Over the past 2 weeks, I have been able to enjoy a little bit of the Winter Olympics, though not as much as I would have liked. One sport that I have been able to watch quite a bit of is Short Track Speed Skating. It's part speed skating, part roller derby. There are crashes and insane passes.
For those who don't know, short track speed skating takes place on the same ice that hosts the figure skating. They set up a ring around the outside, and these athletes fly around the ice like crazy. You almost have to see it to believe it.
The best American short track speed skater is Apolo Anton Ohno, and last night he won his 8th career Winter Olympic medal (a bronze), a record for an American. In a sport where any medal is considered a good medal, because of the chaos involved, Ohno has won his 8 medals in 12 events. Ohno is 27 and this might be his last Olympics. Watching him skate has been the highlight of the last 3 Winter Olympics for me, and I'll be sad to see him go. Hopefully his example will spur other American men and women to become short track speed skaters. This is one Olympic sport I will anxiously look forward to in 2014.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
The Clock is Ticking
I've been more irritated than usual about politics lately, and today I finally figured out why. This all started earlier this week when President Obama unveiled his health plan. My first thought was, "didn't this end when Scott Brown was elected?" Apparently not!
Here's where my irritation comes in. This is a waste of time! Nothing is going to pass on health care reform this year...even the Democrats are saying that. But, to continue the waste of time, there is a Health Care Summit tomorrow at Blair House. President Obama doesn't get it. Congress doesn't get it. Or maybe they do get it and distracting us with this is the only way to keep us from looking at the real 800 lb. gorilla in the room.
I don't think the American people get it. There's only 1 thing that matters right now, the debt! And to take it a step further, the unfunded liabilities of the U.S. Government matter. Right now, you are probably thinking "What are you talking about Jake?" I'm talking about the US Debt Clock. While talking about debt is a popular thing, almost nobody talks about unfunded liabilities. On the debt clock, it shows the liabilities promised to Medicare, Prescription Drugs and Social Security. The total is a whopping $107.5 trillion dollars. What makes this worse is the fact that the total national assets amount to $75.4 trillion dollars, so we're $32 trillion in the hole! In other words, we can't pay for what we've said we are going to pay for.
This is the only issue that really matters! Our federal government has created an unsustainable situation. What makes this worse is we stood by and let it happen, and we're continuing to let it happen today. We took our federal money whenever we could get it. We didn't make a stink when Social Security became part of the general fund. We have gladly had our cake and eaten it to.
So, how do we fix this...well, I have a couple ideas.
1) Balance the federal budget and write a balanced budget amendment. Without this, no meaningful changes can happen.
2) Raise the retirement age for Social Security to 80. Sorry, but if you want to retire early, save your money. When Social Security was implemented, the average life expectancy was 60, and you could start collecting at 62. Now people live to be almost 80 on average.
3) Reform medicare...there has to be cuts to the program. In general, the size and scope has to be reduced. This is true across all government, but especially in medicare.
4) We have to take a hard look at defense spending. There is waste and inefficiency in every bureaucracy, and the military has to find it.
5) Look for duplicate federal government duties and cut the waste.
6) Cut the Department of Education...that's a state's responsibility anyway.
7) Consider raising taxes, if and only if, they are accompanied by 1-6, and only if they go towards retiring the debt. Once the debt is retired, the taxes go away.
I have no time for any politicians who aren't willing to tackle the tough problems. In my mind, that includes everybody currently in Washington D.C., so come November, I'm pushing for a vote the bums out campaign. If you see (i) next to someones name, vote against them, regardless of party affiliation. That's what I'm going to do.
It's time we reign in our spending and get our country back on the right track. The debt clock is ticking...I don't want my kids to have to pay for the sins of prior generations. I'd much rather fix it now and bear that pain, than pass the buck to them.
Here's where my irritation comes in. This is a waste of time! Nothing is going to pass on health care reform this year...even the Democrats are saying that. But, to continue the waste of time, there is a Health Care Summit tomorrow at Blair House. President Obama doesn't get it. Congress doesn't get it. Or maybe they do get it and distracting us with this is the only way to keep us from looking at the real 800 lb. gorilla in the room.
I don't think the American people get it. There's only 1 thing that matters right now, the debt! And to take it a step further, the unfunded liabilities of the U.S. Government matter. Right now, you are probably thinking "What are you talking about Jake?" I'm talking about the US Debt Clock. While talking about debt is a popular thing, almost nobody talks about unfunded liabilities. On the debt clock, it shows the liabilities promised to Medicare, Prescription Drugs and Social Security. The total is a whopping $107.5 trillion dollars. What makes this worse is the fact that the total national assets amount to $75.4 trillion dollars, so we're $32 trillion in the hole! In other words, we can't pay for what we've said we are going to pay for.
This is the only issue that really matters! Our federal government has created an unsustainable situation. What makes this worse is we stood by and let it happen, and we're continuing to let it happen today. We took our federal money whenever we could get it. We didn't make a stink when Social Security became part of the general fund. We have gladly had our cake and eaten it to.
So, how do we fix this...well, I have a couple ideas.
1) Balance the federal budget and write a balanced budget amendment. Without this, no meaningful changes can happen.
2) Raise the retirement age for Social Security to 80. Sorry, but if you want to retire early, save your money. When Social Security was implemented, the average life expectancy was 60, and you could start collecting at 62. Now people live to be almost 80 on average.
3) Reform medicare...there has to be cuts to the program. In general, the size and scope has to be reduced. This is true across all government, but especially in medicare.
4) We have to take a hard look at defense spending. There is waste and inefficiency in every bureaucracy, and the military has to find it.
5) Look for duplicate federal government duties and cut the waste.
6) Cut the Department of Education...that's a state's responsibility anyway.
7) Consider raising taxes, if and only if, they are accompanied by 1-6, and only if they go towards retiring the debt. Once the debt is retired, the taxes go away.
I have no time for any politicians who aren't willing to tackle the tough problems. In my mind, that includes everybody currently in Washington D.C., so come November, I'm pushing for a vote the bums out campaign. If you see (i) next to someones name, vote against them, regardless of party affiliation. That's what I'm going to do.
It's time we reign in our spending and get our country back on the right track. The debt clock is ticking...I don't want my kids to have to pay for the sins of prior generations. I'd much rather fix it now and bear that pain, than pass the buck to them.
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