A big dose of reality over at Mostly Cajun's place
From
Mostly Cajun:
Collapsing Under Its Own Weight
It�s going to happen sooner or later. Maybe sooner, the way this socialist machine is working with both the executive and legislative branches.
Nothing rolls back. It just gets bigger.
Social security. When it kicked off, it was for old age, poverty, unemployment, and the burdens of widows and fatherless children. And the �old age� part was almost a joke, because the life expectancy in 1935 was low enough that living to collect a social security retirement was almost rare. What is it today? 77 years? So if you wait until 65 to retire, you collect for twelve years. Trouble is, you�re not the only one. Social security covers a multitude of cases outside the original scope, and just in the last month we reached the point where the amount being paid in by the various parties who PAY, that�s me and you and our employers, aren�t paying IN as fast as Uncle Sam is paying OUT.
Welfare: The safety net is a feather bed for untold thousands, no, make that MILLIONS. Your benevolent government runs ads on radio and TV trying to give away money: Section 8 housing. What USED to be �food stamps�, now a convenient plastic card so you don�t have to suffer the taint of whipping out food stamps to pay for stuff in the checkout line. Pregnant (again) and no support? Can�t let the CHILD suffer, so there�s AFDC to buy stuff to feed the kid(s). And if you have more kids, you get more money from the other programs. Kids in school? Free lunches. Free BREAKFASTS! Don�t want mama to have to, like, get up and fix a meal along with getting the little darlings dressed and off to school.
And then there�s the horde of government dollars being dispensed from on high to the appropriate places. Your city need a new park? That�s a federal �grant�. Substandard schools? Another federal grant. Spent your levee money on those parks and your city flooded? More federal money.
This is the deal. The outgo from the government is vastly exceeding the income. This is called �deficit spending� if you�re the government. If it�s you or me doing it, it�s called �stupid�. And it catches up, sooner or later.
This is excerpted from the first half and he is just getting warmed up.
An excellent read!
Posted by DaveH at April 5, 2010 7:52 PM