April 8, 2005
Before we radically change Social Security, we should know who will really be writing the fine print of the changes. Before I would invest anything, let alone my retirement, in corporate America, I want to know whose country this really is.
Looking at the new Medicare prescription drug benefit is a good place to start. Medicare already negotiates other services, but now it's prohibited by law from negotiating with drug companies for cheaper prices, costing taxpayers billions. The drug companies claim they didn't write this provision, but they gave millions of dollars to the Republican Party. Of course, George Bush would never favor huge corporations over the good of American citizens. Would he?
Another example: The legislation making it more difficult to file bankruptcy. Anyone with a mailbox knows how easy it is to get a handful of credit cards at extortion-like rates. Bad credit? No credit? No problem. Nevermind that more than half of the people filing for bankruptcy are doing so for medical reasons and illness. Can you imagine how low the credit card companies will go when this bill is signed by the president? Picture a lot of poor people living in indentured servitude to giant banks and credit card companies simply because their kid got sick. And then ask yourself why this bill was crafted in the first place. The good of the citizens? The country? Because I wasn't aware that corporations had won the right to vote. But, what does a vote mean when you've got corporate millions to dump into election campaigns?
Now, are these lawmakers the people you want messing around with Social Security? <snip>
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050408/OPINION01/504080375/1035/opinion