It is my understanding both sides of The Aisle (in the US Congress, the concentrations of the two major political parties, Democratic & Republican) have known for decades the Social Security & Medicare system is headed for bankruptcy some time early in this century due to the input vs. output ratio becoming unworkable; and by sheer math, they will be unable to make the promised payments.
For decades, for both sides of the aisle, Social Security & Medicare were “the third rail” of politics: touch them and die (politically): even mentioning fixing the ratio problem (by raising retirement age or altering payouts) would guarantee you lost your next election. So, everyone just avoided the problem.
Now, the train is still moving at 90mph headed for the wall EVERYONE knew was coming.
Spending bills require a 60/40 approval ratio in the Senate to pass. Some aisle crossing by someone to fix Social Security & Medicare is our only hope. Whoever chooses to do this will sacrifice his or her political future to save millions of lives. Here’s hoping there are some politicians who can rise to the ethical core of this situation in time.
Recommended reading: “Profiles In Courage” (Senator John F. Kennedy’s anthology of the stories of American politicians who made exactly this kind of choice.) Such courage and clarity IS possible. May we see it soon – for all everyone’s sake of every political party. Old age and illness have no political affiliation.
One citizen rhapsodizing on hope. 🙂
Bruce Louis Cohen • 19 October 2018