dayman

5-1 ratio in 1960...3 to 1 now...by 2025 2.3 to 1 paying into SS. But at any rate SS itsn't !@#$ed it has a cash flow problem they need to navigate for about 30 years. The millennials are more populous they'll bail us out when they get in the work force and by the then some of the boomers will be dying. The cap hasn't gone up the same rate as wages above the cap have increased so we can bump that from 106K to 190K by 2020, we can raise the retirement age to about 69 b/c lets be honest people just live way to long now (when SS was first enacted people typically lived about to the age of it...not way past it), and reducing the role of automatic benefit increases. There are also other ideas how to get it running more smoothly over the next 30 years...but the bottom line is tweak it as it can be tweaked don't privatize it...imagine if Bush privatized it before '08 jesus. Social security can be managed and it's a great program as is, my take. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/post/social-security-and-its-role-in-the-nations-debt/2011/07/11/gIQAp1Wl9H_blog.html http://www.brookings.edu/views/papers/orszag/200504security.pdf With medicare the problem is obviously costs and while people knock Obamacare for not controlling them enough as I say over and over and over it really does start things off on a road to medicare reform that will help to control costs. In any event since 1970 medicare spending per person has increased 400%, while private insurance 700%. So while it hasn't been doing a great job, it's certainly been doing better than private insurance. Privatization would either lead to more overall health spending or less coverage and its consequences and it will give up the leverage medicare program has as the largest spender to spur the pay structure reform which is the key component to actually reducing medical costs. You see this is the future, and it's hard to "score" but it's the only answer. Easy to score is the surface level appeal of the Ryan plan compared to current medicare trends, hard to score is actual medicare reform that will and must happen and the effect it will have as private insurance follow it's lead in paying for outcomes and standardizing best practices. And in any event in scoring the Ryan plan it overlooks the fact that teh strain on teh federal budget is big but the strain on the US economy is even bigger and strange as it sound medicare is saving us money...if we throw future seniors out in to the market w/ a voucher we'll just see a rise in overall healthcare spending it will consume more of our GDP, costs won't be controlled as aggressively as they could be and people will be scratching their heads wondering why this wizardry CBO "scoring" wasn't the best thing to do in hindsight....by people I mean Paul Ryan. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/13/opinion/13krugman.html

Why would this guy use a fake name to write the book and then just have his real name all over Fox News?

Agree. Todd's Uncle gona whack them all. This + new meth deal w/ new guys + jessie + hank + wifey....all going to ultimatley bring Walt down next year. Or try. I think it's setting itself up to literally be scareface. But they may go a twist since it's becoming so obvious. Hard to tell but they really are leaving no redemption and no way out so I wouldn't be shocked if everyone goes down but Walt. IMO Walt Jr. kills himself in a car crash speeding w/ Walt's gift, Skyler cracks completely and does something to take Walt down telling Hank...Hank somehow breaks law to go after him while torn and unsure wtf is going on...Jessie does something stupid...the new meth people Walt is w/ get involved and chaos ensues and like usual Walt is the only man to come out of the cluster !@#$ alive and well. Like I said smart money on obvious scareface ending...but I'm going chaos comes and in the end Walt walks away last man standing....like only Walt can...which is why we still love him.

Fox news loves to bash all media. And I get it...don't get me wrong. I don't disagree most media leans left...I disagree they "are" left. Certainly MSNBC is basically pathetic (I do admit I sometimes watch it) but there are a lot of pathetic shows on Fox as well. And yes the times is the biggest print outlet and they lean left clearly. But Ye who cast stones etc...all in all though...I'm not a huge CNN hater. If I were a true blue total conservative and it permeated my very being and I identified with political leanings as a person...yes I would find it unbearable b/c it sucks. And yes btw...it has sucked at various points in time (Obamacare decision was pathetic). But all in all, I would take CNN over Fox and MSNBC easily...easily...in any event I shamelessly watch CSPAN pretty often and the truth is CSPAN is pretty good. Aside from CSPAN I admit I watch Fox news a lot along w/ CNN...I probably watch Fox News as much as CNN and as much as anything....if I removed O'Reilly it would be different but I tivo that and watch it most nights...I don't know why it just goes on. In any event if you do the rounds of meet the press, face the nation, and GPS w/ Fareed you are good to go once a week and can do as you please w/ dirty pleasures in daily cable. Along w/ reading some various articles online of course.

OP is right that it's stupid. Just not right that it's odd.

I swear I'm "one of those" on this board and I get my MSNBC news from you guys. I really think there's something to this media war....here I am watching cspan in the afternoon and fox news all night for the GOP convention and hearing about PBS and MSNBC from you guys...hehe...funny. Then again I probably will watch CNN for the Dems in prime time and maybe I'll hear about some fox news points from you guys. Interesting.

Spoiler alert: tomorrows polls changed! This matters!

Fox news analysis praising Christie speech delivery...saying he is a figure that could bring out "Reagan democrats" in future elections. High praise.

Other speech chilling speech...people not wanting to take public responsibility for their public remarks...not a problem as I see it. Freedom of speech is freedom of speech. Not freedom from adverse reaction to your speech.

And for the record there are a number of different ideas I've thought about that I've heard on this issue..many of which I support that are contradictory but all improvements in their own right. Yours from the brief bit I gather doesn't sound unappealing. Neither do a bunch of other ideas some of which go against what I've said above as...improvements. But ultimately...everyone say whatever they want and put their name on it...that's the solution I favor. That's where the law comes in...they shouldn't be at the door step and they don't have to be if local laws are written and applied well. But if you are saying in the sense of the proverbial "doorstep"...well...no. No problems. Anyone says something, say it and take what comes and hopefully continue saying it despite public pressure for whatever group doesn't like it. Nazi's march. Union busters, try and bust. Unions, try and bust the busters. This is America.

I honestly believe that the more speech the better but you should catch any and all hell you have coming to you if you speak. If you say something that some people don't like...then you catch hell from those people who don't like it. And you can say anything you want.

How can he live with himself? IDK...but did you just start this topic saying night and day difference trying to spark discussion about....wives...

Three Doors Down now? Well...I'm sure Dems will have JayZ or something hehe...if I go crazy then will you still call me superman? Solid speech. Nothing amazing, everything good. He won't ride that to a future nomination but it can't hurt him.

The more speech the better. The more information the better. I really don't see us as a nation of whack jobs out to kill political contributors.

LOL c'mon Ann is fine the point is nobody should be talking about any of these wives like this

LOL there both great strong women in their own respects I'm sorry you hate Michelle for some reason. Both lovely wives...both irrelevant

...so you saw moneyball eh?

Haha, bipartisan no wives bill passed on the PPP. Ann was lovely, no issues with her...but c'mon man they're obviously "behind their husband" no need to force each one to prove it publicly. Anyway, main event...Chris "the steak" Christie on next Chris...I know you are a NJ republican but...Mitt is from Mass and he's giving more than the keynote....he's got ya beat

lol 3rd moved by Ann Romney? You care about politicians wives? (btw Ann is perfectly lovely I got no issues just saying)

All politicians should get together and say "wives don't have to do this"... not that this is bad but wives should be allowed to do nothing including once they get to the white house.

Santorum channeling his inner Biden here " I SHOOK the HAND...weathered HANDS of farmers"

Hope you saw the post in time to hear your idol Cantor speak hehe Santorum on stage now hehe...love to see it

If it's something that really bothers you...you can: http://www.baqi.tv/2011/10/watch-fox-news-live/ And speak of the devil...Cantor himself on right now

It's the opinion of a lot of people...macro economic advisers, moddy's economy.com, IHS global insight, JP morgan chase and goldman sachs, the CBO itself...you prove it didn't. In any event though we can just pick up stimulus after lunch tomorrow let's get in the convention topic and talk about today.

Welcome to future. Enjoy it, even though you didn't build it. Thank Al Gore and go about your day hehe