What to do about those selfish old people living high on Social Security?

“For $200 you can feed a low income senior citizen for one year....” Courtesy of the Foodbank of Eastern Michigan

It’s the question on everyone’s mind these days: what are we going to do about these “entitlement” folks who are draining the national budget?

Entitlement is the term of choice the majority of politicians and members of the media now use to refer to Social Security and Medicare. It’s a derogatory term that implies that elderly or disabled beneficiaries of these programs are selfish, undeserving people who subsist on government handouts without ever having contributed anything useful to society. And what’s more they’re living high on the hog at the expense of worthy taxpayers even as the nation’s economy goes down the drain.

Said politicians and media reps never mention that throughout their working lives, today’s seniors paid high Social Security and Medicare taxes. And have you ever heard any politician or news reporter note that the government continues to deduct hefty Medicare fees from the minimal monthly Social Security payments of even low income seniors?  

Pay a visit sometime to a local apartment building for low income seniors and take a look at the residents. Notice how many of these “entitlement” folks are hard of hearing, but can’t afford hearing aids; wear eyeglasses that are at least five years old; and have lost all or most of their teeth, but can’t afford dentures. Then tell me again about the superior quality of life this population enjoys on the backs of taxpayers.

And while you’re visiting one of these establishments for the elderly and/or disabled, remind yourselves that the majority of the residents paid into the system while working hard throughout their adult lives, and many of them served in the military.

There is no doubt a percentage of  independently wealthy seniors who could live very well without Social Security or Medicare. But why must our government and the media continuously denigrate the rest of the nation’s elderly and/or disabled population by referring to them as “entitlement” recipients, thus shaming them for barely meeting their basic needs for food, shelter, and medical care.
 

Reappointment of Bernanke Fails to Upstage Breaking Economic News

As David Gergen at AC360 points out, our vacationing president reappointed Ben Bernanke today as head of the Federal Reserve in an obvious attempt to divert attention from bad news on the economic front.

Gergen writes:

Yet even the Bernanke story cannot fully deflect attention from the other economic story engulfing the administration today: its official announcement of new economic projections – in particular, its acknowledgment that deficits over the coming decade will be even higher than it said only three months ago. Now, the administration is predicting that instead of $7 trillion in new deficits, the country will rack up a staggering $9 trillion in new deficits for the 2010-2019 period. (The Congressional Budget Office has published its own numbers today that are largely parallel.)

Deficits of that magnitude would be extraordinarily dangerous and irresponsible for the country. They would double the national debt, risk much higher inflation, saddle future taxpayers with annual interest payments of over $900 billion, make us even more reliant upon China as a creditor, and over time would weaken us as a great nation. Talk about trend lines that are unsustainable!

Health care reform was already in growing trouble before this report. These deficit projections clearly add another significant threat to its passage. The administration will now have to persuade Congress and a skeptical public that it would be financially prudent to embark upon an ambitious new entitlement program in the teeth of dangerously growing deficits.

Gergen suggests a way out for the president:

In view of all this, President Obama has a choice. He can push forward with health reform efforts, giving short shrift to these deficit concerns. If so – if he continues to insist that Washington is just too “wee-weed up” — he will find that some of his strongest allies will become more reluctant on a big health reform bill this year.

Or he can come to grips with these grim forecasts and present to the nation a credible, comprehensive plan for reining in long-term deficits before Congress acts on health reform. The second path demands more courage – and is also the one of real leadership.