ELF News Archives
April 2004- Social Security Time Bomb, and the Candidates Aren't Talking -
The recent Trustees Report on Social Security reveals a bleak and dire federal program, headed for bankruptcy soon, and in desperate need of reform. The report also, however, offers us another opportunity for an honest debate about how to reform Social Security and ensure that our children and grandchildren will have the opportunity for a safe, secure retirement.
Cato Institute 4/30
- Kerry backs fix for Social Security -
My mother, who took such pride in being a full-time mom that she called mothering her "career," entered the workforce at age 44, after sending her youngest to college.
Since then, she has worked hard to save something for retirement. By combining her savings with Social Security and some help from her kids, Mom will have enough retirement income to live independently for as long as she wishes.
Thank goodness for Social Security! I could never begrudge my mother and other members of the baby boomer generation the money from my payroll taxes.
Arizona Republic 4/30
- Social Security This Week -
Kerry Denies Social Security Crisis; Former SSA Head Calls for Individual Accounts; Benefits Specialist: Women Should
Take an Active Interest in the Social Security Debate; Ownership of Contributions Is the Missing Ingredient
Cato Institute 4/25
- What Should Freedom Lovers Do? -
If often happens that an ideological movement will make great strides through education and organization and cultural influence, only to take the illogical leap of believing that politics and political influence, which usually means taking jobs within the bureaucracy, is the next rung on the ladder to success. This is like trying to fight a fire with matches and gasoline.
Ludwig Von Mises Institute 4/25
- Real Problem With The Tax System –
Prior to 1960, there was no Social Security. There were no Food Stamps, no Departments of Education, Health, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, or Transportation, let alone the hundreds of government funded agencies set up to promote our “best interest”—as if we can’t figure it out for ourselves. And the departments that did exist back in the ‘50s have been built-up and exploited to the point of collapse. This is not what the Founding Fathers envisioned—they knew that these avenues were better controlled by private industry, but we missed the point.
Republicans are just as bad as Democrats in this situation.
American Daily.Com 4/25
- FDR: Great President Or Socialist Disaster? –
...it is time to remind everyone of the things that FDR did that damaged this country so badly that we are still dealing with the results today.
FDR admitted that the Social Security Act, which we are burdened with trying to "fix" now, was nothing but a vote pandering device. FDR said, "I guess you're right on the economics, but those taxes were never a problem of economics. They were politics all the way through."
American Daily.Com 4/25
- In Defense of a Free Market in Health Care –
how will any political cure prescribing more of the same poison of government reform work as an antidote for the current poison produced by prior government reforms? Such a prescription reflects the maxim that every act of political intervention makes matters worse and invites ever more radical intervention. And are the enlightened reformers calling for new reforms the same politicians and bureaucrats who have given us monumental waste, extravagance, staggering debts, unbalanced budgets, and mismanaged Medicare and Medicaid programs?
Future of Freedom Foundation 4/24
- Retirees' Health Benefits Could Be Cut –
Employers could reduce or eliminate their retirees' health benefits once the former workers qualify for Medicare, under a proposal from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
WBAL NEWS 4/23
- Japan's Public Pension System –
The Sex Star Scandal -
As many of you who keep up on current Japanese affairs might know, Japan is facing an aging of the population crisis.
...many young people have now come to believe that if they pay money into the National Pension system that, in 10 or 20 years, it will be bankrupt anyway and they will never get their retirement money.
Lew Rockwell 4/21
- In Arizona, Unease Over New Medicare Drug Law -
...the drug benefit as a good first step. But he added, "It's not good enough," and that, he said, is why he wants to allow imports of low-cost prescription drugs, over protests from the pharmaceutical industry.
New York Times 4/20
- Medicare discount cards won't help all seniors -
As Medicare officials and more than two dozen companies prepare for a massive, nationwide launch of these government-approved drug discount cards later this month, consumer experts are urging seniors to avoid scams and carefully shop around for the best deal. For some, the Medicare discounts may seem, well, a bit anemic.
Mercury News 4/20
- Poll finds support for changing Social Security -
A survey found a majority of Alabamians in favor of changing the Social Security system, but not by allowing the government to invest a portion of the trust fund in the stock market.
About 53 percent of those surveyed by the Mobile Register-University of South Alabama poll support allowing individuals to invest a portion of their own Social Security payroll taxes in the stock market and 65 percent say they would pay higher taxes rather than have benefits reduced.
Tuscaloosa News 4/19
- Social Security This Week -
NYT: Social Security Will Be a Defining Issue This Election Year; Abdnor and Vargas: PRAs Are a Better Choice for Women
and Minorities; Harvey: Tax Time Illustrates the Case for Reform
Cato Institute 4/19
- Many not financially ready for retirement -
...it's no surprise that the majority of people are not putting enough money away...
NJ.Com 4/13
- We're too cocky about retirement -
Americans are overly optimistic that they will be able to afford a comfortable retirement and are doing too little to prepare for one, a study released last week shows.
Some 45 percent of workers have less than $25,000 in total savings and investments, excluding the value of their home, and 42 percent aren't saving for retirement at all...
Buffalo News 4/13
- Cracks in the nest egg -
There are major cracks in baby boomers' retirement nest egg.
We're spending and borrowing like there's no tomorrow. Many think that government and company retirement and health care will - and should - come to the rescue.
Unless midlife workers start scrimping and saving for their own retirements, "a higher proportion of people will end their lives in deprivation - in unnecessary deprivation
Richmond Times Dispatch 4/12
- Quality of Life: Measuring individual freedom -
...the ultimate control government has over its subjects is the requirement it puts on all individuals to keep track of all of their spending and income so that it can decide how much an individual gets to keep of what he earns. This directly impacts where individuals can go, what they can be, and what they can say and do. Of course, since the government grants its subjects privileges, it also can and does take those privileges away.
American freedom today is measured against the individual liberty of our ancestors. An individual should never compare himself with others since there will always be individuals better and worse than oneself. One should compare himself to prior years to see how he has progressed or regressed.
Yuma Sun 4/12
- Social Security This Week -
"Political Will" Necessary for Social Security Reform; Survey Finds Retirement Optimism Is Unwarranted;
IRET President: Benefit Formula is the Problem, Private Accounts the Solution
Cato Institute 4/10
- Bad Medicine -
Congressman Bill Thomas (R–Calif.) says the objective of the legislation is to “provide access to affordable prescription drugs.” “Provide access” can only mean that money will be taken from one group to pay for other people’s drugs. How else can government “provide access”? It’s not as if politicians spend their own money.
Future of Freedom Foundation 4/10
- Old Folks At Home -
The burden for caring for these more frail elderly will inevitably fall to the government--in other words, the taxpayer--but many families will find it necessary to take more hands-on responsibility for their parents. When that happens, the psychological toll of watching a once-strong father slowly deteriorate or a mother grow gradually more senile can be devastating. The financial toll on both parents and children, however, can be almost as bad.
Forbes 4/10
- Patients need to move into long-term care beds more quickly: Smitherman -
The practice of letting hospital patients wait for a bed at the long-term care facility of their choice may soon be coming to an end, Health Minister George ....
It's simply not an efficient use of resources to allow patients waiting for their preferred choice of nursing home or other facility to bide their time in a hospital bed, Smitherman said. "We have to take a look at spiriting people into a long-term care setting as quickly as we can," .... "The proper function of our surgical suites and our emergency rooms depends upon it."
Health Canada.Com 4/09
- Boston Private-Equity Firm Leads Buyout of California Insurance-Claim Handler -
The Boston private-equity firm Advent International is leading a $130 million leveraged buyout of an El Segundo, Calif., company that handles claims and administration in the growing field of long-term care insurance.
Miami Herald 4/09
- Who Needs Long-Term-Care Insurance? -
LONG-TERM-CARE insurance isn't cheap. But then again, neither are the services it covers, says California Health Advocates' Burns. And if you cut costs by purchasing a very restrictive policy — such as one that will only cover home health care — it could come back to haunt you.
Smart Money 4/09
- Seniors' advocates urge Liberals to remember long-term care in budget -
Ontario's non-profit nursing homes can't keep feeding their residents on just $5.24 a day, advocates for seniors said Monday as they urged the Liberal government to come through with a promise of more money in the upcoming budget.
National Post 4/09
Social Security: "We in the federal government need to take care of your retirement because you are not sufficiently competent to handle this important matter for yourselves. You also cannot be trusted to take care of your parents on a voluntary basis. The same holds true for charitable organizations and church groups. Therefore, we in the federal government have no choice but to take charge of old-age retirement and force people to do these things."
Rebuilding America: Domestic Policy
by Jacob G. Hornberger Future of Freedom Foundation 4/05/2004
- Social Security This Week -
Majority Support Individual Accounts; Tanner: Presidential Candidates Must Address Social Security;
Reform Called Critical for Young Workers
Cato Institute 4/05
- Don't Tamper With Medicare Reform -
In the wake of last year's landmark passage of Medicare reform, America's seniors are on the verge of reaping significant benefits from the new law. Drug discount cards are expected to be implemented in the months ahead in advance of the new drug benefit set to launch in 2006. In the area of cancer care, seniors in 2005 are likely to see a dramatic reduction in their regular co-payments - fixed at 20% of the chemotherapy drug and treatment costs -- as the government adjusts how it reimburses physicians for the purchase and delivery of innovative and life-saving cancer therapies.
GOP USA 4/03
- Medicare's real mistake -
Medicare estimates are based on a very static set of assumptions that predict that nothing about the health of seniors or the quality or innovation of health care will change. That is not a very smart assumption.
Washington Times 4/01
- Bowie Couple Cite Waste in Medicare Policy -
That item, which sells for about $1,500, has so far cost Medicare, the federally funded health insurance program for the elderly, more than $11,000. That's because Medicare isn't allowed to purchase the equipment but must contribute to the rent by paying $230 per month.
Washington Post 4/01