| I see, "defense" is an "investment in the future", but Social Security and Medicare are "morally bankrupt". I guess the US military bases ringing the world are an investment in some kind of future. US arms shot up El Salvador in the 1980s, and now MS-13 gangs float throughout US cities, so these things are investments of a sort. I gain nothing by having the boot of US imperialism on the necks of people over the world. I will get Social Security and Medicare though. It's the one thing I'm paying into that I'll benefit from. People would have to help out their retired parents any how. This just happens collectively. As far as investments - have you been reading about how corporations balance sheets are flush with cash? Or about factory overcapacity rates? There is no lack of capital, the country is more awash with capital then it has ever been. There is just a lack of places to invest it. Because people aren't buying commodities, there is underconsumption - at least according to Jack Welch and many others. But putting money in the hands of retirees helps consumption. It keeps the economy moving. Also, the metric is GDP growth divided by the number of retirees. The US was able to pay Social Security in 1940, when GDP was $100 billion, but now it can't, with a $15 trillion GDP? That makes no sense. The US has military bases in Cuba (which Cuba has asked to be removed for decades), Djibouti, and many other godforsaken places - the US is spending a fortune to get back into the Phillipines. Never mind bailing out the banks which had lobbied to be deregulated. Yet the one program I've paid into my whole life and which I will benefit from they want cut. I don't think so. |