But, I hope other senior citizens can see clearly that our President, our congressmen, and the press do not tell what is actually happening to our country. We are in serious trouble and balancing the budget is only a Band-Aid for our most serious of problems -- the potential loss of our democracy as we know it, a life of bondage, or a deep world-wide depression.
Alexander Tyler wrote in 1770, six years before the birth of this nation that, "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse (bounty, gifts, donations, generous giving, etc.) from the public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising them the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by dictatorship.
Democracies progress through this sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back again to bondage."
The United States has been progressing through this sequence since our birth in 1776 and are entering the last stages. The budget will not be balanced because there are too many at the public trough and the resources are no longer in abundance. Politicians will claim they have arrived at a balanced budget but it will be a sham as the annual deficits and debt numbers will be phony as they have been since 1983. Even the $5 Trillion national debt is not a valid number as it does not include Social Security IOU posted in trust funds ($500 Billion), the effect of the huge trade unbalances, that 40 billion "loaned" to Mexico, the debt we have with other nations, a $200 Billion loan that Japan asking for and will probably get, and much more.
Politicians like to claim that senior citizens are the only ones at the trough and it is true that some couples earning more than $35,000 per year, exclusive of SS, that are well off, are. These recipients of social security and Medicare must hate their children or grandchildren as their offspring will be the ones that will ultimately pay for their selfishness. However, along side the Medicare, Medicaid recipients at the trough is the AMA, the over-paid medical providers, the pharmaceutical companies, and especially the insurance companies -- all pigging-out on entitlements.
Then we have presidents, senators and congressmen that vote billions for armaments we don't need, and the Pentagon doesn't want, to feed the trough of the voters that help them get re-elected. Don't forget the munitions companies that have overruns larger than the original contracts that even, with fraud, only get a little spanking. We can't even begin to identify all the trough participants but we need to include recipients of student loans (that don't pay them back), farm subsides to wealthy farmers -- for growing or not growing peanuts, sugar, tobacco, and more. We can't forget the FDIC protection racket that got taxpayers to pay for investment losses of wealthy investors -- the S&L crisis and $500 Billion bailout. Soon the government's promise to protect retirement funds will cost taxpayers billions to cover losses to funds by the corporate executives now raiding them. The public trough is quite crowded.
The only approach that the politicians seem to have remaining is the ability to print more money or raise taxes. More paper will mean inflation followed by more inflation until everyone can be paid off with bushels of paper money. This will mean higher prices for everyone, higher food, shelter, transportation, and medical costs. For senior citizens receiving Social Security, this will be devastating as they will receive the same amount of money each month but it will be effectively worth less.
This scenario is very negative and I hope these circumstances will not be realized. I hope there are some out there that have knowledge of a more positive scenario and be willing to share it with us or possibly recommend what steps senior citizens can take to protect themselves in case these conditions come to pass.
It is unfortunate, but many rely on the media to let them know what is going on. Unfortunately, the press just regurgitates what the politicians say. They have as their goal, news, and news only. They are not interested in getting at the truth and more often than not tell half-truths as it is the expedient thing to do. I welcome your comments and challenge the media or anyone to tell me that this scenario is untrue.
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Last change 5/30/96