Right to Privacy

[FallbrookFarmer]

Yes, the current generations paid into Social Security and Medicare their entire lives. The problem is that that are getting more out of the programs that what they paid in and that there are not enough people, young people, at the bottom paying into the system to support the people taking out of the system. The younger generations are paying for the oldest.

This is called a Ponsi scheme. A Pyramid. A new name would be a Madoff. A small group of people at the top are getting money from a larger group at the bottom. That is bad. What is worse is that the group at the top collecting the money is getting larger while the group at the bottom giving the money is shrinking.

And the richest segment of the population is the elderly who get the most government benefits.

The other problem is that the younger generation is paying far more into the system than they will ever receive. My generation and the generations before mine will never ever get what we paid into the system. It is not possible.

The developed European countries along with Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea have huge money problems down the road. Ok. Some of them are already hitting potholes. They and we have quickly aging populations that will consume more public money. With the exception of the US these same countries have a declining population. Which means they will not have the tax base to pay for the promises made to the generations who have paid into the system. Japan already has a debt ratio of two times their GDP.

The US is just barely maintaining its population. If illegal immigration is counted we have a growing population. This only helps us so much given that such a large portion of the US population will soon be dependent on taking money from one group to give to another.

The system is broke.

People can pretend the system is fine but it is not.

Benefits will have to be cut and certainly taxes raised as a bandaid but the system will have to be changed. Its only a question of when and how much it will cost.

How much I make and how much I am worth is known by the government which is a violation of privacy.

I just had a phone call from a real estate broker asking if we would like to sell some of your land. How did he get my phone number and know I owned land? Well the phone number he got off the Internet which is fine since I published it. But he knows that I own the land via the public documents the county keeps to tax me.

People have been loosing privacy for centuries but it has increase dramatically in the last 100 years and especially this century. It seems like people are like the frog in the pot of water on the stove. The water is getting hotter but the frog does not notice. Privacy is slowly being lost. Some by government edict. Some by business. And more by individuals. People tweet about what they are doing, their location, their friends, etc. I see people on public forums announcing when they will be on vacation.

The simple act of posting on TBN tells us much of the poster. But not forced by edict.

At least so far.

Wait. What is that I hear? It is a tractor! No. OMG it is a bunch of tractors! And they are all black! They are circling the house!

Gotta go! Gotta hide!

Later, maybe,
Dan

I LIKE it! We can form our own group "BTB" The Black tractor brigade! And before I am accused of being a racist(like somebody else did) I am referring to the color
black

 

[brin]

The government wants to know you had a cold? I doubt that. If the government ends up administering the health care system, they may want to know if you actually received treatment for it so they can pay for it, but I doubt they will care if you had a cold.

Look, people with the means can currently afford health care. People without the means cannot. So do we that can afford it let those that cannot suffer? Most of us answer NO to that question. Then the dilemma begins: how do we raise up the people that don't have the means or the skills or even the capacity to get the means? Private insurance isn't going to cut it for those that cannot afford it. Some form of socialism in health care is needed to take care of those that can't afford it. You morally cannot let poor or even lazy people suffer. What are you going to do with them? There are millions of them in this country. They are all our problem and if you don't do anything about them, they become a bigger problem because they multiply. Private industry is not going to take care of them because there is no profit in it. That leaves we the people to take care of them. Government is going to have to step in. We are going to have to step in. If there is total privacy, no one will be able to step in and question anyone about their choices as to their health decisions. Someone in charge has to know the facts in order to treat the condition and pay for it. And someone in charge has to know where the money is going, the health trends to develop preventions, planning for future capacity, etc...

gotta go

Sorry Moss - I totally and completely disagree...those folks that are lazy , who spent their money on booze, drugs and a good time...well that is just too bad. Otherwise what you are saying is the folks that saved their money and did not waste it should give it up to the ones who did..that is Marxism - each according to his ability to each according to his needs and I am not nor will I ever be a commie. Just wait until the government begins to take Social Security away from the old folks who have paid into it for all these years..just wait ..it won't just be them in the streets protesting it will also be their children, grandchildren and other family members..Millions of folks..It will never happen.. They may make future generations wait longer to retire but they cannot cancel existing social security or medicare commitments - That would be ridiculous unless they had first eliminated from the roles all those who , according to the initial guidelines of Soc Security and Medicare were never meant to be entitled to it and even then it would be chaos.

 

[FallbrookFarmer]

The government wants to know you had a cold? I doubt that. If the government ends up administering the health care system, they may want to know if you actually received treatment for it so they can pay for it, but I doubt they will care if you had a cold.

Look, people with the means can currently afford health care. People without the means cannot. So do we that can afford it let those that cannot suffer? Most of us answer NO to that question. Then the dilemma begins: how do we raise up the people that don't have the means or the skills or even the capacity to get the means? Private insurance isn't going to cut it for those that cannot afford it. Some form of socialism in health care is needed to take care of those that can't afford it. You morally cannot let poor or even lazy people suffer. What are you going to do with them? There are millions of them in this country. They are all our problem and if you don't do anything about them, they become a bigger problem because they multiply. Private industry is not going to take care of them because there is no profit in it. That leaves we the people to take care of them. Government is going to have to step in. We are going to have to step in. If there is total privacy, no one will be able to step in and question anyone about their choices as to their health decisions. Someone in charge has to know the facts in order to treat the condition and pay for it. And someone in charge has to know where the money is going, the health trends to develop preventions, planning for future capacity, etc...

gotta go

Rhetorical Question: If you have a field of weeds, and you water it, and fertilize it, will you have more weeds or less?
And please don't turn on the PC button and accuse me of being "insensitive"
If you reward a behaviour, you will get more of that behaviour

 

[2manyrocks]

I have a true story about Govt. compassion.

An old lady in her 80's from a friend's church was blind, unable to communicate and bedridden in a nursing home. During one of the govt. campaigns to rid the rolls of people who weren't entitled to benefits, they kicked her off coverage for her stay in the nursing home. She didn't have anything other than what the church had collected for her. My friend, a lawyer, had to take her case before an administrative law judge to get her benefits reinstated even though her caseworker said she should have the benefits. The caseworker's supervisor fought against her having benefits all the way though the hearing until the administrative law judge overrulled him. That lady sat in a nursing home with nobody paying her bill for 12-18 months while this went on. She died within a year or so after the case concluded.

When the money runs out, you're going to see a move towards reducing costs meaning there will be a severe temptation to take a close look at your medical history and your age and decide if it's worth spending $ to fix whatever is wrong with you so you can have another few years of this life. Never mind how much you paid in. When this happens, folks are going to be asking, what happened to the privacy of my medical records? What happened to my ability to choose treatment for myself?

BTW, I heard there is a study that young folks are going to see their premiums go up about 17% to offset the costs of carrying older folks and offset the costs of covering preexisting conditions.

 

[crusty 1]

geez,I thought this was about tractors.Anyway fallbrook in your post yesterday you said you wanted to be 99 shot by a jealous husband.I hope you,re not and further more I hope you get her in [the family way].Just joking around I need to get my mind off this weeks problems.I collect soc. sec disability,I was never given the opytion to opt out.I,m glad in hindsight because no one believes there going to be stricken by illness,I,d be up the creek with a noodle paddle.The world has become so complex there are no easy answers any more.I,m just lookin to live my life best i can & not tread on others.Bye the way checked Fallbrock on google and what a nice area.Is it mostly ag.Vinereds? Any way best wishes.

 

[FallbrookFarmer]

geez,I thought this was about tractors.Anyway fallbrook in your post yesterday you said you wanted to be 99 shot by a jealous husband.I hope you,re not and further more I hope you get her in [the family way].Just joking around I need to get my mind off this weeks problems.I collect soc. sec disability,I was never given the opytion to opt out.I,m glad in hindsight because no one believes there going to be stricken by illness,I,d be up the creek with a noodle paddle.The world has become so complex there are no easy answers any more.I,m just lookin to live my life best i can & not tread on others.Bye the way checked Fallbrock on google and what a nice area.Is it mostly ag.Vinereds? Any way best wishes.

Sorry to hear about your infirmities
As I have oft said: Don't get old, there's no future in it
Fallbrook is known as "The Avocado Capital of the World"
no hype
Although we have a few vineyards locally, most are just north in Temecula.

 

[crusty 1]

I just keep gettin to gettin.I worked with MS for about 25 years before my doctor pulled the pull on me.I,v farmed worked on a large ranch,never been a stranger to work even owned my own business but just couldn,t do it any longer.Because I was expected to pay both halfs of soc. sec. there wasn,t money left over for insurance worth having.I now live on a very meeger amount.As I said there are no easy solutions any more,and maybe thats why a 17 year old girl takes her own life,because no one has solutions.

 

[dave1949]

I am not under the impression that Soc Sec. is in the same position as medicare. For one thing, you can reduce or delay Soc. Sec. benefits. Hard to do that with a medical requirement.

If the Soc. Sec. Trust Fund had not been raided through the years, as Bob said, it would have had a balance of $2.4 billion dollars in 2008.

Social Security Online - HISTORY

That is not a ponzi scheme, it is a highly abused program that money was taken from like the candy store. Those are the simple facts.
Dave.

 

[FallbrookFarmer]

I am not under the impression that Soc Sec. is in the same position as medicare. For one thing, you can reduce or delay Soc. Sec. benefits. Hard to do that with a medical requirement.

If the Soc. Sec. Trust Fund had not been raided through the years, as Bob said, it would have had a balance of $2.4 trillion dollars in 2008.

Social Security Online - HISTORY

That is not a ponzi scheme, it is a highly abused program that money was taken from like the candy store. Those are the simple facts.
Dave.

Don't recall the source, but a recent story I read said that for the first time, SS took in less money this year than it paid out.
Along with all the other "entitlements" how long can we continue?

 

[dave1949]

Don't recall the source, but a recent story I read said that for the first time, SS took in less money this year than it paid out.
Along with all the other "entitlements" how long can we continue?

According to the linked chart, it has happened 11 years before this occurence. The balance is 2.4 billion, not trillion, got carried away with my zeroes.

The point remains, if you take 10% off each beneficiaries monthly check, it is possible to sustain the SS system without major hardships. Or as Bob said, stop paying SS to every cause it wasn't intended for.
Dave.