War on Youth

A New Year’s Resolution For Our Youth
The View from the Middle

I would like to suggest a New Year’s resolution for the youth in our country, and that is to build their awareness of what is happening in our world today. I know it is tempting for our 18 to 39 year olds to plow through life with their heads down as I did back in the 70’s. I was indestructible. I was busy working, raising a family and just enjoying life.
But I was the product of “The Greatest Generation” as described by Tom Brokaw in his wonderful book of the same name. That unselfish generation sacrificed for their children (me) by fighting the Second World War, by working hard and saving and by building an America that was better for me than it was for them.
However, that great generation seems to have spawned America’s most selfish generation, which is now in Washington running our country into the ground. This generation (my generation!) is making decisions today that will profoundly impact your lives and it is not doing it with you in mind. Let me give you three examples.
First, our leaders in Washington are spending money like there is no tomorrow, and there may not be if things don’t change. Our debt, which will become your debt, has just topped 17 trillion dollars, and our President hardly talks about it. He now says that “closing the wealth gap” is more important than our debt and deficits!
While I believe that he should be working to close that gap, why would the government have to spend any of your money to accomplish this? Unfortunately, our current administration seems to believe that government spending is the solution to every problem. But you must realize that every dollar we borrow will be passed on to you for servicing or payback. WE are avoiding our responsibilities at your expense.
The second example is Social Security. In 1950 there were 16 people contributing to Social Security for every one beneficiary. Today that ratio is down to 3 to 1, and in just 17 years it will be down to 2 to 1. For years SS was bringing in more money to the government than it was paying out, and what was our government doing with that money? Spending it, of course. In the last three years, however, SS has paid out more than it took in. It is already in the red!
This, however, is just a foreshadowing of worse things to come. Social Security is projected to become insolvent in just 20 years. That means that if you are even in your 40’s, SS will NOT be there for you. So, if you hear politicians say that SS is “just fine”, that means it is just fine for them, not you.
And now we have Obamacare. The President and congress have made this program sound like the greatest thing since sliced bread. We are going to insure millions more people, cover pre-existing conditions, eliminate life time benefit limits and allow children to stay on their parents’ plans until they are 26. That sounds great, but I’m sure you’ve you heard the old adage that “there is no such thing as a free lunch”? Guess who is paying for all of this – you are!
Obamacare is all about transferring money, payments, wealth (whatever) from one group to another, and you are the major target. In fact, you are the KEY to this whole thing working. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) must get young and healthy people (you) to pay for older and sicker people (me). Just go onto the healthcare.gov site and take a look for yourself. Your premium costs and deductibles will take your breath away, while it’s doing the same to your money.
The point is, you literally can’t afford to ignore what is going on in Washington today. Your lives are being mortgaged by the “me” generation simply because our representatives in Washington refuse to make tough choices today. You need to use your influence, even if that is just your vote, to save your future.
You need representation in Washington that supports a balanced budget today, not in 30, 40 or 50 years. You need people who are willing to reform entitlements today so that they will still be there for you when you need them. Finally, you need Obamacare to go away. You need no-nonsense solutions like tort reform, selling insurance across state lines and Health Saving Accounts (HSA’s) to bring down health care costs without sticking you with the bill.