Paul Ryan budget proposal

[JayC]

Yeah, there should be a criteria of treatment. Nurses know plenty, and could probably treat most ailments a lot cheaper. Anything questionable could be passed on up.

Exactly... and don't even get me started on other professions such as lawyers and the government interference If you can pass the bar exam, you should be admitted to the bar... and I really question whether we even really need a bar exam to begin with.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Rather the problem is between those who GET state and federal benefit payments, and those who PAY them. If you get Medicare, Medicaid, SSN,or an EBT card, you are on the wrong side. Sure, you can tell yourself that you paid into the system for 30-40-50 years. But your money went to pay someone else's benefits, not yours. It was, very simply 'robbing Peter to pay Paul'. If you are getting benefits, you are robbing someone else for that money. Those who expect to get benefits in years to come will be robbing from their children. Until that cycle is broken, the budget cannot be fixed.

That is a valid way of looking at it.

In practicality, about half of the Federal debt is in social security bonds. If/When we get to the point of defaulting on bonds, I suggest that we first default on foreign-held bonds. Then default on bonds held by domestic corps. Then default on bonds held by individual citizens. After all that, if we still haven't balanced the books, start defaulting on old folks.

I don't like the idea of defaulting on old folks first, in order to keep a good credit rating with foreigners and rich folks. That is "in essence" what many of the social security reform plans want to do. Default on the old folks so you don't have to default on banks and foreigners.

[1gewehr]

I agree that the spending is out of control. The problem is not that poor people have TVs, it is more that services are expensive and stuff is "cheap", Doctor visits, ect. A poor person having a TV doesn't say much, because decent ones are fairly inexpensive now. I'm "poor" and have a computer I built. I remember building PCs when I was a kid. They cost a lot more for a lot less, relatively speaking. What I mean is that I built a decent gaming system for about $1100. That isn't bad for a complete PC anymore. When I was a kid, building a good comp was closer to $3K than 1.

You, sir, make my point. You are not 'poor'. A person who has the money to buy ANY kind of TV, cell phone, or computer is not 'poor'. There is no such thing as an overweight 'poor' person. Poor is when you have to skip meals because you have no food and money. Our government has it's own definition of 'poor'. I disagree with it. But then, we know the feds are never wrong, are they?