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Politics : President Barack Obama -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ChinuSFO who wrote (102853)	10/7/2011 8:20:09 AM
From: RetiredNow	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 149317

What I'm saying is this. Anyone that thinks we have pure capitalism in the US is delusional. We have the largest socialist systems in the world: Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. The obligations in those two US systems dwarf all other socialist programs in the world combined! I don't believe in Socialism. I believe in private markets. However, despite all that, tejek is right about one thing. It is true that we could actually afford these Socialist programs if the following three things were true: 1) if SS hadn't grown beyond their original mandate of providing 1-2 years worth of retirement money back when it was enacted in 1935. Today, the average retiree gets around 20 years of Social Security payments due to the increase in the average lifespan of retirees, and yet, the age to collect has barely increased at all. 2) if the US banks in collusion with the Fed hadn't looted this country of wealth over the past 30 years 3) and if our politicians and military industrial complex hadn't become the policeman to the world and squandered our wealth in a bunch of worthless wars and military gear. So can a well-managed capitalist country afford a little socialism and safety net for the poor? Absolutely yes. Tejek is right. However, the US has been extremely crappily managed and we can NO LONGER AFFORD IT. We've already promised way beyond what we can afford and wasted all of the wealth we used to have. That is the cold hard truth. If anyone tells you anything different, then they are lying to you.