I was pointed in the direction of this article in the NY Times about Paul Ryan and his plans.

I have to admit that I didn't know the specifics of his plan. I just knew that he was proposing changes and cuts to SS and Medicare, and I figured that no one proposing those sorts of cuts to those popular programs would do so seriously. Most of the time you hear about people talking about "balancing the budget" and that sort of rhetoric, you do not hear specifics. It sounds good to say "cut things" but no one wants to hear about actual cuts that affect them.

It is true, however. There is no way to rein in healthcare spending, or return SS to its "pay-as-you-go" status at this point. There are less workers than retirees, as we baby boomers begin to leave the work force. Couple this with the fact that employers apparently don't NEED as many people to run their businesses (if they did, they'd be hiring right now), and there may never be enough workers to pay for retirement benefits as it existed in the past. Not without (gasp!!!) raising taxes.

Like X. Zachary Wright's blog post points out, continuing to run huge deficits, and continuing to increase the federal debt, is unsustainable in the not-too-long run, especially if interest rates start creeping upward. I don't agree with that blogger's conclusions that Romney/Ryan will do anything about it. While I doubt that the type of tax plan described in this NY Times article will ever have a chance of getting passed, just looking at the specifics tells us where these politicians allegiances lie; who they want to help, and who they don't mind stepping on to help them.

I, for the most part, will not be hurt by their plan. I might even be helped by it, since I've planned on a retirement not affected by how much or little I receive in SS benefits. But I care about those less fortunate, even if they're too dumb to realize what they're voting for.

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