AMERICA IS DYING AND DON'T KNOW IT YET

By Evelio Perez

If I had the money I would like to give my wife and kids a life of leisure and wealth with a big house and a big yard with a gigantic pool, I would also love a big boat and a few nice cars, I can't afford it, but what the heck, I'll just charge it on my credit card.
The temptation will always be there with those darned credit cards, what ever we want we get and this is where our problem lies.

What happens if you reach your credit limit and can't borrow anymore?
What happens if you lose your job and can't pay what you owe?
The simple answer is that if we can't pay our bills, eventually we will go broke.

 We need to act like responsible adults and make the mature decision to live within our means and not spend more than you make, it's that simple....

But NOOOOO!!!!!  Not our federal government!  Our current budget deficit and National debt have very serious problems with devastating consequences that are just around the corner. We need to address this now or face an irreversible disaster.  This is no longer about politics of whether you are a Liberal, Moderate or a Conservative, this is about our survival as a nation and our precious way of life. We need to address the national debt head on or we are surely doomed to lose everything that we hold so dear.

 Sometimes I wonder if there was ever any serious plan to balance the budget, both parties are responsible for this great boondoggle that we are in and must share in that responsibility of criminal mismanagement and neglect.

There should be no sacred cows, all government agencies have to face the test and show that they are indispensable, all of them!

 Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are the main reasons for our ballooning debt, 41% of our National budget goes for these promises made to our seniors and for these programs to survive we must reform these massive entitlements or programs or face very brutal consequences later on.

Social Security:

20 percent of the budget, or $708 billion, will pay for Social Security, which provided retirement benefits averaging $1,117 per month to 36 million retired workers (and their eligible dependents) 

Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP:

Three health insurance programs — Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) — together accounted for 21 percent of the budget in 2010, or $753 billion.

 How do we plan on funding benefits for the Baby Boomers who are now beginning to retire?

There have been some ideas in regard to funding the future retirees and somewhere down the line we must change the present system in order to keep it afloat.
1) If you are rich (a millionaire) sorry, this is a national emergency.... you don't get any social security benefits, including Medicaid or Medicare.
2) Some are suggesting  to raise the retirement age from age 62 to 67, Mitt Romney suggests seniors 65 and over that would like to continue to work would pay no F.I.C.A. taxes making it attractive for the elderly to continue to work if they desired.

3) Rep.Paul Ryan (R) would guarantee current levels of benefits for people ages 55 and over, but would change the rules for those younger than 55. They would funnel their Social Security money into a fund managed and guaranteed by the federal government. He also proposes tax credits to allow families to purchase insurance, and vouchers that would replace the current Medicare system.

4) We have a moral responsibility as a nation to repay all that will not reap the benefits and that have put their hard earned moneys into Social Security so we should put these owed funds into each individuals safe private retirement account (guaranteed by the U.S. government) insuring a retirement nest of some kind.

We have to not only cut the untouchable big three but we have to cut everywhere else including the un-monitored and sacred defense budget, we have no other choice. We could still have the best military in the world without having the blank check of overspending our precious money with billion dollar projects that simply do not work and it is time that we start dealing with it.

 There are many other things we should and could do besides reforming Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, we should try to stimulate the economy by lowering taxes on the businesses that create the jobs,  we must not raise taxes on anyone, including the rich (this would hurt job growth) during a recession, one of the other things that we must do is to close all loopholes that allows the many schemers and corporations that take advantage of the system and make them pay their fair share like the rest of us.

Did you know that General Electric paid no taxes?

Entitlements (pork) and the uncontrolled access to our  money's are going to have to be a big part of  the ultimate solution and like it or not we must deal with it, no more bridges to nowhere and please, no more $400.00  hammers!

The plan to save our country must be drastic and sometimes even painful because we have run out of time and options, because of this massive debt and the eventual day that China stops lending us any more money, our bonds then will  finally become unattractive to the foreign investor thus causing the value of our our dollar to drop so much that it becomes almost worthless, wiping away life savings of the majority of people in this country.

 Folks, we will not be able to print ourselves out of this mess anymore, our food prices and many commodities are at an alarming inflammatory rise which will dramatically drown us in a spiraling economic decline with many un-suspecting people having NO clue that they are about to face an inevitable and fatal disaster.
The question is and should be, do our leaders have the will and the vision to do the unpopular and do what is necessary to save America?
Beware America,  WE HAVE A "CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER"...............