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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: skinowski who wrote (486498)	5/9/2012 11:42:12 PM
From: simplicity	11 Recommendations Respond to of 793836

I would be much happier, no doubts, if all those serious funds that I paid out to the SS would be actually invested and held on my behalf - and in MY name. There probably would be enough to pay me -- AND to buy for me medical insurance for the rest of my life. Absolutely! Which is part of the reason the continuous crucifixion of those courageous politicians who have now and then ventured a serious opinion regarding privatizing Social Security is so short-sighted. If we had an ideal government, you and I would most likely be getting back all that we 'invested' in Social Security for the past 40+ years, with interest, and then some, rather than wondering if we will be getting anything at all ten years from now. An ideal government, and the American government of the past forty years, sit light years apart. I was not aware of the situation in Lithuania of twenty years ago. That you were witness to that tragedy must have left you with deep, valuable human 'lessons learned' that will be with you as long as you are living. Up until now, we baby boomers, and the generations that have followed, haven't generally been exposed to such trials, and the lessons they teach. But our own 'trial by fire' may be just around the corner, if we don't soon demand a dramatic change in course. Along a somewhat similar vein ... a young, 27-year-old nurse friend of mine recently went on a medical missions trip to Haiti. She had never traveled outside of the U.S., let alone to one of the poorest countries of the world. She has been back in the U.S. for nearly a month and is having great difficulty returning to 'life as usual'. After witnessing the extreme poverty, the lack of police protection, vigilante justice, and all of the absolutely brutal repercussions of those terrible conditions, she is angry with her countrymen for taking so much for granted, and for their seeming willingness to incrementally relinquish their freedoms and the fruits of their labor without much more than a whimper. I believe those of us (I am not including myself, because I have not) who witness firsthand what tragedy can happen in other societies when men with a degree of power consistently oppress or deceive the masses, or set in place major, irrational short-sighted policies, have so much to teach the rest of us. Trouble is, most Americans aren't listening.