tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post2550856565224526845..comments2023-10-30T09:23:42.803-05:00Comments on Some Assembly Required: SAR #13039Charles Kingsley Michaelson, IIIhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04364694465614330540noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post-57589025946453088612013-02-08T17:00:02.927-06:002013-02-08T17:00:02.927-06:00Re: All in Favor
At least the author of the artic...Re: All in Favor<br /><br />At least the author of the article is <a href="http://satellitesky.blogspot.com/2011/03/social-security-as-national-pension.html" rel="nofollow">20% of the way there</a>. OkieLawyerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03835804433027036043noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post-86690970987502422072013-02-08T11:45:56.437-06:002013-02-08T11:45:56.437-06:00RE: All in Favor
"The 401(k) experiment has ...RE: All in Favor<br /><br />"The 401(k) experiment has been a disaster for everyone except the firms that collect the fees on them."<br /><br />I would also like to note that it has been a boon to the black magicians who run Wall Street. Once everyone's retirement earnings were inextricably tied into the performance of the stock market, regular citizens actually felt they had skin in the game, and so have had fewer problems writing blank checks from the public treasury to prop up the market. Thom Foolerynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post-90335751898786674452013-02-08T11:43:04.915-06:002013-02-08T11:43:04.915-06:00RE: God will know his own.
The second I read your...RE: God will know his own.<br /><br />The second I read your blurb, I <i>knew</i> the minister in question belonged to the Missori Synod branch of the Lutheran Church in the U.S. This was the mind-crushing, anti-human faith into which I was indoctrinated as a kid and from which I have spent my entire adult life recovering. (Example: In the early '90s, my parents' church voted to take away womens' voting rights within the church.) After 9/11, the president of the synod prayed with other religious leaders, and was blasted for it by the synod. (He may have been removed too, I forget.) Pathetic. Thom Fooleryhttp://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2526106-thom-foolerynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post-50859506240754811122013-02-08T11:27:55.251-06:002013-02-08T11:27:55.251-06:00Certainly our housing patterns are far from ideal,...Certainly our housing patterns are far from ideal, but short of waving a magic wand (perhaps the magic of poverty) the social patterns will change but slowly. Yes, we should find ways to accommodate more of the elderly in less wasteful housing, but that's true of the non-elderly, too.<br /><br />The point I was trying to draw attention to, once again, is that we can easily afford to keep SS essentially as it is for another 50 - 75 years with some minor tweaks - taxing all income equally, primarily. No means-testing. And we could do so with an increase in payment level and returning to a true-inflationary COLA. <br /><br />It is not the elderly - now or in the foreseeable future - that are not affordable. The entire defense paranoia (and homeland security, too) needs quick and severe downsizing, with the money spent on useful things like infrastructure. And most of all we need a single payer health system that cuts the costs of medicine to match that of most of the rest of the developed world and raises our outcomes to match theirs.<br /><br />As far as "keeping faith that things will continue to improve" would first require some evidence that things have even begun to improve - something for which the evidence is at best thin.Charles Kingsley Michaelson, IIIhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04364694465614330540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7806136543904112143.post-65696380401341144182013-02-08T10:16:45.127-06:002013-02-08T10:16:45.127-06:00In regards to Social Security. I think the proble...In regards to Social Security. I think the problem is, the promises were made in the day of U.S. (and developed country)hegemony.<br /><br />That world is slowly starting to fall apart, along with the benefits that accrued with it.<br /><br />Going forward, the problem becomes, how do you compete when such a large portion of income is required to go to shelter costs. We have seniors living alone, we have single parents. I'm not saying anything is wrong with this, only that it becomes very difficult to afford.<br /><br />In regards to taking care of each other, I see a world where elderly parents will "be forced to" move in with their children. <br /><br />This is how it it done in the rest of the world, and I don't know if this is a luxury that developed nations can still afford going forward.<br /><br />The more of our resources that go to taking care of the "independent" elderly, the less that leaves for other important things - like making things that we can trade for things that others are producing.<br /><br />Seniors will move in with their children out of necessity and this will increase the inventory overhang of homes, which will bring shelter costs down for the younger generation, which will be needed because they will not earn the same level of income as their parents. But, they will also not work as many hours, which is the blessing of leisure time that technology promised. We are going through a huge adjustment period, and there will be pains as we go through it. Have to keep faith that things will continue to improve, even if it is in different ways (more leisure time to spend with family and friends doing things that don't necessarily cost a fortune to do, but are still quite enjoyable). Maybe as simple as enjoying meals together.Sukh Hayre, CGAhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14511145338530618549noreply@blogger.com