ross perot explains why we're screwed

[ElFenix]

http://perotcharts.com/challenges/



in a nutshell: entitlement programs and baby boomers are going to be the end of the US unless things change a lot and in a hurry.


i doubt we'll see anyone talking about this. mccain will be trying to do what little he can to push himself away from dubya and obama will smile broadly and tell everyone things will be better as long as he and the dems are in charge.

 

[Genx87]

Yeah not sure what we as a country will do when the shit starts hitting the fan in a decade. We cant balance the budget now with a surplus in SS. How the hell are we going to balance it when it starts running a deficit?

 

[jman19]

Originally posted by: Genx87
Yeah not sure what we as a country will do when the shit starts hitting the fan in a decade. We cant balance the budget now with a surplus in SS. How the hell are we going to balance it when it starts running a deficit?

Most likely, some people won't get paid - and SS will have amounted to theft by the government.

 

[Carbo]

obama will smile broadly and tell everyone things will be better. . .

Pretty much sums up his entire campaign strategy.

 

[Moonbeam]

I guess the bitter little spawn of the LSD takers will have to put their folks on Ice bergs and let them drift out to sea, if there's any ice left unmelted to dump them on.

 

[idiotekniQues]

so the iraq war, unregulated messes like the sub-prime markets, non forward looking energy policies, etc.

not much of a problem.

social security - the problem.


GENIUS!

 

[bamacre]

A few nights ago, I actually sat down and watched an entire 1992 debate with Perot, Clinton, and Bush Sr.

http://www.youtube.com/results...n%2FPerot&search_type=

There were a handful of things said by Perot that I disagreed with, but there were many more important things he talked about that I agreed with. And 16 years later, many of those things never talked about since, the problems are now worse. One thing, in regards to foreign policy, he talked about was Russia and our need to help them.

 

[brxndxn]

I know one thing... My generation will not be paying for it. Essentially, the baby-boomers promised themselves a wonderful retirement that Gen-Xers and Millennials are supposedly required to pay for.

But, since we'll be in power by the time 'our bill' is due, we will just change the rules so SS and other stupid programs just will not be paid - or the dollar will be worth much less so SS is a piece of cake to pay.

So, my recommendation to the baby-boomers is... PAY OFF YOUR DEBTS.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
I guess the bitter little spawn of the LSD takers will have to put their folks on Ice bergs and let them drift out to sea, if there's any ice left unmelted to dump them on.

Looking at today's and tomorrow's SS and Medicare numbers, I couldn't possibly imagine states doing a worse job of those programs than the Federal government has.

But no, the Great Washington DC Circus of Clowns is the greatest show on earth, and everyone wants to watch. Who cares what the Constitution says, who cares what our Founders said? Their show is boring, and nothing can entertain me better than the Clowns of DC.

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: jman19

Originally posted by: Genx87
Yeah not sure what we as a country will do when the shit starts hitting the fan in a decade. We cant balance the budget now with a surplus in SS. How the hell are we going to balance it when it starts running a deficit?

Most likely, some people won't get paid - and SS will have amounted to theft by the government.

Sadly I expect higher taxes, at least until the baby boomers kick the bucket.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: Genx87

Originally posted by: jman19

Originally posted by: Genx87
Yeah not sure what we as a country will do when the shit starts hitting the fan in a decade. We cant balance the budget now with a surplus in SS. How the hell are we going to balance it when it starts running a deficit?

Most likely, some people won't get paid - and SS will have amounted to theft by the government.

Sadly I expect higher taxes, at least until the baby boomers kick the bucket.

Yep. They're a huge chunk of the voters, and they will vote to tax their children into the ground in order to "get what they deserve".

 

[idiotekniQues]

all the SS suprluses from 1983 till now should have been untouchable. but like the corporations who have raided and pilfered their pension plans, the government spent the surpluses of SS.

two peas in a pod.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: idiotekniQues
all the SS suprluses from 1983 till now should have been untouchable. but like the corporations who have raided and pilfered their pension plans, the government spent the surpluses of SS.

two peas in a pod.

what did you want the gov't to do instead? can't just stuff the money in a mattress somewhere.

 

[Moonbeam]

I guess the people who passed social security into law didn't count on raising new generations of folk who feel so worthless and negative about their own lives they can see no future for themselves. The ants have been overrun by grasshoppers.

 

[Atreus21]

Robert Kiyosaki was right. Everyone needs to get rich.

 

[Moonbeam]

It's a pity the mothers of you worthless shit hadn't spent their lives making money and getting ahead in some career to provide for their old age instead of wasting their lives on raising garbage.

 

[jonks]

MTP 1998

MR. RUSSERT: Is it fair and appropriate to compare Bill Clinton to Adolph Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Joseph Stalin and Fidel Castro?

MR. PEROT: In their lust for power, absolutely. This man will let this country rot. He will let the economy go into an international decline. He will devastate millions of people, and if necessary, he'll start a little war just to get a bump in the polls, and that is a lust for power. Now, he is exactly in the arena with those guys. And I limit it to lust for power

MR. RUSSERT: Let me show you another comment you made on CNN and get your reaction to it and any supporting evidence you might have. "We have got erratic behavior by the president. Either he's got mental troubles or he does something like take drugs to spin him out from time to time." Do you believe President Clinton uses drugs?

MR. PEROT: Well, there's no question he has used drugs, is it?

MR. RUSSERT: And he's taking them now while...

MR. PEROT: Wait, wait, wait. Let's start, there's no question he has used drugs. My question, and I ask it very directly--see, these little excerpts don't tell the whole picture. I asked him to make his medical records public so that the American people could know if he had ever used drugs, if he had ever been in drug treatment, etc., etc., etc., because there are rumors all over Arkansas that he has. I don't know if they're true or not. But I can tell you this: A man that would normally function rationally, if you get him high on cocaine, will act like Clinton acts when he's not functioning rationally. And I know that because I spent a lot of time in the war on drugs in Texas. I spent a lot of time talking to people who are addicted to cocaine, and when they were high on cocaine, they would do things as stupid as he did in the White House.

Now, just think about it, Tim. The White House is our house. If you own it, I own it. If somebody came into your house and behaved like that, I would not want to be able to--you probably couldn't put on television what your reaction would be.

MR. RUSSERT: But wouldn't Ken Starr know if the president had been using drugs?

MR. PEROT: No, he wouldn't have a clue. I'm just saying either your brain doesn't work right and you've got mental defects or you've got this compulsion for women that's so strong that, even though it devastates your family, even though it's devastated you again and again and again, you just can't put it away.

"Asked his views in an April TV interview on the upcoming environmental conference in Rio de Janeiro, Perot gave an answer, both refreshingly candid and alarmingly ill-informed: "I don't know a thing in the world about it." In an appearance on Meet the Press, Perot appeared befuddled as he tried to defend his misguided assertion that $180 billion could be saved by eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in the government. Displaying his petulant side, Perot complained, "This is an interesting game we're playing today. It would have been nice if you would have told me you wanted to talk about this, and I'd have had all my facts with me." Shortly after this hapless performance, Perot announced that he plans to retreat from the spotlight for a while to commune with unnamed policy experts, as if he could acquire ideological direction off the shelf just like a business buying a state-of-the-art computer system."

Thanks for playing Ross. Back into your rubber room. Good boy. :roll:

 

[ElFenix]

MR. PEROT: In their lust for power, absolutely. This man will let this country rot. He will let the economy go into an international decline. He will devastate millions of people, and if necessary, he'll start a little war just to get a bump in the polls, and that is a lust for power. Now, he is exactly in the arena with those guys. And I limit it to lust for power

well, he was right, he was just a president too early.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
I guess the people who passed social security into law didn't count on raising new generations of folk who feel so worthless and negative about their own lives they can see no future for themselves. The ants have been overrun by grasshoppers.

Well, what they have elected, Moonbeam, are politicians who took their SS and Medicare moneys and spent them on other things, and failed to ask where the new money would come from once those benefits need to be paid out.

And, they failed to understand why the Constitution specifically says programs like SS and Medicare were to be done via the states, not the federal government.

Basically, the federal government was receiving SS and Medicare money from a large group of people (baby-boomers), and paying out SS and Medicare benefits to a smaller amount of people. But instead of saving and investing the excess for when the larger group became the beneficiaries, they took that money and spent it on other things. Now when the baby-boomers retire, the money they gave the government doesn't exist anymore.

How representative is this process, Moonbeam? Our kids and grandkids will be paying for things for which they never got to vote? People can't vote until they are 18, and yet, we spend their money before they are even born. Doesn't sound very Democratic to me.

 

[Lemon law]

Bring me the voodoo stick of Ross Perot or I will not let you go home from oz. You will be stuck in the Bushlands forever.

 

[bamacre]

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
It's a pity the mothers of you worthless shit hadn't spent their lives making money and getting ahead in some career to provide for their old age instead of wasting their lives on raising garbage.

It's a pity they didn't read and respect the US Constitution, which says the Federal Government doesn't have the authority over retirement plans. It's a pity they elected a bunch of thieves to rule over their lives.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Time to change the Age in which people qualify for SS benefits.

SS exists so that people who are too old to work have something to fall back on.
It doesn't exist so that people who are capable/able to work can retire and live off of SS income for 30 years.

People are living longer than they did in the 1930s when Social Security was enacted. It's time to bump up the "retirement age" to reflect that.
I think 70 or 75 years is more appropriate.

Sure there are many in the 60s who aren't able to work, well, they should qualify for disability coverage.



This is something that no successful politician will ever say or agree to, but it is inevitable.

 

[Moonbeam]

Originally posted by: bamacre

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
It's a pity the mothers of you worthless shit hadn't spent their lives making money and getting ahead in some career to provide for their old age instead of wasting their lives on raising garbage.

It's a pity they didn't read and respect the US Constitution, which says the Federal Government doesn't have the authority over retirement plans. It's a pity they elected a bunch of thieves to rule over their lives.

It's a shame it is the right of the people to institute government, laying it's foundations on such principles and organizing it's powers in such form, as to them shall most likely effect their safety and happiness.

 

[BansheeX]

SS is a ponzi scheme and as such was doomed to ultimate failure from the very beginning, despite the appearance of working for the earliest recipients.

http://www.letxa.com/articles/15

http://youtube.com/watch?v=OS2fI2p9iVs

Course, it doesn't even take an intellectual understanding of its complexities to understand how stupid it is in concept. Here we have a system of retirement wherein the government is saying "instead of investing your own money which would provide you far greater returns, we're going to impose a redistribution tax (currently 12%) on all wage earners and give it to old folks, and then when they get old their children will be taxed even higher because of inflation to provide for them, and so on and so forth. In the meantime, the middle man will take cuts of that since we need to pay all the people working at the SS distribution and fraud centers. As it becomes more and more insolvent, we'll try all kinds of "reform" tricks like raising the retirement age so more people die before getting any payouts, change the CPI inflation calculations as we go to understate real inflation so we can legally under-deliver."

I mean, hello? Bueller?

 

[LegendKiller]

Originally posted by: bamacre

Originally posted by: Moonbeam
I guess the bitter little spawn of the LSD takers will have to put their folks on Ice bergs and let them drift out to sea, if there's any ice left unmelted to dump them on.

Looking at today's and tomorrow's SS and Medicare numbers, I couldn't possibly imagine states doing a worse job of those programs than the Federal government has.

But no, the Great Washington DC Circus of Clowns is the greatest show on earth, and everyone wants to watch. Who cares what the Constitution says, who cares what our Founders said? Their show is boring, and nothing can entertain me better than the Clowns of DC.

Frankly, every one of the founders believed that the Constitution was a document of the living, not the dead. The Constitution was a base document upon which a foundation was laid for amendments, both additions and reductions, but all of which must be tied to the foundation.

To believe that the Constitution sets down a set of over-arching rules is to completely ignore the idea of Common Law and changing society. Humanity must be far more fluid than believing that the historical figures knew everything that a future society would encounter.

That isn't to say that base principals, such as equality, privacy, right to bear arms, and other items shouldn't be strictly followed.

However, things *DO* change ad we must adapt.

As far as many of the other problems we have, I do believe we'll have situations come to a head.