Your damned right I do! There is absolutely no comparison between these government-mandated “insurance plans” and public sector employee benefits and pensions which are, in most cases paid entirely by the government with taxpayer funds. I wished that I had been able to “opt out” of all of it, because I would have a lot more to spend in my retirement ( even with the trashing of the stock market) if I had had that money to invest rather than having had to give it to the government to squander. I remember the “expressed horror” of the PE unions in New Jersey when Christie made their members pony up something out of their own pockets a year or two ago. Here in California, public employees are currently paying 2% of their pay into their retirement. The cops and the firefighters retire here at 50! We have had two fire chiefs retire in the past three years. One at 51 the other ( his successor) at 50. Their salaries were $188,000 per year their last year. Thanks to “our generosity” the first guy's first year pension was $286,000! He (and his wife) will probably live to at least age 80 (also thanks to our again “generous” health benefits that are fully paid). You do the math about what that will cost the taxpayers. Oh and BTW, the average firefighter who earns about $100,000 per year doubles that with his “overtime” thanks to the union system of calling in sick in order to pump it up. So sorry, I still have no sympathy. That's just a word in the dictionary between $hit and Syphilis
You must think you are sitting on a pretty high horse to be taking two entitlements that are the primary source of this nation's fiscal woes (Social Security and Medicare), and still attempt to justify your shameful attack on another Freeper, who is a veteran of the Armed Forces.
I have "paid into" these Ponzi schemes as well - the difference is you have been one of the very fortunate ones to have been dipping your ladle into the pot for many years now.
And don't bring State employees and their lavish pensions into this debate. That has NOTHING to do with the Sequestration cuts that gut the military (18% of the budget but it must absorb 50% of the cuts).
The reason the nation's military (which is a Constitutional expenditure by they way, unlike your Social Security and Medicare) is under fiscal assault is because of Federal mandatory spending - which consumes 63% of the budget and is exempt from the deep Sequestration cuts. If the cuts were across the board, I am sure people like you would be howling.
I have struggled throughout these threads and this debate to maintain compassion, clarity, and my obedience it Jesus Christ. Your post to ducttape was uncalled for, an personal attack, and profane. It took a lot of restraint to not hit the "abuse" button. However, I have also said some things on this board that I have regretted. You deserve the same courtesy.