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To: GraceZ who wrote (20980)	1/11/2005 3:51:31 AM
From: mishedlo	Respond to of 116555

With government programs there is no point at which the loss or cost becomes too big. Social Security is a great example. It had wonderful intentions, let's give some of our poorest elderly a pension in their old age. In order to prevent a possibility of say 2% of the population of elderly citizens (a very real estimate from the 30s, when these programs were introduced) having to live out their last years in destitution ( a cheap and easy social problem to fund) we incrementally morph what started out as a modest charitable program into this massive program which sucks down 12.5% of everyone's income every single year of their working lives in order to pay them a pittance in old age. The program pays money to middle class and wealthy retired people and makes those same middle class people dependent on receiving those benefits who previously could live out their lives in no danger of being set out on the street. At the same time we take in a surplus that Congress raids every year to expand other programs and call the resulting IOUs a trust fund and pay it imaginary interest. Now the whole thing looks very much like a Ponzi scheme, with a Ponzi scheme's mathematical impossibility of paying anyone off but the early investors. You can't take $100 from a bunch of Peters to give $200 to Paul in the later stages of a Ponzi scheme, you simply run out of Peters. LMAO I wish I wrote that. Too Funny. Mish

To: GraceZ who wrote (20980)	1/11/2005 9:03:51 AM
From: mishedlo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 116555

CEO resignations hit 2004 high in December Monday, January 10, 2005 4:37:10 PM afxpress.com BOSTON (AFX) - More chief executive officers resigned in December than in any month last year, according to Challenger Gray & Christmas, an outplacement consulting firm. Of the 56 exiting CEOs last month, 29, or 52 percent, resigned, a 2004 record high.