Palin: "Bush Doctrine? Whaat?"

[steven787]

bardicverse said:

@steven - MY statements are not true? I've witnessed it. What do the democrats promote? Higher minimum wage, more assistance programs for the poor, more grants for urban development. Where does this money come from state by state? The taxpayers, the working class.

Social Security is the biggest hoax in the world. Do you know any retired people? I do, prior to and including my parents. Check this out - If you and your wife are retired, only ONE of you are allowed to receive SS, not both, even though you both paid your SS dues throughout your life. On top of that, SS checks are a pittance of what it costs to survive. Most people only get $1,000 to $1,500 per MONTH. That's roughly $250 - $375 per week. That's like working a full time job at MCDonalds. If it wasn't for my mother's retirement pension , my parents would be struggling. Not every senior citizen out there is that fortunate.

So much for me "not telling the truth". There's more to these things than what you learned in college.

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Rubang - Sure, I have my views on things. I know that no matter WHO is in office, they're not going to change anything. Politicians are no different than door-to -door salesmen. They'll sell their souls to get through that front door, but once they're in, the game they pitch changes.

A few points, regardless of WHO is in office:
1 - The environment will continue to get worse
2 - The US presence in Iraq will last through the first term of the new present
3 - The economy will recover
4 - Fuel sources will not change outright
5 - Health care will continue to suck for anyone without private coverage

That said, are there other issues to be concerned with?

My logic is simple. This form of government has failed. The founding fathers of the United States never intended for this level of corruption. They couldn't have possibly foreseen it. It is time to tear the entire American gov't to the ground and rebuild a new one off of the philosophy of the Bill of Rights. As long as the current government exists, it will continue to fail the citizens of America and the world.

 

Again, with stuff that isn't true. 

First, taxes.  Through the '94 senate on, the separation between rich and poor in the US has been shocking.  Middle income workers make less now (w/inflation) than they did in 2000.  By lowering corporate taxes and tightening the graduated system, the republicans have put the burden of paying for oil wars on the middle class instead of on the stock holders.  I'm very sorry, but my practical Democrat and my ideologic day dreamer sides agree. 

If we're going to have income taxes, which I would prefer that there weren't, higher taxes should be on dividends, inheretence, commodities profits, etc. and not off the sweat and blood of the workers.

Next, money is all imaginary, it has no real value.  It's a piece of paper backed by a politcal science theory (government).  I don't think it should be this way, but that is the way it is.  The government prints as much as it needs, creating a deficit and devaluing your money.

Deficit spending is important, it's the shock absorber on economic cycles.  The problem is that it is out of hand.  Either spending has to go down significantly (which it can't as I described above - mob mentality and all... all the bridges to nowhere and pizza parties add up to very little compared to Defense and Social spending) or you have to raise taxes.

Second, it's true, that couples get one check, but it accounts for both spouses.  Of course SS doesn't pay for everything - it's not supposed to.

Remember why we have retirement and SS, in the Great Depression they needed it for two reasons: (1) to get rid of workers to open up positions and (2) because older workers were the first to get cut and had the lowest prospects for finding new work.  Senior poverty was out of hand.  Old people dying in the streets is depressing, so they had to do something to get them out of view.  People didn't retire, they used to work till they dropped.  The poor were never expected to save for retirement, modern medicine made it so we would live longer than our bodies would be useful.

Also, your parents will probably get more money out of SS than they put in.  20 years at 1500k/month is 360k dollars.  25 years at 1500k/month is 450k dollars.  If you make 100k per year and work for 45 years you will put in 1.45% or $65,250, with your employer's contribution that will be $130,500.  That would be $276,585.84 to $365,544.70 with interest compounded biannually minus taxes.

(Edit: this also doesn't include food stamps, medicaid, local and state medical assistance, etc.)

It just is what it is.