Let’s get the obvious out of the way: Social Security and Medicare were and are impressively foolish ideas. That Americans desire comfortable retirement that includes healthcare is all the evidence we need that the federal government as provider of both was superfluous. If there’s a market for something, market-disciplined private sector players will offer it.
To then pretend that the federal government filled a market void with the rollout of Social Security and Medicare amounts to willful blindness. And for those who say government can provide what we all want at a price point that meets the needs of those with the least, please stop right there. The private sector has made once impossible-to-attain automobiles, air conditioners, air travel, and smartphones available to everyone, while the federal government has spent trillions on retirement and medical plans that, as evidenced by how many of us seek retirement and medical services outside of Social Security and Medicare, can’t come anywhere close to fulfilling their mandates.
Having said all that, the popular notion of “entitlement reform” that has been endlessly bruited by the “responsible” and “prudent” in our midst for decades might be as dumb as the programs these self-regarding policy “wonks” aim to shrink. Actually dumber. Please read on.
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