Most everyone, even our Congress members, seems confused concerning taxes and deficits and spending. Conservative politicians have spent great energy over the years trying to sever any relationship between taxes and the services they pay for.
But the American public isn’t quite as dim-witted or simple-minded as politicians would sometime prefer.
America is in debt and our politicians are still in their long-term ideological war. Conservatives say we must make budget cuts in order to survive. Liberals say there must be fewer budget cuts and more taxes, namely taxing those who have yet to pay their fair share.
Trusty New York Times economist Paul Krugman starts with the basics in order to lessen any confusion of the deficit mess. He recently wrote, “taxes are, first and foremost, about paying for what the government buys.”
So what does the government buy?
The federal government “is a giant insurance company, mainly serving older people, that also has an army,” Krugman writes in another Times piece. “The great bulk of federal spending that isn’t either defense-related or interest on the debt goes to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. The first two programs specifically serve seniors. And while Medicaid is often thought of as a poverty program, these days it’s largely about providing nursing care, with about two-thirds of its spending now going to the elderly and/or disabled. By my rough count, in 2007, seniors accounted, one way or another, for about half of federal spending.”
We’re now slowly realizing that “budget cuts” mean more than cutting off foreign aid and the funding for the arts. It also means cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — cuts to grandma and grandpa, and so cuts to what we’ve all been paying into all these years in order to get something out of in our senior years.
Social Security has run a surplus and has never added to the nation’s debt. Conservatives have disputed its worth saying it’s ineffective, while liberals have defended Social Security saying that its value is irreplaceable and is particularly needed in times of economic depression. Estimations are that this program has kept 50 percent of all seniors out of poverty.
Washington state now has more than 1 million people receiving Social Security and 954,000 Medicare benefits, according to Mark Schmitt, Senior Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute in the Washington Policy Watch.
Most feel Medicare is essential to the majority of American seniors. However, Rep. Paul Ryan wants it replaced with vouchers. Grandma and grandpa would use these to obtain private medical insurance on whatever value these vouchers would represent, better insurance coming out of their own pockets. All the while health care costs are skyrocketing even faster than health insurance.
What we honestly need are some new ideas to better our health care system. As it turns out, one great new idea is from Senators Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, our own Sen. Jim McDermott who are re-introducing the American Health Security Act, a single-payer national health insurance in which every American is covered for all areas of health care, including dental, long-term care and prescription drugs.
To learn more, search “American Health Security Act of 2011” or go to Sanders’ or McDermott’s websites, or physicians for a National Health Program. Now we’re waking up and smelling the coffee.
Comments are welcome at marylin.olds@gmail.com.
