When Entitlements are Not

So Ronna McDaniel gets vilified by every one of the other NBC employees, who publically accused her of criminality. At what point does that become a hostile workplace meriting judicial intervention?

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The opponents of capitalism are generally not moved by liberal arguments about freedom and choice, the existence of which they reject as illusory or irrelevant. The opponents of capitalism depend on a mutually reinforcing battery of facts, theories, and values that cannot be disturbed by contrary evidence, and are not susceptible to rational argument. It is a prime mistake of the liberal, therefore, to imagine that he can win the debate about “capitalism versus socialism” by the normal academic game of proving or disproving according to rules and logic.--Hartwell

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A Morning Consult survey of 6,018 registered voters conducted between March 29 and 31 put Biden in the lead with 44 percent of the vote, ahead of Trump with 42 percent and all other named candidates combined getting 8 percent. 44% of Americans prefer more of the same.

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St. Ivany averaged 16:08 minutes of ice time over the last three games.

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When Entitlements are Not

In 2033, according to the latest projections, Social Security's trust fund "will become depleted," and "continuing program income will be sufficient to pay 77 percent of scheduled benefits." Two years before then, Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund "will be sufficient to pay 89 percent of total scheduled benefits."

(Peter G. Peterson Foundation)

The programs' trustees note that "lawmakers have many options for changes that would reduce or eliminate the long-term financing shortfalls." But Trump and Biden have ruled out nearly all of them because they don't know which promises to break.

It will be said that the problem with the entire system is that working people paying into the system are beginning to shrink and those taking out--retired and elderly--are growing. But the real problem is much more pointed: there is an unbridled eagerness for the government to follow what sounds like good ideas but are philosophically and/or economically self-destructive. The triumph of the immediate over the long term.

Last week, when the Republican Study Committee suggested gradually raising the minimum age for full Social Security benefits from 67 to 69, the White House immediately condemned that modest proposal. So the decision on managing this inevitable problem will be delayed... and put off... and tabled... until there is no choice but to act. 

Then those who created the problem will be seen as problem-solvers.