Tag Archives: Medicare

Government waste

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Ratio public expenditure on GDP by country in ...

Ratio public expenditure on GDP by country in Europe, according to the most recent Eurostat data. This map will by updated as much as possible. Legend : maroon > 55%, red 50-55%, orange 45-50%, yellow 40-45%, green 35-40%, blue 30-35%, purple < 30% (not presently used). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Some of the current media reporting is about alleged government waste where the amount in question is relatively small, under $1 million. While that number may seem large to you or me, it is totally insignificant when compared to total government spending. To me, it seems a total waste of time to focus on the small expenditures when there are much larger frauds out there to expose, such as fraud by Medicare providers and waste by defense contractors. It is almost as if the corporate media has decided to provide a smoke screen for the GOP during this election season.

Please see Fools and tools | Fools and tools part 2

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After me, the deluge

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Louis XV, by Hyacinthe Rigaud, 1730 (Château d...

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“Après moi, le déluge” (After me, the deluge or flood) is usually attributed to french king Louis 15. It may have been said by Louis’s mistress, Madame de Pompadour. It appears to be the motto of the current GOP leadership; they want to win now and don’t give a darn about the future. If they cared about the future, they would be taking better care of the health of their elderly supporters (with expanded Medicare or Obamacare) and looking for younger voters to replace them as the elderly Republicans die out. Instead the GOP is alienating the young and Hispanic voters who they will need in the future as those groups grow in importance relative to other voting blocks.

The GOP would like to restrict the right to vote to wealthy property owners and might even increase the minimum voting age if they could. In an ideal GOP world, the right to vote would pass from father to son, and the 0.01% could appoint members of the Senate without a vote, as was the case in England before universal suffrage, and was probably true in US state legislatures before the 17th amendment. In New York state, Chauncey Depew, an US Senator, was not invited to sit with other guests at dinners by the wife of Commodore Vanderbilt because she regarded him as an employee of her husband. And servants did not dine at the same table as their masters.

Please see Voting rights | For sale

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Right to life part 2

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Smile, Your Mom Chose Life

Smile, Your Mom Chose Life (Photo credit: michaelwrose)

In a previous post, Right to life, I discussed my thoughts about when life begins. I don’t really have an answer to that. This time I want to discuss when the right to life ends. Does it end at birth, at becoming legally an adult, at becoming middle-aged and unemployed, at retirement or at death? Some will make a case for each possible age.

If conception implies life and a right to birth, then those who so believe owe the newborn a good start in life. Adequate nourishment, adequate healthcare, adequate and safe shelter and a start on a level-playing field education. That is a lot to owe a newborn.

Once a child attains adult status and can legally make his/her own decisions, does the right to life stop there? An adult can make all kinds of bad decisions: drive recklessly, do drugs, not purchase insurance, join the military, engage in high risk sports, etc. Do we as a society owe anything to a person who lives recklessly?

Suppose an adult makes all the right decisions, purchases insurance and lives within his/hers means. Then at some point in mid-life, a Mitt Romney or Bain Capital enters the picture and all the careful planning to date goes out the window. Jobs for the middle-aged and above are hard to find at comparable wages or just plain hard to find any job even in good times. In a recession like the present, they can be impossible to find. Should the right to life end if the unemployed can no longer contribute to his/her own sustenance?

Then how long must a worker work if we keep moving the goal posts of retirement, Social Security, and Medicare farther and farther into the future? Does the right to life end when a person can no longer feed, clothe and shelter him/herself? Is this not what we do now? The homeless and the uninsured face a short, brutal life on the streets. We know when the right to life begins, when does the right to life end?

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Age discrimination part 2

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Social Security Poster: old man

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If Mitt and friends have their way, eligibility for Social Security and Medicare will both be delayed til later in life. Some of us work at jobs that are too physically demanding to continue working until age 68 or 69 or 70. Standing 8 hours per day or straining lower back muscles or developing carpal tunnel syndrome are all debilitating. Not all jobs involve sitting in soft, supportive chairs while counting one’s money. That is work that most of us would welcome.

Many people delay their retirement until they are eligible for Medicare, because private healthcare insurance is so expensive. If you lose your job after age 50, jobs are very hard to find due to age discrimination. It’s illegal but surprisingly prevalent. Most people think that it won’t happen to them, until it does. I know from personal experience that management is tempted to replace the experienced older worker with a young worker who will work for less, sometimes much less. And how is the laid-off older worker to survive between age 50 and his/her eligibility for Social Security and Medicare? If the home mortgage is paid off, those years after age 50 are the years where one is planning to save for retirement.

Please see Age discrimination | Retirement

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Romney cares

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English: image edited to hide card's owner nam...

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Yes, Mitt loves us. How do we know? Because he says so. Mitt says he will repair the safety net.

If nominated and if elected, Mitt as president has just issued a budget proposal that will cut taxes for the wealthy and balance the budget. Depending on how you analyze the numbers, Mitt’s proposal will cut Medicare and Social security by 25% to 50%. Yes, Mitt loves us, but he loves the 1% more

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