The amount of benefits to be paid in the future should be reduced by allowing younger people to opt out of receiving social security benefits at retirement in exchange for a tax break in the present.
I think this is a good idea. Give employee's the option of opting out of the social security program and receiving a 4% payroll tax break. You can pay for this program by eliminating the tax ceiling for social security taxes (you don't need to pay payroll taxes on income you earn above 105k USD).

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3250/2429946034_0f0252bd92_o.gif

Wow, apparently we spent more on social security than on defense in 2007...

In case I haven't mention this before, I love tool assisted speedruns (TASs). One of the many weird things I watch for entertainment. Recently some very good RPG runs have come out, the chrono trigger run I posted a video of being an example.

Here's a quote from the Earthbound TAS that was released in June:
Ness's Nightmare attacked!
Ness's Nightmare tried Shield beta!
Ness's Nightmare's body was protected by the power shield!
Ness used the Sound Stone.
But nothing happened.
Paula prayed with her whole heart!
A terrible, heaven rending sound, echoed in the area!
Ness's Nightmare felt a little strange...
Ness felt a little strange...
Paula felt a little strange...
Ness's Nightmare is acting a bit unusual.
Ness's Nightmare tried Shield beta!
Ness's Nightmare's power shield became stronger!
Ness is acting a bit unusual.
Ness attacks!
42 HP of mortal damage to Paula!
Paula went back to normal!
Paula got hurt and collapsed...
Ness's Nightmare is acting a bit unusual.
Ness's Nightmare emitted a glorious light!
Ness's Nightmare stopped moving!
YOU WON !
Ness gained 89004 exp.
Ness's level is now 10!

I got woken up by a phone reminder that I should be leaving to help church set up for the 1890s fair or whatever (this is UU church, what is technically my mom's religion, I don't go because I agree with them, I go because I need to get outside more often).

Obviously that's not happening, I need to shower and eat first. I'm going to be an hour or so late bleh.

Take a look at this: http://www.naturalnews.com/020649.html

We're talking about 30 percent of the world's land surface becoming essentially uninhabitable in terms of agricultural production in the space of a few decades

130k years ago it was around three degrees Celsius hotter than it is now. Was 30% of the world's surface uninhabitable in terms of agricultural production then? Of course not. The temperature won't rise more than three degrees Celsius in "a few decades." Even the most recent and extreme models have it rising no more than 8 degrees Celsius in a century (and that's with acceleration over time).

When I was growing up, I thought that liberals were grudgingly accepting the terrible facts of global warming, while conservatives were turning away from those facts and embracing some made up story, because they were afraid of the changes that those facts would induce.

Now it's not so clear cut. Of course people like Rush Limbaugh are certainly turning a blind eye to what is overwhelming scientific consensus, and making up their usual story, where nothing is wrong aside from liberals trying to mess with people all the time. However liberals, whom I previously thought were merely grudgingly accepting the truth, actually have a made up story of their own. One where suddenly the sea level rises ten feet, thirty percent of the world's land is unfarmable, there's mass starvation and millions of refugees, megahurricanes decimate humanity and methane fireballs of doom streak across the sky.

Now many will believe stories like this if they're told often enough if they're neutral on the matter. However to make up and help spread these stories, to write the articles, make the movies and argue the points, I'd imagine you would need to want for this story to be true. This completely baffles me, I don't understand why anyone would want such a terrible story to be true.

As for myself, I don't want global warming to be true because it's a sad story, so I keep trying to find evidence to refute its various claims. However it's a complicated subject and I haven't been able to find strong evidence against all but the wildest claims. For instance when MIT says that their models say the world will warm five degrees Celsius over the next century, reaching its highest temperature in over a million years, I really can't argue against that. I mean I know where to find well done critiques of climate modeling, but I can't argue with MIT...

Global warming won't have a negative effect on the united states for at least a hundred years, even according to liberal estimates. The IPCC predicts a 1°C increase in global temperature over the next 100 years.

There is nothing about such a warming that will put the United States at an economical disadvantage. It will adversely effect other people, especially poor people living in arid climates, but not the United States at least not for the foreseeable future.

Cap and trade on the other hand, does have the potential to have a negative effect on the Untied States. For instance, it makes it harder for businesses to be competitive here because it's potentially an extra cost of doing business. Also, it costs consumers money, which does make it effectively a middle class tax increase. Even the EPA says it will cost the middle class 100$ a year. I'm not even going to get into what the republicans are saying it will cost.

I don't have enough information to argue whether or not cap and trade serves humanities interests, but no way does it serve the interests of the United States people. As for the United States government and the democratic party, it gives them even more power, so if I'm going to be mean and assume that the interests of the government are not the same as the interests of the people who elected the government, then it may serve government interests.

The first odd thing is that I feel like I'm played out in terms of video games O_o

The second odd thing is that I haven't gotten enough salt today and I'm craving it. I don't have any Fritos sadly, so I'm taking it straight from the shaker. A lack of salt? In this America? o_O

Wow, I knew that bag of ravioli was big, but I didn't know it was that big. That girl wasn't kidding when she told me that pathmark definitely had the best value in the area.

Although the problem with this is that I'm going to be having ravioli every day this week and then some, and it's not the best ravioli.

WATCH THIS VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU4vlzEdBpI

If you've ever played Chrono Trigger, then this will be the best entertainment you've had in ages.

I think the secret resides on the first four minutes of the run, where you restart constantly to mesmerize us with the pendulums into believing anything you want us to believe

I wonder though, if universal health care is so popular, why have no states tried to enact it. According to the constitution states have way more flexibility with the laws they can pass than the federal government.

The answer is probably money. Such a grandiose plan would cost a lot of money, and states can't pull money out of thin air. If they want to fund a big project, then they have to raise taxes. Now red states can't raise taxes, or they get elected out of office. Blue states can't afford it because their taxes are already really high and their spending is way too high.

This makes me wonder what the federal government would be like if they couldn't invent money. How would they ever go to war? How would they go about hiring people during recessions?