Read It All And Post Your Thoughts! The Cincinnatus Manifesto

[Cincinnatus2]

Before I begin, it is important for you to understand that my identity does not matter. Whether I am black or white, republican or democrat, Jew or gentile, male or female does not matter. The only facts about myself that you need to know are that I am a proud American citizen and a member of a generation that watches day-by-day as the future of our beloved country grows more and more uncertain. A generation that will one day be entrusted to ensure this country prospers as it always has. The only question is in what state this country will be when that time comes. Will it still be the last best hope of man on earth, or will it be debt-ridden and divided more than ever? Will other nations look upon it as the city on a hill, leading the world ever forward with confidence and strength? Or will they simply look away and banter about how the mighty have fallen? The history of the nation’s future is being written as we speak, and unfortunately the outlook remains grim.
As the angst over the sad state of affairs in our nation spreads, the American people look to Congress, the President, or the opposite party and quickly cast blame upon one or perhaps all three. But this is a representative democracy of the people, by the people, and for the people and it is the people who must decide what is best for the nation. Not a congressman, or the President, or the chief justice, but the people. We the people, need only look into a mirror to find the root of the debacle. In most cases however, we sit idly by and watch all that we have striven so hard for swirl down the drain. We wait for the government to fix our problems rather than tackle them ourselves or we divide ourselves and stubbornly block any path to a resolution. We would be prudent to listen to the words of the late Ronald Reagan when he said, “you and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I’d like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right, there is only an up or down.” “Up” or “down”, those are the only choices we now face as a nation. There can be no more Democrat or Republican, no more one-percent versus the ninety-nine percent, only Americans compromising with Americans to save the country.
But the answer is not that simple. Fear has left Congress gridlocked. Its members fret that their constituency will terminate their careers if they venture to solve the problem posed by entitlements. But fear is what drives these constituencies to threaten the vitality of their representative’s career. The Baby Boomers, the most politically active age group, stand scared to lose the benefits they worked their entire lives for whether those be social security pensions or Medicare and Medicaid assistance. All three of those programs, particularly Social Security will bankrupt my generation before we are even of age to use them. They are the Elephant In the Room that the older generation refuses to confront because they are content with the benefits to which they are so dependent. This point seems to remain elusive on newscasts, as stories of congressional and presidential “he said, she said,” make headlines. The nation focuses instead on which tax bracket will pay more and achieve absolutely nothing in the process. One tax bracket or the other will not solve this issue because the main problem is not taxes…it’s out of control spending. The first step to collectively solving this problem is for the older generation to cast fear aside and let their congressman know that a feasible solution must be found. Why is it unacceptable to use social security for those who need it most? Why can’t we create a program where I can save some of the money I put into the system in a 401k-type fund that can grow and that I can pass on to my family? Why can’t the other portion of my money go to supporting the impoverished and disabled at the same time? The answer is that there is no reason this sort of program cannot exist, it’s just that many older citizens can’t get past the idea that they are not going to lose benefits in the process. They impulsively believe they will get the short end of the stick without ever really understanding how the program works to their advantage. This sort of thinking and nay-saying is paralyzing the wheels of progress sentencing future Americans to financial difficulty. But it is not only the older generation that exacerbates the issue, it is my generation’s lack of coordinated political activism that will haunt us years from now.
The country’s impressions of the youth’s political activism has unfortunately been tainted by the chaos, disorganization, and misdirected messages of the Occupy Movement. While I admire this movement’s political spunk, it truly achieved nothing. Even if it had succeeded it would still have achieved nothing because it focused its efforts on the wrong issue. Taxing the rich to death to achieve some sort of fantastical moral victory is not going to fill the nation’s coffers. In fact, it will barely dent the monstrosity that is now our deficit. Furthermore, getting the point across by causing civil disturbances and openly engaging in Woodstock-like behavior on Wall Street will only serve to cause Congress to turn a blind-eye. If my generation wants to achieve a meaningful political victory it must first educate itself on the true problem we face and then make sure the political leaders of this country understand that handing us a financial disaster a mere decade or two down the road is unacceptable. We must demand that entitlements are fixed and we have to do it through controlled political activism. Letters and petitions go a long way when sent in mass. But as of right now, my generation cannot see past the next episode of South Park or Family Guy. We remain latent and content with our video games and Youtube videos. Our nation’s financial security, and by extension, strength, is at stake and we do not seem to really care? This must not, and cannot be and it has to change NOW. We must make a stand while there is still ground to stand upon. Stake your claim to your own future before it is too late, I beg of you. I refuse to look my children in the eye and tell them that I did nothing to create an America that was fiscally strong and safe for them to grow up in. The thought that they may shoulder the burden for my mistakes is more than I can bear. We cannot allow it to happen.
Right now America stands at a crossroads. Down one road is a responsible path to success paved by fixing entitlements responsibly and down the other lies the can we kick with every passing day. That can lies at the bottom of a heaping pile of debt and signifies the death knell of American power. We as the people of the United States of America must resolve to take the first path and avoid the second. But as I said before it will not be easy as our political divisiveness grows wider. We must take a stand. We must say that we are no longer afraid to solve entitlement reform. We must tell Congress and the President that we do care about what happens to this country and will not accept anything short of a solid long-term solution as soon as humanly possible. We must cast aside left and right and see our collective problem as up or down. Only then will we be able to move the wheels of progress forward and avoid disaster. I am a proud American who believes this is the greatest country on the planet. I know many of you believe it too and wish more than anything to keep it that way. But if we are to protect this bastion of democracy, then we must take advantage of the rights it has provided to us and help steer our representatives onto the correct course. In the words of Reagan, “we must preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth…” The power to do so is yours America, now what will you do with it?

~Cincinnatus

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

Before I begin, it is important for you to understand that my identity does not matter. Whether I am black or white, republican or democrat, Jew or gentile, male or female does not matter. The only facts about myself that you need to know are that I am a proud American citizen and a member of a generation that watches day-by-day as the future of our beloved country grows more and more uncertain. A generation that will one day be entrusted to ensure this country prospers as it always has. The only question is in what state this country will be when that time comes. Will it still be the last best hope of man on earth, or will it be debt-ridden and divided more than ever? Will other nations look upon it as the city on a hill, leading the world ever forward with confidence and strength? Or will they simply look away and banter about how the mighty have fallen? The history of the nation’s future is being written as we speak, and unfortunately the outlook remains grim.
As the angst over the sad state of affairs in our nation spreads, the American people look to Congress, the President, or the opposite party and quickly cast blame upon one or perhaps all three. But this is a representative democracy of the people, by the people, and for the people and it is the people who must decide what is best for the nation. Not a congressman, or the President, or the chief justice, but the people. We the people, need only look into a mirror to find the root of the debacle. In most cases however, we sit idly by and watch all that we have striven so hard for swirl down the drain. We wait for the government to fix our problems rather than tackle them ourselves or we divide ourselves and stubbornly block any path to a resolution. We would be prudent to listen to the words of the late Ronald Reagan when he said, “you and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I’d like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right, there is only an up or down.” “Up” or “down”, those are the only choices we now face as a nation. There can be no more Democrat or Republican, no more one-percent versus the ninety-nine percent, only Americans compromising with Americans to save the country.
But the answer is not that simple. Fear has left Congress gridlocked. Its members fret that their constituency will terminate their careers if they venture to solve the problem posed by entitlements. But fear is what drives these constituencies to threaten the vitality of their representative’s career. The Baby Boomers, the most politically active age group, stand scared to lose the benefits they worked their entire lives for whether those be social security pensions or Medicare and Medicaid assistance. All three of those programs, particularly Social Security will bankrupt my generation before we are even of age to use them. They are the Elephant In the Room that the older generation refuses to confront because they are content with the benefits to which they are so dependent. This point seems to remain elusive on newscasts, as stories of congressional and presidential “he said, she said,” make headlines. The nation focuses instead on which tax bracket will pay more and achieve absolutely nothing in the process. One tax bracket or the other will not solve this issue because the main problem is not taxes…it’s out of control spending. The first step to collectively solving this problem is for the older generation to cast fear aside and let their congressman know that a feasible solution must be found. Why is it unacceptable to use social security for those who need it most? Why can’t we create a program where I can save some of the money I put into the system in a 401k-type fund that can grow and that I can pass on to my family? Why can’t the other portion of my money go to supporting the impoverished and disabled at the same time? The answer is that there is no reason this sort of program cannot exist, it’s just that many older citizens can’t get past the idea that they are not going to lose benefits in the process. They impulsively believe they will get the short end of the stick without ever really understanding how the program works to their advantage. This sort of thinking and nay-saying is paralyzing the wheels of progress sentencing future Americans to financial difficulty. But it is not only the older generation that exacerbates the issue, it is my generation’s lack of coordinated political activism that will haunt us years from now.
The country’s impressions of the youth’s political activism has unfortunately been tainted by the chaos, disorganization, and misdirected messages of the Occupy Movement. While I admire this movement’s political spunk, it truly achieved nothing. Even if it had succeeded it would still have achieved nothing because it focused its efforts on the wrong issue. Taxing the rich to death to achieve some sort of fantastical moral victory is not going to fill the nation’s coffers. In fact, it will barely dent the monstrosity that is now our deficit. Furthermore, getting the point across by causing civil disturbances and openly engaging in Woodstock-like behavior on Wall Street will only serve to cause Congress to turn a blind-eye. If my generation wants to achieve a meaningful political victory it must first educate itself on the true problem we face and then make sure the political leaders of this country understand that handing us a financial disaster a mere decade or two down the road is unacceptable. We must demand that entitlements are fixed and we have to do it through controlled political activism. Letters and petitions go a long way when sent in mass. But as of right now, my generation cannot see past the next episode of South Park or Family Guy. We remain latent and content with our video games and Youtube videos. Our nation’s financial security, and by extension, strength, is at stake and we do not seem to really care? This must not, and cannot be and it has to change NOW. We must make a stand while there is still ground to stand upon. Stake your claim to your own future before it is too late, I beg of you. I refuse to look my children in the eye and tell them that I did nothing to create an America that was fiscally strong and safe for them to grow up in. The thought that they may shoulder the burden for my mistakes is more than I can bear. We cannot allow it to happen.
Right now America stands at a crossroads. Down one road is a responsible path to success paved by fixing entitlements responsibly and down the other lies the can we kick with every passing day. That can lies at the bottom of a heaping pile of debt and signifies the death knell of American power. We as the people of the United States of America must resolve to take the first path and avoid the second. But as I said before it will not be easy as our political divisiveness grows wider. We must take a stand. We must say that we are no longer afraid to solve entitlement reform. We must tell Congress and the President that we do care about what happens to this country and will not accept anything short of a solid long-term solution as soon as humanly possible. We must cast aside left and right and see our collective problem as up or down. Only then will we be able to move the wheels of progress forward and avoid disaster. I am a proud American who believes this is the greatest country on the planet. I know many of you believe it too and wish more than anything to keep it that way. But if we are to protect this bastion of democracy, then we must take advantage of the rights it has provided to us and help steer our representatives onto the correct course. In the words of Reagan, “we must preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth…” The power to do so is yours America, now what will you do with it?

~Cincinnatus

Paragraphs and how to use them do, however.

 

[Michelle420]

Before I begin, it is important for you to understand that my identity does not matter. Whether I am black or white, republican or democrat, Jew or gentile, male or female does not matter. The only facts about myself that you need to know are that I am a proud American citizen and a member of a generation that watches day-by-day as the future of our beloved country grows more and more uncertain.

A generation that will one day be entrusted to ensure this country prospers as it always has. The only question is in what state this country will be when that time comes. Will it still be the last best hope of man on earth, or will it be debt-ridden and divided more than ever? Will other nations look upon it as the city on a hill, leading the world ever forward with confidence and strength? Or will they simply look away and banter about how the mighty have fallen? The history of the nation’s future is being written as we speak, and unfortunately the outlook remains grim.

As the angst over the sad state of affairs in our nation spreads, the American people look to Congress, the President, or the opposite party and quickly cast blame upon one or perhaps all three. But this is a representative democracy of the people, by the people, and for the people and it is the people who must decide what is best for the nation. Not a congressman, or the President, or the chief justice, but the people. We the people, need only look into a mirror to find the root of the debacle. In most cases however, we sit idly by and watch all that we have striven so hard for swirl down the drain.

We wait for the government to fix our problems rather than tackle them ourselves or we divide ourselves and stubbornly block any path to a resolution. We would be prudent to listen to the words of the late Ronald Reagan when he said, “you and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I’d like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right, there is only an up or down.” “Up” or “down”, those are the only choices we now face as a nation. There can be no more Democrat or Republican, no more one-percent versus the ninety-nine percent, only Americans compromising with Americans to save the country.

But the answer is not that simple. Fear has left Congress gridlocked. Its members fret that their constituency will terminate their careers if they venture to solve the problem posed by entitlements. But fear is what drives these constituencies to threaten the vitality of their representative’s career.

The Baby Boomers, the most politically active age group, stand scared to lose the benefits they worked their entire lives for whether those be social security pensions or Medicare and Medicaid assistance. All three of those programs, particularly Social Security will bankrupt my generation before we are even of age to use them. They are the Elephant In the Room that the older generation refuses to confront because they are content with the benefits to which they are so dependent.

This point seems to remain elusive on newscasts, as stories of congressional and presidential “he said, she said,” make headlines. The nation focuses instead on which tax bracket will pay more and achieve absolutely nothing in the process. One tax bracket or the other will not solve this issue because the main problem is not taxes…it’s out of control spending.

The first step to collectively solving this problem is for the older generation to cast fear aside and let their congressman know that a feasible solution must be found.

Why is it unacceptable to use social security for those who need it most?
Why can’t we create a program where I can save some of the money I put into the system in a 401k-type fund that can grow and that I can pass on to my family?
Why can’t the other portion of my money go to supporting the impoverished and disabled at the same time?

The answer is that there is no reason this sort of program cannot exist, it’s just that many older citizens can’t get past the idea that they are not going to lose benefits in the process.

They impulsively believe they will get the short end of the stick without ever really understanding how the program works to their advantage. This sort of thinking and nay-saying is paralyzing the wheels of progress sentencing future Americans to financial difficulty. But it is not only the older generation that exacerbates the issue, it is my generation’s lack of coordinated political activism that will haunt us years from now.

The country’s impressions of the youth’s political activism has unfortunately been tainted by the chaos, disorganization, and misdirected messages of the Occupy Movement. While I admire this movement’s political spunk, it truly achieved nothing. Even if it had succeeded it would still have achieved nothing because it focused its efforts on the wrong issue.

Taxing the rich to death to achieve some sort of fantastical moral victory is not going to fill the nation’s coffers. In fact, it will barely dent the monstrosity that is now our deficit. Furthermore, getting the point across by causing civil disturbances and openly engaging in Woodstock-like behavior on Wall Street will only serve to cause Congress to turn a blind-eye.

If my generation wants to achieve a meaningful political victory it must first educate itself on the true problem we face and then make sure the political leaders of this country understand that handing us a financial disaster a mere decade or two down the road is unacceptable. We must demand that entitlements are fixed and we have to do it through controlled political activism. Letters and petitions go a long way when sent in mass.

But as of right now, my generation cannot see past the next episode of South Park or Family Guy. We remain latent and content with our video games and Youtube videos. Our nation’s financial security, and by extension, strength, is at stake and we do not seem to really care? This must not, and cannot be and it has to change NOW.

We must make a stand while there is still ground to stand upon. Stake your claim to your own future before it is too late, I beg of you. I refuse to look my children in the eye and tell them that I did nothing to create an America that was fiscally strong and safe for them to grow up in. The thought that they may shoulder the burden for my mistakes is more than I can bear. We cannot allow it to happen.

Right now America stands at a crossroads. Down one road is a responsible path to success paved by fixing entitlements responsibly and down the other lies the can we kick with every passing day. That can lies at the bottom of a heaping pile of debt and signifies the death knell of American power.

We as the people of the United States of America must resolve to take the first path and avoid the second. But as I said before it will not be easy as our political divisiveness grows wider. We must take a stand. We must say that we are no longer afraid to solve entitlement reform.

We must tell Congress and the President that we do care about what happens to this country and will not accept anything short of a solid long-term solution as soon as humanly possible.

We must cast aside left and right and see our collective problem as up or down. Only then will we be able to move the wheels of progress forward and avoid disaster. I am a proud American who believes this is the greatest country on the planet. I know many of you believe it too and wish more than anything to keep it that way. But if we are to protect this bastion of democracy, then we must take advantage of the rights it has provided to us and help steer our representatives onto the correct course.

In the words of Reagan, “we must preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth…” The power to do so is yours America, now what will you do with it?

~Cincinnatus

Paul Ryan is that You ? http://finance.fortune.cnn.com/2011/09/27/paul-ryan-healthcare/

 

[candycorn]

Before I begin, it is important for you to understand that my identity does not matter. Whether I am black or white, republican or democrat, Jew or gentile, male or female does not matter. The only facts about myself that you need to know are that I am a proud American citizen and a member of a generation that watches day-by-day as the future of our beloved country grows more and more uncertain. A generation that will one day be entrusted to ensure this country prospers as it always has. The only question is in what state this country will be when that time comes. Will it still be the last best hope of man on earth, or will it be debt-ridden and divided more than ever? Will other nations look upon it as the city on a hill, leading the world ever forward with confidence and strength? byOr will they simply look away and banter about how the mighty have fallen? The history of the nation’s future is being written as we speak, and unfortunately the outlook remains grim.
As the angst over the sad state of affairs in our nation spreads, the American people look to Congress, the President, or the opposite party and quickly cast blame upon one or perhaps all three. But this is a representative democracy of the people, by the people, and for the people and it is the people who must decide what is best for the nation. Not a congressman, or the President, or the chief justice, but the people. We the people, need only look into a mirror to find the root of the debacle. In most cases however, we sit idly by and watch all that we have striven so hard for swirl down the drain. We wait for the government to fix our problems rather than tackle them ourselves or we divide ourselves and stubbornly block any path to a resolution. We would be prudent to listen to the words of the late Ronald Reagan when he said, “you and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I’d like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right, there is only an up or down.” “Up” or “down”, those are the only choices we now face as a nation. There can be no more Democrat or Republican, no more one-percent versus the ninety-nine percent, only Americans compromising with Americans to save the country.
But the answer is not that simple. Fear has left Congress gridlocked. Its members fret that their constituency will terminate their careers if they venture to solve the problem posed by entitlements. But fear is what drives these constituencies to threaten the vitality of their representative’s career. The Baby Boomers, the most politically active age group, stand scared to lose the benefits they worked their entire lives for whether those be social security pensions or Medicare and Medicaid assistance. All three of those programs, particularly Social Security will bankrupt my generation before we are even of age to use them. They are the Elephant In the Room that the older generation refuses to confront because they are content with the benefits to which they are so dependent. This point seems to remain elusive on newscasts, as stories of congressional and presidential “he said, she said,” make headlines. The nation focuses instead on which tax bracket will pay more and achieve absolutely nothing in the process. One tax bracket or the other will not solve this issue because the main problem is not taxes…it’s out of control spending. The first step to collectively solving this problem is for the older generation to cast fear aside and let their congressman know that a feasible solution must be found. Why is it unacceptable to use social security for those who need it most? Why can’t we create a program where I can save some of the money I put into the system in a 401k-type fund that can grow and that I can pass on to my family? Why can’t the other portion of my money go to supporting the impoverished and disabled at the same time? The answer is that there is no reason this sort of program cannot exist, it’s just that many older citizens can’t get past the idea that they are not going to lose benefits in the process. They impulsively believe they will get the short end of the stick without ever really understanding how the program works to their advantage. This sort of thinking and nay-saying is paralyzing the wheels of progress sentencing future Americans to financial difficulty. But it is not only the older generation that exacerbates the issue, it is my generation’s lack of coordinated political activism that will haunt us years from now.
The country’s impressions of the youth’s political activism has unfortunately been tainted by the chaos, disorganization, and misdirected messages of the Occupy Movement. While I admire this movement’s political spunk, it truly achieved nothing. Even if it had succeeded it would still have achieved nothing because it focused its efforts on the wrong issue. Taxing the rich to death to achieve some sort of fantastical moral victory is not going to fill the nation’s coffers. In fact, it will barely dent the monstrosity that is now our deficit. Furthermore, getting the point across by causing civil disturbances and openly engaging in Woodstock-like behavior on Wall Street will only serve to cause Congress to turn a blind-eye. If my generation wants to achieve a meaningful political victory it must first educate itself on the true problem we face and then make sure the political leaders of this country understand that handing us a financial disaster a mere decade or two down the road is unacceptable. We must demand that entitlements are fixed and we have to do it through controlled political activism. Letters and petitions go a long way when sent in mass. But as of right now, my generation cannot see past the next episode of South Park or Family Guy. We remain latent and content with our video games and Youtube videos. Our nation’s financial security, and by extension, strength, is at stake and we do not seem to really care? This must not, and cannot be and it has to change NOW. We must make a stand while there is still ground to stand upon. Stake your claim to your own future before it is too late, I beg of you. I refuse to look my children in the eye and tell them that I did nothing to create an America that was fiscally strong and safe for them to grow up in. The thought that they may shoulder the burden for my mistakes is more than I can bear. We cannot allow it to happen.
Right now America stands at a crossroads. Down one road is a responsible path to success paved by fixing entitlements responsibly and down the other lies the can we kick with every passing day. That can lies at the bottom of a heaping pile of debt and signifies the death knell of American power. We as the people of the United States of America must resolve to take the first path and avoid the second. But as I said before it will not be easy as our political divisiveness grows wider. We must take a stand. We must say that we are no longer afraid to solve entitlement reform. We must tell Congress and the President that we do care about what happens to this country and will not accept anything short of a solid long-term solution as soon as humanly possible. We must cast aside left and right and see our collective problem as up or down. Only then will we be able to move the wheels of progress forward and avoid disaster. I am a proud American who believes this is the greatest country on the planet. I know many of you believe it too and wish more than anything to keep it that way. But if we are to protect this bastion of democracy, then we must take advantage of the rights it has provided to us and help steer our representatives onto the correct course. In the words of Reagan, “we must preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth…” The power to do so is yours America, now what will you do with it?

~Cincinnatus

hmmmm

 

[Lakhota]

So-called "entitlements" didn't create the current mess inherited from George W. Bush.

 

[OKTexas]

So-called "entitlements" didn't create the current mess inherited from George W. Bush.

Your ignorance is showing again, do you have any concept of what 140 trillion in unfunded liabilities mean to the future of this country? Or I guess I should ask, do you really give a shit?

 

[Lakhota]

So-called "entitlements" didn't create the current mess inherited from George W. Bush.

Your ignorance is showing again, do you have any concept of what 140 trillion in unfunded liabilities mean to the future of this country? Or I guess I should ask, do you really give a shit?

What $140 trillion in unfunded liabilities? Can you give us some "credible" facts without the wingnut spin? Are you including the current $2.7 trillion Social Security surplus?

 

[Wehrwolfen]

US UNFUNDED LIABILITIES TOP $238 TRILLION!!

October 6th, 2012

Read more at NIALL FERGUSON: US UNFUNDED LIABILITIES TOP $238 TRILLION!! | InvestmentWatch

Are you protected from Obama's insidious plot to ROB YOU? - See more at: NIALL FERGUSON: US UNFUNDED LIABILITIES TOP $238 TRILLION!! | InvestmentWatch

Read more at NIALL FERGUSON: US UNFUNDED LIABILITIES TOP $238 TRILLION!! | InvestmentWatch - See more at: NIALL FERGUSON: US UNFUNDED LIABILITIES TOP $238 TRILLION!! | InvestmentWatch

 

[OKTexas]

So-called "entitlements" didn't create the current mess inherited from George W. Bush.

Your ignorance is showing again, do you have any concept of what 140 trillion in unfunded liabilities mean to the future of this country? Or I guess I should ask, do you really give a shit?

What $140 trillion in unfunded liabilities? Can you give us some "credible" facts without the wingnut spin? Are you including the current $2.7 trillion Social Security surplus?

$24.5 Trillion In US National Debt, $144 Trillion In Unfunded Liabilities In... 2015

$24.5 Trillion In US National Debt, $144 Trillion In Unfunded Liabilities In... 2015 | Zero Hedge

Newer article: Why Are We Not Talking About America’s $123 Trillion In Unfunded Liabilities?

http://www.redstate.com/2013/02/20/...mericas-123-trillion-in-unfunded-liabilities/

 

[Politico]

Paragraphs and how to use them do, however.

A damn spacebar every once and a while as well.

 

[Oldguy]

One advantage the old have over the young is perspective. Having lived a long time, we can see things from this vantage point which you cannot. The road ahead is dark, mysterious and exciting to you, full of unknown and unseen dangers, and you must do your best to navigate it based upon incomplete understanding and insufficient information. We looking back already know where the potholes are and have found many of the answers you're looking for.

"Entitlements" like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are examples. To you, they are exercises in theoretical finances. To us, they're an everyday fact of life. To you, they are a threat to your well being. To us, they are a necessity to our well being. Those different points of view give us different opinions and different outlooks. Neither of us have the right to simply impose our concerns onto the other and that's where our political processes come into play and that's the arena in which whatever we do about "entitlements" will be played out.

But, we older folks also know more about politics than do the young simply because we've observed it and fought it for much longer. One thing most of us no longer have is the surety of youth, especially in regards to politics. Young people just KNOW what's right and wrong and can "clearly" see what has to be done. We were all like that in our youth. Everything was clear cut, in black and white, and we had a hard time understanding why everyone else didn't see that too. Impassioned and convinced of our genius, we fought against the "gray heads" of our generation who had royally screwed things up. The country moved forward by fits and starts toward that future we could only see vaguely, never quite coming into line with what we thought we wanted.

Now, though, we old timers find ourselves inhabiting a place with many more shadows and gray areas than we saw back then. Along the journey of life, we've found that those things we thought were cut and dried weren't nearly so and we watched as the political process become less and less about right and wrong, and more and more about what was possible. We accepted compromise unwillingly, but eventually learned to see the value of procrastination. We found that most of those threats we saw ahead of us simply vanished the closer we got, like a mirage on the desert. It looks real and solid, but it isn't.

I said all that to address your concerns about "entitlement" spending.

My suggestion? Don't worry about it. You'll find that the End of the World isn't really the end of the world. Does it all need to be tweaked some? Sure it does. Progress always requires fine tuning. But, it doesn't need to be totally overhauled. Crafting a long term solution for a short term problem is not only a bad idea, it's bad politics as well.

Right now, over 1/4 of our 313 million people are over age 55. If they're not all retired yet, they soon will be and that's what's driving up the projected cost of "entitlements." Even given the advances in medicine and health, though, you can reasonably expect most of us in that demographic to be dead within the next 20 years. As time passes, more and more of us will fall out of the system and into the cemetery. Since the generation coming behind is smaller than us, we'll fall out faster than new people come in...at least for awhile.

The point is that the problems with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid funding are temporary and all that's required to solve them is to kick the can a little farther down the road until it corrects itself by attrition. No, that won't solve it permanently, but permanent solutions are utopian dreams. There never is one to anything. Can kicking is usually the best thing you can do and it will be in this case too.

Take heart, young man or woman. Your future is still as bright as you make it, but don't be surprised when it doesn't turn out to be the Emerald City. You'll be comfortable wherever you end up and you'll be as amused as we are by the youthful Crusaders who will follow in your footsteps.

 

[LoneLaugher]

So-called "entitlements" didn't create the current mess inherited from George W. Bush.

Your ignorance is showing again, do you have any concept of what 140 trillion in unfunded liabilities mean to the future of this country? Or I guess I should ask, do you really give a shit?

Talk about a bullshit term. Unfunded liabilities. Sounds horrible!

 

[LoneLaugher]

http://www.escapethenewgreatdepress...ational-debt-and-hidden-unfunded-liabilities/

 

[dblack]

Paragraphs and how to use them do, however.

A damn spacebar every once and a while as well.

Yep... tl;dr

 

[Mad Scientist]

One advantage the old have over the young is perspective. Having lived a long time, we can see things from this vantage point which you cannot. The road ahead is dark, mysterious and exciting to you, full of unknown and unseen dangers, and you must do your best to navigate it based upon incomplete understanding and insufficient information. We looking back already know where the potholes are and have found many of the answers you're looking for.

"Entitlements" like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are examples. To you, they are exercises in theoretical finances. To us, they're an everyday fact of life. To you, they are a threat to your well being. To us, they are a necessity to our well being. Those different points of view give us different opinions and different outlooks. Neither of us have the right to simply impose our concerns onto the other and that's where our political processes come into play and that's the arena in which whatever we do about "entitlements" will be played out.

But, we older folks also know more about politics than do the young simply because we've observed it and fought it for much longer. One thing most of us no longer have is the surety of youth, especially in regards to politics. Young people just KNOW what's right and wrong and can "clearly" see what has to be done. We were all like that in our youth. Everything was clear cut, in black and white, and we had a hard time understanding why everyone else didn't see that too. Impassioned and convinced of our genius, we fought against the "gray heads" of our generation who had royally screwed things up. The country moved forward by fits and starts toward that future we could only see vaguely, never quite coming into line with what we thought we wanted.

Now, though, we old timers find ourselves inhabiting a place with many more shadows and gray areas than we saw back then. Along the journey of life, we've found that those things we thought were cut and dried weren't nearly so and we watched as the political process become less and less about right and wrong, and more and more about what was possible. We accepted compromise unwillingly, but eventually learned to see the value of procrastination. We found that most of those threats we saw ahead of us simply vanished the closer we got, like a mirage on the desert. It looks real and solid, but it isn't.

I said all that to address your concerns about "entitlement" spending.

My suggestion? Don't worry about it. You'll find that the End of the World isn't really the end of the world. Does it all need to be tweaked some? Sure it does. Progress always requires fine tuning. But, it doesn't need to be totally overhauled. Crafting a long term solution for a short term problem is not only a bad idea, it's bad politics as well.

Right now, over 1/4 of our 313 million people are over age 55. If they're not all retired yet, they soon will be and that's what's driving up the projected cost of "entitlements." Even given the advances in medicine and health, though, you can reasonably expect most of us in that demographic to be dead within the next 20 years. As time passes, more and more of us will fall out of the system and into the cemetery. Since the generation coming behind is smaller than us, we'll fall out faster than new people come in...at least for awhile.

The point is that the problems with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid funding are temporary and all that's required to solve them is to kick the can a little farther down the road until it corrects itself by attrition. No, that won't solve it permanently, but permanent solutions are utopian dreams. There never is one to anything. Can kicking is usually the best thing you can do and it will be in this case too.

Take heart, young man or woman. Your future is still as bright as you make it, but don't be surprised when it doesn't turn out to be the Emerald City. You'll be comfortable wherever you end up and you'll be as amused as we are by the youthful Crusaders who will follow in your footsteps.

Very good OldGuy! Don't let anyone know that Income Taxes only pays the INTEREST on the National Debt and Social Security taxes go direct to Banks.

I especially like the part about "it corrects itself", like no one is manipulating the system! Brilliant!