Monday, June 4, 2007
from the Kennebec Journal
Sport of Kings
New Medicaid billing system inspires doubts among some
Christmas spirit
Guidance counselor: Dismiss complaint based on criticism of same-sex marriage
CHELSEA: 'Practice burn' provides thrill for 9-year-old
Trust eyes orchard purchase
GOLFER OF THE YEAR: Bonenfant rises up Cony ranks
YOUTH SOCCER: Local team gives 'care package' to children in Afghanistan
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Kennebec Journal
from the Morning Sentinel
YES ON 1 BACKER REBUTS CLAIM
New system for Medicaid payments worries providers
After petition drive, Clinton police force budget will go a third time before voters
A rock musician makes trip home via Black Taxi
MADISON: After revaluation, abatement requests reviewed
Parks to have facelift
GOLFER OF THE YEAR: Sweet does job for Madison
YOUTH SOCCER: Local team gives 'care package' to children in Afghanistan
All of today's:
News | Sports
from the Morning Sentinel
When JFK uttered this noble sentiment during his Inaugural Address, America stood, en masse, put its hands out and applauded. The great contradiction of our time is that a great number of Americans did only not sit down, but kept their hands out. Thus was the "Gimme Generation" created. Gimme subsidized housing, food benefits, health care and money to pay for my mistakes, etc., and I'll give you my vote. This is the great strength of the left, a growing constituency. The "cradle to grave" subsidy mentality came as a result of the "War on Poverty" by the Democratic administrations of the 1960's and subsequent Congresses. I understand that a society must have a safety net to catch its citizens during hard times, but it should not be a trampoline to jump on for life. It is now a lifestyle choice.
The entitlement mentality believes that I was born in this country and this country owes me a living.
It is not the "seasoned citizens" that I complain about, they should have all the help and support possible. But it is the millions of younger Americans who play the system for all it's worth. Imagine how much we could do for the elderly if the "Gimme Generation" wasn't siphoning off so much.
I don't know who won the "War on Poverty," but I know who lost: the American taxpayer.
Greg Theriault
Skowhegan
Reader comments
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previous page | next page1-10 of 14 comments:
time to clean out the democrats!report abuse
Seniors have paid into Social Security, it is not welfare. If they had invested the amount of money taken from their pay checks, they would have been a lot better off in retirement than what Social Security returns...Many people who paid in die before they can ever get one penny of what was taken from their pay checks. On the other had are the people who are getting Social Security disability who aren't disabled and never contributed a penny. Just look around and you will see those cheats. They are the ones who are draining the bank! Not the elderly!
This giveme started long ago, but the Johnson administration put welfare on the map with all the giveaways.report abuse
"look its me! It's all about me!" is so true. The only thing on baby boomers minds are retirement, retirement, and retirement. How much $$ is the government going to give me. Forget the mess they left for the younger generation to clean up. And we will not be able to pay for SS/medicare in the future anyways.
Whatever happend to self-reliance instead of reliance on the government for everything? Did we loose all personal accountability in this state/country? It seems like the current trend is the "its everyone else's fault except me". It's not my fault you did not plan/save for retirement. It is pretty simple to plan for retirement, everyone can do it.
$5/day or $1680/year for 40 years into a tax free IRA at the historical investment fund rate of return of 8% above inflation will give you over $1 million above inflation. Then when you retire you can draw a salery of $50,000/year inflationaire equvialant on a 5% CD.
So $35/week now will turn into $1000 a week later.
report abuse
Most young people in this state are hardworking, tax-paying citizens struggling to be able to afford to stay in this state. I know, I am one of them.
If anything, we have to deal with Baby Boomers and their "Look at me! It's all about me." attitude.report abuse
1) yes, people who cheat welfare are doing us a disservice.
2) I have no problem with people who work hard but use welfare to get them through tough times.
3) Where is "the" line between using and abusing welfare, though?
report abuse
The only thing about this guy's letter to the ed. that I take issue with is that the younger workers are the ones really getting screwed, as they will pay for the current retiree's SS benefits, but likely not get anything close to that. Other than that he is right on.report abuse
Now I know that up in Bingham, there probably aren't too many wealthy people, so I can understand how that might skew you version of reality in terms of what the words "wealthy" and "welfare" really mean. I checked the numbers given by Nosaj, and I found them to be pretty close to what I found. So your claims about the wealthy not getting taxed are flat out wrong. Please try again.report abuse
FYI the top 1% of wage earners in the US earn 17% of the income (note earn) and pay 38% of the taxes. Thought you should know!report abuse
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