We have a FAILURE to communicate…

About a dozen of us got together last night for dinner, and a beer or three…


Most of the couples there had at least one member that was retired military, ranging from retired Navy Captains to Marine LT Colonel, to a couple of us Mustangs…


We’re all now working our ‘second’ careers, since military retirement really isn’t all that great by comparison, and we all like to eat and be able to actually buy things occasionally.  Among other things, taxes and tax rates came up, as all of us remembered the military and low pay and taxes in the 70’s, and the ruinous interest rates (12-15%) back in those days. And one of the folks works as an accountant and he mentioned they’d done some addition and 70% total taxes were NOT out of the realm of possibility… THIS was sitting in my in box this morning, which means some other folks are also seeing this possible!


The other thing(s) that got brought up were the fact that the good ol “boys” and “girls” (career congresscritters) really are disconnected from us (regardless of party).  They really do not understand the consequences of the 2010 election; much less the fact that most of those elected for the first time in 2010 are NOT willing to go along and get along with the power brokers in either the House or the Senate.  


We pretty much agreed that there won’t be enough political pressure to get those folks to actually vote to add to taxes, unless they get LOTS of cuts and the balanced budget amendment.  The RSC Cut, Cap, and Balance proposal makes a lot of sense to us…


Plain and simple fact, the congresscritters have passed beyond the point where they are going to be able to wave their hands and magic wand their asses out of this one.  There are going to have to be cuts, plain and simple, and these WILL have to include entitlements and the military.  Most of these cuts WILL impact with the voters, and the career politicians just don’t seem to get it (our general opinion).  


When you look at the “leadership” in both houses and the administration, they are bent on forcing “their” options through regardless of what the public wants, and they’ve done pull polling that gives them the answers they spout on TV every day.  Hate to be the one to tell them, but that ain’t what John Q. Public wants (or at least the WORKING public wants)…


(note- None of us considered social security an entitlement, since we’ve all paid into it for an average of 40 years)


We are all at the point we are ready to just dump our second careers if more taxes come down, rather than have even more of the pay we work hard for given away in handouts…


If we did that, two companies, employing about 250 people would close, and the companies the rest of us work for would lose in the neighborhood of 200 years of experience and management skills.


We know we’re probably not going to get all our Social Security, and know that our military retirements will probably be reduced through blocking of COLA raises, but something HAS to be done, or the US is done in our lifetimes… 


As I’ve perused my usual blogs, I noted that I’m not the only one that was having those discussions or those thoughts.  Go over to Corn, Beans, Spent Brass and a Deadline to read Frank’s take on it; Bayou Renaissance Man and read Peter’s take on it and his excellent links;  An Ordinary American’s take here; Crucis take here…


And then there is Tam’s approach 🙂  Tongue firmly in cheek (I hope)…


Sorry for the soapbox again folks, but if WE don’t speak up, who will???

Comments

We have a FAILURE to communicate… — 21 Comments

  1. I’m from the next generation. I don’t expect to ever see a dime in Social Security, no matter what happens in Washington between now and August 2. I fully expect either double digit inflation or double digit interest rates or both by the time my youngest starts kindergarten in a couple of years.

    My biggest fear is that one or both parties will use the resulting economic crisis to expand government even more and my children will pay for it for their entire lives.

  2. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you might as well quit counting on Social Security…. its gone and spent and the easiest way for the Federal government to quickly balance its books is by writing that off.

    I’ve been paying into it for 20 years, and still I don’t think I will ever see one red cent from it. And I don’t expect to retire, ever. I expect that I will work until I drop because there will be no other choice. And that’s just the way it is. The party is over!

  3. (note- None of us considered social security an entitlement, since we’ve all paid into it for an average of 40 years)

    Sadly, I’ve just considered it “protection money” for the last 20+ years and have come to terms with the fact that I’ll never see a dime.

    Actually, I’ve come to terms with it enough that I wouldn’t even ask for it back if it were there.

  4. “(note- None of us considered social security an entitlement, since we’ve all paid into it for an average of 40 years)”

    But are you entitled to more than you put in?

    When SS’I’ was first started (everyone forgets th ‘I’ for insurance) it was billed as away to protect and take care of widows and the elderly with out families. Not as a retirement plan or a form form of extra income. You were expected to still plan for your own retirement and future. It was to help out if you out lived any retirement plans that you made yourself.

    It’s just turned in to one of the biggest Ponzi schemes of all times.

    Josh

  5. They (our congress critters) keep talking about only one of the 14 trillion is just what’s come-due a ‘small’ part of the unfunded liabilities that we have hanging over our head.

    The national dept is just the current deficit in what we own and didn’t take into account future obligations.

    Josh

  6. DB- I agree with you, and I truly hope we DO NOT foist this on our kids and grandkids…

    WSF- Sadly true.

    Andy- I’m afraid you are correct too.

    Tam- Good point. At least the group at dinner has military retirement to fall back on, unless they take that away too…

    AOA- Looking forward to it Sir!

    Joshkie- All good points. But just like military health care, that SSI was a ‘promise’ made to us back in the day.

  7. Wait, wasn’t social security funds put in a “locked box” guarded by dragons and bear calvary?

    Having paid in once as the employee and again as the employeer for 20 some years I was looking forward to getting some of my money back. Now I’m hoping they keep their greedy paws of my IRA

    Gerry

  8. My feeling about this is much like my response to people who pass laws to give illegals things – “What part of ILLEGAL do you not understand?!” In this case, it’s “What part of it’s MY money!” do you not understand?!”

  9. I got my first job with a documented paycheck at ~14 with a signed release from my parents (BS from the get go, right there- I want to work, he wants to pay me, GTFO the way and let me!). When I got my first paycheck, and noticed it rather, ah, differed than the hours worked times hourly rate I’d figured in my head, I uttered something not terribly creative, but certainly heartfelt at the kitchen table.

    Mom was less than amused with the display of vocabulary. Dad stepped in and suggested to let it slide given the circumstances.

    Anyway. Being young, and google not yet launched, I asked what all this nickel and dime (and fiver and ten) BS was about, item by item. It took a while. When we got to the social security line, that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I didn’t know what a ponzi scheme was at that age, but I sure as hell knew when I was getting ripped off when I saw it.

    I’ll differ with Tam in that I’d take it back- ’cause I sure as hell put it in- but I knew before I could drive I wasn’t getting it back.

  10. Stingray- Understood, I guess I was too stupid to ‘not’ believe they would keep their word… sigh… Now older and wiser, and broker…

  11. OK, let me give you my spiel. RIght now, TODAY, the U.S. is borrowing 44 dollars of every 100 it spends. And 30 of those dollars are borrowed from itself, ie PRINTED. Result? Inflation on a national scale. Look at oil prices in euro’s. They havn’t gone up nearly as much as ours. Now, ObamMAO is spending $1,500 BILLION more than the U.S. takes in. Let’s give him everything he wants. Hike the tax on the riche’. $50 billion a year, maybe. Where does the other $1,450 come from? OK, Klinton taxes for everybody. $200 billion a year. Where does the other $1,250 come from? End the “earned income tax” wealth re-distribution payout. $150 billion. SO, where is the OTHER $1,100 BILLION come from? $5 a gallon tax INCREASE on gas? NOT ENOUGH!

    And remember, IF we somehow quit spending $1,000 BILLION a year more than we take in AND buy back $100 BILLION a year in debt, it will take 150 YEARS to get it all paid off.

  12. Old NFO,

    Understood, I guess I was too stupid to ‘not’ believe they would keep their word… sigh… Now older and wiser, and broker…

    For me, at least, it may have something to do with not starting to pay into the system until after the Carter years.

    I think if you polled people whose working life began before ’76 versus those who started after ’79, you’d find a significant percentage-point difference in those who have any faith in SS, Medicare, or whatever. Heck, I’ve never even filed for unemployment.

    Like I said in my earlier comment, I just consider anything the .gov skimmed off my wages as “protection money” and never planned on seeing any of it back except very indirectly. If fed.gov told me it was raining, I’d go outside to check.

  13. Fiftycal- Good points, and when you add it up, it DOESN’T add up… Thanks for the comment.

    Tam- True, most of us started paying in back in the 60s when we got our first jobs at, if we were lucky, $1.00 an hour. But I personally do NOT want to continue busting my ass to have 35-60% of my money given away to others who aren’t doing a damn thing but sticking their hands out… I think all of us the other night agreed we could live on our military retirements, just not as well as we’d like. Especially with us now being kicked out of Tricare for life at 65…

  14. Old NFO,

    Oh, definitely!

    (The only worry, of course, would be if we enter a bad inflationary spiral and COLA doesn’t keep up, but if that happens, all bets are off anyway…)

  15. Tam- You’re dead on the money, and apparently ‘one’ of the cost savings being proposed is ‘limiting’ COLA raises… sigh…