[nfb-talk] blind and wanting to improve things, not get labeled

[qubit]

ssi may not be in as much trouble as medicare, but medicare is broken. And 
again, the government is rich, but not infinitely so. Isn't there any limit 
in your mind John?  Borrowing from every country around the world to make 
people think they have money doesn't make the government rich.
Now I do go left on the following: I think ssi and ssdi should be federal, 
and I think that Bush's plan to privatize social security was horrifically 
flawed.  I fought it quite vocally at the time. If the stock market isn't 
safe, why do you want to take and flush our program money in it?
--le


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "John G. Heim" <jheim at math.wisc.edu>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, April 23, 2010 9:41 AM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] blind and wanting to improve things, not get labeled


Well, you must have been asking the wrong people then because the answer is
quite simple. Its because the government has the money.

A program like SSI could never succeed on a voluntary basis. The numbers
just don't work out. Heck, as you are probably aware, the numbers are kind
of questionable even with the contributions being mandatory. SSI is going to
have a problem in a few years because there will be too many recipients per
contributor. That problem would be much, much worse if SSI contributions
weren't mandatory.

Personally, I'm not too worried about the SSI trust fund running out of
money. Some changes will have to be made but they're not really particularly
tough choices. The only reason we don't do them today is that senior
citizens have too much political clout in the USA. But eventually, we'll
have to face reality and raise the age of eligibility and put a means test
on SSI.

Anyway, if you're looking for an answer to the question of why SSI has to be
a government program, there it is. Its because only the government can pass
a law requiring people to contribute.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "RyanO" <ryano218 at comcast.net>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2010 11:43 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] blind and wanting to improve things, not get labeled


> Chuck, I don't know you of course, but based on your comments, I'm tempted
> to think that you don't receive social security or Medicare benefits. I
> and many of my friends can relate horror story after horror story
> involving the bureaucracy and ineptness of various government programs.
> I've asked many liberals in amicable debates why they believe that the
> government is better able to provide assistance than the private sector. I
> ask on a historical, efficiency and motivational basis. At the end of the
> arguments, though many platitudes come across, I've never received a solid
> answer.
>
>
> RyanO
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nfb-talk mailing list
> nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
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>
>


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