The life of Julia’s son, Zachary
Age 5: Zachary starts kindergarten. Julia drops Zachary off at his first day of public kindergarten. She is surprised and perplexed to find that despite the hefty local property taxes she pays, the class is large. While Zachary is at school, Julia does some Googling and finds that more and more of her taxes pay for pension and health benefits for retired teachers, not for salaries for current teachers. She wonders vaguely whether all that money from the federal government will really help Zachary…
Age 25: Zachary meets a nice girl. Zachary meets a woman at work (his employer has taken a legal chance on this hardworking young lady). But in getting to know her, Zachary learns that she has $70,000 in student loans, plus $10,000 in credit-card debt. She makes about the same salary that Zachary does. Zachary likes her, but he can’t help but worry that if he got serious with her, he would be taking on a tremendous debt burden. Zachary often thinks long-term; he realizes that if he married her in a few years, both of them would have to work full-time, even if they had children, in order to stay current on the debt. They remain friends…
Age 42: Zachary’s mom calls him, crying. Julia is 73 now. She likes working, so she wasn’t too upset when the government abruptly pushed the Social Security retirement age for full benefits back five years, to 72. But now that she’s been collecting benefits for a year, she realizes that what she collects isn’t enough to live on. She’s more upset, though, at the reforms to Medicare that have just been enacted. Though generations of politicians promised never to touch benefits for people close to retirement age, in the end, they had no choice: younger voters demanded it. The basic Medicare package now will cover only big-ticket items. All but the poorest are on their own when it comes to doctor’s visits, prescription drugs, and tests.
Blowback
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This is pretty good. It’s hard to resist cracking jokes when satirizing Julia’s tale of
tears/Warren tragedy.WeekendAtBernankes on May 5, 2012 at 3:12 PM
“Forward, comrades”
“Always forward, comrade“
Schadenfreude on May 5, 2012 at 3:13 PM
Don’t miss the Iowahawk’s incredible satire.
Schadenfreude on May 5, 2012 at 3:14 PM
If the lefties want all for free why don’t the begin to work for free, those few who do work?
That w/b the ultimate sacrifice for their ’cause’.
Schadenfreude on May 5, 2012 at 3:16 PM
S/b they begin
Schadenfreude on May 5, 2012 at 3:17 PM
See, stories like these make me worry less about another term for Obama. America can recover if there are conservative alternatives that have legitimacy. Romney will more likely than not govern like he did in Massachusetts with the exception that now he will say all those bad policies of his are conservative and destroy the credibility of conservatism in the process.
Romney will likely use his version of responsibility to prevent much of what Zachery did to be successful. A parent will have a responsibility to take care of his child, that requires the government to enforce that responsibility. No homeschooling for you! Once there is no alternative, no one will be voting for vouchers for alternative school. He will wrap it in a conservative bow and argue that the democrats made him do it.
astonerii on May 5, 2012 at 3:20 PM
Born into slavery.
Keep voting democrat!
tom daschle concerned on May 5, 2012 at 3:28 PM
Age 17: Gets shot attempting to kill white-Hispanic Neighborhood Watch guy while shopping for skittles. Only Age 8 birthday photos made available. Canonized as saint by Liberal media. Julia and Baby Daddy charge networks for interviews. $harpton and Jack$on assess riot opportunity. Previously indifferent parents trademark name should corpse have future income potential. Giggly DA presents kangaroo indictment of inner city culture’s latest scapegoat. Vengeance occurring attacks afterward conveniently suppressed by Birmingham News (twice: Adamsville and Mobile), Chicago, Norfolk and Tulsa newspapers among others.
viking01 on May 5, 2012 at 3:43 PM
Are you suggesting Romney is planning to marginalize homeschooling?
thebrokenrattle on May 5, 2012 at 3:47 PM
With no apologies whatsoever to the author of the most idiotic anthem ever adopted by the U.N.,
J
Was going to write a verse for each stage of her life, but she’s boring already.
de rigueur on May 5, 2012 at 3:51 PM
um… JULIA’S SONG
de rigueur on May 5, 2012 at 3:52 PM
Brilliance.
de rigueur on May 5, 2012 at 3:54 PM
Thanks for the link. Iowahawk is da man!
I’m late to the “Julia” fiasco. I’m reeling with laughter that the Obamatards used the name Julia. And to think it falls on the heels of Leslie Stahl’s ridiculous “Orwellian” gaffe.
Saltysam on May 5, 2012 at 4:08 PM
Thanks.
A girlfriend of mine presently in med school grew up about half a mile from the Mobile,Alabama incident. The Mobile Register (where Quin Hillyer once did the editorials) covered it but the increasingly Leftist Birmingham News (once edited by NY Times notorious ex-editor Howell Raines) hid the story until internet and word of mouth forced their current propaganda minister (Tom Skerritt, IIRC) to address it.
viking01 on May 5, 2012 at 4:18 PM
Yikes. Make that Tom Scarritt of the BHM News.
viking01 on May 5, 2012 at 4:20 PM
Age 25, lunch break at his first real job: Bored during a co-worker’s excited rambling about their company’s 401K matching plan, Zach looks for somewhere else to sit tomorrow.
Stepping outside “for some fresh air”, he takes out his iPhone and, knowing his annual salary from the paperwork he received this morning, starts the calculator app. Excited after realizing he’ll have $600 left over each month after rent and his three credit card bills, Zach begins to scan car ads looking for a lease on that new BMW he’d been lusting after.
He signs a lease the next day without reading it. He sort of wonders if he should’ve found out how much his old car was worth before trading it in, but he forgets about that after a few miles in his new 5-series. $550/month is cutting it close, but he knows he can just take out another credit card if he needs to.
Age 25, two weeks later: Zach is on the phone with HR to find out why his paycheck was so much less than he’d expected and who, exactly, this FICA person is.
rogerb on May 5, 2012 at 4:28 PM
Don’t forget that with Obama’s spending, Zachary will likely be paying taxes in the 90% range his whole life.
RJL on May 5, 2012 at 4:38 PM
The media is burying far more than we know. A few days after the Martin shooting, there was an attack in Sanford, FL, very near where Martin was shot, by 2 teens who took a hammer to a 50 year old white guy.
de rigueur on May 5, 2012 at 4:41 PM
Barack Inner Party Obama.
True is every sense.
“Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.”
profitsbeard on May 5, 2012 at 5:12 PM