Tommy Gun
03-21-2010, 08:01 PM
Social Security Bill Signing
Franklin Delano Roosevelt - August 14, 1935
"This law represents a cornerstone in a structure which is being built but is by no means completed--a structure intended to lessen the force of possible future depressions, to act as a protection to future administrations of the Government against the necessity of going deeply into debt to furnish relief to the needy--a law to flatten out the peaks and valleys of deflation and of inflation--in other words, a law that will take care of human needs and at the same time provide for the United States an economic structure of vastly greater soundness."
Medicare Bill Signing
Lyndon B. Johnson - July 30, 1965
"No longer will older Americans be denied the healing miracle of modern medicine. No longer will illness crush and destroy the savings that they have so carefully put away over a lifetime so that they might enjoy dignity in their later years. No longer will young families see their own incomes, and their own hopes, eaten away simply because they are carrying out their deep moral obligations to their parents, and to their uncles, and their aunts.
And no longer will this Nation refuse the hand of justice to those who have given a lifetime of service and wisdom and labor to the progress of this progressive country.
And this bill, Mr. President, is even broader than that. It will increase social security benefits for all of our older Americans. It will improve a wide range of health and medical services for Americans of all ages."
So here we are 75 / 45 years later with the opportunity to pass yet another piece of historic entitlement legislation...lets see how those other "wonderful programs are doing; this from the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees
The financial condition of the Social Security and Medicare programs remains challenging. Projected long run program costs are not sustainable under current program parameters. Social Security's annual surpluses of tax income over expenditures are expected to fall sharply this year and to stay about constant in 2010 because of the economic recession, and to rise only briefly before declining and turning to cash flow deficits beginning in 2016 that grow as the baby boom generation retires. The deficits will be made up by redeeming trust fund assets until reserves are exhausted in 2037, at which point tax income would be sufficient to pay about three fourths of scheduled benefits through 2083. Medicare's financial status is much worse.
Medicare
As we reported last year, Medicare's financial difficulties come sooner—and are much more severe—than those confronting Social Security. While both programs face demographic challenges, rapidly growing health care costs also affect Medicare. Underlying health care costs per enrollee are projected to rise faster than the earnings per worker on which payroll taxes and Social Security benefits are based. As a result, while Medicare's annual costs were 3.2 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2008, or about three quarters of Social Security's, they are projected to surpass Social Security expenditures in 2028 and reach 11.4 percent of GDP in 2083.
SO INSTEAD OF A PROGRAM TO TRULY CONTROL COSTS...LETS GIVE FREE INSURANCE TO 30MM PEOPLE. WE'LL ALL BE DEAD ANYWAY SO WHO CARES? OH AND TO HELP PAY FOR IT, LETS INCREASE SS TAXES BUT NOT USE THE MONEY FOR SS BECAUSE THAT WOULD SHOW THAT THE HEALTHCARE BILL REALLY IS DEFICIT SPENDING AND WE'D REALLY HAVE TO LIE INSTEAD OF JUST BE DISHONEST.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt - August 14, 1935
"This law represents a cornerstone in a structure which is being built but is by no means completed--a structure intended to lessen the force of possible future depressions, to act as a protection to future administrations of the Government against the necessity of going deeply into debt to furnish relief to the needy--a law to flatten out the peaks and valleys of deflation and of inflation--in other words, a law that will take care of human needs and at the same time provide for the United States an economic structure of vastly greater soundness."
Medicare Bill Signing
Lyndon B. Johnson - July 30, 1965
"No longer will older Americans be denied the healing miracle of modern medicine. No longer will illness crush and destroy the savings that they have so carefully put away over a lifetime so that they might enjoy dignity in their later years. No longer will young families see their own incomes, and their own hopes, eaten away simply because they are carrying out their deep moral obligations to their parents, and to their uncles, and their aunts.
And no longer will this Nation refuse the hand of justice to those who have given a lifetime of service and wisdom and labor to the progress of this progressive country.
And this bill, Mr. President, is even broader than that. It will increase social security benefits for all of our older Americans. It will improve a wide range of health and medical services for Americans of all ages."
So here we are 75 / 45 years later with the opportunity to pass yet another piece of historic entitlement legislation...lets see how those other "wonderful programs are doing; this from the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees
The financial condition of the Social Security and Medicare programs remains challenging. Projected long run program costs are not sustainable under current program parameters. Social Security's annual surpluses of tax income over expenditures are expected to fall sharply this year and to stay about constant in 2010 because of the economic recession, and to rise only briefly before declining and turning to cash flow deficits beginning in 2016 that grow as the baby boom generation retires. The deficits will be made up by redeeming trust fund assets until reserves are exhausted in 2037, at which point tax income would be sufficient to pay about three fourths of scheduled benefits through 2083. Medicare's financial status is much worse.
Medicare
As we reported last year, Medicare's financial difficulties come sooner—and are much more severe—than those confronting Social Security. While both programs face demographic challenges, rapidly growing health care costs also affect Medicare. Underlying health care costs per enrollee are projected to rise faster than the earnings per worker on which payroll taxes and Social Security benefits are based. As a result, while Medicare's annual costs were 3.2 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in 2008, or about three quarters of Social Security's, they are projected to surpass Social Security expenditures in 2028 and reach 11.4 percent of GDP in 2083.
SO INSTEAD OF A PROGRAM TO TRULY CONTROL COSTS...LETS GIVE FREE INSURANCE TO 30MM PEOPLE. WE'LL ALL BE DEAD ANYWAY SO WHO CARES? OH AND TO HELP PAY FOR IT, LETS INCREASE SS TAXES BUT NOT USE THE MONEY FOR SS BECAUSE THAT WOULD SHOW THAT THE HEALTHCARE BILL REALLY IS DEFICIT SPENDING AND WE'D REALLY HAVE TO LIE INSTEAD OF JUST BE DISHONEST.