beowulf
Full time employment: Posting here.
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2007
- Messages
- 798
The Romans called it Bread and Circuses. You gave stuff, food or whatever to the peons and then entertained them with a variety of battles, animal fights, gladiators, etc. this kept them happy until the next time.
Voters can obviously be bribed by whichever party offers them the most they can receive without paying for it. Until they stop trusting the promises. Then anything can happen. Medicare, Medicaid, welfare and other similar programs all offer the same carrot. You get a lot more out of it than you put in or pay for. SS is different in that it actually ran a surplus until very recently. But the government issued IOUs for the contributions and freely spent the money. As the supposed trust fund decreases due to demographics, the money to pay SS comes out of the general fund. And the only solution is to raise taxes or cut benefits. Welcome to the 21st century.
Voters can obviously be bribed by whichever party offers them the most they can receive without paying for it. Until they stop trusting the promises. Then anything can happen. Medicare, Medicaid, welfare and other similar programs all offer the same carrot. You get a lot more out of it than you put in or pay for. SS is different in that it actually ran a surplus until very recently. But the government issued IOUs for the contributions and freely spent the money. As the supposed trust fund decreases due to demographics, the money to pay SS comes out of the general fund. And the only solution is to raise taxes or cut benefits. Welcome to the 21st century.