Just Tax the RIch Another $140 TRILLION; Problem Solved

SteynOnline - ENTITLEMENT SENSE: "Recently, in the London Telegraph, Liam Halligan bemoaned the way commentators focus on America’s $14 trillion of debt — i.e., the “debt ceiling” debt — without factoring in the entitlement liabilities of Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security. That makes America’s real debt some $75 trillion, or five times GDP. Our own Kevin D. Williamson puts the FDR/LBJ entitlement liabilities a little north of $100 trillion." Once you add in state and municipal debt, you need to add a zero to that reassuringly familiar $14 trillion hole. The real hole goes ten times deeper: $140 trillion — or about twice as much as America’s total “worth.”

Wasn't that easy?

For my next trick, I will transform the Islamic world into a haven for liberal democracy by having NASA build up their math and science self esteem, and by apologizing for all of the atrocities that the United States has perpetrated upon them.

Youthful Idiots

John Cogan: The Millionaire Retirees Next Door - WSJ.com: "According to my calculations based on government data, such married couples will begin receiving monthly Social Security checks that will, on average, total about $550,000 after inflation. They will receive health-care services paid for by Medicare that, on average, will total another $450,000 after inflation. The benefactors will be a generation of younger workers who are trying to support themselves and their families while paying taxes to finance the rest of government spending."

One of the benefits of our debased educational system is that is has raised multiple generations of suckers to pay for the boomers' retirement. And these patsies vote overwhelmingly for the crooks that are hustling them. I guess if this arrangement were sustainable, you could chock it up to beneficence, but given the totally predictable collapse of this ponzi scheme, you have to conclude they are just "youthful idiots."