Tag: savings

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Welfare Mama, My A$$

One of the reoccurring themes when I talk to my fellow citizens on the right of the political spectrum is freeloaders.  They seem utterly outraged and maybe terrified that someone might be getting something with their tax money.  I keep hearing stories about the welfare mama driving a Cadillac.  Another favorite story is the teenage bimbo driving a hot car, living with her boyfriend, and paying for cigarettes with food stamps.  Then we have malingers collecting workers comp for a fake injury.  The stories go on and on.

I have no doubt that there are cases like the above.  I spent an afternoon a while back Googling for statistics on this type of fraud or abuse of the system.  I did not have a lot of luck finding any numbers.   My gut feeling is that the dollars pale in comparison to the real welfare cheats, doctors, lawyers, hospitals, and corporations.

A while back I worked for a large corporation involved in the care of the elderly.  Their standard business practice was to bill Medicare for every possible thing.  Apparently they were a little too zealous about it.  The government pushed back at them and they had to pay back a rather large sum of money (in the millions).  If memory serves there was also a fine involved, but I am not entirely sure on that part.

A news story just broke, 91 charged in Medicare fraud crackdown.  They have just arrested 91 individuals, including doctors and other medical professionals.  They are claiming $295 million in false billings.  Continue reading “Welfare Mama, My A$$”

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Counter the Koch Billions…Protect Social Security

Best I can figure out is that these the Koch Brothers want to totally weaken our government and the American middle class so their greed can ran rampant over the country. It is very scary to me.

This video is narrated by Senator Bernie Sanders, one of the few politician fighting for the American people and all that is good and right with this nation.

 

The Facts:

  •  Social Security belongs to you—the workers who contribute to it—not the politicians in Washington.
  •  Social Security will never go bankrupt. Its major source of income comes from the contributions of workers and employers; as long as there are workers, Social Security will have income.  Closing tax loopholes for wealthy individuals will increase the long term financial health of the program, and protect it for decades to come.
  • Raising the retirement age is a terrible idea and a large benefit cut. If you were claiming benefits as a 66 year-old retired worker and the full retirement age was changed from 66, where it is today, to 69 your benefits would be cut 20 percent. A typical benefit would drop from $14,000 a year to $11,200 a year.
  • Privatizing Social Security would be a disaster.  Social Security is so valuable because it provides a guaranteed benefit. Privatizing Social Security would remove this guarantee and have people gamble their retirement savings in the casinos of Wall Street. If the recent financial crisis taught us anything, Wall Street is the last place where our money is safe.

For more information, check out the Strengthen Social Security Campaign.

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A Sane Suggestion for Afghanistan

This has got to be one of the sanest commentaries I have ever read on the subject of our involvement in Afghanistan.

“Aid can be done anywhere, including where Taliban are,” Mr. Mortenson said. “But it’s imperative the elders are consulted, and that the development staff is all local, with no foreigners.”

Put yourself in their shoes.  Would you want some outsider telling you how to run your town?

“Mr. Mortenson says that $243 million is needed to fund all higher education in Afghanistan this year. He suggests that America hold a press conference here in Kabul and put just 243 of our 100,000 soldiers (each costing $1 million per year) on planes home. Then the U.S. could take the savings and hand over a check to pay for Afghanistan’s universities.”

Sounds like it would be money well spent to me.

Nicholas Kristof’s article in the New York Times can be found at the following link.

Dr. Greg and Afghanistan