Dr. Lawrence Gelman

EDINBURG, July 5 - The cynicism and corruption of government is most obviously on display when boasting of the creation of programs, ostensibly, for the benefit of the economically disadvantaged.

No greater example of such contrivance exists than the Social Security program instituted by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1935; the supposed purpose of which was to provide an economic safety net for retirees.

The mechanism of its action requires premium payments ,involuntarily withdrawn from employees’ paychecks, matched in equal amounts, involuntarily, by the employer to be paid back in monthly checks when the employee reaches the arbitrarily set retirement age of 65 years.

Actually, the age of 65 was not arrived at  arbitrarily as that  was the exact age of  average longevity of Americans in the 1930s. Only seven percent of the population lived to age 65 or greater. This meant 70 million workers paid into a system in which less than seven million would be beneficiaries. Each beneficiary was covered by ten contributors.

The government had calculated that since many more individuals would contribute than would ever benefit that this was an extra source of income to the federal government that it could utilize in any way it chose, as the monies going into the coffers would, surely, always exceed the amount distributed in benefits. The best part was Franklin Roosevelt and his political cronies could boast that they were benefiting the unfortunate while actually pillaging the nation.

The politicians were so certain that the scheme was fool proof that they instituted another one similar in 1964, Medicare. This program was instituted by President Lyndon Johnson and again required  funding through involuntary "contributions" from employees and employers through direct assessment with each paycheck.

Once again benefits, this time in the form of healthcare, would be disbursed beginning at the age of 65 as the average longevity of Americans in 1964 remained at 65 years of age. Though there were now sixteen million Americans of age 65 or greater, healthcare products for the medical problems of those over 65 were almost non-existent, so this seemed another great money making scheme masquerading as a benefit to the people.

Then something unanticipated occurred, as it usually does with the programs developed by myopic politicians; the advent of heart surgery, coronary angioplasty, radiation and chemo therapy, interventional radiology, medications to control blood pressure, serum lipids and cholesterol, hip and knee implants and so much more. 

So now the average longevity of Americans was no longer 65 but 80 years of age, with millions living into their 80's, 90's and beyond. Not only were Americans living longer but the advances in healthcare now provided a product to purchase, not simply to prolong life, but improve its quality. Furthermore, the percentage living to 65 years of age and greater was, thanks to the marvels of the American healthcare industry, no longer seven percent but 15 percent. 

Now, though there exist one 140 million contributors versus the 70 million there were in 1934, there are over 44 million beneficiaries compared with the seven million then, or barely more than three contributors for each beneficiary versus the ten to one ratio in the 1930s.

The conniving politicians had expected to get away with their money grabbing schemes indefinitely, it never occurring to them, as it rarely does, that circumstances might change. Now these government programs are having to pay out increasingly greater and greater sums to the beneficiaries. Politicians, being what they are, had over the years been spending the loot which they were supposed to have been saving find themselves with outlays superseding ingress and an empty treasury. 

As usual when the government messes things up, it is the taxpayer that’s forced to provide the bailout. Pundits, educators, economists and other useful dupes or paid off "experts" are recruited by the bureaucrats to come forth with “solutions.” Included among the possibilities are increasing the retirement age, decreasing the benefits, and means testing. Means testing is when those who earn more pay more into the system while, simultaneously, their benefits will be reduced or even eliminated entirely. Imagine a private insurance company behaving in such a manner. They would soon be out of business. We should be so lucky with our government. 

The most amazing thing is to this very day the average American  has been fooled into believing that these are programs created by a benevolent government to benefit the people when, in fact, Social Security and Medicare are the most massive Ponzi schemes ever hatched by pirating politicians.  

Dr. Lawrence Gelman is a Board Certified Anesthesiologist and critical care specialist practicing in McAllen for 25 years. He is one of the founders of Doctors Hospital at Renaissance in Edinburg and its Chief of Anesthesiology. He writes a weekly column for the Guardian.

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