Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to Thanks

re: Dogma
Tom Brosz — (archived)

"...universal entitlements are by their very nature poison to an economic system, never mind a culture of individual rights."

That isn't dogma. It's based on human nature and the nature of governments that survive on winning elections.

It's one thing for the government to transfer wealth to a small portion of the population, like in food stamps, or emergency aid.

When the entire population, or a very large segment of it, like everyone over 65, goes on the dole, the tail starts wagging the dog. Re-election begins to depend on keeping the goodies flowing, and the recipients become dependent on the state for survival. This mutual addiction is not good for either government or the citizens, and tend to lead to even further control of the needs of life by the government, and more dependence by the citizens.

As far as SS being "far from a disaster," we have a system that used to have more than 40 workers per retiree heading for a ratio of 2 to 1. The tax rate has gone from a couple of percent to over 12. I don't call that progress, and you can't pretend that ANYONE at the foundation of this program predicted this.

And do we need to bring up Medicare and Medicaid again?

When government tells you an entitlement isn't going to cost much, or will be cheaper than private alternatives, remember that all the evidence of history tells you the exact opposite will be true.

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