As the debt ceiling approaches and the talks on how to deal with it seem to be floundering, there are a lot of suggestions as how to deal with our national debt. There is also the concept of ‘shared sacrifice’ being thrown around. I just want to make a few observations about what ‘shared sacrifice’ means to Democrat legislators. ‘Shared sacrifice’ means taking money from the people who worked for it and earned it and giving it to people who did not. You think I am kidding? Have you heard the discussions on the need to ‘means test’ Social Security and Medicare? As a senior citizen, I object–I have paid into Social Security all of my working life, and I have paid into Medicare for most of my working life. I might be open to some means testing for Medicare if Obamacare had not robbed $500 billion dollars from the program, but I am not open to means testing under current circumstances. As for Social Security, most living Americans have paid into Social Security all or most of their working lives. Congress has, through the years, chosen to spend the taxes collected for Social Security for other things. I don’t believe that I should be penalized for their fiscal irresponsibility. Let’s means test their retirement! Also keep in mind, if you means test Social Security, you are simply setting up a welfare program for old people that everyone is forced to contribute to, but everyone cannot collect from. People who pay into the system all their lives and work hard for their future will be penalized, and people who do not plan for the future will be rewarded. Is that a lesson we want to teach anyone? If you want to means test Social Security, you need to give taxpayers the option of not paying money into it if they agree not to collect from it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As the debt ceiling approaches and the talks on how to deal with it seem to be floundering, there are a lot of suggestions as how to deal with our national debt. There is also the concept of ‘shared sacrifice’ … Continue reading