Wednesday, October 17, 2007
The beginning of the end of the USA?
In case you haven't heard, the baby boomers' stampede for Social Security benefits has begun ...
The government's long-term fiscal outlook is, well, bleak. Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid already consume nearly half of all federal spending; and many economists predict that these three federal programs will consume more than 75 percent of federal spending within a generation.
This year's crop of Democratic presidential candidates have been crawling over one another to see who can propose the biggest expansion of the American Welfare State. Not a damn one of 'em have come up with a plan to reform Social Security, or any other entitlement program for that matter. Methinks they should cogitate upon the statistics listed above, and then ponder the quote listed below. If'n they can still stand by their Mo' Money for the Masses platforms, they're are not worthy of holding elected office, indeed.
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.
"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back again into bondage."
-- Professor Alexander Tytler, describing the fall of the Athenian Republic -- prior to the American War for Independence
The government's long-term fiscal outlook is, well, bleak. Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid already consume nearly half of all federal spending; and many economists predict that these three federal programs will consume more than 75 percent of federal spending within a generation.
This year's crop of Democratic presidential candidates have been crawling over one another to see who can propose the biggest expansion of the American Welfare State. Not a damn one of 'em have come up with a plan to reform Social Security, or any other entitlement program for that matter. Methinks they should cogitate upon the statistics listed above, and then ponder the quote listed below. If'n they can still stand by their Mo' Money for the Masses platforms, they're are not worthy of holding elected office, indeed.
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.
"The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependence; from dependence back again into bondage."
-- Professor Alexander Tytler, describing the fall of the Athenian Republic -- prior to the American War for Independence
# posted by Joltin' Django @ Wednesday, October 17, 2007 
