Newsweek: How To Solve Medicare And Social Security - Let Them Go Bankrupt, Soon

Newsweek:

When the trustees of Social Security and Medicare recently reported on the economic outlook for these programs, the news coverage was universally glum. The recession had made everything worse. Social Security, Medicare face insolvency sooner, headlined The Wall Street Journal. Actually, these reports were good news. Better would have been Social Security, Medicare risk bankruptcy in 2010.

Read the whole story: Newsweek

Comments

[LeeCalif]

It's only Newsweek. They lost their credibility a long time ago.

[JoeBlough]

If the government can bail-out the banksters, the gov. can bail-out the retired. This is not a real problem if the gov. kept its hands off of the money.

[WilliamProc]

The Newsweek article doesn't even consider that the SSA is a branch of the federal government and that its insolvency would devastate the economy. Workers are still paying into the SSA and these dolts want it to go belly up; as if some private group will come along and fill the void.

D.F. at Newsweek: just who would pick up the slack left by the failure of SS and Medicare? Who would be forced to pay for it. Why, the same ones who are paying now...

US!

[Cyberoptic]

As I watch the dems blame the repubs, and repubs blame the dems, I think what if they are both right? Conclusion, neither repubs or dems have the people's welfare in mind, and if we don't come up with a different solution than being on one "team" or the other, we will continue to see "people's welfare ignored.

As far as the brain dead title and thesis of this article, to let social security go bankrupt, it reminds me of the argument of restoring the draft to end the war. It's like starving people to feed them.

[LeeCalif]

I hadn't realized how bad Newsweek had become till now.

[EgyptianMysterySchool]

Social Security is broke because Reagan, Bush 41, Clinton and Bush 43 "borrowed" trillions from it in order to cover their budget deficits.

I put borrow in quotes, because they never paid it back and probably never had any attention to - just sweep the trash forward to the next administration.

S.S. isn't broke because the system is bad, it's obvious that S.S. works, because if it didn't the last 4 presidents wouldn't have borrowed trillions from it.

[vippy]

A run on Washington will be necessary. they just voted for 108 billion for the wars. they had better bail out social security and medicare and work on a feasible healthcare program. Vote them all out of office next election - get a new person and then vote them out after 4 years, this way we will enforce the 4 year term limit. Are you with me?

[sonofsamphm1c]

When grandpa and grandma get old, they cost money - a lot of it. Letting Social Security and medicare go broke ain't gonna change a thing.

Now, if you're willing to let grandpa and grandma starve to death in the gutter, they will cheapen the process up a whole bunch.

[The Meek]

Not to worry. Elder care is big business, especially in the last few years of your. If SSI and Medicare get in trouble you can be assured that business will funnel lots of bribes, I mean campaign contributions to the esteemed colleagues in congress and the problem will be solved.

[The Meek]

Oops, I forgot to put the word LIFE at the end of the second sentence. I must be getting old.

[msjimmied]

Easy way to fix half the problem..N­ationalize health care! We have to wait, the banks and car companies need immediate triage. After we are done with putting them back on the straight and narrow, the health providers will be next. It's not like we want to, we have to. Health care costs are at 16% of the GDP, that's how $5 for an aspirin in a hospital adds up.

[conserv47]

Q: Which Political Party took Social Security from the Independent "Trust Fund"
And put it into the General fund so that Congress could spend it?

A:
It was Lyndon Johnson and the democratically Controlled House and Senate.

----------­----------­----------­----------­---------- ------------------
Q: Which Political Party eliminated the income tax Deduction for Social Security (FICA) withholding?

A: The Democratic Party.
----------­----------­----------­----------­---------- ----------­----------­-

Q: Which Political Party started taxing Social Security annuities?

A: The Democratic Party, with Al Gore casting the "tie-breaking"

Deciding vote as President of the Senate, while he was Vice President of the US.
----------­----------­----------­----------­---------- ----------------

Q: Which Political Party decided to start giving Annuity payments to immigrants?

AND MY FAVORITE:
That's right! Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party.

Immigrants moved into this country, and at age 65, began to receive Social Security payments!

The Democratic Party gave these payments to them, Even though they never paid a dime into it! Then, after violating the original contract (FICA),

The Democrats turn around

And tell you that the Republicans want to take your Social Security away!

And the worst part about it is uninformed citizens believe it!

Who are the REAL sheeple????

[Lizziewho]

Who commissioned the commission to "fix" social security and put Greenspan in charge.

Reagan

How much money did they collect the next 20 years?

$2 trillion

From whom?

From the least among us

What did they do w/ the money?

Republican led government squandered it

[noaxe397]

Who doubled the payroll tax in 1983 to save social security? Reagan

Who determined 90% of the wage base must be covered by the payroll tax to keep SS solvent for another 75 years? Reagan (and Greenspan.)

(Note: only 80% of wage base is covered today due to rising incomes.)

Who had a budget surplus WITHOUT using any of the SS surplus? Clinton

Who began making payments to reduce national debt? Clinton

Who said in 2001 SURPLUSES were a BAD thing? Greenspan.

Who said in 2008 that markets don't work the way he thought they did for the past 40 years? Greenspan.

Who knows what OASDI stands for?

[starlady7]

The immigrants could not collect Social Security unless 1) they're citizens and 2) only if they had worked a sufficient amount of quarters! My mother was an old fashion "housewife". She lacked 3 quarters from her work time and did not qualify for Social Security. Btw, the year is divided into quarters and a person has to have worked so many hours in one quarter for that quarter to count.

Another point, we would not even have the safety net of Social Security if it were not for democrats and President Roosevelt! And if the republicans would quit cutting the revenue to this country by their cry for "tax cuts", this country could afford making improvements, updating, and having solvency in our nation's safety nets...hell we could afford Universal Health care! If we paid more in taxes and did not have medical bills hanging over our heads with the possibility of wiping out all our financial worth and savings, just getting rid of that Stress would make us healthier!

[leftLibertarian]

I hope the writer felt the same way about the Wall St bailout.

[tomasedison]

How to make Newsweek a better magazine .... .

Let them go bankrupt !!

[conserv47]

Just like the NYT!!!!

[totalliberal]

Odd isn't it that our S.S. is supposedly going broke at the same time that every other industrialized country is doing just fine. Do you get the feeling that we are being BS'd or that maybe the Repubs have been flushing S.S. money down the toilet in order to destroy the system?

[master09]

If you were investing your SS withholding in the stock market think of the money you could have by the time you retire then you would not have worry about SS trust fund, right? The previous administration ran a trillion dollars war off budget; they were shipping your SS Trust fund moneys to Iraq by the ship loads; see halibution,KBR and black water for details; so SS is going broke If you buy into this bullsh*t then you should turn your citizenship papers in because you are truely a fool; but I'am affraid if Rush Limbaugh said that we can no longer afford SS then your check would stop. because he has twenty million listeners or should I say Sheeps ?
You know that you are being taken to the cleaners, right ? Capitalism is a ponzi sceam and its being carried out right before your very eyes. No doubt Bernie Madoff is a crook but the whole of wall street. is. Here is a dirty little secret Bank Of America collects our government tax reciept . The money that BA is getting under tarp is to put back our funds that they have already lost ,this is why it was better to loan them the money instead of nationlizing them and then they would turn around and promise to buy the banks back for 10 cents on the dollars; remember the S&L in the 80's same game but we have a new scheriff in town and his name OBAMA

[sixx]

"If you were investing your SS withholding in the stock market think of the money you could have by the time you retire....."

Well if you had planned to retire in December 2008 you had half or less of what you expected.