their homes, will get bailed out by the government and this will all be paid for by people who lived within their means.

Totally unreasonable.