Wednesday, May 21, 2008

A plan to save us

Paul D. Ryan's plan to save us from the looming entitlement crisis is so sound and so sensible, you know before you get to the last paragraphs that Democrats won't support it. Remember how they said in 2006 they had a plan? (Hope? Change?) Ha. The economy has plummeted since they took back Congress and scared everyone with their hot air, hair brained ideas to punish the successful and abandon our allies.

Ryan's plan requires a sense of personal responsibility, the federal government getting off our backs and to stop using our "trust" fund for other programs, the states reassuming some tasks they've let go, a more fair tax plan, and long range planning. These elements are really lacking in the general population, so it will be a tough sell. Millions have grown up wanting someone else to be in charge of their health, their education, their personal relationships and their pensions. Ryan suggests
    universal health coverage . . .shifting the ownership of health coverage from the government and employers to individuals, providing a refundable tax credit – $2,500 for individuals and $5,000 for families – to purchase coverage

    . . . modernizing Medicaid by giving states maximum flexibility to tailor their Medicaid programs to the specific needs of their populations

    providing workers under 55 the option of investing over one-third of their current Social Security taxes into personal retirement accounts

    simplifing the tax codes rates and eliminating capital gains tax to stimulate investment(don't we hear that every 4 years?)
Sigh. But oh, we can dream.

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