medicare and killing medicare. and i think you re accurately describing paul ryan s plan, which is that in the long run, he s trying to phase medicare out and change it from what it is now, which is a defined benefit program and turning it into a defined contribution program. it would not be the medicare as we know it and as a lot of people love it in the future. that is correct. on the other hand, you know, he can honestly, and legitimately argue, as a lot of deficit hawks do that the main problem we face looking down the road, 10, 20, 30 years is with the growth of health care spending, and that is the thing. not social security. not any of these other things. this is the main problem that budgetarily we face in the long run. so getting your hands around the horns of that dilemma is a real thing that you have to deal with if you want to be serious about fiscal sanity in the country. i m with you and the macro economics. let s go back to the micro economics, the realities of this. c