Have you ever noticed that our federal government is always venturing out of its jurisdiction in trying to make things more affordable for all of us? Our paternal/maternal leaders in D.C. never pass up a chance to try to do something to make our lives easier. Their examples of benevolence are many and always end up in disaster.
Take education for instance. Uncle Sam has lavished grants and loans on us in an effort to make a college education affordable for most Americans. However, has the price of college decreased? Ever? The answer is no and in fact it can be argued that government grants and loans have actually contributed to the perennial increase in college tuitions. When students qualify for federal largess it makes them less likely to comparison shop based on cost. By eliminating cost competition in the college market institutions of higher learning have less incentive to lower costs. Perhaps this is why the rate of defaults on student loans is so high. Like subprime mortgages, instead of shopping around for economy, people commit to loans that they ultimately can’t afford to pay.
Then, there is Washington’s attempt to make retirement years more affordable. Social Security checks are mailed to millions of Americans every month to provide supplemental income to seniors. Because the program has been played up as the greatest thing since sliced bread by the Establishment many Americans have been deluded into believing that they can retire on Social Security alone. They forego saving for retirement and find when they retire that the monthly payment hardly makes ends meet. Perhaps this is the reason why many elderly folks sell their homes because they just don’t have the funds to pay the ever increasing costs of property taxes. Taking into account that the Social Security Trust Fund is empty and estimates for future obligations are about $45 trillion imagine the inflation that will eat further into Social Security income when the Federal Reserve must print dollars to monetize government checks.
By now, we should all be familiar with Uncle Sam’s attempt to make home ownership more affordable for all of us. This has been primarily attempted through cheap money from the Federal Reserve and loan guarantees from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But, believe it or not, low rates and easy guarantees increased the demand for housing thereby raising prices and shutting out millions of home seekers. Of course, in the end, artificially low interest rates and the benevolence of government caused the bubble which popped and placed millions more Americans into foreclosure.
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Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Joanne Huspek
"You would think Obama, Conrad, Reid, and Pelosi would realize this and scrape their grandiose plan to make healthcare more affordable"
They would, but only if they are in office to serve the people. I don't believe they are. I believe they're in office solely to line their own pockets.
But, yes, you have hit the nail on the head. Rarely has government intervention helped a cause.
2 - Bliffle
Kenn says:
"They forego saving for retirement and find when they retire that the monthly payment hardly makes ends meet."
I'm retired and find that my monthly needs are well within the SS check. Of course, I'm a Cheap Guy, I drive a cheap car, eat cheap food (like fresh veggies, fruits, nuts, simple healthy inexpensive foods from the produce section, few meats, and only eat out infrequently and then at only a very good restaurant. Of course, I split the entree with my dinner partner, but then, good restaurants welcome that).
"... Perhaps this is the reason why many elderly folks sell their homes because they just don’t have the funds to pay the ever increasing costs of property taxes."
Or to scale down to something more appropriate for empty-nesters, as I did.
"... Taking into account that the Social Security Trust Fund is empty and estimates for future obligations are about $45 trillion..."
Actually, of course, the trust fund sits at about $2.5trillion and increases about $160billion every year. Future obligations will be adjusted for as future obligations occur. Just like an insurance annuity does.
"... imagine the inflation that will eat further into Social Security income when the Federal Reserve must print dollars to monetize government checks."
Actually, the Fed only prints actual dollar bills to accomodate circulation needs and only has about $900billion in circulation now, and half of that is invisible.
The greater danger is the leverage of intrinsic capital against extrinsic capital. The total intrinsic value of US capital is about $45trillion, but the extrinsic value of all financial instruments is about $550trillion, a ratio of about 12:1. Most of that is commercial instruments of some sort, mostly promissory.
The private commercial sector has leveraged paper value against actual value to the extent of 12:1.
My my my.
3 - Glenn Contrarian
Joanne - if Obama's main reason to be in office was to 'line his pockets', he'd never have run for office and instead made ten or twenty times his present salary as a practicing constitutional lawyer.
bliffle - *gasp*! You mean that the government might actually be MORE efficient than the private sector? Golly gee whiz - that means that there might be a Really Good Reason that the top twenty-seven countries on the life-expectancy list ALL have government-driven universal health care of some sort or another, and we're in 30th place behind such stellar first-world countries like Bosnia and Jordan.
But UHC will ruin our economy - never mind that we already spend nearly twice as much as any of the countries with UHC who have a longer national life expectancy.
But you've heard this rant before. I'm finally of the opinion that to the Republicans, it does not matter that UHC is more effective and far cheaper. All that matters to them is getting back in power.
4 - Dave Nalle
Glenn, you really need to pay more attention. Even Republicans (those with any sense) aren't arguing against UHC right now. The concern is the Obamacare plan and the lame implementations of it being considered by Congress. It is nothing like UHC and it WILL be a disaster.
Dave
5 - Arch Conservative
Hey Glenn it's 7:52 pm....do you know where your messiahs poll numbers are?
6 - Glenn Contrarian
Dave -
Is it just me or are you - since you do have sense - now at least to some extent support the idea of UHC?
Speaking of the horrors of 'Socialized Medicine', here's what the leading lights of conservatism said about Medicare:
Ronald Reagan: “[I]f you don’t [stop Medicare] and I don’t do it, one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it once was like in America when men were free.” [1961]
George H.W. Bush: Described Medicare in 1964 as “socialized medicine.” [1964]
Barry Goldwater: “Having given our pensioners their medical care in kind, why not food baskets, why not public housing accommodations, why not vacation resorts, why not a ration of cigarettes for those who smoke and of beer for those who drink.” [1964]
Bob Dole: In 1996, while running for the Presidency, Dole openly bragged that he was one of 12 House members who voted against creating Medicare in 1965. “I was there, fighting the fight, voting against Medicare . . . because we knew it wouldn’t work in 1965.” [1965]
Yeah, Medicare's terrible in the eyes of conservatives. But you know what? If it hadn't been for Medicare, I would've gone bankrupt trying to pay for my mother's medical bills for the past two decades...and which would have cost the taxpayers more? Her medical bills? Or my bankruptcy? I'll make it easy for you - my bankruptcy would have cost FAR more.
Dave, you and I battled back and forth for months on UHC...and now since the Democrats were weak enough to actually reach across the table and try for bipartisanship (which the Republicans NEVER did during their majority time during the Bush 43 years), you might get your wish - something OTHER than what Obama's original plan was (which was single-payer health care IIRC), and something OTHER than a robust public option. That's what we Dems get for trying to work WITH the Republicans, even though they weren't American enough to try to work with us.
Be careful what you ask for, Dave, 'cause sometimes that's just what you get.
7 - Glenn Contrarian
Arch -
Obama's poll numbers are just under double those of Bush last year.
So what's your point?
8 - Glenn Contrarian
And btw, Arch -
Do you consider yourself a Christian? Yes or no? Or do you refuse to answer, thereby (if you believe yourself to be Christian) committing the sin of hiding your light under a basket?
If you do consider yourself a Christian, and IF you take your faith seriously, then you know how offensive it is for a guy to call someone other than Jesus your 'messiah'...and if you're a Christian, it is a sin for you to call ANYone other than Jesus a 'messiah' in any context.
FYI, I am a strong Christian. Jesus is my Messiah, my Savior. Do NOT ridicule my beliefs. If you'll remember, in America we RESPECT the religious beliefs of others...even if we disagree with those beliefs.
9 - Clavos
Or do you refuse to answer, thereby...committing the sin of hiding your light under a basket?
WTF???
Is that the eighth deadly "sin?"
Is it greater or less than Greed? Gluttony? Anger? Pride?
You've reached a new pinnacle with that one, Glenn.
10 - Clavos
But you're right about calling him the Messiah.
Pariah is more appropriate.
11 - El Bicho
"do you know where your messiahs poll numbers are?"
I am guessing better than Baldwin's. Regardless, they are meaningless since no is voting on Obama for a while now
12 - Glenn Contrarian
Clavos -
Mat 5:14 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden;
Mat 5:15 "nor does {anyone} light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
Mat 5:16 "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven."
Clavos, I'm not sure of your personal beliefs, but I believe that if Jesus said to do something, then that is a command, and to not follow His command is a sin, as the next verse makes clear:
Luke 6:46 "Why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?
13 - Irene Wagner
I've just committed the sin of holding my dang peace for once. Off to another thread...
14 - Irene Wagner
Job 13:5
15 - Clavos
Ah, so it's a sin by your definition, then.
I don't have any personal beliefs, I'm an atheist, Glenn.
16 - Irene Wagner
But I will hold forth on matters lexiconical. It is a sin for you to call ANYone other than Jesus a 'messiah' in any context.
NOT according to Webster's Ninth New Collegiate dictionary, almost as old and uncorrupted by time as the beloved King James version, and I quote: "messiah. definition 2: a professed or accepted leader of some hope or cause.
Look, Glenn Contrarian, I know I frequently cross the line of propriety on here, but it's because my fingers have totally different standards from my mouth. That being said, I love Jesus very much, heck, *I EVEN THINK HE'S GOD, SO THERE*, and people used to say that I thought Ron Paul was a messiah, and I didn't think anything of it.
Unless they were Republican Evangelical Christians, of course--and Glenn, with regard to our opinions of them, I suppose, we could find a good deal of common ground, politically speaking.
17 - Glenn Contrarian
Clavos -
I cannot define something as a sin - for Christians, the definitions of sin are in the Bible.
I can understand your atheism - I was agnostic for a long time and came very close to being such a long time ago, until something was shown to me that I didn't expect, that I really would not have thought possible - a fulfilled prophecy that I could verify for myself.
Irene -
In the Church of which I'm a member, we do not believe that Jesus is God, not at all. We believe that He is only a Man - the very Son of God, but still only a Man. Only God is God. Not Jesus, and not the Holy Spirit, but God Alone.
Our belief is heretical in the eyes of mainstream 'Christianity', but then most of mainstream 'Christianity' does not truly know the roots of trinitarianism. To make a long story short, as far as I've been able to find, every nation and culture from the Indus to the western Mediterranean worshiped a trinity of one sort or another - every nation or culture, that is, except the Hebrews. There's so much more to learn, but I'll leave it at that.
18 - handyguy
I've noticed that the comments on Jacobine's articles are more interesting than the [usually useless] articles themselves.
This thread is getting way too theological for me [above my pay grade?], but it is somewhat entertaining.
I do take umbrage at the fact that those of us who admire the president are accused of 'worshiping' him.
We are certainly relieved to have a change of attitude and direction in the White House, but there are very few of us who agree with everything Obama does and says. But when we do agree and we say so, it's treated as some sort of intellectual shortcoming to be mocked and spat upon.
When obviously he's the smartest guy to hold the office in ... at least 8 years. [And the most articulate in probably...46 years or so.]
19 - Irene Wagner
But that's just IT Glenn Contrarian!!! Every nation or culture is SHOT through with the trinity. It's either the whole world corrupted the ancient religion of Noah and Enoch and Methuselah the Priest of Melchizedek...or there are remnants of truth retained even in the remote folk cultures. He hath not left himself without a witness. Math and nature is shot through with "threeness", pi, the natural exponential constant...both almost 3 you know, and when you throw them both into Euler's Identity, look what happens! The rule of thirds in proportion is three-based. And the Old Testament, too...there is such a lot more to learn, for BOTH of us Glenn. That's what makes the spiritual life so wonderful, surprises are just around the corner every day!
There's a lot for EVERYONE to learn, Glenn. God isn't just about the number Three. He's about Love, and a Godhead that has managed to live in perfect unity of purpose forever, with the aim of shepherding a creative creation to discover and grow into that kind of unity, not to have it superimposed. I know how Mormons interpret John 17. Some of my best friends are...yada yada. I think they're half-way there with John 17, they think I'm half-way there with John 17. So, we're both at least half-way there, agreed?
Not everyone is at the same spot. Be patient with people, for we ALL have things to learn.
Now, go pick the wife some roses. :)
20 - Irene Wagner
I am going to *hangs head in shame* read Kenn Jacobine's article, now, Handyguy. Be nice. I like his articles.
21 - Clavos
Glenn,
You say:
I cannot define something as a sin - for Christians, the definitions of sin are in the Bible.
But, prior to that, you said:
...I believe that if Jesus said to do something, then that is a command, and to not follow His command is a sin...
Which is why I said:
Ah, so it's a sin by your definition, then.
You're contradicting yourself, Glenn.
22 - roger nowosielski
Admiration is a form of worship.
23 - handyguy
Not you too, Roger.
We can be strong supporters of the man and still find calling him, mockingly, a messiah to be inappropriate, even apart from religious scruples, which I don't have.
It is a great relief to feel good about [some parts of] the government after finding it a source of disgust for so long.
And I understand that some of our colleagues on here are in the opposite situation, finding big government programs and wealth-sharing rhetoric alarming and/or distasteful.
Still, I object to the nasty tone of some of the mockery. [Good natured it ain't.] I certainly don't expect it to stop, however.
24 - roger nowosielski
I don't disagree with any of your tenor, Handy; still, admiration is a rather strong word; it does connote a special relationship, of love, and things of that sort. So all I'm saying, one's got to thread carefully here.
25 - Baronius
I can't agree with much of anything so far on this thread:
The idea of a trinity is unique to Christianity. Finding it in other religions is like following the story line on Lost; you see it because you're looking for it, not because it's there.
To a Christian, failing to acknowledge Jesus is a sin.
There's nothing idolatrous about admiring people.