So, when is Texas going to secede?

[Moxie]

hispanics are conservatives by nature and usually voted rep. look at who voted for baby bush...

check the archives.

Exit Polls - Election Results - The New York Times

Republican Hispanic Vote %

Reagan 35%
Reagan 37%
Bush 30%
Bush 25%
Dole 21%
Bush 35%
Bush 43%
McCain 31%


For 2004, Bush gave speeches saying he wanted to reform INS, that immigrants were the future of the nation, etc.

The lowest in there is Dole. He was a vocal supporter of Prop 187, while Clinton was the opposite.

 

[Moxie]

basic services like restaurants, maid service, lawn care are cheaper?

Romney, is that you? Most of us do our own maid and lawn services, lol.

 

[bitsdawg]

Does it really matter anyway? America as most people imagine it will be radically different in 40 years once the debt comes home to roost, interest rates go up and the boomers are dead.

So you think things will be different after I'm dead?

Seriously you have a point. The fiscal conservatives - lately - come armed with unacceptable socially conservative baggage.

For example:

They want to make it more difficult for low income young women to access birth control and health care, by cutting Planned Parenthood funding (the current boogieman), but certainly don't want to feed and educate and provide health care after the babies are born. They also blame everybody else for all of the social ills that come with unwanted pregnancies when the solution is so simple.

I visited a local high school today and every table had a pregnant girl. More kids for the Republic of Texas I guess. Kids will be kids. In my opinion, the adults are not doing enough. In my opinion, the school nurse should be handing out contraceptives.

 

[jacky8]

If I had to make a bet, the earth will become a one world government far before it becomes a collection of say 1500 nations. Without question, globalization will overpower secession.



Yes, resources like oil are more valuable than they were before.

The caliphate is coming

 

[guerilla]

So you think things will be different after I'm dead?

They are going to get a lot worse while you're alive. I think if you think SS will be there for you, that's a bet you might lose.

But yeah, once the Boomer generation is gone, things will be different demographically and socially. Instead of bluehairs voting to protect their welfare, the welfare will be gone and the smaller numbers of seniors will have to work well past 65 to have a decent standard of living.

I don't know enough ways to emphasize this. There is no SS trust fund, and payments have now exceeded receipts. It's only a matter of time...

 

[REIMktg]

There is no SS trust fund, and payments have now exceeded receipts. It's only a matter of time...

That's why they put in Obamacare. To kill off the boomers and make SS solvent.

 

[bitsdawg]

They are going to get a lot worse while you're alive. I think if you think SS will be there for you, that's a bet you might lose.

But yeah, once the Boomer generation is gone, things will be different demographically and socially. Instead of bluehairs voting to protect their welfare, the welfare will be gone and the smaller numbers of seniors will have to work well past 65 to have a decent standard of living.

I don't know enough ways to emphasize this. There is no SS trust fund, and payments have now exceeded receipts. It's only a matter of time...

Look, this is already true. SS checks in the US average $1k a month. That is well below poverty. Reasonable people don't expect to live on it. The majority of baby boomers today don't have plans to totally retire at any fixed age.

Also, please understand this money is not a gift or endowment. The seniors had a percentage of their checks taken away from them their whole lives. I have contributed money my whole life. Many probably could have funded an annuity that would have provided payments.

Kicking old people - who acted in good faith - under the bus is not a reasonable solution. I was thinking we could send them to Canada or something.

 

[guerilla]

Kicking old people - who acted in good faith - under the bus is not a reasonable solution. I was thinking we could send them to Canada or something.

My mom is going to get about $250 a month CDN when she retires. She worked for 35 years. Your old people wouldn't fare better up here.

The problem is, your old people didn't act in good faith. They supported a government that stole the fund and spent the country into debt. Now it is going to come back and wipe out their old age pension.
It's not pleasant, everyone would like to avoid it, but it is reality.

If they were more diligent, they would have never trusted politicians, whose horizon is always short term, to manage their old age pensions.

Someone has to be responsible for what the government does in a democracy. I say it is the voters. Of course, the voters will blame the politicians, but who put the politicians into office? The fucking voters.

Again, I feel for them. I take care of my parents. Many people will have to do the same.

 

[REIMktg]

SocSecty has always been presented, to me at least, as a supplemental program for retiree's. It was never, as far as I know, meant to be a full provider. As a supplement it was supposed to be in addition to savings, retirement planning, and pensions.

At $1,000 per month in the US a person can squeek by, especially when combined with other Govt programs such as IHSS in CA etc. If that $1,000 were a supplement to other planning it would push most over the top from very low living to somewhat comfortable. Of course the more planning, the more comfort in retirement.

Should people opt for a private savings/investment system? Absolutely, but the voters vote as they do.

As it stands it is a safety net to those that did not plan, are poor, or had unfortunate life events and choices wipe them out. Income redistribution without a doubt.

As Guerilla said - Everything comes down to the voters.

It is interesting though. I felt the dot com boom and then the housing boom gave boomers one more chance to cash out with large nest eggs. It was like a gift to all of those who had not planned. Yet most never cashed out and at the same time spent the gains as they got them. So its the people causing their own troubles, why should you expect them to vote in anyone better than themselves. They wouldn't know it if it were right in front of them.

 

[papajohn56]

Having a college degree makes you smart? Wow, since when?

 

[guerilla]

SocSecty has always been presented, to me at least, as a supplemental program for retiree's. It was never, as far as I know, meant to be a full provider. As a supplement it was supposed to be in addition to savings, retirement planning, and pensions.

It always paid out to people more than they put in.

Not only that, but it took the FIRST dollar of your retirement savings by confiscating it directly from your paycheck. If it was supplemental, it wouldn't take the first dollar every time.

It's basic incentives. If you take money from people and tell them they will get a pension, they will be less likely to make their own pension plans.

 

[bitsdawg]

It is interesting though. I felt the dot com boom and then the housing boom gave boomers one more chance to cash out with large nest eggs. It was like a gift to all of those who had not planned. Yet most never cashed out and at the same time spent the gains as they got them. So its the people causing their own troubles, why should you expect them to vote in anyone better than themselves. They wouldn't know it if it were right in front of them.

Cash out to what...currency?

Anyway, are we blaming boomers or the already elderly? I guess some older boomers are already retired, but the youngest may just be turning 50. I get confused here.

If it's younger boomers, some of us are trying to plan, but being already caught between kids who need some education and elderly parents, it is tough. I would assume most of you aren't part of the "sandwich" generation yet. It is humbling.

 

[johnmatrix]

Having a college degree makes you smart? Wow, since when?

It says most educated, not smartest!

 

[Kiopa_Matt]

Global warming is a money and power grab in it's current form. The real solution to global warming lies in free market technology advances.

How are new technologies going to stop Bangkok from going underwater within the next 15 - 20 years, as expected? If places like the US, China, India and Brazil are still on the same path, and worsening the problem of global warming, it's not going to matter too much what Thailand does. That's why it'll require international commitments.

Resources are constantly being discovered. There will be fossil fuels for a long time to come because, once again, previously unprofitable reserves are become profitable due to better technology.

Fair enough.

Space exploration? Well, didn't Red Bull just send a man into space on a balloon for all purposes? Private space exploration will outcompete government space exploration.

Red Bull sent a guy up in a balloon, and SpaceX completed one small cargo mission to the ISS. Whereas governments built the ISS, and NASA just recently landed a rover on Mars. The private sector has alot of catching up to do, not to mention companies like SpaceX wouldn't even exist without the decades of research by organizations like NASA.

Regardless, if we're going to start shipping up tens or hundreds of thousands of people to space in a few generations, it's going to take much more than private enterprise.

Basically, once we all begin to do business with encrypted anonymous online currencies, states will go broke.

States will probably lower income taxes, and raise sales taxes. They're going to make sure the roads get built, military gets paid, etc.

The return on violence is decreasing as witnessed by dictatorships falling left and right.

You mean the Arab Spring? That's dictatorships being replaced with puppets. Not exactly much of a change for the common man.

As the world gets smaller, it will be much easier to go for smaller more efficient run nations.

This is where we disagree. For a tiny example, I bet there's some people in the Philippines who couldn't pay rent last month, because hurricane Sandy hit the US. Nowadays, what happens in one area of the world can have decent sized impacts around the globe. The world is continuously getting smaller, and that trend is not going to change. We're not going to regress into a bunch of small, efficient communes, because we're all too dependent on each other.

 

[guerilla]

we're all too dependent on each other.

That's exactly why the state isn't going to run the whole show.

Market relations are the polar opposite of political relations.

 

[REIMktg]

Cash out to what...currency?

USD. It still has value and at the time, if they were worried about the currency and bought gold, well, it still would have worked out well.

Anyway, are we blaming boomers or the already elderly? I guess some older boomers are already retired, but the youngest may just be turning 50. I get confused here.

I like blaming "The Greatest Generation". It's fun because no one else does. They raised the Boomers and if were blaming Parents it only seems fitting.

 

[REIMktg]

How are new technologies going to stop Bangkok from going underwater within the next 15 - 20 years, as expected? If places like the US, China, India and Brazil are still on the same path, and worsening the problem of global warming, it's not going to matter too much what Thailand does. That's why it'll require international commitments.

You can make your argument, but I would stay away from a blanket statement against technological advancement. It leaves the door wide open. I would not be surprised if any given day we hear about a breakthrough for free energy, or any other sci-fi technology that becomes a reality. I also am not surprised each day that I do not hear of such an advancement.

Red Bull sent a guy up in a balloon, and SpaceX completed one small cargo mission to the ISS. Whereas governments built the ISS, and NASA just recently landed a rover on Mars. The private sector has alot of catching up to do, not to mention companies like SpaceX wouldn't even exist without the decades of research by organizations like NASA.

Or maybe they do not exist because of NASA.

Regardless, if we're going to start shipping up tens or hundreds of thousands of people to space in a few generations, it's going to take much more than private enterprise.

I think you are limited in your thinking. If we found another planet with life on it, I am certain we would find a way. If we found a planet with some miraculous resources that transform this planet, we would find a way. If there were some great sexual benefit, the Adult industry, always innovative in tech, would find a way.

You mean the Arab Spring? That's dictatorships being replaced with puppets. Not exactly much of a change for the common man.

As the new regimes bring in Sharia Law, I think the common man and more importantly Women, will see some change.