{"id":4493,"date":"2010-11-15T16:44:32","date_gmt":"2010-11-15T20:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/?p=4493"},"modified":"2010-11-15T18:34:46","modified_gmt":"2010-11-15T22:34:46","slug":"entitlement-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1boringoldman.com\/index.php\/2010\/11\/15\/entitlement-2\/","title":{"rendered":"“entitlement”…"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I try to avoid opinions about things that directly involve my own well-being for two reasons. First, my opinion is open to suspicion by others, because it has to do with my own welfare. But second, I don’t trust my own judgment either. I notice this problem a lot when people talk about child reaing. It’s one of those places where "what I did was right" is rampant. Likewise with taxation. During the 2004 campaign, someone said to me, "Well, I’m not voting for anyone who will raise my<\/u> taxes. I<\/u> can’t afford it right now." At the time, I thought that was a pretty shallow thing to say, but it probably has a lot to say about how people actually vote.<\/p>\n

That said, I still have an opinion about Social Security and Medicare, even though I am a recipient of both. In a comment<\/strong><\/a> this morning, Joy says, "About a year before former Gov. Ann Richards died she told Larry king on CNN exactly what you just wrote about bankrupting the country and when something has to be done saying we’re very sorry but we have to get rid of Social Security and Medicare because we have no money to pay for these ‘entitlement’ programs.<\/em>" I also wrankle at the use of the term "entitlement programs<\/font><\/strong>" to describe Social Security and Medicare.<\/p>\n

They’re using the term "entitlement" is a contemptuous way – meaning quite the opposite. They are implying that the elderly are free-loading on the rest of  us<\/strike>  them. I didn’t feel like that when I was younger, and I don’t feel like that now. Nor am I interested in mounting any complex argument to defend that position. It seems to me that common decency ought to be enough to carry the point. But I would like to say something about their methodology. In a recent post [“trickle up” economics…<\/a><\/strong>], I suggested that they are trying to destroy these programs by essentially bankrupting the country so we can no longer afford them. That is neither a democratic or political method that deserves reinforcment. So, in the scenario they propose, the only elderly people who can be supported or receive health care are the ones that can still work, the rich ones, or the ones with rich [and generous] kids. <\/div>\n