Peeing On Taxpayers

I want to rant about the status of elderly in the U.S. today. This wil get me in hot waterm, because, even when one is an oldie as I am, the unwritten rule is never oppose anything an oldie wants from taxpayers. They have become the privileged elite in this country in the eyes of politicians, because they vote often and often vote against any politician who neither panders to that group nor throws more wasteful entitlements toward them. The 55 year old and over group now reeks in by far the largest part of the total spending in the U.S. budget, through Social Security and Medicare (two programs set up for them) payments that are way out of line to the contributions made by those who receive them).

The latest "give me more entitlements or I will vote against you" suggestion from the oldies (hereafter re named by me as "Pee" for 'Privileged elite elderly') came as angry Pees were told that they won't be getting a cost-of-living adjustment in their social security check for 2011, the second year in a row that inflation has been too low to trigger one. The law says the cost of living is to be given only when living costs go up. They have gone down again, and by law no increase should be given. But seniors and retiree groups such as AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) demand that Congress give them the increase anyway, because....well, they are old and privileged, I guess?

Of course President Obama, one who never loses an opportunity to pander to those who might support him, declared they will get the $250 increase anyway because....again.... because they are old and privileged (and they will vote for Obama and his party if he supports the give-away). At a time when politicians ought to be making hard decisions to stop driving up the national debt with crazy cash for votes programs, spending money the government doesn't have for a purpose its own formulas say is unnecessary makes little sense. But the Obama administration makes as little sense as the Bush administration does when it comes to being held hostage by special interest groups as powerful as the elderly.

The Pees have a great deal right now already in place. They contributed a small amount to social security when younger and reap huge benefits in social security payments and medicare, which virtually pays the entire medical bills of many of the Pees. To cry that they need the extra money falls on deaf ears to the rest of America, which has neither of those programs and in some cases not even a job. The honest thing for Obama and the rest of the politicians to do now is for them to tell the Pees that this is one entitlement the country can not afford to pay. However, they will not do so, for being reelected means more than being honest or responsible for too many politicians today.

It would be interesting to see this controversy bring about a new look at who gets what from taxpayers funds, a movement for equal contributions and benefits of taxpayer funds. If there ever were to be a reform movement to be fiscally responsible and to distribute tax revenue according to what each taxpayer contributed, the Pees would be absent a great deal more than a cost of living a Social Security benefit.

Put bluntly, Social Security is a supplemental income for the retired and was never intended to be a retired person's entire income. If Pees haven't saved other income during their working years, but instead spent their money for convenience during that time, then it's not the problem of taxpayers to give them even more unwarranted funds. In the end, the non Pee generation will have to make up for the Pee's greed and lack of fiscal control. Obviously AARP has to vouch for the seniors, but the Americans that have to pay for this mess sure don't, and they should demand that privileged classes be transformed into normal ones