By DR. LARRY MOSES
No one asked me but… The push by the Republicans to cut government spending is centered on what they call entitlement programs. A dictionary definition of the word “entitlement” is the “condition of having a right to have, do, or get something; the feeling or belief that you deserve to be given something (such as special privileges); a type of financial help provided by the government for members of a particular group.”
If cuts are to be made to entitlements, it is important to identify which government programs are entitlements and which are not.
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) listed what they considered entitlements. The problem is that a number of programs listed do not fit this definition of entitlement. The OMB listed these programs in order of the cost to the government. The number one on their list is Medicaid/Child health insurance program, which is truly an entitlement program. But they also list Social Security and Medicare.
Social Security and Medicare are not, by definition, entitlement programs. The intent of Social Security when instituted was a pension program. When the program was instituted the life expectancy of the American male was 58 years. The program was set to pay off at age 65. Only 54% of the work force would live to collect benefits and they would average only 12 years of payments. For the most part the government officials were selling a pension plan from which they knew many would never benefit.
This program has evolved to a point whereby the government now takes 14% of the first $100,000 the America worker makes. Why does it stop at $100,000? That is a discussion for another day. In exchange, until 1960, the government guaranteed the worker a small income after the age of 65. This was not an entitlement; this was a retirement policy purchased by the worker from the federal government.
However, in 1960, the Supreme Court ruled in Fleming v. Nestor that the Federal Government did not have to honor its contract with the American worker. The Court ruled that Congress could alter Social Security benefits as it sees fit. The Court made it clear that the payment of Social Security is a tax not a payment into a pension plan.
The Court stated, “It conveys no contractual rights to Social Security benefits.” In essence, the payment into social security is really nothing more than a 14% income tax on every American worker and the government is free to use that money as it sees fit.
That is what you get when you go in business with the government. Keep in mind that the Court has ruled that the ObamaCare is Constitutional only because it is a tax.
In Fleming v. Nestor, the Supreme Court legalized the greatest pyramid scheme in the history of man. As Klevin Throop once stated, “If people behaved like governments, you’d call the cops.” If the federal government were a person, it would be sitting in a jail cell next to Bernie Madoff. Had Bernie named the Supreme Court to his board of directors, he would be a free man today.
The OMB listed Medicare, Unemployment Insurance, Veterans Compensation, civil service retirement, and military retirement as entitlements. These programs are lumped in with Medicaid/Child Health, Food Stamps, Child Nutrition, College Loans, supplemental security income, and Farm subsidies. The first five listed are all contractual agreements with groups that pay into a program. The last six are welfare.
I will not argue the need for the last six but I will argue they are entitlements by definition. The first six programs are contractual agreements made between two parties: the citizen, and the federal government. These are not entitlements. The citizens have paid up front and the government has a contractual obligation to fulfill their part of the bargain. To look at these, especially military retirement, as welfare is a disgrace.
There seems to be no inclination to make cuts in the $50 billion foreign aid budget. It would seem logical that a government should meet the needs of its people first. If foreign aid was cut by 20% the top twelve entitlement programs, as identified by the OMB, could be paid for. Of the top ten recipients of American foreign aid, seven are run by dictators and for the most part are openly hostile America.
No one asked me but… ObamaCare has little to do with health care and a whole lot to do with health insurance. Not a single clinic will be opened, not a single doctor educated, nor a single patient treated under ObamaCare. A large number of healthy people will be forced to buy a product they do not want. Those who cannot afford a policy will have a policy purchased for them by the federal government. This will be boon to the insurance industry but not so much for the health care industry.
Presently treatment is available to the non-insured at emergency rooms. Those of us who have insurance pay for those visits when we are over-charged for our medical needs.
President Obama and Harry Reid have decided that those who are not insured will receive better treatment if they possess an insurance policy. It reminds me of the Land of Oz where the wizard said to scarecrow, “you don’t need a brain you need a diploma” and to the cowardly lion, “You don’t need courage you need a medal.” The President and Harry are saying you don’t need medical treatment all you need is an insurance policy.
If the federal government is serious about reforming health care, they would force the American Medical Association to stop limiting the number of American students who can enter the profession. The government would pay to educate young doctors for a set number of years in service in federal clinics throughout the United States. They would do something about drug companies that charge American citizens ten to twenty times more for same drugs they sell to foreign countries at a cut rate.
I would remind the American people as they turn their medical needs over to the American government, these are the people who brought you Social Security. I will again remind you of Fleming v. Nestor. The government can and will change any rules at any time.
Thought of the week… In a state-run society, the government promises you security. But it’s a false promise…The gentle government that promises to hold your hand as you cross the street refuses to let go on the other side.
– Theodore Forstmann
