Comments Posted By John McCrarey
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Social Security: Point/Counterpoint
Hey Bob ,the more you make the more you spend. No, I am just being flip. Carol has argued in favor of raising her own taxes so that 40 year old will not “starve” when it comes time to collect SS. Ashley argues the 40 year old will be wealthier if he keeps his own hard earned pay and invests it so that it returns 10+% annually. The miracle of compounding and all that. So the debate is about whether the whole concept of SS is flawed and outdated. When you have two worker bees trying to fund SS for the boomer generation retirees, the system breaks down. Regardless of personal income.
» Posted By John McCrarey On 04/February/2005 @ 8:56 pm
Eugene, I think you really nailed the issue and offer a reasonable solution. Carol is also a tweener and I think she recognizes that some sacrafices will have to be made. At some point, we all need to come together and face this issue once and for all.
I was a little surprised by the animosity the younger folks have towards boomers. Well, we are part of the problem (though we didn’t create the problem), so we have to step up and be part of the solution. It is NOT an us against them situation, and I appreciate you pointing that out.
» Posted By John McCrarey On 04/February/2005 @ 6:16 am
I just wanted to drop in to thank all of the commenters for bringing such informative and substantative contributions to this discussion. I am learning a lot, and I really appreciate that the discourse has been relatively free from rancor.
» Posted By John McCrarey On 04/February/2005 @ 4:56 am
Anthony, I admit that social security should have been fixed a long time ago. Any you are right, if the gov’t tried to put me into that sinkhole I would scream bloody murder. The past can’t be undone, but I sense a oonsensus is building to tackle this issue in the here and now. The President hit a home run tonight, and I am totally on board with his proposals.
Peace?
» Posted By John McCrarey On 03/February/2005 @ 8:23 pm
RJ, obviously I agree with you that SS is broken and in need of a radical fix. Still, you can’t blame us boomers for a system that was created in the 1930s. We (well, not me but most of my generation) have been paying into this crappy system for 30 years, based on a promise made by Uncle Sam. Whatever money we get back will be less than our investment unless we live to be well into our 80s. Had that money been put into a mutual fund with a 12% return we wouldn’t be facing this issue. So, let’s find a way to get you people out of the system while keeping the promise made to the oldsters. It is not our fault that we are in this situation, and Carol is not asking for anything more than she was promised, and has even acknowledged she will have to settle for less, but not 60% less.
This is a tough issue and we all need to work together to fix it. Thanks for sharing your views here. Hope to see you again.
» Posted By John McCrarey On 03/February/2005 @ 6:50 pm
Jim, Ashley is quite capable of defending herself, so I will just note that she can be as hard on conservatives as she is on liberals. She is very issue specific and does not hold to party dogma. If anything, she is a closet libertarian. I think that is what makes the SS reform debate so interesting politically. We have MoveOn aligned with older Americans, and young Americans gravatating to a conservative position. I don’t know that this will cause any permanent shift in alligences, but it will be fun to watch it all shake out.
Thanks for coming by and sharing your views.
» Posted By John McCrarey On 03/February/2005 @ 6:41 pm
Hans, that is an excellent point. You can go all the way back to the 30’s and index market returns and it has always averaged in double digits. So they private accounts are a no brainer IMO. The real issue is how to make the transition. I could live with raising the taxable amounts from the current $90,000 for people at or above 45 years old, to keep the old system going. Everyone else would convert to the investment accounts. Don’t know if those numbers work, but that is the nut that has to be cracked. No one in their 20s is going to want to invest in SS with no hope of any return on that money.
As always, I appreciate you coming by! You are my favorite fascist! 😀
» Posted By John McCrarey On 03/February/2005 @ 6:33 pm
Not this time Jenniy, but he is leaving me his cell phone! 😆
» Posted By John McCrarey On 04/February/2005 @ 6:10 am
Thanks Mom. And Renee, it is a used car, so I am not hurting the American economy too much with this purchase. Don’t worry, I am still RED, white, and a little bit blue! Miss you too!
» Posted By John McCrarey On 03/February/2005 @ 6:54 pm
Avery, thanks for sharing that. I know we have disagreed on the war, but no one can argue with what we saw on our television screens Sunday. It was simply amazing. We are living in historic times, and I sincerely believe that we turned an important corner yesterday. There is a long way to go to be sure, but we are making progress.
Hope you are well and happy. Heck, you are in Hawaii, its against the law to be unhappy there isn’t it?
» Posted By John McCrarey On 02/February/2005 @ 8:05 pm
There you have it in a nutshell Ashley. Republicans say its your money and your responsibility. Invest wisely or suffer the consequences. Dems say you can’t be trusted with your money, give it to the government and the nanny state will do what is best for you. Hmm, tough choice, eh?
» Posted By John McCrarey On 02/February/2005 @ 6:53 am
Wow Carol. I am impressed. I appreciate you sharing your epiphany. As you might recall, I felt strongly about going to war, regardless of WMDs. Saddam would have been a problem at some point (especially with support for sanctions crumbling) and I never got over those pictures of children laying dead in the street from chemical weapons. I believed we should have finished the job in ’91, but better late than never. I also believe that the US cannot afford to be viewed as a paper tiger, when we say we are going to act to rid the world of terrorists and those who give them safe harbor, we need to follow through. I am NOT saying Saddam was directly supporting Al Qaida, but he was supporting other groups like Hamas and he could not be trusted when our security was at risk. But my main reason for supporting the war was a firm belief that by systematically removing tyrants who are threats and letting the people choose their government, they are going to choose democracies. And democracies generally pose no threat to us. So, my support was not entirely for altruistic reasons, but this election was the best possible outcome for both Iraq and the USA.
Anyway, I can accept those who view the justification for this war as insufficient. I am however sickened by those who disparage democracy and opposed freedom as a worthy goal in Iraq.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I admit I was worried that your dislike of the President would blind you to the wonder of the historic event we witnessed in Iraq on Sunday.
» Posted By John McCrarey On 01/February/2005 @ 6:00 am
A picture is worth a thousand words…
Ashley, just as I had hoped:
The Iraqi police have investigated a case in the village of al-Mudhariya, which is just south of Baghdad. The villagers there say that before the election insurgents came and warned them that if they voted in last weekend’s election, they would pay.
Now the people of this mixed village of Sunni and Shia Muslims, they ignored the threat and they did turn out to vote.
We understand that last night the insurgents came back to punish the people of al-Mudhariya, but instead of metering [sic] out that punishment the villagers fought back and they killed five of the insurgents and wounded eight. They then burnt the insurgents’ car. So the people of that village have certainly had enough of the insurgents.
» Posted By John McCrarey On 05/February/2005 @ 6:07 pm
News flash Carol. Lot of women choose to wear the burka out of deeply held religious belief. If you had looked at the other pictures I linked to you would have seen women decked out in western style clothing.
» Posted By John McCrarey On 31/January/2005 @ 7:02 am
Gas or bullets. Dead is dead. You know what, I am just going to celebrate today. You can relive the past if you want, I am going to dwell in the future and all the possibilities it holds.
» Posted By John McCrarey On 31/January/2005 @ 6:28 am
Yeah, he intervened alright. Nothing like a little chemical weapon to quell a “disturbance”. I will never forget the photos of the “rebellious” kurds: men, women, children, and babies, laying dead in the street. Killed where they stood by Saddam’s poison.
» Posted By John McCrarey On 31/January/2005 @ 4:39 am
Thanks, Dick. It’s an HP 735 photosmart. 3.2 megapixels. Just a middle of the road camera. Hopefully, I will get better with it in time.
» Posted By John McCrarey On 31/January/2005 @ 6:44 am
Well, to set the record straight she and Ms. Kim were on the other side of the table (as one of the pictures shows). Ms. Jeong posed with me so Ms. Kim could get a picture of the table that I specifically requested.
Just sayin’.
» Posted By John McCrarey On 31/January/2005 @ 4:45 am
America, f*ck yeah!
» Posted By John McCrarey On 31/January/2005 @ 6:41 am
Whatever Carol. I posted the photo of the billboard because it is news and I think it is funny. The people depicted on that sign (other than the President) are so far out of the mainstream that everytime they opened their yaps they alienated voters like me. The Democrats allowed them to become the face of the party, and yes that cost them votes. It might have made a difference in a close election, but since Bush kicked ass in general, I won’t argue that they made a difference. In fact, all they proved was that the American people they disdainfully call stupid are a lot more in touch with what’s important in the world than Hollywood.
» Posted By John McCrarey On 31/January/2005 @ 5:05 am
Yes, it was very moving. Made me so proud to be an American. History will smile on what we help the Iraqis achieve.
» Posted By John McCrarey On 31/January/2005 @ 5:07 am
Great minds thinking alike and all that…
Ashely, I do believe you have the makings of a blogger! Excellent comment! I am going to do a post later today “fisking” that burleybastaadinbencia (yeah, I know who you are **coughKeithcough**but I still love ya). You have said much of what I wanted to Ashley, but I’ll add my two cents anyway.
And you guys keep it up, I do appreciate this dialogue.
» Posted By John McCrarey On 30/January/2005 @ 11:36 am
The faces of the American left
Wow. Kevin you are right. And Renee you are right.
I will say I see far less end zone dancing on the right than I do the left whining for a review from the booth and blaming the ref, Kevin. And while I am sure the people in that video do not represent majority of Democrats, they are the ones in the news. Which goes to Renee’s point. Why aren’t mainstream Democrats standing up and saying “that’s outrageous, you don’t speak for us!”? I’ve said it before, as long as the Dems embrace the Michael Moore view of the world (or least not repudiate it) they will not connect with the majority of Americans.
Great comments K & R! Thanks.
» Posted By John McCrarey On 29/January/2005 @ 4:15 am
Thanks for the feedback daughter. That is my passport photo, and I’m supposed to look mean. That’s my “don’t tread on me” look. When did I ever ground you? Oh yeah, that thing with the telephone bill….well, you got off easy!
Love and miss you sweetheart.
» Posted By John McCrarey On 26/January/2005 @ 7:01 pm
Well now burlybassted, let’s set aside whether we are in Iraq for altruistic reasons. Maybe it is simply a matter selfish national interest. Is you hatred of the president more important than seeing the Iraqis successfully implement a democratically elected government? Would you deny these people that chance just to see Bush suffer a defeat? The so-called insurgents have admitted their goal is to defeat democracy. Can you really be on their side in this?
This is what I don’t get, you can hate the President or Cheney, I don’t care. But this willingness to turn our backs and leave the job unfinished, to succumb to tyranny, is so contrary to everything I ever considered “liberal” that I just don’t understand how the left can blinded by hate as to not see this.
» Posted By John McCrarey On 27/January/2005 @ 5:27 pm
Well, Wally I don’t see the connection between America’s sins vis a vis the Indians and slaves and our unequaled history of opposing tyranny and spreading democracy throughout the world. Even leaving aside that fact that it is illogical to apply 21st century moral values to the actions of our ancestors (and ignoring the fact that our transgressions pale in comparison to the brutality of the British, French, and Spanish of that era), is it your position that because we have not always lived up to our own ideals that we are forever precluded from acting on behalf of the oppressed? That seems to be compounding wrong rather than righting it.
What strikes me as indefensible is turning our backs on those who seek justice in the world. Providence has given us the means to do good, I can think of nothing worse than walking away from that responsibility.
But leaving altruistic motives aside, can you argue that a demoncratic Iraq is not in our own selfish national interest? And if you oppose democracy in Iraq (or at least refuse to denounce the terrorists who have made it their goal to see us fail), then are you not in fact supporting the same type of abhorent behavior that your criticise our ancestors of?
Yeah, I will wave the flag and beat the drum proudly. I do not blame America for the world’s ills. I see us as a force for good and the last hope for freedom. If we will not stand against the world’s bullies, then who will?
» Posted By John McCrarey On 26/January/2005 @ 6:13 pm
Thanks, Susan. To be honest, I am not as yet finished packing….I am such a procrastinator. Anyway, I will stay in touch.
» Posted By John McCrarey On 21/January/2005 @ 5:53 pm
Well, what other explanation is the for those on the left (or right for that matter) who express the belief that middle easterners are not capable, worthy, deserving, or entitled to live in a democratic society? I am open to alternative theories, but this attitude that Iraqis are not equipped for living in freedom is akin to the 19th century folks who considered the native population to be “savages”.
Freedom is a human desire, not just a European invention.
» Posted By John McCrarey On 18/January/2005 @ 7:37 pm
Well Andre, after reading your comment I can understand why you would want anyone “educated” to die. And your attitude towards women is a pretty good clue that you won’t have to marry a “whore” anytime soon.
Growing up is not about marriage or a career. It is really about taking responsibiity for your own life. Blaming your failures on boomers and women is not a great indicator of maturity.
Thanks for commenting.
» Posted By John McCrarey On 27/January/2005 @ 5:33 pm
«« Back To Stats PageNo, she is definitely 29. I have always been 20 years older than she is. We reserved your lot on the lake. Walked through a Columbia under construction. Its gonna be nice!
Cherish, thanks for the comment. I guess we will all stay in touch via the Internet. Being gone will be hard, but it will go quickly I’m sure.
» Posted By John McCrarey On 16/January/2005 @ 3:34 pm