Most people get a fair amount of fun out of their lives,
but on balance life is suffering, and
only the very young or very foolish imagine otherwise.
George Orwell
Image of the Day
FBI Spying on Americans
Only in Barack Obama's Amerika
No, this video doesn't answer Obama's Statist propaganda using the insurance companies as whipping boys; it's merely contrasting Ray Charles' hopeful version of "America the Beautiful" while Obama is bitching about all of the problems in Americs. I have written dozens of commentaries about Obama's disingenuous nonsense on health care.
I'll just make a few points in passing. Yes, in fact, insurance companies in general do pay off catastrophic health expenses--in fact, I would be willing to be the vast majority of cancer patients are covered under insurance. Let's not forget insurance is a contract which can be enforced in court, and there's also a state regulatory authority, not to mention if companies reneged on their contracts, the companies would have a hard time attracting/keeping customers. I think in a past post I cited that these horror stories are statistically insignificant, the anecdotal facts are in dispute, etc. Here is a nice post which points out that, among other things, HIPAA, federal law for almost 20 years, already controlled for guaranteed issue/renewable, key talking points in leftist propaganda.
Facebook Corner
(Independent Institute). "The unwillingness to properly manage pension plans pushes the cost onto younger people and future generations, and forces them to pay for promises they did not make and for services they did not approve. Older generations receive public services without paying the full cost. The injustice and immorality of using millennials as piggy banks should be apparent to all but the willfully blind."
When I hear pension I also hear unions. You current administration is all about pushing unions. I never had a pension but a 401k and social security. Remember social security was in a fund all its own until Lyndon Baines Johnson put it into the general fund. Its all the politicians that are at fault and not the boomers or everyday working class. If you think your government cares about you better think again. The government. created it and the millennials can blame them when there is no money left.
This LBJ reference is a lie. What he did was more of an accounting gimmick, basically putting it into a consolidated budget, but it did not affect the nature of inflows and outflows.
Then just give me the estimated $400,000 I have paid in over 42 years and I can happily retire!
The problem isn't that--it's when people expect million-plus retirements from their similar contributions.
[There was a debate between a guy worried about the pension he's been paying into all his work career going belly-up with his retirement savings with it and some younger guy basically saying it wasn't his fault my generation didn't stand up to the greed of prior generations.]
This may be the most insane thread I've ever read. "But it is now official: Social Security is a lousy investment for the average worker. People retiring today will be among the first generation of workers to pay more in Social Security taxes than they receive in benefits over the course of their lives, according to a new analysis by the Associated Press." Social security has its own problems, but social security pays out a cap of around $30K/year, even for millionaires who contributed the maximum for decades. There are some Illinois teachers who make about $130K/year and retire in their 50's for maybe a $70K/year pension. There are already major cities where the number of police retirees exceed active duty. Going back to Illinois, the taxpayers often end up picking up most of the teacher's own contributions. Everybody knew this was coming, which is why most companies transitioned to 401K decades ago.
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Eric Allie via IPI |
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| Courtesy of Nate Beeler via Townhall |
Cat Stevens, "New York Times". I like the verse "they're just paper people, not real'. People sometimes get so wrapped up in their own lives. I think of this song sometimes when I pass by a highway accident. There're the inevitable traffic jams, in part caused by one of my pet peeves, rubberneckers. But mostly you're thinking about the personal inconvenience of the traffic delay. Meanwhile, some family's world just turned upside down, maybe a little girl who will never walk down the aisle of her wedding, somebody, although not dead, may be paralyzed and/or faces months, even years of therapy and surgery. And maybe the news will dispassionately describe the incident and move on, but the tragedy doesn't move on for the people involved.
