Reply #27: This is getting stupid.

[trogdor]

1. Medicare: How does agreement with a goal of Newt Gingrich imply agreement with the means Gingrich might have proposed to reach said goal? Say you have a growth on your hand. The goal is to get rid of it. Dr. Quack wants to amputate your hand. Dr. Sensible wants to put liquid nitrogen on the growth, killing it, and then scrape it off with a scalpel. Both have the same goal in mind, but how does Dr. Sensible get lumped in with Dr. Quack?

2. SS: The way we're going, we might just have to raise the retirement age again. Anyone who says otherwise is in denial. The alternatives are either to raise the ceiling on eligible income or to raise the FICA tax. Even these might not be enough, so yes, SS retirement age is still on the table.

3. Last I heard, NAFTA was a treaty between the United States, Canada, and Mexico. That's why it's called the North American Free Trade Agreement, not the Pan-Pacific Free Trade Agreement. How did China get involved in it? I generally support NAFTA because I believe a prosperous, economically secure Mexico is in our national self-interest. Besides, unlike China, there aren't enough Mexicans in the world to seriously impact our own economy.

Edit: Since we're racing to the bottom on labor, most of the jobs that were created in Mexico because of NAFTA have since gone to China. The result? MORE illegal Mexican immigration, with all the nastiness that entails. Is NAFTA to blame for this? No way.

Moreover, it is one thing to compete with other countries on the basis of quality, such is the case with Japanese cars, but it is quite another to have to compete on the basis of price, which is what American labor is being forced to do vis a vis China. We can suck it up and make better Chevrolets FAR more easily than we can take a fat pay cut to compete with Chinese labor.