SCOTUS takes on Prop 8 & DOMA!

Some are poorly run but that is often against some standard of optimal efficiency that orginizations in the real world don't seem to bear much resemblence to at all (and that's assuming it's just poorly run-ness not corruption you are dealing with). There's poorly run state programs, heaven knows there are poorly run corporations (most corporations probably) etc.. Granted I think it's hard to run a real small business and be too inefficient and not go belly up, but corporations seldom face that kind of pressure.

Here's an example of poorly run: many people who lost power after Sandy still do not have power back. That is a private utility (my ideal model for utilities is city run, because it seems to work well). And yet FEMA is not stepping in, despite that people are without power for months, their electrical wiring shot, mold growing on their houses, and cold! Occupy Sandy has done more for many of those affected by the storm that FEMA. Inefficiency? All around .... and more than enough to go around.

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Originally Posted by JaneV2.0

From Dollars and Sense.org:

The United States' Social Security system is the most efficiently run insurance program in the world, with overhead of only 0.7% of annual benefits; for every $100 paid into the system, $99.30 is paid out in benefits to retirees.

From Health Affairs.org:

Medicare Has Lower Administrative Costs Than Private Plans.
According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, administrative costs in Medicare are only about 2 percent of operating expenditures. Defenders of the insurance industry estimate administrative costs as 17 percent of revenue.
Insurance industry-funded studies exclude private plans’ marketing costs and profits from their calculation of administrative costs. Even so, Medicare’s overhead is dramatically lower.
Medicare administrative cost figures include the collection of Medicare taxes, fraud and abuse controls, and building costs.

Medicare would be an even better bargain if it could negotiate drug prices like the VA can.

I'm all for streamlining and consolidating government programs--judiciously--but I don't agree that all federal programs are wasteful or poorly run.

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“No rational argument will have a rational effect on a person who does not want to adopt a rational attitude.” -- Karl Popper (paraphrased)


In my experience, people who are virulently anti-government take a philosophical stance on it. Some of them don't even know that they participate (even voluntarily) in government programs. And I've yet to see a single person who has turned down government assistance; nor do I see much support for limiting government programs to only those who need them. Maybe they're out there, but I sure haven't met any in half a century on this planet. It's almost like government benefits transmogrify from "wasteful spending" to "my due" when they go to the right people. We just saw what happened when Mr. Corporate America tried to run for President. If government is so screwed up, why didn't he win?

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Originally Posted by SteveinMN

We just saw what happened when Mr. Corporate America tried to run for President. If government is so screwed up, why didn't he win?

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Because America has turned a corner.

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Originally Posted by Alan

Because America has turned a corner.

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I sure hope so! Change is, of course, the way of life.

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Originally Posted by SteveinMN

“No rational argument will have a rational effect on a person who does not want to adopt a rational attitude.” -- Karl Popper (paraphrased)


... We just saw what happened when Mr. Corporate America tried to run for President. If government is so screwed up, why didn't he win?

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If there's an historical precedent for a corporate raider/robber baron winning the presidency, I'm not aware of it. Certainly it was way before my time.

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Originally Posted by redfox

I sure hope so! Change is, of course, the way of life.

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But which direction did we turn?

Attachment 1074

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Originally Posted by Alan

But which direction did we turn?

Attachment 1074

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I see both positive and negative. Given that I am a Scorpio and linger too long in the negative, I'm going to start with the good. For once. Though there will be those who disagree with me I see ObamaCare as a big positive step - ditto for the Supreme Court taking up gay marriage and getting these issues out into the open, out on the table, getting them spoken about in everyday America. Whatever the decision is, there is no going back on the fact that these issues are/were out on the table instead of in the closet. That alone is progress I did not think I would see in my lifetime. I see gays and lesbians serving openly in the military - again, never did I believe I would see that in my lifetime. I see a minority as President of the United States, something that still moves and impresses me, even though at the moment I am less than pleased with him.

The negative - I see spending upon spending upon spending and no real efforts from either party to change this - though I will say the Republicans seem willing to bring it up, gotta give them credit for that. Conservatives here please don't be shocked, I have said this much before. I also think there will be a lot of pain when a day or reckoning for all this spending happens.....Rob

One must remember that Social Security and Medicare are programs the Republicans have been trying to eliminate since their inception. Why are the Republicans trying to make changes to these programs now? I will answer the question because they think they have enough leverage with the fiscal cliff and having to increase the deficit. They want to hold a gun to the head of these programs.

Lets look at the facts SS will not have problems for another 20 years. Medicare is the most pressing but it is still 7 years away from problems. There is a lot of time to work out a fix for these important programs. To fix them in a few days is crazy. The Republicans want to increase the eligibility age for Medicare to 57. I guess they forgot why Medicare was created. Insurance companies would not cover seniors and that remains true today. Neither of these programs caused the Great Recession. Wall Street and speculators caused it not Social Security or Medicare.