The FDA has come up with a solution to solve America’s Social Security funding problem and they may or may not be aware of it. Oddly, they propose using Medicare funds to help with the problem. What could I possibly mean by this?
Well, I admit it is something from my own rather morbid and twisted mind. To understand what I’m talking about let us take a journey together.
Below is a picture of a new medical device approved by the FDA. Doctor’s are now permitted to prescribe its use by elderly and disabled patients. Not only that, but since it is a medical device it can be paid for with Medicare funds.
Bob Barr appeared along with Ralph Nader on CNN American Morning today. Barr was able to speak directly about how he would handle Social Security. Of course, Nader disagreed with him. They also discuss what important issues have been missing from the two major party nominee’s rhetoric. It’s nice to see Barr getting his face out there in the media a few days before election day.
It’s quite amusing (if not nauseating) to hear McCain and Palin calling Obama a socialist at every turn if you pay the slightest attention to the ideas McCain embraces. A nice little article at HighClearing.com successfully reams McCain for his hypocrisy:
The word “socialism” can mean many things to many people, anything from Western European style social welfare to state ownership of the means of production to the New Deal or the Great Society or a wide range of other usages. I’ll let those who know (or at least claim to know) more about the real meaning of the word have the debate over which usage is proper (mostly because I hate debates over whether somebody is using a politically-charged word correctly). Instead, I’ll engage the McCain rhetoric on its own terms.
McCain, just like Obama, believes that taxes should be levied for the purpose of funding social programs that redistribute income downwards. (We’ll leave aside, for the moment, the fact that both of them also believe that taxes should be levied for the purpose of funding a bloated military-industrial complex and other things that redistribute at least some of the income upward.) McCain and Obama may envision different forms and scopes for those programs, and those differences may or may not have profound consequences in practice. However, the McCain rhetoric is being employed to argue that just about any downward redistribution is a type of socialism. If it is (at least in McCain’s usage of the term) then McCain is a socialist. Maybe not as much of a socialist as Obama (we’ll leave aside welfare for the rich, for the moment) but a socialist nonetheless.
We are barreling toward socialism at an alarming rate, and every day I become more and more afraid for the future of our country. Teresa Ghilarducci is an economist at the New School for Social Research in New York who wrote a policy paper on the subject of retirement account, and followed that up with a book entitled, When I’m Sixty-Four: The Plot Against Pensions and the Plan to Save Them. She was called to testify before Congress on her harebrained scheme to have the federal government take over all our private 401K plans (which have historically realized at least 10% annually, on average) and “guarantee” a rate of return of 3% over inflation. From ABC News:
Here are the basics of her proposed Guaranteed Retirement Accounts:
Employees would make mandatory contributions equal to at least 5 percent of the earnings. Workers could contribute higher amounts if they wish.
Those contributions would be offset by a $600 federal tax credit each participant would receive.
As with a 401(k) plan, workers would have individual accounts they could track. The balance of each account would depend on each worker’s contributions and income level.
The Social Security Administration would handle account management, and the Thrift Savings Plan — a well-regarded retirement plan for federal employees — would manage the money.
Participants would be guaranteed a fixed rate of return that exceeds inflation by 3 percent. For instance, if inflation stood at 2 percent, the worker would earn 5 percent; if inflation reached 3.5 percent, the worker would earn 6.5 percent. Participants could receive an inflation-beating return above 3 percent if the government’s investment returns were high enough.
At retirement, participants’ account balances would be converted into a lifetime stream of income that adjusts for inflation. There would be options to take partial lump sum payments, opt for lower payments in return for survivor benefits and, upon death, leave a portion of a financial account balance.
The intent of the plan is not to replace Social Security. Rather, Guaranteed Savings Accounts would supplement Social Security, Ghilarducci said.
Given the government’s horrendous track record (i.e. Social Security, Fannie/Freddie, Medicare, Medicaid, etc.) it’s preposterous to think the government would handle your 401K money wisely.
It’s getting lonely out here. With the United States embracing economic socialism from both Republicans and Democrats, the voices for capitalism and free unfettered markets are bouncing around in an echo chamber. Those of us who believe in the America of our founders have faith in only a handful of people to redirect the fear-induced socialist policies back to the freedom of our founding. One such person is Ron Paul, the much media-maligned Republican Congressman and former presidential candidate from Texas.
I say media-maligned in reference to his presidential campaign because in these days of bailouts and increasing central economic planning Ron Paul is a hot media ticket. Lately it seems that every time you turn the television to a national news channel he is there pounding the free market drum. While his words are welcomed they are never acted upon by those who have the power to do so. Paul introduces his own legislation and it gets ignored. Paul discusses that we are doing the exact wrong things in our economy to prolong the agony rather than shorten its duration. He says we didn’t learn from the Great Depression because we are making the same mistakes today.
I fear it is too late. Too late for a true movement toward liberty. I fear the seeds of socialism have been planted. More and more socialism has become the perceived solution to our troubles. With few exceptions, like Ron Paul, not many seem to believe that socialist and regulatory policies are the reason for our troubles. Why is this misconception so prevalent?
It seems the reason could be that we have a culture of shallowness that seeks short term bandaids rather than long term therapy. We want what we want and we want it now now now. So we accept socialist solutions because over the short term they are just lovely. Unfortunately, over the long term they become unsustainable. Why are we implementing economic policies that helped push the Soviet Union toward collapse? In the end is that what we want for America? Does anyone even consider the Constitution any more?
In 1957, Ayn Rand penned “Atlas Shrugged”. It is full of passages that capture what we liberty lovers are fighting against. One such excerpt captures the essence of my fear about the state of our economy and what lies in our future.
“Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men’s protection and the base of a moral existence. Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it bounces, marked, ‘Account overdrawn.’
“When you have made evil the means of survival, do not expect men to remain good. Do not expect them to stay moral and lose their lives for the purpose of becoming the fodder of the immoral. Do not expect them to produce, when production is punished and looting rewarded. Do not ask, ‘Who is destroying the world? You are.
We live in interesting times. I hope our worst fears aren’t realized.
When I heard William “BJ” Lawson speak for the first time in person I said to myself, “This is the Ron Paul Republican who can win”. Then I checked out his opponent David Price and immediately thought, “I know Lawson can win.” At first glance, the problem is the heavily Democratic North Carolina district he is in, but if you dig a bit deeper, Lawson is the perfect candidate for a district of this kind. He is not your normal present day Republican. Lawson has the ability to attract those on all sides of the political spectrum much like Ron Paul did during his own campaign.
Below you will discover the Liberty Maven rankings for BJ Lawson on the Paul-O-Meter, where candidates and current lawmakers can be rated on how closely they are in line with Dr. Ron Paul on the issues. To learn about the Paul-O-Meter methodology please see this article. You may also assign your own rankings or request a candidate be added to the system.
Continue reading to see if BJ Lawson truly deserves the moniker “Ron Paul Jr.”
It is now time to rate the vice presidential candidates on the Paul-O-Meter. We start with John McCain’s VP pick Sarah Palin. The perfect strategic pick for McCain, Palin has little history. She’s been Governor of Alaska for less than two years, but now that McCain’s handlers are pulling Palin’s puppet strings it is difficult to see a difference between the two.
Here we examine Palin on 20 issues to see how she stacks up to Ron Paul. Hopefully this will help some see the lips through the lipstick.
Bob Barr wrote an op-ed piece in the Washington Times describing his frustration that the so-called leading Presidential candidates are basically ignoring the real problem that Social Security is, and will continue to be, unless some serious changes are made. He goes on to describe how complete privatization, as Chile has done, is a viable solution.
BARR: The dirty little secret about social security The problem can be solved
I am frustrated by the refusal of Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama to adequately confront Social Security’s looming fiscal crunch. The United States faces a demography-driven crisis of entitlement spending.
Medicare is in the worst shape, but Social Security alone has $15.8 trillion in unfunded liabilities. The natural temptation is to do nothing, but the longer we wait, the bigger will be the shortfall and the more difficult it will be to reform the system.
Unfortunately, we can’t get by hoping to save a little money elsewhere. The national debt is $9.5 trillion and next year’s deficit will run a half trillion dollars.
A special live event and screening of a documentary on fiscal responsibility entitled I.O.U.S.A. was held this evening. Ron Paul had a small part in the movie (actually two), but it was one of the more crowd pleasing moments of the entire movie. Paul’s clip showed him questioning Greenspan and telling him that if a doctor had the same failure rate at meeting his goals, patients would die. Then silence and everyone staring at each other, including Greenspan, all dumbfounded. Hilarious. The packed theater thought so too as the crowd laughed heartily and loudly.
The movie as a whole took great pains to be non-partisan and was quite successful. Ron Paul was the only Presidential candidate in the movie painted in a positive light. In fact he was utilized as an expert, especially during the discussion of the Fed and it’s power. The unflattering moments were saved for George W. Bush in the final part of the movie on the “leadership deficit”.
Bill Clinton received some positive air play for balancing the budget in the late 90’s. I was pleased that they then accurately added Social Security and Medicare to the budget equation showing the surplus being wiped out.
This is another great interview with Ron Paul on New York’s WABC radio with Bob Grant. They cover 15 minutes of a myriad of topics including a section where Ron Paul calls McCain and Obama “Tweedledee and Tweedledumb”. Great stuff.
Liberty Maven
Follow LM on Twitter