40 years is indeed optimistic!
I think things are already failing, right before our very eyes!
A couple years with more natural disasters, bad weather, hurricanes, tornadoes, quakes and so on, and there won't be any aid available.
I don't have any problem with aid to legal Americans...
it is the money we send other nations that I think is harmful.
We go to war with a country, then send them millions, billions or more to rebuild! What is that all about?
Remember, Social Security is something we all paid into, and in most cases deserve to get legitimate aid in return for the money we paid in, over the years we worked. Social Security is NOT a tax!
(I have no problem at all with legitimate claims for Social Security, but have no respect for the lazy, low-life leaches, those who never bothered to work more than a few years, then hurt themselves doing something reckless & ignorant, or made other claims for not being able to work... running out to collect disability as soon as they could... or found some other way [like having a few kids you couldn't afford] to fleece the system for a free ride.
Social Security was NOT designed so people could sit around and make excuses for being lazy & leaching off the hard work of others.
But many people paid into it thru a lifetime of working, and I have no problem with their using it when actually needed. As I said, Social Security payments are NOT a tax, but it is a system that has been abused!
IMO, senior citizens are not the problem, for [the legitimate] they paid into S.S. & working until retirement age, deserve what they get. And as for [the legitimate] on welfare, I would include those who possibly lost their homes in a recent hurricane, flood, earthquake, or who lost their job & couldn't find another in this economy. But I do expect them to not give up, but to keep trying. Welfare is not meant to be a way of life, but an opportunity for some people to get back on their feet & walk again!
But NOT legitimate again, are the people who are too freakin' lazy to work, who expet others to pay for it when they pump out a few kids (especially more than once!) who can't afford it, or live life foolishly, recklessly hurt themselves, foolishly throw their money away, or in general are just plain lazy & stupid. I do NOT think they should be collecting a dime from anyone.
But even with these issues the government faces, I believe you take care of your own family & house first, before you start helping others out. Feed your own children before you feed the neighbors.
If we can afford to send millions & billions to other nations, and yet not have enough money to take care of our own nation, then something is seriously wrong! To raise taxes & increase the burden on workers in our own country, only to give that money to foreign countries is just not right! (Most people in other countries hate Americans anyway, so why are we paying them? DO you think we will see any aid from anyone when we get hit with a disaster?) Indeed something is seriously wrong! To me it is the person making the decision to send the money there & not keeping it here, where it is needed!
On a side note, It amazes me that in previous generations our country & its people could build up this nation, its infrastructure, a strong economy, and to make this nation one of the most powerful on the planet. Yet a few generations later, in a short number of years... we have run it into the ground!
Here we once lived in a country where we were told to not ask what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country! But now, in this day & age, we seem to have a majority of "self deserving" people, who feel they deserve things without having to work (or fight) for them.
(Did I mention the self-centered low-life types who feel they deserve to have a free ride while other people have to work to support them? Talk about the height of self-deserving! First they freeload off mom & dad, or their grandparents, then they move on to the government & taxpayers.)
We let people come into this country & immediately find out what they can get for free from our government programs.
But again, aside from the abuse we suffer from within, our politicians make deals & hence get into giving grants & spending money recklessly. We have allowed our government to run free-handed-ly, with little or no checks and bounds. They operate as an entity separate from the rest of us. We are not governed by the people & for the people any longer.
We were able to build a great nation with what taxes we had, and to create new ones & ways to tax people is NOT the solution! You patch the holes in a bucket BEFORE pouring more water in it! MORE water ($taxes) is NOT the answer!
Thanks AV, for I could certainly enjoy writing a few of the "elite" my thoughts! Not that anyone will even read any of it. The government stopped listening to logic years ago. (Even in our local politics, when faced with logic & reason, we found they had "another & hidden" agenda, and couldn't care less about anyone's opinion. If it didn't benefit them (themselves), they had no interest.
Why do you think they call it politics!
Keep in mind, other civilizations near as great as our own, have risen & fallen also. History is full of them. To think it can't happen to us, here & now (or soon) it totally foolish, ignorant & arrogant. Wake up kiddies... the writing is on the wall!
Good luck all! You're gonna need it!
(Okay AV, I am done blabbing to a bunch of plant growers... time to go talk to the man himself! Oh yea, if I disappear without a trace some day, at least you will know why!)