Kick Me

Health 'Reform' That Burdens Our Young

“We have become a society that invests in its past and disfavors the future.”

I can’t believe that I am quoting a Newsweek article… But this one addresses my concern that the Government is stealing from our kids, instead of actually making sacrifices to current consumption. This article focuses on how the current “Healthcare Reform” legislation will dramatically raise healthcare premiums paid by the young to subsidize the premiums paid bt those over 55.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/224020/page/1

“In fiscal 2008—the last "normal" year before the economic crisis—Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (programs wholly or primarily dedicated to the elderly) totaled $1.3 trillion, 43 percent of federal spending and more than twice military spending. Because workers, not retirees, are the primary taxpayers, this spending involves huge transfers to the old.”

$1.3 trillion is about what we will run as a Deficit in 2010. I have no doubt some smart, young politicians are looking at those numbers and saying “I can balance the Budget in one shot”…

“Now comes the House-passed health-care "reform" bill that, amazingly, would extract more subsidies from the young. It mandates that health insurance premiums for older Americans be no more than twice the level of that for younger Americans. That's much less than the actual health spending gap between young and old. Spending for those age 60 to 64 is four to five times greater than those 18 to 24. So, the young would overpay for insurance that—under the House bill—people must buy: Twenty-and thirtysomethings would subsidize premiums for fifty-and sixtysomethings.”

No wonder AARP is in favor of this bill.

“Whatever the added burden, it would darken the young's already poor economic prospects. Unemployment among 16- to 24-year-olds is 19 percent.”

19% unemployment is the stuff of revolutions. That is a staggering figure! At some point, some smart, young politician will let his fellow young people know that he can bring back a heck of a lot of middle class jobs if he lowers the value of the Dollar and increases Tariffs on China.

“Working Americans—the young and middle-aged—already pay a huge part of the health costs of the elderly through Medicare and Medicaid. These will grow with an aging population and surging health spending. Either taxes will rise or other public services will fall. Already, all governments spend 2.4 times as much per capita on the elderly as on children, reports Julia Isaacs of the Brookings Institution. Why increase the imbalance?”

At some point in the not-too-distant future, the young will flex their political muscle and start to cut the entitlements offered to those over 50.

Neil Howe (The Fourth Turning) commented on this article -

http://blog.lifecourse.com/2009/11/252/

“At last count the official unfunded liabilities for Social Security and all parts (A-D) of Medicare is roughly $100 trillion. So who’s even going to count the extra nickels and dimes we borrow to fill the Part D doughnut hole? And the fiscal stimulus keeps the economy moving and the Fed is handing out free (zero-interest) money. For me, this is certainly the most interesting and unanticipated fiscal, economic, and political environment I have ever seen in my life. For much of the country, there is tremendous unease that the vaunted “courage” of our national leaders always seems to result in borrowing from our kids, keeping our benefits up and our taxes low, and kicking most of the painful choices (”health care reform”) down the road. What happens when the music stops?”

The IMF tells us that if there is another bank bailout, then there will be revolutions –

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article6928147.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=1185799

So if the bankers only get one shot at a bailout, then they will print infinite amounts of money and hope that hyper-inflation will bail them out of their past lending mistakes.

Back to Neil Howe…

“Many informed Millennial (born 1982-200?) will want to ask why — after all their struggles to find jobs, the higher tuitions, the extra debt, and the open faucet on federal debt that they will have to pay back—they also need to pay a new hidden tax to benefit Boomer (born 1943-1960) nearing retirement. Millennials like to be regarded as more civic minded. But I don’t think they like to have a “kick me” sign attached to their backs. If this goes through, some national leader is going to discover this issue and push it in ways that could get ugly. One could, for example, see low-income, go-bare Millennials heavily featured in the Tenth Amendment challenges that will inevitably occur on the mandate. I’m not looking forward to any of this.”

All of this tells me that more money will be printed and taxes will continue to rise in order to pay enough entitlements to placate the unemployed masses for as long as possible.