Replies to post #355001 on Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[extelecom]

I'll go along with that too! I may have already told you, but I asked my Dr. what he did when a patient came in asking for a specific drug he had seen on T.V. and he told me that he always prescribed something else if required.<G>

[steviee]

And put the ad money into research as well as lower the cost of the drugs to everyone

[bfenton]

Zeev and all, (dissenting responses encouraged)

Is the Social Security fix really as simple as the following?

(1) Lift cap on FICA taxes - now at $90,000
(2) Gradually increase the age at which benefits are paid due to increasing life span. (factually documented)

I tend to agree, but would love to see a comparison projection model of the two distinct proposals (Privatization vs these 2 very simple adjustments.)

Please read below. (from article)

Bush wants to add $2 trillion in transition costs over the next decade for his scheme to partially privatize Social Security. This is one I'm really having trouble figuring out. There is no crisis in the Social Security program. It is not in trouble. If nothing is done, come 2042 -- or 2052 if you believe the Congressional Budget Office -- SS will have to start paying less than its promised benefits, but will still be able to pay seniors more than it does today in constant dollars. You can easily fix even that minor problem by lifting the cap on FICA taxes now at $90,000.

Why should people who make more than $90,000 have their higher income exempted, when every nickel made by people below the poverty level is taxed?

As Paul Krugman of The New York Times points out, if you accept the Rosy Scenario the administration is using to paint privatization as an effective scheme, then Social Security is in no trouble at all and we don't need to do anything about it -- economic growth will take care of it all. Contrariwise, if you accept the doom-and-gloom scenario the administration uses to prove that SS is in trouble, then there's no way the privatization scheme will be anything other than a disaster.

Dogged if I know what these people have against SS, a program that works just fine and has kept elderly people from having to eat cat food for many years now. Because the right wing has somehow become a cult of anti-government nuthatches, I have no idea where we're headed. The purposes of government, according to the U.S. Constitution, is "to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity."

[UBGreen]

Hi Zeev, Are you still in MAMA, PLMO, DECK, and CREE? I have searched and do not see you selling them.

Regards,
Bernie