The Safety Net

Social Security and Medicare, in spite of what Republicans are saying, have been enormously successful programs.  By successful I mean they have kept most elderly Americans out of poverty.   Evidently, a lot of people don’t think a developed nation with a democratic government should provide this sort of assistance.

I made this short video after taping Congressman Barney Frank at a Town Hall meeting in New Bedford, Massachusetts on November 10, 2011.  At several points in the video I add my own explanatory notes regarding Social Security, Medicare and military spending.  The references for these notes with links to online articles are given below:

References (click to go to online article):

  1. Empire of Bases
  2. Cost of war in Afghanistan
  3. Social Security and Elderly Poverty
  4. Wikipedia article on Social Security in the United States