Reforming Social Security

And especially Medicare.

We have been writing e-mails, letters and blog postings for many years protesting or offering advice on various subjects facing the world. During the last three years we have limited our writing to a few subjects with the "Social Security-Medicare"delimma and "Obama Care" being high on the list. A few days ago, the news and the heat both being oppressive, we sent the following e-mail to several news anchors, mostly on Fox News, but there has been no indication that they were delivered.

"Reforming Social Security and Medicare is absolutely 'A MUST' if they are to be extended into the distant future for our younger generations. In the near future (next ten to fifteen years) there is nothing that can be done, short of cutting benefits for current retirees (run that up the flag pole and see who salutes) , that will affect the budget or our National Debt. It is already set in stone. The United States Treasury will have to borrow money to redeem those IOUs, in the Social Security Trust Fund, in order to pay current benefits which will add to the National debt but, by law passed in 1990, Social Security and Medicare are not a part of the budget as submitted by the President and they do not affect that budget in any way. You can take them out of your pie chart. Medicaid, Food Stamps and other unfunded government welfare programs are running wild and should be reined in but that is not a Social Security-Medicare problem.
Last December, during the negotiations pertaining to the Bush era tax cuts, President Obama asked for, and got, a two percentage points cut in the FICA (payroll) tax which is paid by each employee. It has been said on television (Fox News) that that cut amounted to nearly one hundred and fifty billion dollars. Again I heard on television (Fox News again) that the president is asking (could be just a trial balloon) for another cut in the FICA tax which finances Social Security and Medicare. How can anyone reconcile cutting the payroll tax or declaring a tax holiday with the fact that Social Security and Medicare are already depending on money from redeeming some of the IOUs in their Trust Fund to pay current benefits? The Trust Fund will be bankrupted much quicker if that is the course we follow. I believe the news media, especially Fox News, should do more to inform all voters what is happening in Washington. Try it, you might like it."

Neither our Senators nor our Representative will even attempt to address our concerns about the status of Social Security and Medicare and those contacted in the news media also ignore the subject. Our Senators only want to re-assure us that they won't allow our benefits to be cut and the media, for the most part, will only parrot the political line, i.e., "Social Security and Medicare are the biggest drivers of our budget deficits and National debt" and "In a few more years Social Security and Medicare will be consuming ninety percent of our disposable income."
At the very, very best that is a mis-statement and at the worst it is a lie. I believe it to be the latter.

In previous postings I wrote; I don't know if they (Washington politicians) are brain-washed, don't have a brain to be washed or are trying to brain-wash us. I still don't know the answer but I suspect it to be a combination of all three. Meanwhile, here on the hill, it is still hot and what little rain we got has dried up but there is more in the forecast. Blueberries should be getting ripe soon. That will keep us busy for several days. My working days start early (daylight) and end before noon, with time out for breakfast, but I sure can't complain about that. Thanks for your time and input. Stay tuned. - William