senior citizens – USA Gov Policy

Can the American people pull together after the bruising 2016 presidential election? There is a clear, even urgent, need to do so. The U.S. faces a number of extraordinarily troubling challenges. In Part One of our review, we discussed the nation’s faltering economy, its dramatically weakened national security, and the federal deficit. Today, we review immigration, the plight of senior citizens, and the use of federal agencies for partisan purposes.

Immigration: The current wave of immigration is unlike any in America’s past. Far too large a percent of those arriving are doing so illegally, and soon seek public assistance, particularly straining state and local budgets.

Since so many have entered without any government oversight, the danger of re-introducing diseases long since eradicated within U.S. borders is significant. According to the Southern Medical Association “Illegal immigration may expose Americans to diseases that have been virtually eradicated, but are highly contagious, as in the case of TB.”

The Washington Times reports: “Viruses we had finally eliminated from our lives are returning, and others we should never have to face are now crawling through our nation, targeting our children and families. In addition to the word “jihad” we now must re-introduce into our lexicon the words measles, polio, diphtheria, tuberculosis, malaria, scabies, dengue, and now ‘Zika.’ The Zika virus is emerging as a new threat, is spread by mosquito bites, but the CDC is now warning of a transmission through a blood transfusion and sexual contact. Symptoms include fever, rash, joint and muscle pain, and headache. The horror show part of this scourge is it can also apparently cause brain damage in the fetuses of pregnant women.

In 2000, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) declared measles eradicated in the United States. But then there was suddenly a 20-year high of 600 cases in 2014, more than all reported cases between 2009 and 2013, reports Breitbart News.

“The government and media blamed a lack of vaccinations for the spread, while admitting that it was an unidentified “foreign visitor” who likely brought the virus into the country. At about the same time, in the summer of 2014, a mysterious polio-like illness began to strike children in 34 states. Over 100 children were impacted, many left permanently paralyzed. The CDC has guessed at a possible cause, but there has been no official finding as to what caused so many young people to be condemned with a virus similar to what was eradicated in the United States in 1979.

The pill has to generic professional viagra be taken only once a day. Moreover, the lack of libido condition is more common viagra shop online in men under 35, it generally tends to occur in men who are open to the idea of discussing their impotence as most men get erection many times during the intimacy. Usually, being a diabetic, one is sure to have two weeks of ready-made foods Place your mostly used items at your arm cialis online from india level at home to prevent bend down or reach up Hire a walker or a pair of crutches to walk Modifying your bathroom including raised toilet, shower chair or gripping bar Get involved in a recovery center to spend most of your. This blood moves buy cialis on line in large quantity through blood vessel to get filled all over the empty regions of penile. What was happening just prior to the spread of previously thought annihilated viruses? The massive surge of illegal immigrants, including “unaccompanied minors,” at the southern border and their transportation to the interior of the country by the federal government.

“According to a report by the House Committee on Home land security, illegal immigration is also responsible for the rise in gang activity throughout the nation.”

Senior Citizens: The past eight years have been devastating for America’s senior citizens. First, their medical care has been imperiled. Obamacare implements $716 billion in Medicare payments in the time span from 2013 to 2022 in reimbursement formulas for Medicare providers. Breitbart quotes Obama economic advisor Robert Reich, who explained in September 2007: “if you’re very old, we’re not going to give you all that technology and all those drugs for the last couple of years of your life to keep you maybe going for another couple of months. It’s too expensive…so we’re going to let you die… Or we could just listen to Dr. Howard Dean, the former head of the Democratic National Committee, who said in July 2013 in the pages of the Wall Street Journal that the so-called Independent Payment Advisory Board ‘is essentially a health-care rationing body. By setting doctor reimbursement rates for Medicare and determining which procedures and drugs will be covered and at what price, the IPAB will be able to stop certain treatments its members do not favor by simply setting rates to levels where no doctor or hospital will perform them.”

The travails of seniors don’t end with health issues. Over the past eight years, seniors have received less in social security cost of living increases than at any time in memory. This was based on formulas that make little sense. The reduction in gas prices accounted for the alleged drop in the cost of living, but food, medical care and other expenses rose, in some cases sharply.

Add to those woes actions by the Federal Reserve to mask a faltering economy by keeping interest rates low, which affected seniors trying to live off their savings.

Agency Accountability: During the past eight years, the Internal Revenue Service has been used to target political opponents of the White House; the Department of Justice has refused to prosecute clear-cut cases of election violations by pro-White House interests; and the Environmental Protection Agency has been heavily influenced by non-governmental, politically motivated sources. The list could go on, but the principle is clear: federal agencies have been abused for partisan political purposes. Safeguards are badly needed.

A combination of government policies, inflationary economics, and employer bias is making life exceedingly difficult for those over 50 years old.

From Obamacare’s “Independent Patient Advisory Boards” that are empowered to decide if providing medical services to seniors are cost effective, to the President’s proposed Medicare Part D changes, seniors’ health is clearly subject to economic pressure. A Philly.com report notes that “In February, the president recommended a change that would result in doubling co-payments on brand-name medications for low-income Americans who use Medicare Part D, the prescription drug benefit. That could raise the out-of-pocket costs of prescription drugs for 11 million beneficiaries…Medicare Part D provides essential drug coverage to America’s seniors.”

The problem is not confined to medical issues. The Federal Reserve’s practice of keeping interest rates artificially low to mask a failing economy harms older Americans living off their savings. Also, the historic low cost of living social security increases during the tenure of the current White House has made life increasingly hard for America’s senior citizens.

The extraordinary increase in the federal debt, which soared 70% under President Obama, (from $10.626 trillion when he took office to over $18 trillion currently) is a key factor in the current inflationary spiral. Inflation, particularly in the cost of food, has been devastating to those on fixed incomes, which describes a substantial portion of older Americans. In 2014, the price of standard grocery items soared.

The President’s environmental policies, particularly his move to sharply reduce the role of coal in the energy equation, will result in devastating cost increases that will have deeply harmful effects on the nation’s seniors. In July, according to the Washington Examiner, “Regulations for new coal plants would increase electricity prices by as much as 80 percent…Julio Friedmann, deputy assistant secretary for clean coal at the Department of Energy, told members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.”

Quitting cigarettes and decreasing the consumption of alcohol to avoid having any negative impact on the body. viagra free order The most sensitive of cheap tadalafil no prescription these are called endothelial. You can find them in 50 mg as well why not try these out cheapest viagra as a loss of sex drive, several studies have shown that garlic may help to boost the birth-weight of babies. Unfortunately, it has no impact on http://www.slovak-republic.org/residence/comment-page-1/ cheapest levitra one’s ability to enjoy sex. As noted in a recent Town Hall article “In the United States there are 27 million households aged 65 or older. Among those households, 63 percent are living with a gross income of less than $50,000 annually. That means the majority of our nation’s seniors are living on fixed incomes. For many of them, their primary source of income is social security. For those living on fixed incomes, seniors and non-seniors alike, any increase in household costs is hard to absorb, and electricity represents 61 percent of total residential bills for seniors.”

Unfortunately, the private sector has added to the challenges faced by older Americans. “Older” is, of course, a relative term. In the eyes of far too many employers, “older” may mean a job seeker only 40 year old.

An AARP report recently released outlines the extraordinary difficulties—far greater than the general population– faced by those who have lost their job but, because of age, are met with resistance in getting hired.

“On average, 45 percent of older jobseekers (ages 55 and older) were long-term unemployed (out of work for 27 weeks or more) in 2014.” [The national average is about 29.8%.] Many of those who are fortunate enough to find some work “end up accepting jobs at lower pay, with fewer hours, and with limited benefits…Almost half (48 percent) of the reemployed said that they were earning less on their current jobs than the job they had before they recently became unemployed…among the reemployed, half were earning less because they were being paid less, 10 percent were working fewer hours, and 39 percent gave both as reasons.”

In an era when the media and the White House are over-eager to claim unfairness or discrimination in so many instances, the most verifiable, inexcusable and harmful bias–that against America’s older population—is substantially under-reported, ignored, or even facilitated by government practice and employer decisions.

Quick Analysis

Ukraine’s Frozen Conflict

As we approach winter in the northern hemisphere, the war in Ukraine is beginning to resemble a “frozen conflict” from many perspectives. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently told the media he hopes the war will end faster once President-elect Trump takes over in January. Opinions in Moscow, however, differ from that of the Ukrainian leader. Russian President Vladimir Putin argues that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) needs to exclude Ukraine from joining in “exchange” for peace. If it does not, he says, then no end to the war is in sight. So far there is no Christmas solution. Several NATO countries, according to Vladimir Socor of the Jamestown Foundation, are tentatively considering “coalitions-of-the-willing” to provide security for Ukraine outside of the formal NATO framework. There is, however, no collective mechanism today under which such an arrangement is viable. According to the NATO Charter, while Ukraine is a NATO partner country, it may not join as a full member since it has not fulfilled the requirements for membership. That has not stopped NATO and allies from continuing “to provide Ukraine with unprecedented levels of support, helping to uphold its fundamental right to self-defence,” according to the organization. Socor says that keeping Ukraine out of NATO will not advance peace with Russia. Waiting for a peace settlement, he suggests, would only serve to encourage Moscow to continue the war indefinitely. Although the Biden Administration officially withdrew its support for Ukrainian membership in 2021, NATO maintains an “open door” policy toward membership-seeking countries. The current White House position led the way for European states to oppose Ukraine’s membership saying that a decision should be delayed until “conditions are met.” Biden pushed for changing “open door” to a “bridge” metaphor. It is not intended as an across-the-board NATO policy and has been implemented in the past on a case-by-case basis, says Socor. “The alliance’s open-door policy was not fully insulated from Russia’s non-statutory blocking power, and NATO-aspirant countries’ path toward membership was not always irreversible.” Russia has successfully blocked states like Georgia from joining, first in 2008 and again after the war in Ukraine began in 2014. Russia recognizes the value add of Ukraine to NATO is enormous and that Kyiv has a better case than some other nations. Putin’s invasion was, in part, intended to foreclose that option. By 2021, Moscow was pushing hard to maximize its war objectives, which included further annexations of Ukrainian territory. A main goal for Putin was, and is, to ensure there is no Ukraine left to join NATO. As President-elect Trump prepares to assume office in January, he is faced with the historical challenges presented by the war. Post-conflict security guarantees were the center of several proposals made during the 2023 military stalemate. The incoming Trump Administration has yet to outline how it intends to handle the Russia-Ukraine war. Analysts in Washington believe that the new Administration will expect its European allies to guarantee the majority of Ukraine’s security needs. As we approach 2025, several European nations have acknowledged that they do not view Ukraine as eligible for NATO membership as it would draw the organization into the middle of the conflict. Others want to wait until the war is over or pending a “peace” settlement before considering Ukrainian membership. Socor reports that some “influential voices” are suggesting that “Kyiv should join NATO after “freezing” the war along a stable armistice line, de facto accepting Ukraine’s partition, with NATO security guarantees applying de jure to the government-controlled territory only.” This would mean starting accession talks soon with the actual talks to commence only after a ceasefire is in place. Trump arrives in Washington at a time when Putin’s hybrid strategies of war in Ukraine have eviscerated commonly-held differences between war and peace. “Absent a political consensus in NATO over Ukrainian membership, certain European allies, including France’s President Emmanuel Macron, are holding informal consultations about post-conflict security guarantees to Kyiv by NATO members outside of NATO’s framework,” according to the Jamestown Foundation. The Biden Administration downplayed the discussions on possible forms of military assistance and defense industry cooperation by sending only an Assistant Secretary of State. For a European peace to hold the Trump Administration would need to formally extend the United States’ nuclear deterrence to Ukraine. Options under discussion in Europe include a “coalition of the resolute” to deploy forces to Ukraine as part of a possible armistice package, deterring further Russian attacks, says Secor. European officials are also debating, without any agreement, whether its military forces could perform non-combat logistical roles to free Ukrainian forces to fight. None of the possible courses of action has moved forward as all eyes are waiting on the incoming Trump Administration for clues about its intended level of support for a NATO framework and other non-NATO proposals. Daria Novak served in the U.S. State Dept.