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Related articlesAmericans want to cut government spending but don’t want to give up their government checks
Americans say they want smaller government, but they don’t want to give up or cut funding to the programs that would change their lifestyle, according to a recent survey.
The largest parts of the federal budget include the most popular programs, specifically, Social Security and Medicare. But when people were asked if they were willing to give up their government checks or have their benefits cut, the majority of Americans said no.
Americans believe that waste can be cut by reducing spending on mass transit, housing, agriculture, environment and foreign aid. However, these programs only take up a very small part of spending.
Foreign aid, mass transit, housing, agriculture and environmental programs, "barely comprise 3 percent of the federal budget,” according to the Washington Independent.
When asked how their tax dollars are being spent,
The chart below shows how the budget is really divided.
The actual numbers show that most Americans have the wrong impression about where the US budget goes.
When asked about how budget cuts should be achieved, the top 3 hands-off items
were Social Security, Medicare, and Veterans benefits.
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Comments
Why would people want to give up something they have been paying into THEIR ENTIRE LIVES?
They WOULD be willing to privatize it to some degree or another.
But to say people are hypocritical because they WANT TO COLLECT some of what they have been paying into for for 40 or 50 years is just asinine!
Right on, Say What?! I will go one step further, however, and say we have been FORCED to pay into the Social Security and Medicare arenas while government employees have never had to pay into it but have been allowed to have THEIR savings accumulate (plus some) and grow into something that they can actually live on during retirement!
This article brings into share releif how the drug pusher approach to government expansion is maintained. Liberals propose programs that cost way more than they bring in (especially when waste, fraud and ineptitude are factored in), then when the ponzi scheme is about to collapse, they rely on the double-bind of conflicted interests to sustain them.
There are practical ways to ween ourselves off of entitlements, but there is no way to do it without the pain of withdrawal. someone is going to get screwed no matter what -- and everyone will be screwed if we ignore the problem until it spontaneously collapses.
In the end, the yongest among us will lose everything we have paid in. The middle aged must be weened off slowly, so the most dependent can be sustained.
however we do it, the status quo is unsustainable. so we had better start on rehab as soon as possible. I will give up my Social Security and Medicare benefits as long as they stop taking more out.
Examiner Reader
do you mean representatives don't pay Social Security - the govt. employees a lot of people who do pay SS.
Say what?
The first recipients did not pay into SS thus establishing that workers paid for those actively receiving it. If you want to lay claim to "Your" money then some retired person has it and you should see them about getting it back.
And if you haven't saved enough privately for retirement then you need to see if you can shake down some working people for grocery money. That's how SS works. Entitlement mentality is not just about welfare.
lg says: "The first recipients did not pay into SS thus establishing that workers paid for those actively receiving it. If you want to lay claim to "Your" money then some retired person has it and you should see them about getting it back."
I am sure that is what Bernie Maddoff said to his clients too.
Social Security, medicaid, Medicare are all ponzi schemes. The only difference between them and what Maddoff did is that Maddoff's clients volunteered. The rest of us are forced to pay.
If the same arrangement were perpetrated by a private individual or syndicate, we would call it extortion. But when government does it its called public service.
It's like a mugger telling you that it is your moral duty to let him rob you.
Is this what you are defending?
Actually Stan I was applauding your arguments of consistency. I was not supporting SS, just saying that is the way it is. If you really believe in smaller govt. then do not use the entitlement card. You did not. You actually said someone was going to get screwed and if you could quit paying now, you would accept not receiving SS later. As always, I admire your consistency in argument. I was responding to the commenter "Say What?"
A good start would be to deport by Attrition illegal aliens. We are spending billions of dollars each year on them, according to Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) E-Verify is being upgraded each month, so use that enforcement tool Join NumbersUSA and learn where you tax dollars are going?
lg: Sorry if I dinged you. For me, this is never about the author's. Especially since most are anonymous. I enjoy your comments (although I do not always agree with them) and I try to keep it impersonal. I am willing now and then to make exceptions though; for some of the more asinine contributors. Oops; I'm human -- and they so need a good swat every now and then.
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