The OC Blog Back Issues Our Mission Contact Us Masthead
Sudsy Wants You to Join the Oregon Commentator
 

On Really Goddamn Obvious

The headline from Drudge reads: Report says Medicare to go broke by 2019

The second Drudge headline reads: U.S. social security system going broke.

Now, granted I have spent the last three days sitting in my underwear eating pizza and playing video games, but hasn’t this been obvious for quite some time now? Social Security has always been funded by the current workers, and there is no social security trust fund. Social Security funding comes out of the general fund, when payroll and social security taxes stop being enough to fund it, the money will have to be syphoned from other areas of the budget. Medicare is even worse, as its structure does not allow it to look for the best open-market prices on things it buys, but rather requires that everything come from certain dealers. As a result, Medicare pays up to four times as much as the VA for the same supplies.

In a world where transfer payments already make up just over 60% of the total federal budget, this has got to stop. Heritage has some pretty intersting ideas on just how.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.