Maybe he's talking about the things that they buy. I think Haz posted a thread on that recently. Lots of waste.

Napolitano has discussed that before. He is very against corporatism.

Sounds like you can't make decisions for yourself and need someone to make them for you.

I know exactly what I like & want. Never an issue.

Half way home.

They likened the passing of this to medicare and social security two failed and bankrupt programs. Now there is another government program for people to be dependent on(assuming it passes the senate).

In a way I hope it does pass along with the cap and tax bill. The sooner we can get to the collapse and rebuild the better. But things can always get worse too.

I won't make assumptions about how knowledgeable you are about some things, so I will state the following for anyone who might not know:

Social security and medicare had their genesis in the fact that under our great capitalist system, masses of people, most who had worked their whole lives and never had spendthrift ways, were unable to put aside enough money to survive with minimum comfort when their bodies were too aged and ill to work anymore. Further, in addition to struggling not to starve or live on the streets, they lacked the means to access medical care at the time the majority needed it the most. Previous generations found it shameful to see the elderly salt of the earth who had done their share to be productive citizens when they could living and dying in destitution. A system was put in place to help shield people against such an end. It isn't charity, as we all contribute from our pay over the course of our working lives.

These programs may have their flaws -- and I don't know a single institution, public or private that doesn't- but many decades later they still serve that purpose. Some are "dependent"; for some the money is gravy on top of what they already have, but those tend to be the few very high earners. I find complaints of people being dependent on medicare especially stunning, at a time when there isn't a person with ears alive in this country who doesn't know that insurance companies don't voluntarily touch anyone with a meaningful medical issue (and many people with only minor issues) or at high risk for one, which is just about 99% of people eligble for medicare. Also, medicare isn't free. To some at least. People pay "premiums" and a myriad of fees just like they do with private insurance policies. The life one can afford subsisting only on these programs isn't pretty.

What would you rather see instead? Old people starving in tents on the streets? We already have plenty of that. I am frankly worried about what the future portends as it is, as the waves of people whose pensions were gutted by modern day robber barons at the head of corporations enter retirement and struggle to make it on the crumbs left for them through the PBGC. Not to mention those coming age in the 401K only era, for whom any kind of pension is an utter fantasy. The fairly young should beware as well, as it is now impossible for most people who pursue college or advanced degrees not to graduate with 30 years of debt from that as well.

How can people save adequately for their sunset years when under our existing system a lifetime of gain and ownership of a home can be wiped out by a single major medical episode?

How soon some forget (if they ever knew).