About Us

On 11 Feb 2005 14:47:10 -0800, wrote:

JohnH wrote:

I can't disagree with that. The Army now is getting their hearing aids
through
the Veteran's Administration. The Army is not allowed to negotiate with
the
companies, but the VA is.

I don't know if the same is true of drugs, but it was kind of
interesting. A
doctor at Walter Reed told me this last week.

**********

Good lord, John. We agree on something? One of us needs to see a
doctor, right away. :-)

The Medicare reform gives one pause to consider the next target, Social
Security.
Here's the "person of foreign parentage" hiding in the woodpile with
the proposed Social Security "reform": If under the Bush plan, where
the money diverted from private accounts
can only go to a "limited group of securities", won't the enterprises
represented by those securities see their stock prices shoot over the
moon?

Who will pick which lucky companies the billions of diverted dollars a
year will be buying up?
Who will make multiple millions merely by knowing, in advance, which
securities will be "approved"?

Why can't we reform a system without creating a windfall for one
special interest group or another? Reformed shouldn't really mean
"reshaped" into a funnel, with a campaign booster's
open wallet at the bottom. I'm sure plenty of previous presidents from
both parties have done the same thing, but it was and remains wrong.

The Social Security issue is not the Medicare issue. Unions, teachers
organizations, many, many state retiree systems, and the Federal Government have
been using various fund investments for their retirement systems. My wife has
used the Thrift Savings Plan for years.

The teachers here do not pay into SS. They pay into a retirement fund that gives
them a *much* better return than SS could hope to.

If the system allows for voluntary contributions of 3%, no one stands to lose
much. If the funds selected lose money, the voluntary contributions can be
stopped.

John H

On the 'PocoLoco' out of Deale, MD,
on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay!

"Divide each difficulty into as many parts as is feasible and necessary to resolve it."
Rene Descartes

Thread Tools	Search this Thread
Show Printable Version	Search this Thread: Advanced Search
Display Modes
Switch to Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
21st Century E-Commerce Money Making Formula	NeoOne	General	0	January 3rd 05 11:57 PM
MONEY	j-mitch	General	0	August 15th 03 07:07 PM
MONEY	j-mitch	General	0	August 15th 03 07:07 PM

Menu

About Us