Friday, October 16, 2009

BRIBER-IN-CHIEF
Let me preface this blog by admitting I'm a little long in the tooth. I'm just a month short of my 69th birthday.
That said, let me tell Congress and Mr. Obama - you can do me and the country a favor and not send me or any other social security recipient a check for $250. It is one of the most transparent attempts to bribe a vital voting block I have witnessed in my 68-plus years.
We seniors know the drill. With the current inflation rate being kept artificially low by the Federal Reserves penchant for flooding the economy with money, current law prohibits an increase in social security checks, since such increases are tied to the nation's cost of living index. The people who still have jobs and are paying taxes to fund our monthly social security checks do not need to see their hard earned money wasted.
If a senior citizen is in vital need of that amount of money, there are charities and religious affiliated groups that will gladly help. And there are local agencies that provide emergency assistance. We do not need to pile an estimated 13-billion more spending onto the nation's run-away deficit.
History is the best barometer of what we face from the double whammy of a burgeoning national deficit and a weakening dollar. Those of us who can recall the 1970's remember when just such a scenario resulted in high inflation that stealthily robbed our paychecks and endangered the financial stability of young and old alike. Interest rates soared to 14-16 percent for home mortgages and small businesses reeled under the burden of 18-21 percent interest for loans and lines of credit.
History has taught us inflation is inevitable when deficits rise and the dollar falls. It is seniors living on fixed incomes, the hard working middle class and the poorest among us who suffer the most when inflation rises. All we have to do is watch the increase in oil futures to forecast spiraling inflation. Democrats and some compliant Republicans apparently are not watching that particular fiscal barometer and seem bent on ignoring the hard fiscal lessons of the past.
And Mr. Obama is building the foundation of his inflationary healthcare plan on the backs of seniors by stripping 500-billion from Medicare. If he and Congress succeed, medical services will have to be rationed for the elderly. There will be no choice. Medicare is already financially endangered. The Obama Administration denies this reality, yet has made no move to eliminate language in the several healthcare bills that would allow faceless bureaucrats to approve or disapprove services for the elderly based upon the patients remaining life expectancy. If you are 80 and need a hip replacement under the proposed healthcare "reform" bills - good luck.

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