Some Musings

As we close in on election day:

1. We are probably witnessing one of the greatest debacles for democracy in our nation’s history. This election will be known as the first under the Supreme Court’s lunacy, and monied special interests have flexed their power to unbelievable heights. Interestingly, candidates that spent their own wealth, Meg Whitless for example in California seem to be losing! But on average, special interest money had devistating effects on progressive candidates everywhere. Karl Rove, and his henchmen, were as usual very effective in fooling the American Voter using millions of dollars, some from foreign sources by the way. Money talks in American politics, especially from the radical right.

2. The middle class voter, scared, angry and poorly read, once again made a huge mistake and voted consistently against their self-interest. This will only encourage the radical right in the next election to use the same techniques to attempt to win the White House. The middle class (what is left of it), has shown no ability whatsoever to discern the B.S. that the right wing spews everyday. In short, Americans can be easily fooled and manipulated.

3. We are getting closer to fascism everyday. Some of the Tea Party and their Brown Shirt tactics, are fascist to the core by any fair analysis. America is not immune from the dangers of this radicalism. The election of 2010 proved that corporate money is more than willing to bet on a fascist agenda.

4. Government at all levels in under attack precisely at a time when government is needed the most. Corporations and Wall Street have gone “all in” to attack government regulation at all levels with mounting success. The result will be a larger gap between rich and poor and more liklihood of a real fascist movement developing in the United States. Democracy is in real trouble.

5. Stupid government is being actively advocated by the radical right. Palin is basing her Presidential bid in 2012 on “common sense over intellectuals” which means fascist theology. In Nazi Germany, intellectuals were the first jailed, books were burned, any rational thinking was attacked. This is the same approach of Palin and her henchmen. Intellectuals are called elitist, and good government is stupid government according to this approach. Of course, with the country on the brink of another Great Depression, this approach could be catastrophic. A catastrophe plays right into the fascist's hands.

6. We will be in another Depression by 2012. This will guarantee that the fascist tendencies of the Republican Party will win. The country will turn more away from democracy and more to corporate theocracy, with Palin leading the way as a Christian Fascist. She will run on a platform of common sense, and cutting government, with one hand in the pocket of the Christian fascists and the other in the pocket of big oil and corporate power. Palin has shown in her abortive career as governor definite fascist tendencies: reactionary, vindictive to a fault, non-democratic, willing to be bribed by corporate interests, theocratic; etc.

7. This may all sound far-fetched and reactionary, but these are just some of the dangers we face. If there is another successful terrorist attack, the above dangers will only accelerate toward becoming reality. America is turning hard right without any proof of external danger, I can only imagine if the terrorists get lucky again. Right now, even a minor threat, is pounced upon by the media, sensationalized, and plays right into the fascist hands. Hitler could not have asked for a better scenerio, of external threat and fear. What is very troubling to say the least, is in America we are seeing a hard veer to the right, without any external threat to speak of. This is proof that the country is ripe for a fascist takeover. And it all began in 2010!

Modern Day Hoover?

Herbert Hoover, after which a Tower at Stanford is dedicated, was elected President of the United States in November 1928. Barack Obama, for which at present no tower I know of is dedicated, was elected President of the United States in November 2008.

A few months after Hoover was inaugurated, October 1929, the Stock Market crashed. A decade of prosperity (except in the farming sector) came crashing to an end. At first, both political parties rode the recession out. Government had no place, in either party’s platform in stimulating the economy. In fact, the Democrats held firm to a balanced budget. Hoover, on the other hand, proposed a national sales tax in 1930, which was narrowly defeated. So, in 1929-30 the Republican President proposed a tax to fight the depression while the Democrats cried for a balanced budget (believe it or not).

A few months before Obama was inaugurated, October 2008, the financial sector of the United States crashed. Both presidential candidates concurred with the sitting Republican President that the government should take immediate and forceful action and bail out the major financial institutions that were in trouble. Once President Obama took office, he pushed through a tax cut for the middle class and a modest stimulus program. So, this time the Democrat cut taxes and the Republicans began calling for a balanced budget to fix the economy (believe it or not).

This is exactly the opposite reactions from each party from 1930 to 2010.

And Obama is getting the blame for the recession he had nothing to do with creating. Hoover got the blame for the recession that morphed into a depression and really had little to do with it either. Hoover’s mistake was in trying to ride out the depression with little governmental action (the conventional wisdom of the time). It became Hoover’s Depression because of his inaction. It must be noted that F.D.R. shared many of Hoover’s views regarding government spending and economic stimulus, and had to be conviced to adopt many of the New Deal reforms by modern economists.

Meanwhile, the 2010 economy has limped along, the recession is over we are told, but unemployment is at depression levels. The mid-term elections of 2010 loom on the near horizon, and predictions are for large gains by Republicans.

As in 1930, the President’s party is being blamed by the American People for the economic downturn. As in 1930, the President had little to do with it. What is different from 1930 is the President has taken action, using government spending to essentially end the recession, but not acting boldly enough to dent the unemployment rate. So, the American people do what they did in 1930 and 1932, punish the administration’s party.

But the differences are telling:

1. Obama is not continuing Democrat rule from the past administration; President Bush was a conservative Republican. It is the Republican and Conservative economic policies and philosophy that caused the financial meltdown.

2. The recession did not start on Obama’s watch. It is his problem all right, but eight years of Republican rule precedes his administration. Hoover was third in a line of Republican administrations and represented Republican 20th century dominance of American politics going back to Teddy Roosevelt.

3. We have historical precedent and lessons from the Great Depression to warn and guide us. There is little doubt that the TARP bailout stopped a depression meltdown of the financial sector. However, TARP did not save the housing bubble from bursting and the middle class from being ravaged by unemployment.

4. Tragically, the American instinct to punish the current leadership is adopting the philosophy and economic approach that could very well plunge the country into a depression. The economy is recovering, albeit slowly, but high unemployments and unprecedented concentration of wealth in the top 1%, l has dramatically reduced demand. This large depression in demand, coupled with soaring supply, in the housing market for example, is a DEPRESSION. That is the classic definition of a depression, and we seem to be walking right into it.

So, where does this leave us? Historically, it is not surprising what is happening to the Democrats. The American People are punishing those in power. What is surprising is the short attention span of the American People in forgetting in a few months what party was in power, and what economic theory was in control prior to Obama being elected.

Essentially, Ron Reagan’s supply side economic approach, tax cuts to stimulate the economy and cutting governmental red tape and regulations has been the dominant economic policy of the United States since 1980. We have had one Democratic President since 1982, and three Republicans. The Republican Party had control of the House of Representatives from 1994 until 2006! That is important because that is where the spending authority of the United States lies.

So, logic would dictate that what failed and led to the Great Recession of 2008-2010 was the supply side economic policies of Ronald Reagan and his disciples.

Statistics are overwhelming about the destruction of the middle class, the hoarding of wealth in the top one percent of Americans, the outsourcing of jobs, and the loss of wealth of middle America. In short, the demand side of the economic equation has been gutted!

And what are the middle Americans poised to do in November?

Vote Republican, of course.

This time there will be no Roosevelt. This time no New Deal. A return to the broken economic policies of the past thirty years, at this critical juncture means only one thing: A Great Depression.

Look at history. In 1930 it was felt by BOTH parties that the depression was easing, and it only got worse. In 1936 Roosevelt declared the depression over and cut spending and attempted to balance the budget by reducing government work projects, and the economy tanked. That is where we are today, We are about to repeat the mistake of 1936.

And what did it lead to. Well World War II for one. Because American plunged back into the depression in 1936, Hitler had an opening to pursue his conquest agenda. America was to pre-occupied to do anything about Hitler’s expansionism.

The threat this time is China, but is mostly (at least for now) economic in nature. China is emerging a a major economic power. By essentially shooting ourselves in the foot by pursuing failed economic free enterprise stimulus policies, we are playing right into their hands.

In short, we are getting beat. By not investing in the future, and yes redistributing some of the concentrated wealth back to the middle class, we are suddenly and tragically digressing into a Third World Nation.

This time the rest of the world is in better shape. There are nations who are indirectly affected by our self-destruction, but they are quickly adapting because of the world economy.

In short, the world does not need the American consumer economy anymore to keep their economies going, when you have huge emerging middle classes in Indian and China. An economic power vacuum is developing, and other emerging middle class economies are surging into the void.

In the 30s America had a huge potential production potential that eventually helped win WWII. Today, that production potential has been destroyed, factories have essentially been dismantled and send overseas. To rebuild this production power, factories have to be rebuilt. Moreover, thanks to our conservative friends, infrastructure has deteriorated because taxes have been cut over the past 30 years. This is particularly evident in education, which is an essential underpinning of economic vitality. As we cut education at all levels, and maintain huge tax cuts for the rich, the intellectual capital needed to innovate our morbid economy is destroyed.

Chinese students now occupy seats in American universities once occupied by American members of the middle class. The American educational system is turning out MBAs for our foreign competitors. This would not be so bad, except for the fact that we are failing to tax enough to support education K-12 at the same time. In short, our infrastructure is being ignored to support huge tax cuts and an economic philosophy that has failed.

California is a perfect example. We are home to Prop. 13, the revered cornerstone of the conservative “economic miracle”. Prop. 13 is the third rail of California politics. The major thing it did, and most destructive, was to shift the funding of public education from property taxes (more stable source of revenue), to income taxes (volitile source of revenue).

The tragedy is that public education was not supported at adequate levels when Prop. 13 was passed. The tax cutting frenzy that followed, left a huge deficit in state funding that persists today.

A good example of this madness what when our present governor used a recall to take power on the promise that he would cut the vehicle license fee dramatically. This fee was used to replace funds for local governments, especially to do with street and roads, that Prop. 13 had reduced. Moreover , the fee discouraged multiple ownership of cars, a real source of co2 emmissions and pollution in the state.

This essential tax cut reduced state revenues by at least 8 billion dollars. This added to the state deficit, resulting in a constant pressure to cut spending below inflation adjusted levels. In effect, state spending has actually declined over the past five years, but the deficit has deepened.

California is a good example of the dangers of tax cutting and its utter failure to improve the economy. And, the damage to state infrastructure at every level, from highway maintenance to education has been dramatic. California in effect led the nation into the Great Recession because the middle class was decimated by tax cuts that went mostly to the rich. Ironically, Prop 13 made it necessary to rely on income taxes (the rich) for much of state revenue.

Many rich people have moved out of Calfornia, or used tax dodges, to reduce their taxes. The result has been a devastating drop in revenue for state infrastructure.

And what does our present conservative candidate base her campaign on? Elimination of the Capital Gains Tax! This will cost the state budget additional billions in lost revenue, and will drive a stake in the heart of public education K-16. The rich will get richer with yet another tax cut, that history shows does nothing to create jobs or stimulate the economy. The candidate also promises to cut thousands of state workers, adding to the depression! Cut jobs in a depression at any level only deepens the depression; it depresses demand, depresses prices and the economy stagnates.

We are hearing from conservatives that the global economy will somehow save us. This is nonsense. Multi-national companies do not care about the American middle class. They don’t need us as consumers anymore, with vast, emerging markets in China and India. And, the “ruling class” (the rich) in American don’t care either. They can make money outside of the American economy since most of them are part of the world economy already. This is what outsourcing is all about.

And who is left holding the bag? The same Tea Party Patriots who are out there working hard to get an economic policy reinstated that broke the middle class of which they are a part. They are part of a middle class that has been destroyed. This has dramatically reduced the demand side of our economy. American rich people have in effect “killed the golden goose” of middle class demand. Unfortunately, the supply of goods and services is being sucked up by emerging middles classes in India and China. In effect the economic engine that has saved American’s economy is the past is on the mat, and multi-nationals led by rich American CEO brainpower, does not need them anymore.

We have met the enemy and it is us!!!! We are literally beating ourselves, and the world does not give a damn.

The House is On Fire

Our house is on fire. Our baby is choking. Our pet is being attacked.

These are all common calls to 911. 911, which uncomfortably is the same number as September 11 if you think about it. In “most” of the United States we are admonished to “call 911” if there is a problem. We lost a cat recently most likely to a mountain lion that was seen right outside our back fence. I called Fish and Game and was told first the furlough days madated by the state budget cuts and then to leave a message, which was never answered by the way. At the end of the rather curt message, I was told, “If under lion attack, call 911”. I don’t know how to do this while kicking the lion away! This came, of course, at the END of the recorded message. I wondered, as I hung up, what it would look like calling fish and game as you pet cat is being torn apart in front of you, to wait through a five minute message and THEN be told to call 911.

I have done that before by the way when one of our cats got stuck in a tree. I called the fire department, right? I was told curtly, “We don’t do that anymore, your cat will come down sooner or later”. I suppose that might mean it would starve to death and sooner or later fall out of the tree.

I had called the fire department based on my childhood memories of watching kindly firemen come with ladders and save cats stuck in trees. “We don’t do that anymore”, is now the response.

Which brings us to Tennessee. A small town passed a 75 dollar fee on houses lying outside its city limits that convered the extra costs of firefighting. This fee was mandatory, and it was declared that failure to pay the fee would mean no fire fighting for that house. My first impression of this fee, what that it would be problematic in California with our large wildefires. If, for example, fire fighters refused to put out a rural homeowner's fire, what if it spread from there into areas that were covered by the city? We lose hundreds of houses in California every year to wild fires that are battled by thousands of firefighters who don’t have to decide who has paid the fee, they put the fires out IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST.

So, in this rural area of Tennessee, a 911 call is qualified by what fees you have paid. This is being tried in other areas, people have suggested that fees be paid for those who make false 911 calls for example, or fees assessed in outlying areas for emergency calls. These, so far, have been assessed AFTER the fact. In short, your house is on fire, we put it out, THEN charge you (or your insurance company), a fee.

It is VERY unusual that a fire department would stop in front of a burning house and refuse to put out the fire. That, in fact, is exactly what happened! To make it worse, at least three pets (puppies) burned to death in the fire, which totaled the house. Nice!

Now, “Atlas Shrugged” comes into play. This 1950s anti-communist novel has apparently become popular again with right wingers. I remember trying to read it in college, and giving up because of the far fetched premise and overdrawn conclusions.

A basic premise of “Atlas Shrugged” is that there is no common interest or common good. All good, the book argues comes from individualism. In fact, anything for the common, is Communistic or Socialist and crushes the individual and ruins society.

The book was written during the height of the Cold War when advocates of capitalism were castigating socialism and communism as the end of mankind. “Big Brother” was socialist government that crushed freedom.

Of course, history (with the marked exception of Communist China) has proven that communism does not work. Marx was wrong in most areas.

However, what has not been invalidated is the idea of a common good or common interest. How libertarians go from an analysis that Communism doesn’t work, to the conclusion that all common interests are wrong is beyond me.

This lunacy (to ge kind) manifests itself in what happened in Tennessee. A 911 call needs to be paid for by the individual in a pay as you, toll system. This works, the conservatives say, because if “finally” deals with those “freeloaders” who don’t (or can’t) pay for public services.

So, the guy in Tennessee watched, while calling on his cell phone and waving his wallet at the firefighters that he would pay (he claims he simply forgot to pay) as his house and pets burned. Apparently water was poured on his fence to keep his neighbor’s house safe (who paid the fee).

When I called Fish and Game about the mountain lion, I was assuming they probably wouldn’t come out. After all, seeing a mountain lion is a rare thing. But, I also sent an email to our neighborhood community watch, and let my neighbors know there might be a large predator in the area. In short, I acted in the Common Interest so others might be protected (or at least warned). And, Fish and Game will either move or kill the predator if they become a "public nuisance".

If I believed in the garbage of “Atlas Shrugged” I would have kept the incident quiet. It is none of my neighbor’s business. Individualism is supreme. I need to buy a gun, sit out in the dark, and shoot the lion if it returns,. I can stand alone by God. If the bullet strays into my neighbor’s house and kills somebody, tough luck….the individual is all that counts.

If you haven’t thought by this time that this whole thing is nuts you need help. “Atlas Shrugged” was panned in every college political science classroom I know, including the ones at Stanford I attended, as overdrawn fantasy. The fiction was used as an example of anarchy and the opposite of common interest. In short, it was an overdrawn exaggeration in defense of capitalism during the Cold War. Its conclusions were nonsense then and nonsense now.

When you call 911 you are using a system that was developed and funded for the common interest and protection. For the system to work, there is not time to determine if the victim has “paid his tax or fee”. The common interest is that the fire be put out, else the town or forest burn down. It is also in the common interest that the threat of the mountain lion be communicated to my neighbors and to Fish and Game. I cannot stand alone against the mountain lion, he doesn't care, all the pets in the neighborhood are at risk. I cannot do it alone.

This has been the case throughout human history. Cities establish police and fire departments (in fact in the West fire departments came before police), to protect the general welfare and safety. When San Francisco and Chicago burned, the tragedies spurred each city to establish larger and better funded fire departments, water systems; etc.

The response to a common interest disaster was a STRONGER common fire department system, not a weaker individualistic one. Can you imagine San Francisco in 1907 organizing an individual fire avoidance system based on each home or apartment having its own water bucket? Fire doesn’t care if you are a right wingnut, it burns without prejudice. It burns the rich and the poor. If the rich choses to only protect itself and builds on the high ground with its own fire supression, the conflageration will consume it nonetheless. If you watch the California wildfires, even the richest areas are in danger, fire doesn’t care how much money you have!

In economic hard times, take the Great Depression, fire department and police departments were maintained. They might have been cut back, or got smaller wages, but they were not put on a for fee basis. How does this make any sense, when hard times means fewer people can afford to pay additional fees or taxes? A city charges a fee to people who can’t afford to pay it, then allows a fire to burn a house, endangering others, because no fee was paid? Again, fire doesn’t discriminate, wingnuts do. The irony is the rich usually build high on the mountains or rises, and FIRE RISES!

Now, “Atlas Shrugged” dictates that this is just and good. Freeloaders are a big problem, and socialism rewarding laziness is a cornerstone of the wingnuts efforts to privatize everything. Remember, FIRE RISES!

Let’s apply this to infectious disease, say whooping cough for example. It was discovered that infectious disease could be controlled, in fact eliminated, if anti-viral drugs were developed and the entire population innoculated. If all children were mandated to get their “shots” before then attended school, outbreaks of whooping cough would stop.

In fact, that is exactly what happened. Poor children were covered by county health, the common interest dictated that all got their shots. Polio was eliminated in the United States in the same way.

Today, we read that whooping cough is making a comeback because county health systems have been cut back, poor children are not getting all their shots, and some parents who can afford to pay, are refusing on various grounds to get their children innoculated. The result is an outbreak of whooping cough. By the way, whooping cough can kill children.

Under the madness of “Atlas Shrugged” this is good. Anything is good that attacks freeloaders. Individual responsibility trumps the common interest. If a kid dies, the kid dies. The problem is, the sick child can make MY child sick...

What is really intersting is the fact that the Soviet Union is gone. Communism as a competing political system is over. However it is very interesting that China, still a communist country, is part of the “miracle of the capitalist global economy” that the free traders declare and almost worship. Many of these free traders are the same libertarians who worship “Atlas Shrugged”.

How in the world is this “thinking” possible? China is still a communist country politically, socially, and in a twisted sense, economically. China is also emerging as the leading economic force in the world.

Was “Atlas Shrugged” wrong? Does the common interest in fact triumph over organizations of individuals?

Of course it does. Your house is burning. It is in the common interest and benefit that you call 911 and the fire is put out. Your child is going to school. It is in the common interest and your self interest they get their shots so others don’t get sick. Your country’s economy is going downhill. It is in the common interest, and your interest, that government intervene to keep people from starving. And, it is in your self interest and the common interest that government seek ways to stimulate the economy for the general welfare. This is not socialism, it is common sense!

Evey other nation on earth practices these basis principles. In fact, “Atlas Shrugged” was even banned in some of them, (France) for the nonsense it is. I certainly don’t advocate censorship, which by the way China practices. However, I do advocate common (note the word) sense.

Fact: The common interest leads to the common defense. The United States was organized for the Public Welfare. Commonwealths were the first American colonies. We never have been a collection of individuals. "Atlas Shrugged" misses this completely.

I could go on and on. “Atlas Shrugged” was panned as nonsense when it was written and should be so ridiculed today. The fact that the Tea Parties espouse it speaks volumes about their thought (or lack of it ) processes.

The result of this madness is madness. Homes burn down while the fire department watches. Infectious diseases, absent for decades, begin to reappear. Homelessness explodes. Crime increases. Political candidates make ads beginning with “I am not a witch”.

America is in trouble. “Atlas Shrugged” is not the answer, it the REASON WHY WE ARE IN TROUBLE.

FDR was remarkable in teaching the American public that cooperation and teamwork is the way human society effectively functions. Rampant individualism leads to greed, avarice and ultimately destroys societies. In a world competitive eonomy, America deteriorating into individualistic anarchy is exactly what will lead to our defeat.

And, in the ultimate irony, the foolishness of “Atlas Shrugged” is actually contributing to Chinese Communism’s ultimate triumph! Maybe Marx was right after all!

China is our chief competitor, and collaborator in the world economy. China, regardless of its twentieth century Communism, has always personified teamwork and common interest. This is due to its large population. The individual is subservient to the group.

This is what we face as an economy today, and lapsing into rampant, unregulated individualism is NOT the answer. A team will whip a disoriented group of individuals everytime!

Teamwork, common interest efforts organized around the encouragement of individual achievement and innovation are the only way to survive and win. This means a balance of government regulations and leadership coupled with individual effort and innovation. It was a cornerstone of the "New Deal" and helped us win the Cold War.

What this means is using “Atlas Shrugged” as a guidebook will get us beat! The country knew that in 1957 when the book was published. Even the National Review dismissed it then. What is scary is the Tea Party is using it now as some kind of rallying point.

If your house is on fire, and the fire department refuses to put it out because you haven’t paid your fee, the shortcomings of “Atlas Shrugged” will be readily, and tragically, apparent.

Responsibility?

Once again the cons prove their personal responsibility line is not worth the paper it is printed on.

Part of the con propaganda is that they stand for personal responsibility versus liberal's reliance on governmental regulation. The individual and their integrity is all that is needed in our country, they yell. We don't need government telling us what to do, or holding us back with worthless regulations and laws.

Of course, this is meant to always decrease governmental laws and regulations that are necessary because of the greed of most people; witness B.P. and the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. We have seen an economic train wreck in 2008 because of the housing bubble and Wall Street speculation orgy that cost millions of us billions of dollars. Some estimate that 1/3 of the wealth of United States citizens was lost! Certainly the middle class was decimated by loss of investments, homes and jobs. All this because "individual responsibility" is better than government legislation. Just "trust us" is what we hear from the Cons.

Trust us for Iraq? Trust us for TARP? Trust us?????

Ronald Reagan of course was famous for a variety of homilies that decried government and law. His most famous said the "worst words in the English language" were, "I am from the U.S. Government and I am here to help".

I suppose the victims of the concentration camps, who greeted American G.I.s now say that the worst words in the English language were the above!

Now, Meg "Whitless", and several other Republican candidates, as usual, we find have personal responsibility "issues". And true to form, these candidates are blaming everyone but themselves. Some "personal responsibility"!!!!

Meg Whitman, I prefer Witless, would have us believe that an illegal worked for her for nine years, warning letters were sent that her husband even verified in writing, but "I never knew". She did "know" in time to fire the illegal when she "knew" when she was preparing to run for governor. And, she fired the "illegal" when the lady came to Witless (heartless) asking for help to become a "legal". Nice!

Of course, all this is "in dispute" because Witless has been denying it vehemently. And, as usual, her denials strain credibility. The word "credibility" by the way, for any cons reading this, means having integrity in our words and deeds to the point that you can be trusted.

Trusted? Yes trusted to run a state that has one of the largest economies in the world. Meanwhile, Witless uses her Ebay C.E.O. experience as a qualification of credibility as a governor. The same Witless who dodged state taxes, was accused by the S.E.C. and paid subsequent fines and was generally what passes for a "success" in American business.

The same "success" that is being played out in today's economy that has raped the middle class, bankrupted millions, made millions homeless, while paying C.E.O.s record salaries.

Is California actually going to elect a C.E.O. governor when C.E.O.s have been cheating us all out of our money, taking bailouts from government as "too big to fail" while continuing the same corrupt behaviors that have resulted in a host of convictions of everything from fraud to worse?

Are you kidding me?

An aside: Did you know that thousands of millionaires took unemployment benefits last year? That's right, people who made over a million dollars in 2009 were laid off and had the gall to apply for unemployment benefits!

This happened at the same time as cons in the Congress attempted to limit unemployment extensions for millions.

The cons have even started to attack unemployment insurance as an "entitlement" program (it is no such thing) that is somehow discouraging people from looking for work. They also are attacking Social Security and Medicare as "entitlements".

This is a lie! These programs are funded by our contributions. They are NOT entitlements like welfare, not even close. We pay for them over our working lifetimes. And, Social Security is NOT in funding trouble. In fact, it can pay its obligations with no changes for at least another twenty five years. This is remarkable considering that the "baby boomers" are now retiring in record numbers. What to do to continue its solvency? Raise payroll taxes, raise taxes on the rich (who hardly pay anything proportionally for their social security and Medicare).

It is interesting that I know several "rich retired" folks. None of them have refused to accept their social security or Medicare. And, judging from the information given above, none of them pass on unemployment insurance either. How interesting is this, that people who don't need the insurance, because they are wealthy, still take it! Why, you may ask: the answer everytime I ask is, "I worked for it, I contributed to it and I will use it".

There is nothing wrong with this response, because the programs are NOT ENTITLEMENTS, but are payroll taxation driven insurance programs!

Oh, I forgot, if we just trusted personal responsibility, everything would work. We wouldn't need Socials Security or Medicare. Just free liberty from government shackles and we will prosper. Tell that to the 30% of Americans who are uninsured right now!

Excuse me but the best response to this, given what we are going through is BULLSHIT!

Finally, to the voters of November 2010. If you are so STUPID to continue to buy this B.S. with all the damage it has done to you, and so "witless" to trust people like Meg Witless, who are trying to buy you...then you do not deserve your liberty and will surely lose it.

And you will get exactly the government you deserve.