Wednesday, February 02, 2005

 

Groundhog Day and Dubya does the State of the Union Address

Well, Phil the groundhog saw his shadow today, fortelling another 6 weeks of winter. Then tonight, Dubya gave the State of the Union Address to Congress. Sorry, but I still just can NOT get behind Dubya. He talks a good game but he fails to deliver. There were 4 talking points about Iraq as put forth by Dubya and his minions: 1) weapons of mass destruction could be unleashed in as little as 45 minutes, 2) Saddam had active weapons of mass destruction development programs (there were even words to the effect we might become aware of these when a mushroon cloud was seen!), 3) Iraq was connected to the tradgedy of 9-eleven, and 4) Saddam was just a bad guy. Of the 4 items touted strongly by Dubya, only the 4th item, that Saddam was a bad guy seems to be the truth. In the address, Dubya didn't really say anything of substance about the state of the union. Instead, he talked about things he wants to do, and possible consequences of doing nothing with social security. He did promise one thing, that those of us age 55 or over would not lose any benefits under social security. He then went on to say that those under age 55 might lose benefits or have to pay higher taxes or delay receipt of benefits. My son is in that category. Ever since he started working, I have urged him to set aside for his own retirement. He says he is doing this. I hope he is being truthful. Shortly after I joined the Navy in 1968, I started my own retirement savings at the same time I invested in a whole life insurance policy. This policy was the only thing which survived both of my marriages. I was able to keep the house after the 2nd divorce but only because it was bought under the GI Bill and had virtually no equity to speak of. The GI BIll allows a veteran to buy a house with almost zero for a down payment. The way this is possible is because the Veteran's Administration guarantees the loan in case of default. The lender will not lose any money if the veteran defaults on the loan, so there is no reason for the lender to say no to the loan. Civilians do not have this luxury of a loan guarantee, which is why you have to put up a substantial down payment, usually something in the order of 20 percent. They figure if you put up 20 percent of your money, you are less likely to default on the loan, knowing if you default, you could lose everything and maybe even still owe money, depending on what the forclosure sale nets. The point of all this is, I never figured on social security doing anything for me as far back as 1968. I tried to instill this belief in my son as well. I hope he listened to me and did something to set aside for himself in the future. After having to start over after two marriages, there probably won't be much left in my estate when the time comes for my son to inherit it. My hope is that at least I won't be in serious debt. Dubya said nothing in either his inaugural address or this state of the union address which changes my view that social security will do nothing for me. Dubya, and his father before him, reduced veteran's benefits, so it surprised me to hear Dubya say he would work on making sure veterans of the Iraq conflict would be taken care of completely. I wonder what he means. I still do not like the man holding the office of president. He still impresses me like a used car salesman, you know what I mean, the ones who give the trade a bad name. I don't think we heard the truth about Dubya's National Guard service. My experience with the military machine is at odds with what was reported in the press about Dubya's. My military machine experience was that they NEVER forget and rarely do they make a mistake, at least they never made a mistake with me or my records. Only time will tell, I guess.

Posted by: Rowlfe - at: 2/02/2005 10:13:00 PM

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