Curmudgeon's Corner

For All The Posturing...

Posted by Al Campbell on Sept. 20, 2011

U.S., Political, Quality of Life

For all the posturing over this issue, Medicare is still a very real problem and will be on top of us before we realize.

Medicare is a favorite target of those who believe it needs to be changed if it is to be made to continue for generations to come.  It is also a favorite target for those who would demagogue and work to frighten people into a political position of support for a particular party.

Medicare is the fabled “third track of politics” and to touch that track is akin to a political death wish.  Yet, both sides continue to posture on the issue.

The reality is that it is a “pay as you go” program and almost always was since Congress can’t ignore all that money flowing in to be used on other favorite programs.  Pay as you go might also be referred to as a scheme that causes the present and future generations to carry upon their backs the people who have gone before them.

We are in the midst of the “high political season” and can expect nothing much will happen other than for a lot of talk from both sides of the issue.  There must come a time very, very soon when the adults take over and solutions to the problem begin to be debated in earnest.

I have little doubt that this problem can be fixed, but I do have serious doubts as to whether or not the actual process will be begun on a timely basis and whether or not the demagoguery can be set aside.  Politics is, as a book title said, a “Blood Sport”.