retirement

Government grows. Deficits balloon. Whether we have a Democrat or a Republican in the White House, the story continues. The Era of Big Government is not over.

Why?

Isn’t the Republican Party supposed to be the party of free enterprise and smaller government? How then did we get the Americans with Disabilities Act, expanded Medicare, the Transportation Security Administration, No Child Left Behind, and massive bailouts with a Republican president on duty?

We have been corrupted, that’s how. And the liberals like it that way. Welfare is not limited to the poor. Nearly everyone is on some type of government social program: public schools, public colleges, Medicare, Social Security, farm subsidies… Republicans are on welfare too. When nearly everyone is on the dole, there is no special interest for small government. Only ideologues make the case for the Constitution.

Of course, some people are net taxpayers, but who? It is not easy to tell, given the incredible complexity of the welfare state. Moreover, net taxpayers will often cling to their government benefits as a matter of getting their money’s worth.

We might be able to climb out of this trap through clarity. Instead of focusing on tax cuts (which we cannot afford) and spending cuts (which we cannot legislate), we might focus on simplicity and clarity. Let’s start with the biggest federal program: Social Security Insurance. Replace it with free money for seniors and you keep the safety net which keeps grandmas off the street while at the same time you make it clear to the upper middle class that they need to return to traditions of self-responsibility. Currently, the upper middle class is getting a raw deal with Social Security, but they still get a benefit payment that is a function of taxes paid in. SSI still looks like a property right, an entitlement fit for a Republican. Replace SSI with a simple age-based payment and it becomes more clear who is a net taxpayer.

We might do something about other retirement programs as well. Maybe soldiers should be given 401(k) contributions instead of pensions. Teachers and professors at state run schools and colleges should definitely be given 401(k) plans, and those plans should allow individual stock picking. Anyone too irresponsible to manage their own retirement account has no business teaching our children.

I am not sorry that the employees of the Big Three believed everything their unions sold them on.  The reality that their income, insurance and retirement security is going down the toilet with the rest of their union crap should be an eye opener to them about the kind of sewage system they invested in.  Would anyone know how much income, insurance and retirement security each Union Boss and their helpers received, and was any of it flushed down the toilet?

If the Big Three gets their money then we need a Web Site where we should support buying anything to drive as long as it is not made by one of the Big Three?

Darn, I do love my truck.  Ouch, it is a Ford.  Don’t get excited, my car is a Nissan, and my other truck is a Toyota.