American Sprint Car Series?

Thanks for bringing up another example (farm subsidies) on how the power of government is used for legalized plunder. Something that Miller and Stark are perfectly okay with.

Apparently Michele Bachmann and her husband didn’t think that way while taking those farm subsidies.

It’s not important, but your original comment was “as they enter their 80′s.” Even somebody who entered service at 17 just before V-J Day (hardly typical) is or would be 83, not entering their 80′s. For the typical WWII vet, think George Herbert Walker Bush, Bob Dole, Daniel Inoyue, and Ted Stevens, not to mention the many surviving Pearl Harbor and Normandy vets in Rossmoor and around the Bay Area.

You didn’t mention what generation you belong to. But, if I knew, I’m sure I could come up with a bunch of reasons as to why that generation is responsible for all that ails us. Yes, there are 78 million of us Boomers. The Greatest Generation, not their offspring, is responsible for those statistics. Just our very existence creates the problems you mention, but our very existence also fueled decades of economic growth. Boomers did not create the entitlement programs. This Medicare-age Boomer supports the Coburn/Lieberman plan for Medicare. Nor did the Boomers create the public employee pension problem you mentioned. Last I looked, Jerry Brown and Gray Davis are not Boomers (born 1946-84). Those public employees resisting changes to public pensions today are mostly of the post-Boomer generation. George Miller and Pete Stark aren’t Boomers either.

We’ve got problems to solve, but don’t make it a generational war thing.

There are approximately 78 million Baby Boomers. Over the past 35 years the Boomers have paid into the system as required, there is no argument there. The problem is that as the 78 million people retire and start tapping into the big 3 entitlement programs (Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security), the system is under-funded by approximately $59 trillion. The problem facing our Nation is bi-partisan, but our local reps Stark and Miller, who have been in office over 30 years have done absolutely nothing to address this problem. The Boomer generation as a whole has done nothing. We as a nation have known about this problem for over 20 years! Politically afraid to touch the holy grail of the Big 3 the government mostly run by boomers the past 20 years has failed.

To add insult to injury the Boomer generation has also shackled future generations with a state and federal pension system that is unsustainable. I would like to believe that the problem will be fixed, but have little faith that the self entitled, trust fund baby boomer generation that has burried it’s head in the sand the past 20 years can summon up the courage required to to tackle this challenge. Now is the time to live up to thier predecessors and become the next Greatest Generation. As a member of generation X I will except any type of reform to give my chidren a better America.

If I’m not mistaken, the money to fill the donut hole comes mainly from negotiating discounts with the drug companies. And let’s not forget who established the unfunded prescription drug program in the first place. Hint: It wasn’t George and Pete.

All you say about The Greatest Generation is true, except they are approaching their 90′s, not entering their 80′s. In terms of entitlement programs, they have been treated very well, and deservedly so: Vets got the original GI Bill, with very generous benefits for college and home purchases. They paid next to nothing into either Social Security or Medicare but got the full benefits. As for Boomers (I’m a first wave circa 1946 Boomer) — They paid the taxes that paid for SS & Medicare for their parents. Many are still paying for long-term care for their parents while also trying to put their kids through college. They served during the Vietnam War and first Gulf War. Running up the national debt (stealing from future generations) did not start with the Boomers in control. It would be unfair to the next generation and beyond if we let Medicare suck up the entire non-defense federal budget, but that’s not going to happen.