2010-04-06
When will someone in the political arena have the character and strength to tell the American people what they need to hear instead of what they want to hear?
America simply cannot afford to pay for all the commitments its leaders have made.
We, as a nation, are now trying to pay for the political promises made over the last 80 years. There just isn't enough money to do so. It doesn't matter how much America may wants to pay her obligations. She does not have the money.
Social Security, the crown jewel of liberal Democrats since 1933, was a flawed fraud from day one. It has gone through continual "fixes" since then. Social Security visionaries had a lack thereof when expecting future workers to pay for retired workers. They did not foresee the "baby boom" that would have 44 million citizens retiring at once. They could not envision machines replacing workers creating far more productivity with considerably less FICA-paying workers.
Until recently, Social Security has been able to fulfill the promises made but that will soon change. As of 2010, Social Security payments exceed receipts six years earlier than expected. And the gap is growing exponentially.
But no problem, right? We have the "lock box." Throughout the years, honest politicians took the trillions paid in by hard-working Americans and saved it in trust. Now all we need to do is dip into the Social Security trust funds and all will be well. Right? Well it would be if the government had actually put the money in trust. But, to state the obvious, it did not.
That dirty little secret is seldom discussed. The fact is the pathological liars in Washington took the money each year and spent it – many years spending amounts far in excess of what they stole from the trust fund. FICA was a tax, not a contribution to a government retirement plan.
Currently Social Security has projected unfunded liabilities at an unimaginable $17.5 trillion. That is trillion with a "T."
It gets worse.
The same liberal Democrats, with their cradle-to-grave government dependence programs, ushered in another of their "historic" achievements in 1965. Medicare and Medicaid are the sterling accomplishment of Lyndon B. Johnson. Democrats were not satisfied with just paying everyone in retirement. They now want to provide retirees and low-income Americans with "free" health care.
These well intentioned, yet mathematically impossible, programs combined represent $88 trillion of promises extended to millions of Americans. Part A, which funds hospital care, has promised to pay $36 trillion in future benefits. Part B, which promises medical visits, is committed to $37 trillion. The now famous brainchild of George Bush, Part D, which provides prescriptions for virtually anyone who asks, now owes $15 trillion. And that is just since it began in 2003.
My question is simple: How are we going to pay for all these promises? Conventional wisdom tells us to either raise taxes or cut benefits. But will either work?
Chances aren't good.
If we confiscated every penny earned through income in America, we wouldn't have enough money to pay it all. Any person with a fifth-grade education knows the solution, but not one politician is willing to tell the people the truth.
Fact is, the socialist dreams that started with FDR and recently birthed BHO's health-care "reform" are doomed to fail. I couldn't believe my ears when I heard Pelosi say how proud Democrats are of all the social reform they have brought America. Is she really that ignorant?
How can she be proud? Each one of these programs is bankrupt and cannot fulfill the promises made. The health-care reform bill of 2010 will be no different than the other Democrat mistakes made in 1933 and 1965. It is simple to promise the moon to get votes. It is another thing altogether to deliver.
To watch the same politicians who got us into this mess "work hard" to fix the mess is like watching the rearrangement of deck chairs on the Titanic. Every "fix" I have heard from Capitol Hill is a joke. We need someone to tell the truth.
In past columns, I have begged my readers to vote out anyone who has been in Washington more than 20 years, regardless of party affiliation – unless they consistently voted for the repeal of or substantial changes to these programs. McCain, Byrd, Rockefeller, Boxer, Rangel, Durbin, Kerry, Waxman, et al. have all been in office while these problems were metastasizing. Did anyone of them attempt to correct the problems in a meaningful way? No, and that is why it is high time for them to go.
We need leaders truly willing to perform the real hard work, those who will cut spending on entitlement programs and eliminate wasteful spending, especially in the area of earmarks. It is the only chance we have as a nation to survive. The math no longer works. It's time to tell the truth no matter how painful and politically unpopular.
You cannot expand the economy at the rate and to the degree necessary to generate the amount of revenue needed to pay for all promises made. And soon, if we don't stop the government from spending, there will not be enough revenue annually to even pay the interest on the debt, no less the principle.
So you be the judge. Will the government leaders stop spending money, cut entitlement spending, balance the budget, reduce the deficit and pay off the debt by making the difficult decisions? I doubt it.
Hopefully when the politicians ultimately do what politicians always do – taking the path of political expedience – they will tell the people in straight terms. Simply put, they plan to inflate our way out of the $100 trillion mess they themselves got us into. No one doubts this to be the truth, but they need to tell the people. At least then the people can prepare.
But I am not holding my breath. I am already in need of an ENT to treat my sore throat from the health-care bill recently shoved down it. The last thing I want is to be in need of a pulmonary specialist. The government may promise one, but will it deliver?
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