Gene Taylor: “Right. Talk about patriotism. What patriot would bankrupt the country he loves? That is exactly what has been going on…”

“Right. Talk about patriotism. What patriot would bankrupt the country he loves? That is exactly what has been going on for the last 3 years. We hear talk about sound economic principles. Really? What is so sound about borrowing $3 for every $1 the citizens got back in tax breaks? New York loan sharks do not charge that kind of interest. Yet it is what we continue to pay. So I think the questions that I would hope the press will be asking Thursday night are how did we get into this jam and what is your plan, both of you candidates, for getting us out it? What is my plan? Number one, I think we need a constitutional amendment to protect the trust funds. We have a solemn promise. If we take money out of a person's paycheck and say it is going towards Social Security, then it should go towards nothing but Social Security. If we take money out of a person's paycheck to pay for Medicare, then it should go towards nothing but Medicare. It is pretty simple. If we tell a Federal employee we are going to take money out of their paycheck and set it aside for their retirement, then we ought to do just that. But what you do not know and probably do not want to hear is that as of this moment this Nation owes you, every Social Security recipient, a total of $1.6 trillion has been taken out of your trust fund. For those of you who paid into Medicare, and every working American has, we owe you $270 billion. If you are a Federal employee, we owe you $622 billion in your retirement fund.”