Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012 | 2:02 a.m.
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How can anyone equate Social Security and Medicare to redistribution?
Social Security was originally set up to supplement the incomes of retired people. You paid into the program along with your employer, and at a given age, you were to start receiving your contribution plus interest — enforced savings. The program was successful and accumulated so much money that the federal government changed the rules and used the money for other purposes.
Medicare is basically the same type of program. The government tells you how much you have to put in. It also tells medical professionals how much they will receive. Once again, it may have been a good plan, but the government decided to cover people who didn’t contribute to the program. It, too, is going broke.
Instead of setting up a program to help struggling families for whatever reason, the government tapped into the existing Social Security and Medicare and ran them into the ground.
I believe the American people are the most giving group of people anywhere. We all contribute to the charities of our own choice to help out others. That is the American way.
When the government takes something away from me to give to someone else against my will, that is redistribution. I don’t buy into that concept.
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