Social Issues

Social Security, like America's trillions of dollars of underfunded public and private pensions, is nothing more than a ponzi scheme that will eventually fail.  Any system that relies on capital drawdowns to fund benefit obligations while the number of beneficiaries continues to soar is, by definition, a rather obvious ponzi.  That said, it's always easier to 'kick the can down the road' and hope for the best than to preemptively address the real problems that face retirees...after all, old people love to vote and taking away their retirement money is not a good way to earn their support.

In what may have been the biggest trolling of the United Nations in recent history, Saudi Arabia was elected via secret ballot in the UN Economic and Social Council to the 45-member UN Commission on the Status of Women last week. According to Reuters, twelve other countries were also elected by the council in Geneva to serve for a four-year term, ending in 2022: Algeria, Comoros, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Iraq, Japan, South Korea, Turkmenistan, Ecuador, Haiti and Nicaragua.

When future historians look back at the beginning of the 21st century, they’ll note that we grappled with many big issues. They’ll write about the battle between nationalism and globalism, soaring global debt, a dysfunctional healthcare system, societal concerns around automation and AI, and pushback on immigration. They will also note the growing number of populist leaders in Western democracies, ranging from Marine Le Pen to Donald Trump.

Representative Dave Brat (R-Va), a Freedom Caucus member who voted against the first TrumpCare bill, appeared on CNN earlier this morning to suggest that he may be ready to support a new version of the bill that allows individual states to opt out of certain components of Obamacare that require minimum coverage levels and restrict insurers from charging more to patients with pre-existing conditions.  Per The Hill:

Authored by Narjas Zatat via Indy100.com,

People in Greece can’t afford to have more than one child, and many are opting to have none at all.

Fertility doctor Minas Mastrominas tells the New York Times that some women have decided not to conceive, and single-child parents have been asking him to destroy their remaining embryos.

He said:

After eight years of economic stagnation, they’re giving up on their dreams.