We oppose "private accounts" for Social Security because if we get them and screw up, it really is our loss and we really do end up in the street.
These proposals are opposed not because they empower people but because they make you responsible for your actions. They remove the ability to steal from everyone else when things don't turn out well for you, whether due to the whims of fortune or due to decisions in your life that you have made.
We think it is "unfair" that a poor single, never-married mother doesn't get more food stamps, but we never ask the obvious question - if she willfully engaged in sex, why is not the predicament she and her children find herself in her responsibility? We go all "rah-rah" when the government steps in and takes children away from alleged abusers, but we don't demand that children be removed from women who poop them out like rabbits without regard to whether they are financially able to care for and raise them at the time they engaged in sex.
A just and consistent society that is going to raise a stink about "the poor chiiiillllldddrrreeeennnn" would seize every kid born to a mother that could not care for that child at birth and forcibly put that child out for adoption. And before you scream that such is a violation of Mom (and the kid's) human rights, consider your position - if that is a violation of Mom and Dad's right to screw like rabbits, then society has no obligation to support and promote that behavior by stealing from everyone else in society.
Yes, there are lots of "hard luck" stories due to no fault of the person involved. People with healthy living habits do get Type II diabetes, for example, and some unfortunate kids do come down with Type I. But for most people who get Type II diabetes, the fact remains that they are fat and the disease is, at least in part, due to the decision they made to overeat. But we demand the right to stuff our pie holes and then bill someone else for the consequences.
We are supposed to be of a higher order of thought than apes or rabbits. We are supposed to discern the consequences of our actions before we take them, and care about the personal outcomes of those decisions. We are supposed to be free individuals.
But are you truly free if your entire life is founded on the principle that whenever you make a bad decision you are then empowered with the right to steal from others in order to cover your loss?
Why do I bring this up?
Because the "Subprime" crisis and the "Credit Storm" are in fact the precise same thing as someone gorging themselves on food until they weigh 400lbs, contracting diabetes, and demanding free medical care. Nor is it any different than engaging in anal sex, contracting HIV, and demanding free HIV drugs. Nor is it any different than being an out of work single woman and screwing every man you meet until you poop out a kid, then demanding food stamps and Section 8 housing.
We have $100 trillion in Federal liabilities, and are on the precipice of an economic collapse, precisely because we, as a nation, "feel sorry for" and allow individuals to suck our collective wallets dry, justifying it "for the children" or "oh, its only a few dollars."
It is not possible to spend more than you make over long periods of time. You will go bankrupt if you do. This is a mathematical certainty - unless you can try to get "Uncle Sugar" to bail you out.
But that is a false God. The government does not and cannot "create wealth." Government inherently is tasked with redistributing wealth. It does not earn money, it confiscates money via taxation.
Taxes are the "user fee" we all pay for the services that government provides. Some, like national defense, are simply unreasonable to provide through any other mechanism than central government control. Due to their scale and reach, there is no other rational means of allocating their expense and benefit.
But far too many of these services in fact have no rational basis in government. Social Security and Medicare are two huge examples, and I pick on them primarily because of their size in the swindle that we call The United States Budget.
The Fair Tax solves some of this in that it ties the US Government budget inexorably to GDP and makes it impossible to game the system through false reporting of statistics. It prevents them from lying and exposes all of the idiocy immediately; either GDP grows or government shrinks!
It is unacceptable to "the politicos in DC" for precisely this reason.
But until we the people decide we've had enough of being a leach and allowing others to be leaches, this sort of path will continue to be followed.
Unfortunately we are now at the natural limit of this behavior. It will be curtailed, either by choice or by the simple fact that the lying can no longer be maintained.
Your move America.
You can either get off your ass and start raising hell with Congress, specifically targeting those who have done the most damage and are the biggest hypocrites or you can instead demand "bread and circuses", trusting that the government can just print up as many T-bills as it needs to provide them.
Beware that all indications are that we are very close to the natural limit of the latter behavior, and once we go off that cliff there is no regaining our footing without a terrible tumble.
