Saturday, November 05, 2011

Mitt Joins The Crowd

The entire contingent of GOP candidates for president appear to have only one thing in common: bashing Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid. Yesterday, Mitt Romney joined them with his own proposal to carve up these "entitlements". I'd have awarded Mitt the "Granny Bird Award" but his plans were too hazy, too ambiguous to nail down, so he will have to wait for the coveted award. I'm sure it will be real soon, now, that he will fill in the blanks enough for me to make my decision.

Romney's proposals to reduce federal spending to 20% of the nation's gross domestic product by 2016 were far-reaching but often lacked specifics.

The former Massachusetts governor said he would lower the cost of Social Security by raising the eligibility age for benefits, but he did not specify how quickly those changes would be phased in. He estimated that he could achieve tens of billions of dollars in savings by capping the cost of Medicaid, the federal program that provides medical care to the poor, and allowing the states to take it over — a move his campaign said would "empower them to innovate."

In one of the most controversial elements of his plan, Romney proposed a major restructuring of Medicare, which currently provides health insurance to about 47 million elderly and disabled people. Under the changes, Medicare would become just one of many plans that seniors could purchase with a new "premium support" system that would give them a set amount of money each year to purchase a plan.
[Emphasis added]

What we have here is a little me-too-ism, some "I can cut Social Security/Medicare/Medicaid just like the other guys." Extending the work life of roofers, mechanics, waitresses, and all of the rest of us at a time when the job market is non-existent for all but farm laborers working at subsistence levels is such utter cheap-sausage that I'm surprised the wealthy scion took so long to discover it. At least he's smart enough to not disclose just how soon the changes would be phased in. He knows the nomination is one thing, but winning the general election is another.

As to his proposals on Medicare and Medicaid, he really hasn't revealed much more than his colleagues have already set out. These safety nets, nets woven by contributions made by the recipients over the years, are superfluous. Let the market decide, the market driven by profit not the timely and effective provision of health care.

Yesterday I pointed to the staggering number of people who now fit into the category of the "poorest of the poor." Mitt and his cohorts are obviously not satisfied that only 1 of 15 Americans are mired in deep poverty. Their goal is raise that number, especially among the elderly.

Morons.

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2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can't have a proper aristocracy if the rabble have ideas that their opinions matter, or enough money to make it matter.

--Charles

1:39 PM  
Anonymous Jamie said...

Well, I hate to disagree, but they aren't morons. They are amoral plutocrats.

8:03 PM  

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