Wake Up Ralph!

To All Federal Politicians

Boy, you guys are in a pickle.

For starters let me say I maintain that MediCare and Social Security are not legitimate, authorized Constitutional functions of the federal government, Supreme Court rulings to the contrary notwithstanding.  That was true when they were instituted and it remains true today in my estimation.  Whether you agree with me on this or not frankly I don’t really care, my opinion is firm on the question.

Having said that, the reality is that we are stuck with them for the foreseeable future.    And boy that is a real problem for you guys.  These programs are actuarially unsound, insolvent and unsustainable.  An honest assessment concludes that they are no different from the Ponzi scams that Bernie Madoff is imprisoned for propagating.  The ruse that there is some lock-box, some personal account with my money in it earning interest for my retirement or medical needs is old, tired and totally untrue and discounted.  We all know that current tax dollars pay current benefits, there is no invested money.  This is nothing more than a welfare transfer payment.  These pyramid scams work great on the way up, when more people are coming into the program paying fewer people already at the top receiving benefits, but on the way down when fewer people are coming in at the bottom trying to pay more people receiving benefits at the top; the whole house of cards collapses.  With the baby boom bubble now starting to enter retirement and high medical needs years in greater and greater numbers, we are perilously poised at the top of that cliff.  This huge baby boom bubble is followed by much smaller cohorts of taxpayers.  In order for these fewer taxpayers to pay the committed benefits of the boomers they will be subjected to astronomically higher and higher tax rates with fewer people paying the medical bills and retirement benefits of more and more recipients.  At some point the camel’s back will break and they will scream, “No more!”  These unfunded out-year social welfare mandates top $100 trillion, a figure it’s hard to get one’s head around.  We cannot and will not be able to pay these, period.  

So what to do?  Wake up Ralph.  A diesel tanker truck driver is taking a verbal exam from the DMV instructor.  When given a hypothetical scenario of impossible proportions his reply was, "Well, in this particular situation I would wake up Ralph."  When asked who Ralph is, he replied that Ralph is his relief driver sleeping in the rack behind him.  "OK," replied the instructor, "fair enough, so why would you wake up Ralph?"  The driver replied, " 'cause Ralph ain't never seen a wreck like this before in his life!"  Good luck!

Next Steps

Now that we have said ‘B’ what is next? One option is to do nothing and maintain the status quo. This course of action enshrines disregard of the Constitution and the rule of law as accepted practice and policy of the federal government. What a wonderful example to set for our children and precedent to set for how to govern. Legislation by whimsy. Sadly, this is essentially what we have now and have had for about a hundred years. And look at the mess we are in. This is the most intellectually bankrupt and thus the easiest course of action and probably what our federal government will take, short of some compelling outside force intervening to the contrary. The second possibility would be to simply disband the patently bankrupt Medicare and Social Security programs at once and let the chips fall where they may. States could pick up the programs if they so chose. While this would be the strictly correct thing to do according to the Constitution, it would ignore the millions of older Americans who have spent their entire adult lives planning and paying (well not really, but that’s another discussion) for their retirement and medical care through these programs. To suddenly drop them like a hot potato would be simply unthinkable. You don’t right a wrong with another wrong. The third option would be to begin a process of phasing out these programs by systematically privatizing portions of them and rolling the other functions to the states. New entrants into the workforce should not be enrolled in these federal programs but rather in the new state-run privatized programs. Workers already enrolled in the federal programs would have their benefits paid as promised, but no new federal commitments would be incurred. Hopefully the states could find better ways to run and fund these programs with some degree of fiscal solvency. It is time to quite throwing good money after bad and start actually following the law. What a concept.

Who Says 'A' Must Say 'B' --WFB, Jr.

William F. Buckley, Jr. often admonished people that who says ‘A’ must say ‘B.’ The gist being that ideas and thoughts have logical natural consequences. Sometimes these consequences are not what the person had in mind when postulating ‘A.’ Many conservatives today make the argument (and quite correctly I might add) that the health care reform bills winding their way through Congress are patently unconstitutional. I believe that this position is correct within the scope of Article 1, Section 8 and the 10^th Amendment. The federal government simply lacks the authority and power to engage in these activities and to compel citizens to do or not do certain things relative to health care. The states, on the other hand would be free to pursue universal health care plans within the confines of their borders and according to their state constitutional dictates. Having posited all of this, now who says ‘A’ must say ‘B.’ Under these same U.S. constitutional proscriptions I believe that Medicare and Social Security must also be viewed in the same light; unconstitutional. They simply are not specific enumerated powers of the federal government under Article 1, Section 8. And please don’t bring up the preamble, the general welfare clause, the necessary and proper clause or the interstate commerce clause. These attempts to subvert the clear language and intent of Article 1, Section 8 have been debated to death and handily dispatched. In addition, I realize that various Supreme Courts have ruled several times in the past to uphold the constitutionality of these programs. This merely speaks to the fallibility of the court. The court is composed of mere mortals and numerous courts have been reversed and nullified. I maintain that the court is every bit as political as the executive and legislative branches. Justices are appointed by Presidents to further the administration’s agenda. And over time I believe that justices embark upon crusades for their own personal agendas. To believe that the court is painfully objective and unbiased in its decisions and rigorously faithful to the actual text and original intent of the Constitution is at best laughable and at worst dangerous. Thus, I call upon my fellow conservative revolutionaries to carry our crusade against a federal health care takeover to the next logical step of disbanding Medicare and Social Security (hopelessly bankrupt as they are) and giving the states the opportunity of taking over these types of programs if they see fit.

Climbing Pyramids

Apparently Social Security is about to run out of money. Go figure. It will pay out more money this year than it takes in and will be bankrupt four years sooner than everyone expected. This is called a Ponzi scam. It is EXACTLY the same thing that Bernie Madoff was running privately. Exactly. So why is he in prison and the politicians run around scott-free? Sauce, goose, gander? Either lock them up or let him out. The federal government has ripped off trillions of dollars from American citizens for decades, many who will never see a dime returned to them. Everyone knew this was a scam from day one. It was nothing more than a way for FDR to buy votes. The United States needs to dump this illegal pyramid scam now!

The Unsettled State of the Union

• So Bernie Madoff is going to jail for running a ponzi scam. Will Chairman BO be his cell-mate for running a ponzi scam called Social Security? The two plans look pretty much the same. No wait, participation in Bernie's scam was voluntary!
• Barry was against earmarks until he was in favor of them. Kerry call your office.
• BHO is a guppy in a shark tank.

Climbing Pyramids

When I heard that the feds had arrested former Nasdaq chairman Bernard Madoff for running a Ponzi scam, I thought that they were talking about Social Security! He has the ultimate defense, he was just using the federal government Social Security template. Sauce for the goose, sauce for the gander. Do as I say, not as I do? Tsk, tsk.