ELF News Archives
May 2005- Social Security This Week: May 27, 2005 -
As Filibuster Debate Ends, Social Security Takes Center Stage; Mike Tanner: Social Security's "Guarantees" Are a Sham; Changing the Tax Base Hits Single-Earner Families.
Cato Institute 5/31
- Health Savings Accounts gaining popularity -
Two years after coming into existence, Health Savings Accounts are starting to catch on with some businesses and consumers. ...The Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 authorized tax-free accounts in which to save money for medical expenses. To be eligible, individuals must be 64 and under and not entitled to Medicare, and can't be a participant in another health plan.
The Patriot News 5/31
- Long Term Care Organization Says "Nursing Home Watch List" Misleading -
The American Health Care Association (AHCA) today said that a new “Nursing Home Watch List” issued last week by the Consumers Union, is misleading consumers with its conclusions about quality in our nation’s nursing homes and provides outdated data.
AHCA 5/27
- Socialized Security -
It is not policy-wonk neat or even particularly coherent, but George Bush's "progressive indexing" gambit for Social Security benefits at least puts him back on the offensive. Editorial writers who yearn for an easy to handicap ping-pong match on this nettlesome issue certainly approve of Bush's move, but that is far from enough to secure real reform in the real world.
Reason 5/27
- Social Security Demeans Workers -
We can thank President Bush for reminding us that Social Security is not a pension or insurance plan but a welfare program. He did that recently when he proposed changing the benefit structure to favor (even more) low-income retirees at the expense of the “better off.”...Social Security has always been a welfare program. The essence of welfare is that government transfers money from one person to another, not that the money goes to the poor. The constellation of programs that transfer money from the taxpayers to businesses is properly called corporate welfare.
FFF.Org 5/26
- Elder abuse is in the spotlight this month -
May is the month when we are to be especially aware of the possibility of elder and/or dependent care abuse. It is a sad reality that many of our elderly population are prey to emotional, physical and economic/financial abuse.
Red Bluff Daily News 5/26
- Elder Abuse: Remember To Always Ignore The Men -
The National Center on Elder Abuse estimates that approximately one of every three elder victims is male. A National Institute of Justice report documents that approximately one of every three abusers is female.
Mens News Daily 5/26
- RIPPING OFF THE SYSTEM -
How many times have we heard advertisements from law firms that specialize in elder law urging, "If you anticipate that you may have to enter a nursing home down the road, an elder care attorney may be able to help you create a plan that will both protect much of your assets and make you eligible for government benefits"? Boiled down to basics, the lawyers are suggesting that they can arrange for you to live off others should you ever require long-term care instead of having to spend the assets you've accumulated during your lifetime.
George Mason University 5/26
- Congress and the Federal Reserve Erode Your Dollars -
...the Treasury department accuses China of artificially suppressing the value of its currency by tying it to the dollar, thus making Chinese imports very cheap and worsening our trade imbalance....in reality we have nobody to blame but ourselves for the sharp decline in the US dollar. Congress and the Federal Reserve, not China, are the real culprits in the erosion of your personal savings and buying power. Congress relentlessly spends more than the Treasury collects in taxes each year...
Ron Paul 5/26
Thom's exclusive cartoons for Ether Zone Ether Zone
- Bush's Impossible Social Security Plan -
The more you think about the incoherent Bush Social Security plan, writes Bob Murphy, the more you realize what a hoax it is.
Ludwig von Mises Institute 5/23
- Social Security This Week: May 20, 2005 -
Pozen's Remarks on Personal Accounts Misrepresented; Wexler's Tax Hike Falls Flat; Michael Tanner to Ways and Means: PRAs Protect Vulnerable Populations
Cato Institute 5/23
- Between hammers and anvils -
A combination of harsh factors bears down simultaneously upon average-income families, threatening their living standards -- and retirement prospects. What profoundly disturbs an increasing number of these people is that agencies of their own government seem to be facilitating, or going along with, these assaults on their economic well-being.
Star Telegram 5/23
- A Painless Social Security Solution? -
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) claims that it is possible to restore solvency without changing benefits if the individual accounts are large enough
Washington Post 5/23
- Social Security Demeans Workers -
Social Security has always been a welfare program. The essence of welfare is that government transfers money from one person to another, not that the money goes to the poor. The constellation of programs that transfer money from the taxpayers to businesses is properly called corporate welfare.
FFF 5/14
- Social Security This Week: May 13, 2005 -
Cato Announces Nobel Laureates Backing of Social Security Choice; Debate Moves Forward with Bill Thomas at the Helm; Featured Daily Debunker: Johnson Bill Doesn't Offer a Free Lunch
Cato Institute 5/14
- Inside the numbers: The economy and Social Security -
Ironically, the same concerns over the economy and inflation that have brought down the president's approval ratings may be the catalyst for ultimate passage of a Social Security reform bill.
Town Hall 5/11
- Who Invented Charity? -
Early in Church history there developed the practice of offering oblations for the poor. The faithful’s offerings would be placed on the altar within the context of the Mass. Other forms of giving included the collecta, in effect on certain fast days, in which just prior to the reading of the epistle the faithful donated some portion of the fruits of the earth. ...Much evidence exists of early Christians imposing fasts on themselves in order that they might make a sacrificial offering of the money that they would have spent on the food they would otherwise have eaten the day of their fast.
Lew Rockwell 5/11
- Aon Study Finds Liability Cost Increases of 182 Percent in the Long Term Care Sector Since 1996 -
The Long Term Care 2005 General Liability and Professional Liability Benchmark Analysis found that general liability and professional liability (GL/PL) costs for the long term care profession have increased 182 percent since 1996. It also recorded that the annual patient care liability cost for each occupied bed in a long term care facility has grown from $430 in 1993 to $2,310 in 2004....“In fact, 14 of the 16 states analyzed experienced double-digit annual increases in their GL/PL costs over the past decade, with a majority of them experiencing loss cost trends in excess of 25 percent.”
AHCA. Org 5/09
- The Roots of the Social Security Myth -
...known as Social Security. It focuses on a crucial but underexamined aspect of
the program: how Social Security was "fraudulently" marketed to the public...
Mises. Org 5/09
- General Motors Runs Over the Experts-A MINI-WELFARE STATE? -
Speculation about which welfare state will be the first to buckle under the strain of the pension and medical costs of aging populations usually focuses on European nations with declining birth rates and aging populations. Who knew the first to buckle would be General Motors, with Ford not far behind?
...I am not impressed by economists who assure the public that Social Security/Medicare are not out of control, that there is time to maneuver.
Nobody in charge ever seems to maneuver until the investment vehicle goes into a skid on an icy road in the mountains. Bad news is dismissed as irrelevant. Statistical reality is deferred by investors until they finally start unloading shares. Then there is not much that the people in charge can do to solve the problem.
If highly sophisticated investors are this naïve about where their money is being invested, why should we expect politicians to tell us the truth about the looming insolvency of Social Security/Medicare?
Lew Rockwell 5/08
- Social Security's Progressive Paradox -
Casual observers of contemporary politics could be forgiven for wondering: Where are the goatees? First we had a "conservative" Congress and president pushing through expansions in Medicare and federal control of education that would make Lyndon Johnson blush.
Reason 5/07
- Social Security This Week: May 6, 2005 -
Cato Launches Major Campaign to Refocus Social Security Debate; House Republicans to Take Up Social
Security Reform; Cato's Alan Reynolds Refutes Levitt's Criticism of Personal Accounts
Cato Institute 5/06
- ONLY IN AMERICA -
What are we to make of people who preach pessimism and doom to people -- telling them that they're poor because others are rich or telling blacks that they'll never make it because of societal racism? What are we to make of politicians, media pundits and college professors who preach the politics of envy -- telling people lies that the rich became rich off the backs of the poor?
George Mason University School of Economics 5/06
- Carl Leubsdorf:
Big hurdles on Social Security -
In the end, many people here think that Mr. Bush would be willing to sign any piece of legislation that he can tout as reforming the Social Security system. But it's not yet clear if things will get that far in the current political environment.
Dallas News 5/05
- Carl Leubsdorf:
Slaves to the Tax State -
The maximum long-term capital gains tax rate is 15% and this is only paid when stocks are sold. The net effect is Bill Gates, and other Billionaire's, wealth grows largely tax-free while people whose primary source of income is labor pay 40% or more of their income to the government in taxes.
Another blatantly regressive tax system is the social security system. As of tax year 2004 Americans pay 6.2% of their income below $87,900 into social security—the tax rate above $87,900 is 0%. This is the largest tax many lower-income Americans pay. While it does tax middle class and lower income individuals at a much higher rate than high income individuals, the net effect is to make the total federal individual income tax brackets choppy like the federal corporate income tax brackets.
Dallas News 5/05
- Daily Debunker -
The latest rhetorical device in the increasingly dishonest debate about Social Security reform is to claim President George W. Bush's endorsement of "progressive indexing" will drastically slash benefits for middle class Americans while, once again, letting the rich off the hook.
Cato Institute 5/05
- SSSS puts Rock The Vote to Shame -
Granted, there are some who only want to privatize for selfish reasons, but the majority of commentors understand that self-management of the fruits of our labor means the following:
1) We will have more money for charity.
2) We will not be passing on an increasingly worse economic situation to our descendants.
3) Money will be lining the pockets of those who work hard or have fallen under unfortunate circumstances, instead of going to political opportunists, career bureaucrats, and other professional thieves.
4) Freed markets means better development around the world, and better prosperity for people at home, and across the globe. - Todd
Social Security Choice 5/03
- Long Term Care Policy Experts and Stakeholders Address Challenges Facing Aging Population As 77 Million U.S. Baby Boomers Near Retirement Age -
“In eight months, the leading edge of the nation’s 78 million baby boomers will begin to turn 60,”
Over the next 30 years, the number of Americans over the age of 65 – and the proportion of those individuals older than 85 – is expected to double. Soaring costs and rising demand for long term care services could deplete personal savings and exhaust government entitlement programs. The challenge is broader than delivery of healthcare. There is also a strain on long-term service providers and family caregivers. Additionally:
AHCA 5/01
- Pot Laws Pain Some Elders -
Patients contend that cannabis helps ease the effects of multiple sclerosis, glaucoma and rheumatoid arthritis. It can calm nausea during chemotherapy. Research has found that cannabinoids, marijuana's active components, show promise for treating symptoms of Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's, and perhaps may have anti-cancer properties....AARP poll found that 72% of people 45 and older believe adults should be allowed to use cannabis...
LA Times 5/01
- How to Fix Health Care -
First, the lion's share of Medicare spending is going for a relatively small number of people. Second, we are wasting time and money by not having a coordinated care system for these big users. Third, we lack the information needed to guide our caregiving. Fourth, we continue to drive up costs by overusing hospitals and preventing nurses and technicians from doing routine work that doctors now needlessly perform.
Washington Post 5/01
- The Outer Limits of National Debt -
Add up all the figures, including those for Medicare, and the aggregate debt is $40.6 trillion in present dollars, well over that prudent limit of $18 trillion.
New York Times 5/01
- The Greediest Generation -
We boomers are also preying on children in a more insidious way: We're running up their debts, both by creating new entitlement programs and by running budget deficits today. Laurence Kotlikoff, an economist and fiscal expert who with Scott Burns wrote the excellent and scary book "The Coming Generational Storm," calls this "fiscal child abuse."
New York Times 5/01