Eye of the Needle?

I'm not an expert on every religion but I believe most if not all have provisions about how to deal with people less fortunate than you, and in general you are supposed to help them as best you can.

Yet so many people who claim to be religious object to doing just that, at lest when the Government does it.

Some might argue that Government programs don't properly identify the needy or that they are inefficient, but it would seem wouldn't apply when talking about refugees from war zones or people suffering from identifiable diseases.

It of course starts to strike home when it involves things like cuts to Social Security or Medicare, which isn't perceived in the same way.

The objection seems to be to the payment of taxes the use to help others.

Our so called entitlement programs.

Now many of us don't think of Social Security as an entitlement program, but its not a savings plan.

Its designed to give a proportionately higher benefit to lower income earners which makes it a calculated progressive benefit.

Everyone does contribute to it but if it was converted into something like a 401K program, poor workers would be harmed greatly while higher income earners would do better.

One of the reasons its popular with the Republicans.

People who claim to be religious folk mostly.

Other entitlement programs like food stamps, Medicaid, Affordable Health Insurance etc are also under attack by these folks who appear to worship the almighty dollar more than any religious principle such as feed the hungry, comfort the sick or help the poor.

They hear these things on Sunday but they just don't seem to be paying attention.

July 4th

We are approaching the 4th of July weekend and since it falls on a Saturday this year, Friday is a holiday for many. The 4th of July celebrates our Declaration of Independence from England but we should remember that there was a long struggle between the declaring of Independence and the actual achievement.

There have been many times of crisis in this nation since then but probably only a few really threatened its survival. I would think the War of 1812 was one since it was so soon after the revolution, and after that, the Civil War was probably the only other one.

Some would argue that the various financial and economic crises should be added but really, did any of them really threaten the existence of this nation? Certainly despite the gloom and doomers out their, the current crisis is simply not going to cause the dissolution of this nation. During the depression, there was a read fear of Communism, but it never got very close to a real possibility. World War 2 was terrible, but, and maybe it felt different at the time, it never really seemed like we were at danger of going out of existence.

So if our nation and our system of Government are going to continue, we simply have to pull together to make this a better place for our citizens. The crises that we should be worried about are the ability to provide a decent retirement for our seniors, health insurance for all and opportunities to succeed.

It wasn't very long ago that some felt Social Security should be dissolved and the accounts should be turned into the equivalent of 401k's. Imagine if we had done that? Social Security needs to provide a safety net for our seniors that can and should be supplemented either by their own savings or employee pensions. If we don't do it via social security, we will end up doing it via SSI or welfare. For those who don't think we can afford to do this, I believe there is a solution if we simply go to a consumption based tax system.

Health Insurance needs to be viewed as a right, not a privilege. There are ways to do this that provide choice, but, I would ask, why is Education consider a public obligation but providing Health Care a private matter? To a large extent our approach here is primitive and hardly worthy of a modern industrialized nation. It is also very costly to have our health system operated this way. Health care providers are entitled to earn a wage that rewards them for the time and effort it takes to become a doctor or nurse and we need to encourage development of better drugs and techniques.

Finally we need to assure that there is still opportunity to succeed in this country. To get the economy back on track and to restore growth we really need to change the method of taxation and our dependence on foreign oil. Taxing business and individual incomes is onerous and encourages the exportation of jobs and cheating on taxes. If we tax products sold in this country, it would level the playing field for everyone who wanted to compete. Further, we need to have significant investment in our renewable energy industries. Every reduction in oil imports is a good thing for most Americans.

I never know if anyone ever reads these posts and to a large extent I use them as a place to simply capture thoughts I am having. However, for anyone who has given up on this country or for those who actually would like to see the country economy collapse so they can profit, this country will thrive and prosper in the future even more than it has in the past. The problems aren't nearly as bad as you would like them to be.

Hope everyone has a great 4th and I encourage all to help make this country even greater!