voting to end Medicare?

Submitted by savcash on Wed, 04/27/2011 - 18:13.

The GOP’s vote to end Medicare confirmed to be political suicide. Since House

Republicans voted to eliminate Medicare and Medicaid, it’s been clear that the move was political suicide. I didn’t realize just how bad it was, though. A new McClatchy-Marist poll [PDF] reveals that the Republicans’

vote to end Medicare and Medicaid will be simply devastating.

A new McClatchy-Marist poll finds that Americans oppose cuts to Medicare or Medicaid by a margin of 80 to 18 percent, including 73 percent of Republicans and 75 percent of Independents. In fact, just 28 percent of Tea Pary suppoerts [sic] backed the plan, while [70] percent opposed it:

[//] more at link  nhttp://mnpublius.com/post/4774495325/gop-vote-end-medicare-political-suicide

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-mw4KwUaIA&feature=player_embedded

 

( categories: )

101 on why the USA is going broke

 

--snip-- WASHINGTON - Rep. Rick Berg (R-N.D.) heard from elderly voters angry about his vote to end Medicare and replace it with a voucher program at the Bismarck Public Library Tuesday evening. Berg voted in favor of Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) budget, the centerpiece of which cuts spending on elderly health care costs by replacing the current benefit with a voucher system that would provide premium support for private health insurance.

 

“I would like to know: Did you vote to eliminate Medicare as it is today?” a man asks Berg during his library appearance in an exchange caught on video by PlainsDaily.com (scroll down to watch). “No,” Berg says, before the audience contradicts him.

“You voted for every Republican issue and that was part of the issues that went out there,” the man says. A woman interrupts to ask how much the elderly will be asked to pay out of pocket for health care costs under the new system.

“I want you to tell me how much it’s going to cost us when we’re 65 years old after you give us a voucher,” she says.

“Fifty-five or over, absolutely no change, absolutely no change, in this Medicare program,” Berg promises. [//] see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/27/rick-berg-medicare-townhall-_n_... for bal.

HERE IT IS: Your Short Course On Why The US Is Screwed

As we noted last week, Mary Meeker of Kleiner Perkins has published an excellent analysis of the financial condition of the United States.

It's several hundred pages long, so we've been highlighting parts of it in shorter form.

Here's the big story...

If you listen to Republicans and Democrats (and even the Tea Party) bellyache about what's wrong with the US, you can be forgiven for thinking that the problem is that we spend too much on, say, Education. Or Defense.

Well, that's a crock.

We spend a LOT of Education and Defense, of course, but we arguably don't spend too much on these things, at least as a percentage of GDP. (We certainly spend too much on them relative to what we can afford).

What really busts our budget are the mind-boggling amounts we spend on our entitlement programs--Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid (especially Medicare and Medicaid).  These programs are wildly more expensive than any other budget items, and they're also growing like weeds.

If we don't get Medicare and Medicaid expenses under control, the USA will go broke, pure and simple. And yet, almost no one in Washington has the stones to even talk about this, let alone do something about it. They just kick the can down the road.

What must we do to fix this problem?

Well, as Mary's charts show, there's almost no chance that we can "grow our way out of the problem."

To fix this problem, we must cut entitlement spending (or, at the very least, cut entitlement spending growth). Of course, cutting entitlement spending is taboo in Washington, which is why our wimpy "leaders" never talk about it.

Don't believe us? See for yourself. What's killing us is our entitlement programs. Everything else is fine.

 

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-the-us-is-screwed-2011-2?op=1

 

We are being so kind to every other nation's people and messing with the grandchildren and our own kids, our future!!

 

There really is not republicans and dems anymore, it is all the same, spend and to heck with the people. Wars for oil, open boarders and illegals are taking all the funds we all worked so hard for. Betty

 

 

The problem is, America is NOT a Democracy - it is a Republic! As our Founding Fathers established, can we keep it?

Community Development & HUD fit where into that graph?

Please explain the positioning of the HUD programs on that budget? 

Section 8

CMHA

Shelter Plus Care

Community Development CDBG 

Neighborhood Stabilization Programs NSP

etc...

Always Appreciative, "ANGELnWard14"

not just those 'entitlement departments, illegal immigrants are

draining all departments - but yet, they are aiming at medicare. I want to know why tho? Why should  AMERICAN people feel bad about collecting ss and medicare when their wages paid into them, for THEM?

Why is social security and medicare consider entitlement? These are funds taxpayer contribute into.

 
--Each year approximately one million legal immigrants and almost as many illegal aliens enter these United States. These immigrants – including illegal aliens – have been made eligible for various kinds of public assistance, including housing, education, Social Security, and legal services. This unconstitutional drain on the federal Treasury is having a severe and adverse impact on our economy, increasing the cost of government at federal, state, and local levels, adding to the tax burden, and stressing the fabric of society.
 
 This is an issue that needs to be addressed with regard to all illegal immigrants.
 
--snip--

The latest Census Bureau data reveals that most U.S. families headed by illegal immigrants use taxpayer-funded welfare programs on behalf of their American-born anchor babies, according to a public-interest group that investigates government corruption and fraud.

Even before the recession, immigrant households with children used welfare programs at consistently higher rates than natives, according to the extensive census data collected and analyzed by the Center for Immigration Studies, a nonpartisan Washington D.C. group dedicated to researching legal and illegal immigration in the U.S. The results, published this month in a lengthy report, are hardly surprising.

According to analysis by Judicial Watch, the majority of households across the country benefiting from publicly-funded welfare programs are headed by immigrants, both legal and illegal. States where immigrant households with children have the highest welfare use rates are Arizona with 62%, Texas, California and New York with 61% each and Pennsylvania at 59%.

The study focused on eight major welfare programs that cost the government $517 billion the year they were examined. They include Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for the disabled, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), a nutritional program known as Women, Infants and Children (WIC), food stamps, free/reduced school lunch, public housing and health insurance for the poor (Medicaid).

Food assistance and Medicaid are the programs most commonly used by illegal immigrants, mainly on behalf of their American-born children who get automatic citizenship. On the other hand, legal immigrant households take advantage of every available welfare program, according to the study, which attributes it to low education level and resulting low income.

The highest rate of welfare recipients come from the Dominican Republic (82 %), Mexico and Guatemala (75%) and Ecuador (70%), according to the report, which says welfare use tends to be high for both new arrivals and established residents.

click here - [link to www.examiner.com] to read more of the findings [//]

Who Changed the Immigration Policy of the US?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGBFAPEiVLs

 

AND THEN YOU HAVE STORIES LIKE THIS ONE, AMAZING FRAUD OF OUR GOV.  Trying to stop growth, hiring, new business, why??

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-biggest-us-economic-story-of-the-year...

 

The problem is, America is NOT a Democracy - it is a Republic! As our Founding Fathers established, can we keep it?

illegal immigrants pay taxes

including Medicare taxes, and chances are good that they will not have social security benefits when they come of age to collect. They pay income taxes, and contribute to the wealth of this nation. While this nation is wallowing in debt, (brought on by previous administrations that led us into invasions of other countries that continue to this day) we are wealthy in comparison  to other countries. 

Corporate welfare continues unchecked, and the great divide continues to grow.

I say open the damn borders,  take the burden off the border states and share it equally. 

 

Dw is correct - taxes (social sec)on immigrants has been a scam

The gov has known for years that illegal immigrants use fraudulent social security cards when they are employed.  So with every paycheck the employer and the illegal immigrant put 12 -15 % of their paycheck into the federal tax system - never to see it again.

The federal government has to have known - and welcomed every penny which they stole.

Ripping off illegals - is that's what our US gov knows how to do?

Yes. 

Sadly.

well, they would if they could qualify for a job, but illegal

they are here, so they get jobs working under the table. No taxes, not paying into the wage taxes at all.

That is, IF they can even get a job (taking ones from citizens) like maids in hotels that pay illegals cash. Then when others can't

work, they steal and commit other crimes.

http://www.menwithfoilhats.com/2011/04/budget-crisis-costs-for-incarcera...

 

GAO: $1.5B to jail unlawful immigrants

Jordy Yager|The Hill

What's Cheaper, Border Security or the 1.5 Billion to House Illegal Criminals?: According to the GOA's report in January 2009, the cost of building fence along the southern border of the United States was estimated at a cost average of roughly 2.8 million per mile. Add that number of miles coast to coast and these numbers reach into the multi-billions. So the question is answered, it is cheaper to let illegals in by the droves, have taxpayers fund these trespassers in a multitude of programs. The government didn't get their materials list from Home Depot, nor are they hiring illegals to build the fence, so why the high cost? My guess is the $300 hammers, and the $1000 port-a-potties it would use in this endeavor. Seriously though, most often when the government is in charge overexpenditures is the norm. Misuse, wrongful allocations of taxpayer dollars is really the driver of the high costs. Privatize the construction and the fence will get built faster and cheaper.

The federal government is spending more than $1.5 billion each year to jail illegal immigrants throughout the country, according to a new report by the investigative arm of Congress. [/more at link above/]

But, people get distracted, not paying attention as much as they really should. Yet, they see,

there's more important news going on right now, like the upcoming royal wedding ;-) Betty

The problem is, America is NOT a Democracy - it is a Republic! As our Founding Fathers established, can we keep it?

your argument

is a muddle, SavCash. If you have a problem with a corporation paying people under the table, take it to the corporation heads and have it out. Happens all the time across this country, with all groups of peoples, not just immigrants,  from corporations to daycare to domestic workers. Some call it an underground economy as the money earned is pumped back into the system when people buy food, pay rent, etc.

The majority of illegal immigrants pay taxes.

As far as  your statement "That is, IF they can even get a job (taking ones from citizens) like maids in hotels that pay illegals cash. Then when others can't work, they steal and commit other crimes.", I have to ask if you have ever considered the humanity or the lack of humanity in your position, and the fact that we are talking about people, fellow humans?

Savcash - another side to this story

Hello Betty, we posted comments at the same time so you may not have seen the other viewpoint.  

From my experience, there are many employers who do not want under the table employees (massive legal liability if there is an insurance physical accident issue) - so the employers fake the legal employment - and take out all the taxes from the illegal employees check - the illegal goes with the flow - has to or no job - and the pay is still better than life in Central America or Mexico or where ever.

This situation is Corporate America at its best.

Profit

The Share Holders demand PROFIT!@

That's the law.

 

Jeff is right, and, Betty

Jeff is right, and, Betty, I challenge you to open your mind on this. You are internet saavy, so read about the corporate rule of the land. Go read this data on sites that you would normally not, putting aside the labels of liberal, etc, and look at the information on how corporations really do business regarding illegal workers.

more on undocumented workers

 

Undocumented Taxpayers

Most arguments against illegal immigration begin with the premise that the undocumented don't pay income taxes, and that they therefore take more in services than they contribute. However, IRS estimates that about 6 million unauthorized immigrants file individual income tax returns each year.[12] Research reviewed by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office indicates that between 50 percent and 75 percent of unauthorized immigrants pay federal, state, and local taxes.[12] Illegal immigrants are estimated to pay in about $7 billion per year into Social Security.[13]

The Internal Revenue Service issues an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) regardless of immigration status because bothresident and nonresident aliens may have Federal tax return and payment responsibilities under the Internal Revenue Code. Federal tax law prohibits the IRS from sharing data with other government agencies including the INS. In 2006 1.4 million people used ITIN when filing taxes, of which more than half were illegal immigrants.[14]

[edit]Undocumented Workers Subsidize Social Security

Illegal immigrants pay social security payroll taxes but are not eligible for benefits. During 2006, Standard & Poor's analysts wrote: "Each year, for example, the U.S. Social Security Administration maintains roughly $6 billion to $7 billion of Social Security contributions in an "earnings suspense file" -- an account for W-2 tax forms that cannot be matched to the correct Social Security number. The vast majority of these numbers are attributable to undocumented workers who will never claim their benefits."[10]

The Social Security Administration has stated that it believes unauthorized work by non-citizens is a major cause of wage items being posted as erroneous wage reports instead of on an individual's earnings record.[15] When Social Security numbers are already in use; names do not match the numbers or the numbers are fake, or the person of record is too old, young, dead etc., the earnings reported to the Social Security Agency are put in an Earnings Suspense file [ESF]. The Social Security spends about $100 million a year and corrects all but about 2% of these. From Tax Years (TY) 1937 through 2003 the ESF had accumulated about 255 million mismatched wage reports, representing $520 billion in wages and about $75 billion in employment taxes paid into the over $1.5 trillion in the Social Security Trust funds. As of October 2005, approximately 8.8 million wage reports, representing $57.8 billion in wages remained unresolved in the suspense file for TY 2003.[15]wiki

 

 

 

man arrested as he lied, lied, and lied again to get job.

http://www.adn.com/2011/04/22/1823607/23arrestedcop.html

--snip--

Anchorage officer charged with passport fraud

FALSE IDENTITY: Anchorage patrolman of 6 years is a Mexican national, federal officials say.

An Anchorage police officer who took on a false identity that masked his Mexican citizenship has been arrested and charged with passport fraud, federal officials said Friday.

 

------

"His problem was he lied his way into the job," Mew said.

The identity swap was discovered when the police officer applied for a U.S. passport in January and officials from the State Department found that the Rafael Espinoza identity he was using was actually another person, a U.S. citizen in the Lower 48, Loeffler said.

 

Read more: http://www.adn.com/2011/04/22/1823607/23arrestedcop.html#ixzz1KmpTOTCB [//]    

___

A word-break: keep-all;">bsolutely fair and honest to label any immigration-law violator as a criminal. The definition of "criminal" is someone who violates the laws! And most immigration-law violations are in fact FELONIES! These are not, in fact, mere civil matters equivalent to a parking ticket or minor traffic ticket. Entry without inspection is a felony (class D). Applying for and entering on a tourist visa when one intends to remain is fraud, a major felony. Lying on any immigration-related or visa application, or in any immigration/visa interview is perjury, a major felony. Presenting any document which is false, forged, stolen or fraudulent in support of any immigration or visa application is a major felony. Possession or use of any other person's identity, official identification, SSN, etc is identity theft -- felony.

These are just a few examples of the felonies immigration-law violators commit. Upon conviction of any of these, the person would be a mandatory deport and permanent bar to reentry. We just ship them out to save the taxpayers the cost of feeding their worthless hides for months or years in prison. They cost citizens enough already. So yes, it is absolutely fair and honest to call each and every person who is present in a country in violation of any of that country's immigration laws a "criminal." It is even more accurate in most cases to call them "felons." [//]

See, they broke the law of this Nation to get here. There is no such thing as an "undocumented immigrant". They are "illegal aliens" word-break: keep-all;">. !!!!

So, not having enough jobs to go around, he (this 'intruder) STOLE another mans - one who had that right to apply.

Yeah, that saying "undocumented workers" instead of illegal aliens - might be offensive to some readers.  Well, when someone crosses the border secretly they are breaking the law and people who break the law are called criminals.  Are they breaking the law by staying? Are they breaking the law stealing socials to work or not paying taxes... They look like criminals to me.. Whats next with some of you sympathizers.. Are we gonna start calling rapist "UNDOCUMENTED sexual partners"?  Or it is OK to call drug pushers "unlicensed pharmacists"

too?  

 See  word-break: keep-all;"> the Immigration and Naturalization Act. They are not undocumented, they are ILLEGAL ALIENS. According to the Laws of the United States, their presence in the United States is ILLEGAL. Therefore they are criminals.

The cop, all his cases, all his testifing, now do crooks get to go free because he commited perjury time and again too? Betty

 

PS> Responding to Jeff and Debbie, Pretend America is a ship, we are being overloaded and sinking because of these illegals coming aboard. It will drown us all. Sooner or later we have to come to know, if this keeps up, the ship will sink, carrying us all down. Altho I read those numbers and see your concern for othe fellow humans, we can't treat others better than we treat our own. Do you know the punishment Mexico gives to those who might be caught coming into their country unlawfully? Do you?

See  http://michellemalkin.com/2010/04/28/police-state-how-mexico-treats-illegal-aliens/

The problem is, America is NOT a Democracy - it is a Republic! As our Founding Fathers established, can we keep it?