Who Carries the Risk?

That is the key question in social insurance programs. Social Security and Medicare are probably the two most successful government social programs in US history but they have been targets of the Right and the plutocrats since their inception. Josh Marshall observes (emphasis added):

"The policy and political playing field on social insurance programs and safety net issues has for decades been one of defense, protecting programs like Social Security and Medicare which have been the pillars of the American social compact going back to the 1930s and 1960s respectively. The budgetary and ideological threats to each are not new. In each case they go back to the passage of the original legislation, with the aim being first to abolish them outright and then later to create new programs under similar branding which place the risk on individuals as opposed to creating security by socializing risk....
...What is key to understand with all these plans, whatever their names, is this: The amount of money the country will spend on health care for baby boomers is relatively fixed in toto ...
...The key in all these plans, with all the bewildering bundle of jargon, flimflam and subterfuge, is who carries the risk: society as a whole or individuals. The Medicare model puts everyone in the same boat. The Paul Ryan model puts the risk on individuals. That is the foundational prism through which to see all of these debates whether they're about Medicare, Social Security or to a lesser degree about Obamacare. It is all about who carries the risk."

 That is what all the talk about "privatization" is - don't believe the B.S. about the magic of the free market to make everything more efficient. The "magic" they are after is the privatization of profits while exporting all the risk and down-side costs to the public sphere. That is how we have ended up with such a ridiculously skewed income curve in this country. They want to own all the schools, prisons, hospitals, postal service, water departments, etc. etc. etc. and charge us for the privilege of lining their pockets ever deeper in stolen loot.

Three cheers for the new Aristocracy!