Social Security
Options
by Dante DeAmicis
There's
been a lot of talk about who is in favor of saving and who is in favor
of destroying Social Security. Let's review the options.
1. |
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Declare
it bankrupt and let workers put that money in government approved private
plans. Those receiving payments now can sop up the crumbs 'til it's
gone. |
2. |
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Save
it, which means something like increasing the combined payroll deductions
from around 15% now to 20%, increasing the retirement age to 70, and decreasing
the benefits with no cost of living allowances. |
3. |
|
Give
everyone exactly what they put into it, which is for most people much less
than they were promised. Those who have already pulled out more would
not have to pay back the difference. Even this would require a huge
transfer from the General Fund. |
4. |
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Pretend
that those who are sounding the alarm of impending disaster don't know
what they are talking about and we can more or less go on like we are forever. |
It
appears that the overwhelming majority of people prefer number 4.
Reality is not an option for most people.![10x5 Page Background GIF Image](../../Images/10x5_Page_Background.gif)
Dante
presents some interesting options. I can suggest some additional
alternatives. For example, a variation on his option 1 is that there's
no reason why private plans need to be approved by the government.
There are endless variations on option 2. Option 3 might be modified
by requiring people to repay excess disbursements. Another option,
not mentioned by Dante, is to leave Social Security in operation in its
present configuration with the exception that participation would be voluntary.
I'm sure that some of my readers can think of other options.
In
June of 1984, I terminated my Social Security number. Today, I do
not participated in activities that require one.
— editor
Thoughtcrime
by Sam Aurelius Milam III
When
I was a child, one of my elementary school teachers explained the legal
difference between thought and action. No punishment, she explained,
could be administered for merely talking about something, however heinous
the contemplated action. Only when some harm was actually done to
someone was there a cause of action. Until then, she explained, anyone
could say, advocate, or plan anything. Verbal activities, in and
of themselves, cause no harm and are therefore not actionable. I
don't remember the date for sure, but I received this instruction sometime
during the early or middle 50's, in Bexar County, Texas. During that
same era, I sang along with the lines of a popular song of the time:
"You can't go to jail for what you're thinking, matter of fact, neither
can I! Just standing on the corner, watching all the girls go by."
Today,
things are fundamentally different. Today, the police in Pacific
Grove, California, arrested a group of alleged conspirators for planning
to rob a McDonald's restaurant.1
No harm had yet been done. No money had yet been taken. They
had merely planned it. Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman was recently condemned
to life in prison for
plotting to destroy various buildings, bridges,
and tunnels.2
He didn't do it. He merely planned it. This reveals
a fundamental change in the nature of government. It isn't a change
in degree but a change in kind. Today, the space between your ears
is no longer your own. Today, you can indeed go to jail for what
you're thinking.![10x5 Page Background GIF Image](../../Images/10x5_Page_Background.gif)
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^
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As
reported by KSBW Action News 8; Salinas, California; 6:00 PM
edition, Wednesday, January 10, 1996 |
|
^
|
ITN
World News, Thursday, January 18, 1996. Also see the article
Criminal
Procedure in the March, 1995 issue of the Frontiersman. |
Virus
by Sam Aurelius Milam III
Are
you tired of receiving all that junk mail? Here's a way to solve
the problem and get just a little satisfaction at the same time.
This idea is one of those rare instances when you can truly "use the system
against itself".
When
you receive junk mail from Company A, save it. When you receive junk
mail from Company B, it's time for action. Go find the Company A
junk mail and open both sets. Find the return card from each one.
If there's no return card, use your address label from the envelope.
In either case, mark a change of address for each company. On the
blurb from Company A, change
your address to the address of Company
B. On the blurb for company B, change your address to the
address of company A. Mail the changes of address. From then
on, Company A will send your junk mail to Company B, and vice versa.
This is, in effect, a junk mail virus. Every time one of the companies
sells its mailing list the virus will reproduce. The junk mail advertising
system has no antibodies against the virus. Consider: mail
at each company is received by some clerk who will find it much easier
to simply trash the unwanted stuff than to send a notice cancelling it.
Your phoney addresses will multiply and circulate for all time to come,
or at least until the companies go broke from sending useless junk mail
to each other.![10x5 Page Background GIF Image](../../Images/10x5_Page_Background.gif)
![Frontiersman, 435 South White Road](../../Images/Frontiersman_435_S_W_R-1.gif) |
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