No. Not at all.

The principal drivers of the deficit are Medicare and Social Security. These programs need some attention.

Rep. Ryan has submitted an idea (almost a year ago) that would have addressed the former. I believe the latter needs addressing also.

Rep. Ryan's plan would not affect anyone under the age of 55; which is as it should be, in my opinion.

But members of Generation X and Generation Y, for the most part, don't believe these programs will be around, at all, when they are ready to retire. So some reforming of them would amount to a bonus for those who are neither already retired nor nearing retirement.

Does that not make sense to you?

Medicare maybe but Social Security is not paid for out of taxes but out of Social Security receipts.
Medicare is on the table' so is welfare, so is war money.

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"You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life."

Surely you do not really believe this!

Social Security funds have been raided, and comingled with general funds, for decades now. There is no such thing as a carefully sequestered account, into which Social Security receipts flow, apart from the general fund.

Politicians from both sides of the aisle have been guilty of blurring the real distinction between the two, for a very long time now.

The so-called "Trust Fund" for Social Security is now replete with IOUs--for whatever that is worth...

You know whats funny? In the last ten years, about the same amount that's been 'borrowed' from Social Security is around the same amount of money that the Bush tax cuts for the rich have cost us.

Yes, folks, Social Security has been funding tax cuts for the rich. Only Congress can get away with creating a Ponzi scheme to cover up embezzlement.

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"I used to be a conservative and I watch these debates and I'm wondering, I don't think I've changed, but it's a little troubling sometimes when people are appealing to people's fears and emotion rather than trying to get them to look over the horizon for a broader perspective and that's kind of where we are."

Yeah I do believe it and none of the azzholes up there have admitted it has been raided they just let us all assume that. I have a hunch there is money there and that's one reason some want to get rid of it so they can pocket the rest. Regardless though the money was put there. It does not come under the tax at all.

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"You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life."

Some people would like us to think there is a deficit in Social Security that is being paid out of the current budget. Nothing could be further from the truth. Congress is and has been paying back money it has borrowed SS.

Furthermore, Social Security is perfect to 2037 and if we Scrap the Cap it would be so forever...period.

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"I used to be a conservative and I watch these debates and I'm wondering, I don't think I've changed, but it's a little troubling sometimes when people are appealing to people's fears and emotion rather than trying to get them to look over the horizon for a broader perspective and that's kind of where we are."

Ya know, can we talk? as Joan Rivers used to say
I can understand (after years of denial) just how putridly selfish and greedy some are, but what slays me is the well meaning conservatives who believe all the tripe the party is feeding them now and for the past few years. I know they genuinely love conservative values, but they fail to see there are folks LYING to them and twisting the church strings or anything else to get them to believe what is bad for them is good and vice versa.
whew thanks for the vent.

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"You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life."

Would you care to back up that assertion, please? (Preferably, with a bit more than some left-wing blogger's similar assertion; actual evidence would be nice...)

The word, "perfect," is highly misleading.

Social Security is already beginning to pay out more, each year, than it takes in. Even the left-leaning New York Times acknowledges this: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/bu.../25social.html

Two years ago, it noted: "This year [2010], the system will pay out more in benefits than it receives in payroll taxes, an important threshold it was not expected to cross until at least 2016, according to the Congressional Budget Office."

What "lying" do you have in mind?

nobody in the military is getting their benefits cut. contrast that with gm employees. auto industry labor knew they had to face cuts, or lose a job. they did so.
active duty military will not see premium increases. a (retired)family of four will pay $2400/year for full bennies, and the problem is, what exactly?