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Mailto:: rur42 at yahoo.com

 
Say it Loud & Say it Proud

There is no problem with Social Security!

Well, the individual income tax is the fairest tax in the land. Workers in 2042 will earn more on average than today’s workers. The Trustees average wage index (including inflation) goes from $35,057 in 2004 to $646,891 in 2080. GDP in 2080 will be $317 trillion. Yep, you heard that right. On the downside, a $4 cup of Starbucks will cost $32, but hey, you’re making half a mill a year. No problemo! Ridiculous, you say? Sure it is, but I’m not one of the fools who want to cut retirement benefits because a deficit is foreseen in 38 years.

You could argue that it’s not fair for taxpayers in 2043 to bear a burden for retirees. I hate to tell you, but everybody working now is doing exactly that. The only way to right this wrong is to dig up dead people and harvest their gold fillings and wedding rings. And cut retirement and health care benefits for seniors, right now.

How could it be done without cutting benefits? We could increase payroll taxes now and use the proceeds to buy financial assets held in a Federal fund, liquidating these assets as needed after 2042. I would not be violently against this, but it is not strictly necessary. In principle, I could stand incremental increases in the retirement age, but Hell, my job is tapping little buttons in front of a computer. I’d be curious as to how advocates of this solution deal with those whose health makes retirement at a later age a burden.

So there is no problem here, and certainly no crisis. There is a rational choice to be made as to the distribution of funding responsibility across generations. Unfortunately the current regime does not appear to be capable of making such a choice.

Nope, no regime change here that's for sure.

I think we should just let people invest in lottery tickets and get their Old Age Pensions the old fashioned way, by winning the jackpot!


posted by degustibus at 10:04 PM

 
Amputation rate for US troops twice that of past wars

US troops injured in Iraq have required limb amputations at twice the rate of past wars, and as many as 20 percent have suffered head and neck injuries that may require a lifetime of care, according to new data giving the clearest picture yet of the severity of battlefield wounds.

Doctors cite need for prosthetics as more lives saved
Technology to the rescue.


posted by degustibus at 11:36 PM

 
Gary Webb, dead

They told me Heraclitus, they told me you were dead.

Bill Conroy's words
And as I read the obits in the commercial media about his death, all of which mention his famous series for the San Jose Mercury News exposing the CIA/Contra crack connection -- and all of which go to great lengths to discuss how the “big dogs” of the commercial press discredited the series -- I keep in mind the words of social theorist Erich Fromm :

Historically...those who told the truth about a particular regime have been exiled, jailed, or killed by those in power whose fury has been aroused. To be sure, the obvious explanation is that they were dangerous to their respective establishments, and that killing them seemed the best way to protect the status quo. This is true enough, but it does not explain the fact that the truth-sayers are so deeply hated even when they do not constitute a real threat to the established order. The reason lies, I believe, in that by speaking the truth they mobilize the (psychological) resistance of those who repress it. To the latter, the truth is dangerous not only because it can threaten their power but because it shakes their whole conscious system of orientation, deprives them of their rationalizations, and might even force them to act differently. Only those who have experienced the process of becoming aware of important impulses that were repressed know the earthquake-like sense of bewilderment and confusion that occurs as a result. Not all people are willing to risk this adventure, lest of all those people who profit, at least for the moment, from being blind.

Gary did speak the truth, and in so doing, opened many eyes and has changed the world in the process. His story continues....

Gary Webb: a Great Reporter
posted by degustibus at 2:30 PM

 
Rapture Watch

Working Out With Jesus



All from ::
Truth is Stranger Than Fiction





posted by degustibus at 8:03 AM

 
Best Cameo of the year: Lance Armstrong in Dodgeball

Peter La Fleur meets Lance Armstrong at a juice bar. Lance tells Peter he's a great fan of Peter's team. -- Better hurry, you're gonna be late for the finals.

Peter says, "I've decided I'm going to quit."

Lance: Quit? Once I was thinking about quitting when I was diagnsosed with brain, lung, and testicular cancer all at the same time. But with the love and support of my friends and family, I got back on the bike and won the Tour de France five times in a row. But I'm sure you have a good reason to quit.

So what are you dying from to keep you from the finals?

Peter: Right now it feels a little like . . . shame.

Lance: Well I guess if a person never quit when the going got tough, they wouldn't have anything to regret for the rest of their life..... But good luck to you, Peter, I'm sure this decision won't haunt you forever.

---

Of course, there is this:

After winning the Tour de France five times, Lance announced his separation from his wife:Armstrong recently split with his wife of five years. The couple has three children together. It has been reported that Armstrong’s infidelity led to the break-up of the marriage as well as the constant time spent apart. It was speculated that Armstrong became more involved in his celebrity than in his marriage, leaving Kristin to take care of three kids on her own. Whatever the case was behind the break-up of the marriage, he wasted no time moving on.
Oh Lance

c'est la vie



posted by degustibus at 4:01 PM