America is not broke. It is broken. And, from what I hear from this thread, there is no shortage of folks who listen to dubious clap trap and propoganda, and then seem to want to apply the vaseline to themselves?

RR Retirement is not broke, nor is Social Security.

What is broke is the General Fund, because of wasteful wars that have gone on too long, without any plans to pay for them, and no plans for victory, or how to achieve a secure peace. What we have to show for years of waste is massive investments in a completely obsolete and useless nuclear bomber force that is so expensive that we've never been able to afford to use it in a real war. Meanwhile we wallowed in stinking sinkholes like Iraq and Afghanistan, where men, not machines, make the difference. We also have a system bought and paid for by special interests, where one company can pay a zero tax rate, while its competitior pays 35%. And, where contracts and tax breaks are openly traded on the floor of Congress for campaign bribes.

Now, some in Congress feel that there is not enough money left for Congress to steal to give contracts for kickbacks, so they're here now to steal the pensions we've earned, to make up the difference.

Note: Not a single Greek schoolteacher who's taking a sixty percent pension cut ever worked for a thieving German bank, that lost money on derivatives speculation, while bribing Greek politicians, to issue more still debt, based on hype and phoney ratings, in order to sell more worthless derivatives on commission at German banks. But, after they stole all that money, now, like here, they have little left to do but steal more money from the pensioners (aka victims) to pay off the banks (aka perpetrators).

So yeah, let's do even more of this kind of stupid, and it'll get better, right?

Meanwhile Congress, just keep your lying thieving hands off of what's left of my Railroad Retirement.