A popular word being used in recent years by politicians is entitlement. What is an entitlement? When I look the word up in my dictionary it gives three definitions, but they do not seem to fit how it is being used today.
They say Social Security is an entitlement, but how can that be? Each payday during my working days a percentage was taken out of my paycheck and sent to the government. A percentage was also paid by each of my employers. When I worked independently, I sent to the government a percentage similar to the combined percentage of an employee/employer.
We all think that the government was to manage this money and invest it for growth and to be used in retirement years.
Of course back in the 1960s there was a large pot of money and the politicians used it for purposes other than what it was intended for. So now the politicians say we have to make changes.
For many years the government has also been saying that individuals should save for retirement and invests a percentage of their paycheck in IRA’s, 401K, 403B and other retirement plans. These moneys are sent to a wide variety of financial institutions to be invested in our individual accounts, to grow and provide income when we do not receive a paycheck. When these funds are mismanaged the government takes legal action against the financial institutions or individuals that used poor judgment.
So we have two similar programs to provide income in retirement years, both of which individuals contributed a percentage of the paychecks. So now I have to ask: are all those IRA’s, 401K, 403B, and other retirement plans also entitlements as the word is being used today?
Kent Rees
Emily
Comments (40)
Add commentNot everyone larry
just most of us that support people like you and the other half of the Obama voters. Get back to bed before I tell the nurse you snuck back up.
Entitlement mentality of "American financial sector" takes
the cake: "To reiterate the hypothesis, for the benefit of Mr. Sununu and other dim bulbs: The American financial sector—and a narrow segment of it, consisting primarily of the largest firms—is the single biggest recipient of American government largess, and are in fact so dependent on it that the sector as currently formulated would not even exist if it were not for that largess. They achieve this preferential treatment via the heavy use of lobbying, massive campaign donations to both parties and to other politically-minded groups, and the hiring of ex-politicians who are then paid to rattle on in public about how students getting Pell Grants and the children of unemployed Americans getting a token amount of assistance during a recession in order to keep eating is dooming America through rampant parasitism, and how the only good fix for it all is to end that nonsense and hand over Social Security, Medicare, and all of our tax money to the financial sector so that they can give the rest of us not jobs, but the mere satisfaction of knowing that some unadulterated, gambling-addicted, fabulously wealthy xxxxhead, somewhere, is achieving "prosperity" on our behalf and on our dime.
Discuss" http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/05/1167499/-Romney-surrogate-Sunun...
uninformed voters
Another reason they should require a simple test before
eligible to vote.
Simple Test is Correct = Be a Resident to vote - As Opposed To
The republicon national voter suppression program that includes , voter ID , ending same day registration , reducing the total number of days to vote, restricting early voting , create long lines at polling places( however you can) , then call the process something different than what it actually is.
If you cant beat em ,you can certainly reduce their number of votes counted.
Sadie...a test would be
Unconstitutional.
southie
I know, I was joking because that so often is said. Of course,
some people are undoubtly serious about it.
Entitlements
Finally someone put it clearly!!! What's not to understand??
Uninformed Voters
As far back as I can remember there has never been a politician worth voting for. Uninformed or not, it doesn't do any good if the best you can do is vote for the politician you think will do the least amount of damage.