Robert Samuelson believes the only way the federal government will deal with the impeding crises of Social Security and Medicare is to let them go bankrupt, since the political will to do anything in the interim doesn't seem to exist.
Let the state of these massive, federal programs be a message to those who would add a federally-funded healthcare program for all Americans. Managing your healthcare is not something to trust the government with.
Samuelson writes: "Stripped of politically pleasing euphemisms ("social insurance," "entitlements"), that's what Social Security and Medicare mainly are. If so, how much should wealthier retirees be subsidized?"
ReplyDeleteMr. Samuelson, along with a whole host of others, seems to forget that those "wealthy" citizens put money into these entitlements with a promise that those funds would be protected AND available for them when they reached eligibility age. How many more promises will our elected officials allow our nation to break with its citizens? If the basis for breaking those promises under which we parted with OUR money is that we made financial successes of ourselves, then the very least our government can do to remedy this breach of faith is to refund the money it accepted under false pretenses.