[vision-master]

Why is social security always picked on?

Is not the fiat money used everwhere in the world including 3rd world Countries.

Should be become like them in the future without our entitlements but still under the thumb of the World Bank? :shocked:

[Tyler_JC]

"I'd ask: Is a program like social security viable in a world with a non-growing population and a non-growing economy? "

Sure it is. Just alter the payroll tax structure or the level of benefits.

I don't understand why people pick on social security, it's not broken.

We should be focusing instead of Medicare and Medicaid, which will sink the budget into a never-ending pool of red ink unless something is done...and fast!

[Chaparral]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vision-master', 'W')hy is social security always picked on?

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Baldwin', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', 'R')oosevelt is considered to be one of the greatest of all American Presidents by all reputable scholars. His status in American History is shown by the new "Roosevelt" and "WWII "monuments" in Washington DC. He presided over American victories across two oceans in WWII.

There were failures mixed in with Roosevelt's many successes. The interment of Japanese-Americans in concentration camps was a horror. The abandonment the governments-in-exile and betrayal of democratic forces in eastern Europe to the communists led to 40 years of cold war. The US is still struggling to make social security work. But overall he must, IMHO, be ranked among the greatest presidents and can be compared with Lincoln.

[threadbear]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dissimulo', 'B')ut, there will probably never be a day where you wake up with an overwhelming desire for true liberty and the challenge and responsibility of caring for you and yours. A century of incrementally-increasing socialist policies has left you dependent on the government for your basic needs. Good luck.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', '
')Listen, Kid

[dissimulo]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('dissimulo', 'B')ut, there will probably never be a day where you wake up with an overwhelming desire for true liberty and the challenge and responsibility of caring for you and yours. A century of incrementally-increasing socialist policies has left you dependent on the government for your basic needs. Good luck.

[vision-master]

Wonder how Bush is going to be remembered? Maybe the worst ever.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'F')ranklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882 – April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States. Elected to four terms in office, he served from 1933 to 1945, and is the only U.S. president to have served more than two terms. A central figure of the 20th century during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war, he has consistently been ranked as one of the three greatest U.S. presidents in scholarly surveys.

[vision-master]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')e should be focusing instead of Medicare and Medicaid, which will sink the budget into a never-ending pool of red ink unless something is done...and fast!

[Baldwin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', '
')Burdened you with nightmares like social security and welfare? Listen, Kid, had he not done something to save capitalism from itself, you would be living in a Communist country right now. His efforts in the WW2 helped avert a fascist takeover too. Did you know that he was very nearly assassinated by fascist sympathizers?

[I_Like_Plants]

Talk to some old fogies who've been through the Great Depression before you judge. I learned to shut my damned trap after doing so, myself.

As I've mentioned, I've lived through a miniature of the G.D. in the 1970s and that was bad enough - you know, I needed glasses, for my good eye anyway (one's hopeless, I can see with it but not good enough to read with, not correctable by a lens) and didn't get 'em until I was 17. I learned to sweep the floor extra-thoroughly to get the dirt I could not see. Outdoors, in the sun, I could see a bit better, and do OK fishing, foraging, etc. In 'Merka, you DON'T ever admit weaknesses, and through the use of a contact lens in my good eye, I've been able to hid my vision insufficiencies pretty well - copping to 'em would have kept me out of jobs. I'd probably get treated shittier by the people I deal with in my small biz if I let 'em know.

All I say to the author of this is Amen.

It is going to be one hell of a Revolution, when it comes.

[I_Like_Plants]

Oh yeah and how are the lower 10% screwing me?

Is the guy who came into the coffee shop in crutches, wearing his Goodwill shirt and clutching his library book, screwing me?

Is my friend who lives in low-income housing nearby screwing me? She's actually walking again, just uses a cane - she was in a wheelchair for a while and I don't even want to ask how hard she had to fight to not die sleeping in a park or in a homeless shelter.

Are the guys who wash my car screwing me? Not that I can tell. How about the guy who stands outside the bank selling flowers? He's learned that I say Hi and smile but don't actually want any flowers lol. How about the guy who pushes the heavy-ass mexican ice cream cart thing around here, is he screwing me? Jingle... jingle... Those guys put in MILES, probably making like $20 a day.

How about the guy who sweeps up in the coffee shop where I got a salad today? No.....

How about the folks in Goodwill I get cheap clothes from? Yeah, ok, one of 'em forgot to apply the 1/2-off price on a pair of shorts I got, but oh well, yeah, I guess she screwed me, but that's ok.

A lot of us who don't consider ourselves neocons are really, functionally, neocons.

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('I_Like_Plants', ' ')
A lot of us who don't consider ourselves neocons are really, functionally, neocons.

[I_Like_Plants]

Ahh, PMS, you are learning. Your first mission towards a new life, is to go to Goodwill and buy a pair of shorts.

[Newsseeker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kochevnik', 'I')t will be interesting to see how far the 'average' person can be pushed before they start to wake up and seriously protest.

I don't think we are ANY where near that point yet.

[kabu]

For those of you who'd still point to the lower 10%, I recommend checking out "Chapter 6: The High Price of Militarism", from "Addicted to War", which you can view here. It's a quick read: only takes 2 hours to get through this comic book rendition of what the US government has been doing with much of its people's wealth.

[Specop_007]

I made it about 4 paragraphs into that pile of steamin shit.

Some people are *serisouly* out of touch of reality. That article writer seems to be one of them.

[I_Like_Plants]

Holy Rius! Great stuff!!

I guess the work of R. Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, Mavrides, S. Clay Wilson, yadda yadda yadda is all steamin' shit too. The art's not genius, it's not Crumb level, but it's good enough, I've got that baby bookmarked and will read the whoooooole thing later. Thanks!

That's the best way to get the word out to the masses, COMIC BOOKS like that.

A group called Writers and Readers was doing books like that, I can see this is heavily influenced by those, which came out in the early 80s. I had the ones about Einstein and Marx.

Geez, if AOL can put one of their lousy CDs in every mailbox a few times a year, think of how great it would be if that, on CD, could hit all the mailboxes just once!

[kabu]

My pleasure, Plants. I used to argue with my dad about this sort of stuff until a coworker got him to watch "Why We Fight" and read that comic book, then he linked it to me. Now he can relate to me more!

[PenultimateManStanding]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kabu', 'M')y pleasure, Plants. I used to argue with my dad about this sort of stuff until a coworker got him to watch "Why We Fight" and read that comic book, then he linked it to me. Now he can relate to me more!