5 Reasons to Be Hopeful About Retirement

Here we go again, Bush may boast about what a great increase in Social Security benefits--but what he has not told the nation is that the so-called phoney increase is really going to the Medicare Advantage plans he allowed the insurance industry to create to benefit the insurance companies to the detriment of the seniors, the elderly and the disabled. We are paying $100 a month for Medicare, we were paying an additional $50 a month for supplemental health insurance--now, thanks to the Bush Administration we are now going to be charged $150-$200 a MONTH for Medicare Advantage plans. So where is the so-called increase, that won't even begin to pay the huge increase in our supplemental insurance. Don't be fooled folks, Bush is leaving us another of his stupid legacies, the Medicare Modernization Act which gave the insurance industry an open door policy to fleece the elderly the disabled, and seniors until their greedy hearts are content. They are raking in billions in subsidies annually, at the expense of our elderly. It is irresponsible and unrealistic to believe America's poor and elderly could bear the burden of more than a trilion dollars in budget cuts in Medicare/Medicaid, especially in these tough times. As Richard N. Haass said, before George W. Bush became president eight years ago, the world was largely at peace, the US military was largely at rest, oil was $23 a barrel, the economy was growing at more than 3%, the national debt was just under $5 trillion, and the federal government was running a sizable budgetary SURPLUS. Now, we have wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, an overburdened military, a weak dollar, oil at $150 a barrel, substantial anti-American sentiment,a federal budget deficit of over a $1 Trillion. We went from a healthy surplus to a monster deficit. Our only hope is when the 111 Congress of the United States opens we can get them to work together with Obama and right all the wrongs Bush has left. I hope and pray we can reverse the damage the horrible Bush Legacy has done to our blessed nation.

Ann Marie of IL 3:38PM December 31, 2008

Social Security continues to be a time bomb unless REAL money is put into the SS Trust Fund, which now has about $2.2 trillion in worthless IOUs. If the federal government is "giving" money to the banks, why not call that money deposits to the SS Trust Fund? That way, no repayments will be required until 2018, when interest on the Trust Fund money will be needed to supplement SS income via payroll taxes. That way the banks can use that money to lend and produce profits, at the same time paying REAL interest to the SS Trust Fund accounts.

The folks who WANT SS to fail will win if REAL money is not soon deposited to the Trust Fund.

George Fulmore of CA 7:51PM December 19, 2008