Thoughts from Bill Gross of PIMCO - one of the acknowledged great minds of the investing world. His monthly investment outlook is required reading for any serious investor, always quite cleverly written and moves markets in the same manner as Warren Buffet's many pearls of wisdom.... http://www.pimco.com/EN/insights/pages/skunked.aspx Medicare, Medicaid, Unemployment, and Social Security now account for more than twice as much as National Defense in our federal budget....I'm just not sure that's what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they met in Philly all those years ago......the federal government has become primarily a vehicle to provide welfare and retirement benefits - in all seriousness, the data is clear and compelling. It does not take a rocket scientist to understand that is unsustainable for any nation-state hopeful of a meaningful future. Mr. President, what do you propose to do?
We've had "bipartisan" panels at least twice I can remember (once under Reagan and once under Clinton) and both times their recommendations to reform Soc. Sec. were blown off. The gutless bastards that sit in Congress don't care what's best for the country all they f'n care about is what's best for their reelection. When Bush made some suggestions for investing SS in the market the damn Dems railed on him but the jellyfish never had any other suggestions. They've all be living with the "I'll be dead and buried when the **** hits the fan" approach. Trouble is, now some of them might not be.
As a GenXer... we've been raised all our lives to believe that SocSec will be plundered by the boomers and won't be there when we're old enough to benefit from it. Most of us aren't counting on it.. blow it up and reform it already.
The system was doomed to ultimate failure just by the numbers. How many kids do you have Corey? How many did your parents have? Me too. It's basically a numbers game that was exascerbated by Congress using the account like a bank everytime they need to cover their excessive spending and now offering benefits to illegals and not raising the income cutoff for contributions. I'm 57. I don't think I'm going to see it either.
...now make that three Gip with panel tasked by Obama to develop recommendations to address the deficit. They completed their work in time for the fiscal budgeting process and NONE of their recommendations were implemented.....NOT ONE. Why is that? What was the purpose?
T My best guess is that they were hoping that the recommendation would be something simple that solved the problem with no "pain." The minute that they have to back off pissing away taxpayer money that they don't have, they balk.
Amen to that Gip.... In thinking what the Founding Fathers contemplated as they battled the world's greatest power, risking death by hanging for treasonous activities during those steamy summer days in Philly, I'm always drawn to their words of wisdom...... Here is a timely one from Jefferson..... What could they be thinking today as they witness the state of their creation becoming primarily a vehicle to distribute welfare and retirement benefits? Look what has happened to this great experiment in democracy.....where have we gone wrong?
Sorry fellas, I just can't get off this topic.....consider this little factoid as we stare in wonderment at the goings-on in Washington...... If we stopped funding national defense (as in zero dollars), the legislative and executive functions of the federal government, and the Department of State - so in essence we spend no money on defense, foreign policy or the legislative and executive branches of the government - all of whom are typically seen as the primary functions and role the central government - we would still have a budget deficit that approximates $1 trillion dollars in fiscal year 2010......! Seriously.......think about that.
Under the heading of "We can't tax our way out of this mess" consider the following: If we confiscated 100% of the after-tax income of every single individual with an annual income in excess of $1 million and applied it to the federal budget we would STILL have a shortfall and be in a deficit position that would amount to the largest deficit in the history of our country pre-Obama. True statement, and that is just for fiscal 2011. As the burden of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security grow at a rate faster that our national income, the challenge becomes ever greater.....