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| I HAVE A DREAM |
| Wednesday, January 12, 2005 |
| I too have a dream
I have a dream - that one day, people who can afford their own prescription drugs will buy them without robbing their neighbor's piggy bank.
I have a dream - that one day all my brothers and sisters will have the foresight to save for their own retirement, and that Ponzi schemes like Social Security will no longer be wanted or needed.
I have a dream - that the phrase "government entitlement" will be nothing more than a relic on the wall of a museum - The Museum of Discarded Government Ideas.
I have a dream. Unfortunately, I always wake up and have to live in the real world where our beloved government employees (Congress and the President) are arguing over solutions to problems they created in the first place.
A couple of years ago, President Bush and Congress "fixed" Medicare by adding a feature that makes it even more expensive. That feature - prescription drug coverage - purportedly solved the problem of senior citizens not being able to afford their life-sustaining pharmaceuticals.
As it turns out - and it was pointed out well before the vote was taken - this is not actually a problem. It is for a few people, but not for the senior population as a whole. Retired Americans spend about three percent of their income for prescription drugs. That's less then they spend for entertainment. Let's have the ayes and nays for an "entertainment entitlement" for senior citizens.
As a result of our government employees' "fix," both conservative and liberal economists are writing today that the insolvency of Medicare is much more imminent than the insolvency of Social Security, which is next on the list of problems to be fixed.
Social Security would also not need to be fixed if our government employees had not made the same mistake with it as they did with Medicare. What mistake is that? Thanks for asking. The mistake was in making the programs "entitlements," triggered by living long enough to collect the benefits, rather than making them welfare programs designed to sustain life when no other means were available.
Had Medicare and Social Security been designed as welfare programs, only a small fraction of the retired population would be covered. The cost would be minimal and most people would plan for their retirement needs by saving, rather than paying taxes to support others who didn't plan for their retirement.
I have a dream my friends - that somehow, someday, someone will have the vision, opportunity and skill to transform government generosity from something that covers everyone at extraordinarily high costs to something that covers only the truly needy at a much lower cost, and leaves most of our taxpayers' money in their own pockets to provide for the own future needs.
I have a dream.
http://www.ralphbristol.com
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posted by Jack Mercer @ 1/12/2005 10:53:00 AM   |
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| 2 Comments: |
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Seniors spend 3% of their income on prescriptions? On *average*, maybe. But you make it sound like all of our seniors are actually doing just fine. My grandparents, on the other hand, spend literally 1/2 of their income on their meds & premiums paid to Kaiser! The closest thing they have to an "entertainment" expense is their cable bill, and I guarantee you the two sets of expenses are not comparable. I'm not willing to let our most vulnerable (including the very young and the very old) sink into poverty. However, I agree that able-bodied adults need to take accountability for themselves and bring their net worth into the black. But this is how my grandparents lived, and that is why I do believe we need a safety net.
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I agree with you, Lefty, also agree with Ralph on his article, though. There are those that are in need, but in this nation they are often the exception not the rule. Great comment, and absolutely correct!
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Name: Jack Mercer
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Seniors spend 3% of their income on prescriptions? On *average*, maybe. But you make it sound like all of our seniors are actually doing just fine. My grandparents, on the other hand, spend literally 1/2 of their income on their meds & premiums paid to Kaiser! The closest thing they have to an "entertainment" expense is their cable bill, and I guarantee you the two sets of expenses are not comparable. I'm not willing to let our most vulnerable (including the very young and the very old) sink into poverty. However, I agree that able-bodied adults need to take accountability for themselves and bring their net worth into the black. But this is how my grandparents lived, and that is why I do believe we need a safety net.