SS is NOT the problem, Medicare is NOT the cause ...

Mark Thoma at Economist's View:

... as Dean Baker continually and correctly reminds us, Social Security is not the problem, and the programs themselves are not to blame - Medicare is not the cause of the growth in costs for health care:

The Washington Post ... complained about ... "the coming crisis in Social Security and Medicare." The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office's most recent projections show that Social Security can pay all scheduled benefits, with no changes whatsoever, until 2046, and roughly 75 percent of scheduled benefits for many decades after that date, even if no changes are ever made. ...

The Medicare story of course boils down to projections of exploding health care costs. If the health care system is not fixed, then "fixing" Medicare is irrelevant. We can zero out the program, but exploding health care costs would still devastate the economy. If the health care system is fixed, so that costs in the U.S. are in line with health care costs in other wealthy countries, then Medicare would be easily affordable. ...

We must not let the Bush Administration, The GOP and The Republicans cause generational warfare between various age groups in the US. Everyone deserves a decent retirement (and decent access to employment before same) and everyone deserves health care. There is absolutely NO reason other than Republican intransigence and corporate evil and greed for the fact that the US does not cover everyone with Medicare or something similar.