Many of us recently got Representative Poliquin’s announcement that he had received the 2018 Guardian of Senior Rights award. What is it and how did he get it?
It was given to him by the 60 Plus Association, a conservative organization that favors privatizing Social Security and changing Medicare into a voucher program.
Right now, Medicare’s benefit package is governed by law. Under a voucher program, you would get what you pay for. If you make the wrong call on your benefits package, or your health fortunes change, you are in the weeds.
Privatizing social security would leave your retirement package to the ever-changing fortunes of the stock market. Stockbrokers might do quite well, but there would be no guarantee your nest egg would be there when the time comes.
Sixty Plus is funded by Koch brothers affiliates, especially Freedom Partners and American Encore. The Koch brothers are among the richest people in the world and they know how to look after their interests of low taxes for the wealthy and rolling back government regulation and supports. He who pays the piper, calls the tune. This award and the money behind it tells us what we need to know.
Steve Bien
Jay
Sure Doc… we know how rich the Koch brothers are…. How about the support from Sorois the other side is getting… Also, tell us how rich Sen. Feinstein and her hubby are and how they manipulated the system to get their wealth… Just saying, it all ain’t one way…..
People have been getting awards they didn’t actually earn for years, Nelson Mandela with the Nobel Peace Prize, Obama with the same, Colin Kaepernick and the Most Inspirational Player award. Awards mean nothing. Participation trophies for adults.
The day the Democrats clean up their house,
Then and only then will I listen to this bunk.
Clinton Foundation,,,Many hard earned pesos for Haiti disaster relief never made it to Haiti…..
On and on the story continues.
This corruption knows no bounds.
Bien is simply partisan.
Not helpful.
Neither of the above comments have anything to due with the message in Steve Bien’s letter. The true goal of the Kochs is to eliminate Social Security.
Social Security and Medicare were never meant to be anything other than insurance against abject poverty in old age. But they have become the national retirement package. The change was intentional and began long ago. The intention was simple: to hook as many people as possible on ‘free’ government benefits so they would keep voting for the politicians who promised them something for nothing.
These programs will collapse under their own weight. It will be gradual. All you may notice is your benefits, of course governed by law, will cost more and cover less. And you will recall the good old days when you could have done something.
Tom, Those programs were instituted by congress, the last time I checked, the Kochs don’t control congress. The top 1% pay 38% the lower classes pay 13-21% respectively, Maybe we should level up the playing field a little, the lower classes should pay as much as the rich. Which is a good thing, because if the socialists have their way, everybody will be paying close to 80%, might as well get used to higher taxes and have nothing to show for it.
Hi Frostproof
I would suggest you return your SS check to the sender if it would make you feel better. Just sayin……
Here is the title of the House report on Social Security legislation in 1935:
“Economic Security Act: Hearings Before the Committee on Ways and Means House of Representatives, Seventy-Fourth Congress First Session, on H.R. 4120 A Bill to Alleviate the hazards of Old Age, Unemployments, Illness, and Dependency, to Establish a Social Insurance Board in the Department of Labor, To Raise Revenue, and for Other Purposes.”
Folks who claims Social Security isn’t what it is are probably people too young for it, too ideologically tinted to appreciate it, or don’t need it. What ever the reason, they are wrong and cruel. Not every person had a job paying enough to set money aside, and not every person had a job that had health insurance or a pension.
It is our S.S. “disability” checks that allow me and my nameless brethren to camp out on this page railing against the poor and unemployed. We have collected far more the pittance we unwillingly paid in.Anonymity allows us to pass ourselves as hard working,overregulated taxpayers without our neighbors writing in to expose us as total frauds.
Some comments above are trying to refocus the discussion onto those who need these programs. If we could ensure that the help goes to those who really need the help, Social Security and Medicare would be solvent and viable forever. But that’s called means testing, a subject which is taboo among lefties who like to pretend these are socialist programs that work so well that it proves more socialism would solve all our problems. Each person gets an equal slice of the pie, don’t you know. These lefties also believe that Venezuela is just experiencing a few minor economic blips.
Find any two people receiving Social Security benefits. The chance that they get the same monthly amount is practically zero. Your benefit depends on how long you worked and paid the tax, and on how much you earned. Some slices are much more equal than others.
Medicare has different problems. The biggest is that most people believe it’s free. Take a good look at that annual Social Security summary that arrives every year in time for tax day. Find the amount that was withheld for Medicare premiums and prepare to be astonished.
The 2nd biggest problem is that Medicare doesn’t cover everything. Oh, you didn’t know that? You need to add an advantage or supplement policy, and that’s another premium for most people. If you can’t afford the premiums or out of pocket expenses, then you get in line for Medicaid, and prepare to be happy with the least equal slice there is.