[ETL]

Guns versus butter and butter wins every time.

Do you not understand that Obama and co are out to weaken an destroy the US?

[MrB]

What country was it... Czechoslovakia?

They ended up being communist not through a hostile violent takeover, but by accepting the incremental compromises that were presented as the only alternative to a hostile violent takeover.

[kabar]

I understand that programs like Medicare will consume our entire budget if we don't reform them. Medicare already spends more than it receives in dedicated taxes and premium payments. As baby boomer retirees begin to flood the system, the impact will be felt by every other federal program:

• Currently, Medicare claims about 11 percent of federal nonentitlement tax dollars.

• By 2020, Medicare deficits will claim one in every five federal tax dollars that are not already dedicated to Medicare and Social Security.

• This means that in just 9 years the federal government will have to stop doing one in every five things it does today if taxes are to remain at their current level and projected Medicare benefits are paid on behalf of the disabled and the elderly.

• By 2030, the deficits in Medicare will claim one in every three general revenue dollars; by 2050, they will claim one in every two.