Social Insecurity
Thursday, February 3rd, 2005 10:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flwydIt seems like one solution for budget problems -- social security and otherwise -- that Bush didn't mention last night is to increase the wages of workers. I would love to see some statistics on Social Security's future if the minimum wage were raised fifty cents to a dollar or if the average American worker earned several thousand dollars more a year.
The great thing about this plan is that it benefits workers today as well as when they retire.
Diverting money into private accounts, on the other hand, doesn't even solve the problem it's mentioned in conjunction with. An increase in the ratio of people who pay in to private accounts to people who draw benefits will cause a decrease in the fund. So not only will the money have to come from somewhere during the transition period, if private accounts aren't popular for awhile (such as distrust in the stock market), when participation picks up, Social Security may be in crisis yet again.
In other state of the union observations, does anyone else think Laura Bush claps like a seal? Her hands go more than shoulder width apart between each contact, but her elbows remain next to her ribs. And why did Nancy Pelosi think appearing on national television with four eyebrows would be a good idea?
And I like how in the span of two years the war justification went from "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa" to "Our men and women in uniform are fighting terrorists in Iraq, so we do not have to face them here at home."
In The Fog of War, Robert McNamara talked about a visit he made to Vietnam in the 1990s. He met with his North Vietnamese equivalent during the war, and asked "You lost more than two million people... why didn't you give up?" The response? "We were fighting for our independence. We would've fought even if we lost everyone." While it's convenient for Bush to portray the war in Iraq as a front in the war on terror, most of the terror is home-grown. There are Iraqi nationalists angry that their sovereignty has been usurped. There are Baathists unhappy that they are no longer in power. There's the Sunni minority afraid of retaliation. But Osama Bin Laden is not in Iraq.
Finally, Bush's "Iran must give up its nuclear enrichment programs" stance if he didn't advocate "safe" nuclear energy in the same speech. I can believe nuclear power plant design has improved since Three Mile Island. But I still haven't heard a good long-term waste solution. And all the anti-missle defense in the world won't protect against infiltration.
The great thing about this plan is that it benefits workers today as well as when they retire.
Diverting money into private accounts, on the other hand, doesn't even solve the problem it's mentioned in conjunction with. An increase in the ratio of people who pay in to private accounts to people who draw benefits will cause a decrease in the fund. So not only will the money have to come from somewhere during the transition period, if private accounts aren't popular for awhile (such as distrust in the stock market), when participation picks up, Social Security may be in crisis yet again.
In other state of the union observations, does anyone else think Laura Bush claps like a seal? Her hands go more than shoulder width apart between each contact, but her elbows remain next to her ribs. And why did Nancy Pelosi think appearing on national television with four eyebrows would be a good idea?
And I like how in the span of two years the war justification went from "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa" to "Our men and women in uniform are fighting terrorists in Iraq, so we do not have to face them here at home."
In The Fog of War, Robert McNamara talked about a visit he made to Vietnam in the 1990s. He met with his North Vietnamese equivalent during the war, and asked "You lost more than two million people... why didn't you give up?" The response? "We were fighting for our independence. We would've fought even if we lost everyone." While it's convenient for Bush to portray the war in Iraq as a front in the war on terror, most of the terror is home-grown. There are Iraqi nationalists angry that their sovereignty has been usurped. There are Baathists unhappy that they are no longer in power. There's the Sunni minority afraid of retaliation. But Osama Bin Laden is not in Iraq.
Finally, Bush's "Iran must give up its nuclear enrichment programs" stance if he didn't advocate "safe" nuclear energy in the same speech. I can believe nuclear power plant design has improved since Three Mile Island. But I still haven't heard a good long-term waste solution. And all the anti-missle defense in the world won't protect against infiltration.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-02-04 04:44 pm (UTC)Right now, the Baby Boomers are still working.
There is a surplus of Soc Security income, and its being used. Not put away (Gore's "Lockbox") to save for and grow for future generations, but used.
The government is putting IOU's in the SS fund, to "pay" for it. Basically, Bush and Co. are robbing the Social Security overflow blind, and expecting the future Government to pay for it.
Impeachment? I'd fucking like to see it. I'd rather see the whole regime of the last four years put on ice, but maybe that's just me. Fucking lying, swindling dogs.
Nuclear power
Date: 2005-02-04 06:52 pm (UTC)The thing is, in order to meet the energy demands, we need to build more capacity, and the only options currently available are nuclear, coal, and (maybe) natural gas-fired. Nuclear's the only one that doesn't emit greenhouse gases, so that's a big win there. Gas-fired has okay emissions, but is the most expensive of the three. Coal is the cheapest and dirtiest by far.
The thing is, a nuclear plant of the same wattage generates a tiny fraction of the waste that a coal-fired plant does. Moreover, it's all in one place, easily contained, and not spewed into the ambient environment. And it's not any more hazardous than the nasty chemical carcinogens and soot particles from coal smoke -- it's just differently hazardous, in a way that people get the heebie-jeebies about because they can't see it and the word "nuclear" scares them.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-04 07:07 pm (UTC)Not all business owners are rolling in the dough. Many actually take home less money than their employees which means that minimum wage increases can have the unfortunate effect of putting them out of business and raising unemployment.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-04 10:24 pm (UTC)The only people getting paid min wage are 16 years old or under, have brown skin, or both.
You can bet your ass Bush is avoiding the Minimum Wage issue like the proverbial devil (which he believes in, boy howdy!), because really, does he want those people to become more affluent?