THE ENTERPRISE--SERIOUS STUFF
AND NOW IT BEGINS TO SPREAD--WHEN WILL AMERICANS WAKE UP? THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING!
News+Opinion from THE WEEK, June 17, 2011
Medicare ‘as we know it’ is doomed
In short, “unless we end Medicare ‘as we know it,’ America ‘as we know it’ will end,” said Robert J. Samuelson in The Washington Post.
Robert J. Samuelson
The Washington Post)
“Ending Medicare as we know it.” By using that stock phrase to terrify retirees, said Robert J. Samuelson, Democrats are attacking Republican Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan to transform Medicare. But the reality is that the cost of the current Medicare system ($520 billion last year) is soaring out of control; if it is left alone, it will eat up over 30 percent of the federal budget by 2016. In short, “unless we end Medicare ‘as we know it,’ America ‘as we know it’ will end.”
Ryan’s proposal would provide each Medicare recipient with a fixed amount of money to buy private insurance; doctors would be rewarded for providing more-efficient care to seniors, instead of just running up the bill. President Obama, on the other hand, prefers to cut costs by putting more decision-making in the hands of government bureaucrats. “Which is realistic, and which is wishful thinking?’’ The country deserves a substantial, reasoned debate on that question—not political scare tactics. One way or another, “Medicare ‘as we know it’ is going to end.” ©The Week Magazine, June 17, 2011 p. 12
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Post Office Suspends Retirement Contributions
Associated Press
WASHINGTON—The financially troubled Postal Service is suspending its employer contribution to the Federal Employee Retirement System.
The agency said Wednesday it is acting to conserve cash as it continues to lose money. It was $8 billion in the red last year because of the combined effects of the recession and the switch of much mail business to the Internet. It faces the possibility of running short of money by the end of this fiscal year in September.
The post office said it has informed the Office of Personnel Management that the $115 million FERS payment made every two weeks will be suspended effective Friday. The action is expected to free about $800 million in the current fiscal year. The post office's FERS account currently has a surplus of $6.9 billion, the agency said.
"We will continue to transmit to OPM employees' contributions to FERS and also will continue to transmit employer automatic and matching contributions and employee contributions to the Thrift Savings Plan," said Anthony Vegliante, chief human resources officer for the post office.
Over the last four years the Postal Service has cut its staff by 110,000 and reduced costs by $12 billion. The agency has also proposed eliminating delivery on Saturdays to save money and is working on closing small post offices and consolidating sorting and other operations.
The post office, unlike other federal agencies, is also required to make an annual payment of more than $5 billion as an advance contribution to future retiree medical costs.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press.
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THE FOLLOWING IS FROM MITT ROMNEY'S CAMPAIGN INFORMATION
"Worst in recorded history?" That's right. Under President Obama, long-term unemployment is the worst in recorded history. Did you think you'd live in an America where "the worst in recorded history" was possible? When President Obama took office in 2009, he told us that he "will be held accountable." He also told us that, within his first term, he would turn around a struggling American economy and put the country back on the right track. He said, "if I don't have this done in three years, then there's going to be a one-term proposition."
After 3 years under Obama, millions of Americans have felt the impact of his policies and leadership.
- 20 million Americans are out of work, underemployed, or have given up looking for a job.
- Foreclosures are at near-record levels.
- Spending has increased our national debt to almost the size of our entire economy.
- Families are buried under higher prices for food and gas.
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