Since 1968 those fine folks inside the beltway have squandered your social security surplus every single year. The money has been spent on farm welfare, regular welfare one billion dollar B-2 bombers and all kinds of other spiffy stuff.
In the late 70s and early 80s the good old US was paying two percent interest on your borrowed funds. At the same time US government bonds were paying rates of up to twenty percent. BTW, they are still paying two percent interest on your plundered money. Except they ain't really paying it; you understand, there ain't nothing to payit to. It's all a smoke and mirrors accounting thing.
Some time ago I watched the Social Security Actuary make his two hour presentation on the condition of the so called "trust fund". At no time did this individual point out that there are no funds in the "trust fund". No media person questioned him on this fact. The whole concept of a "trust fund" with no funds is insane. Imagine parents telling their son; who is about to go off to Yale: "Sorry, son, no Yale for you, Mom and I spent all your college trust fund money on BMWs and SUVs. "Your trust fund has a funny (negative) balance."
The social security "trust fund" is made up of IOU"s from the general fund.In about ten yearssocial security will no longer have a surplus. At about the same time workers will start to retire and to draw social security at an unprecedented rate. Then the general fund will have to pick up the slack. This will have a very pronounced "double" effect on the general fund. Inless than 20years two working people will be paying into the system for each retiree. It does not require an economics wizard to realize that the amount paid into the system will have to be increased or benefits will have to be decreased.
BTW, the approximately 1.8 trillion dollars that congress owes the social security "trust fund" is not counted as part of the national debt. Another smoke and mirrors accounting thing.
My bet is that Congress will do nothing but grandstand on the social security issue. Nothing of substance will be done until the young folks; who will be working hard to support us old codgers, wake up and start raising hell for Congress to fix social security.
Ever wonder why congress is reluctant to talk about the plundering of social security: The pukes have no intention of ever paying it back.
And every year to take it private is going to cost more and more money. I just heard a Democrate regular on Fox a few weeks ago mention they need to address the problem with raising the age and means testing. I knew my money wasn't going to be there when they took it at gun point. That's why I'm not relying on those pigs.
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John Adams The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
Spinning the Social Security Surplus
By Bryan Keefer (bryan@spinsanity.org)
September 10, 2001
By pledging to "protect" the Social Security surplus, Democrats and Republicans have boxed themselves in on the budget. Now, instead of a debate over whether and how to use the surplus, it's a race to see who can frame the debate in the most advantageous way.
The "lockbox" problem
According to both the White House and the Congressional Budget Office, the budget surplus this year will consist entirely of revenues from Social Security. The general revenue surplus projected earlier this year has not materialized due to the tax cut package and a slowing economy.
The problem for both parties is that they had figured on having their cake and eating it, too. President Bush and congressional leaders in both parties pledged in the last election to devote the entire Social Security and Medicare surpluses to debt retirement (the infamous "lockbox"). Now that the Social Security surplus is the only money left for spending increases beyond what was set out in the budget resolution passed earlier this year, both parties face a dilemma as they enter the fall appropriations process: how can they spin the situation to their advantage?
A meeting of the Senate Budget Committee last Thursday proves especially illustrative on this count. Under the guise of an open debate about surpluses, it reveals how both parties are attempting to frame the problem to their advantage with only limited consideration of the policy implications of their actions.
So what, exactly, is the Social Security surplus?
Briefly, excess Social Security revenues is spent on government programs and retiring the federal debt, and the Social Security trust fund is credited with bonds equal to those expenditures. By reducing the debt, the logic goes, the government saves on interest payments and enhances its ability to borrow in the future to help pay benefits to retirees. Last year, for the first time, the entire surplus was devoted to debt reduction, and leaders from both parties pledged to continue doing so
Nothing really new. What I mean is we are notorious for neglecting our children and elderly. It is kind of strange that those not productive workers, are not attended to. I don't even equate social security into my retirement income, and wil plan to work at least part time until 65-67 or so.
Come on you can't be serious. If anything, we ruin them with big goverment. We over take care of our children with programs like head start, public education and cradle to grave support. Funding for programs to teach a high school graduate to learn a skill to work. The elderly have been ruined with the Social Security scam and the perscription drug plan.Welfare programs that hurt instead of help.
What really needs to be done is the Federal goverment to get out of the social programming they do. They shouldn't be in that business. It should and could be handled much better by state goverments so we would have a devisified way to deal with such so called social issues and may the best plan work. Right now we have one size fits all and it's very broke with no way to fix it.
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John Adams The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
"Right now we have one size fits all and it's very broke with no way to fix it."
There is not one thing wrong with social security as originally designed,despite Republican whining to the contrary. Yes, there is a way to fix it. But Bush, congressional Republicans and congressional Democrats do not want to go there. The solution is to stop spendingthe surplusas part of the general fund, and start investing the surplus in anything; money market funds or whatever. And pay back that 1.8 billion dollars that were stolen from US citizens at the interest rate in effect at the time the money was stolen from us.
Come on you can't be serious. If anything, we ruin them with big goverment. We over take care of our children with programs like head start, public education and cradle to grave support. Funding for programs to teach a high school graduate to learn a skill to work. The elderly have been ruined with the Social Security scam and the perscription drug plan.Welfare programs that hurt instead of help.
What really needs to be done is the Federal goverment to get out of the social programming they do. They shouldn't be in that business. It should and could be handled much better by state goverments so we would have a devisified way to deal with such so called social issues and may the best plan work. Right now we have one size fits all and it's very broke with no way to fix it.
Why are there so many children in this country that do not have health insurance coverage? Public education that is underfunded, understaffedand inadequate? Our elderly having to sacrifice food in order to pay for necessary meds?
By the way state governments and county governments do handle social service programs, predominently the counties. The federal government gives funding. Funding which for rule 79 county case management for children, adolescentsand adultswas significantly cut 1 year, 5 months and 15 days ago.
There is not one thing wrong with social security as originally designed,despite Republican whining to the contrary. Yes, there is a way to fix it. But Bush, congressional Republicans and congressional Democrats do not want to go there. The solution is to stop spendingthe surplusas part of the general fund, and start investing the surplus in anything; money market funds or whatever. And pay back that 1.8 billion dollars that were stolen from US citizens at the interest rate in effect at the time the money was stolen from us.
It's the Democrate who refused to fix the system. Bush tried a few years ago and got attacked for it, remember. The only way to keep the Goverment's hands off it is to privatize social security. That's not even a sure thing because there has been talk of taxing the 401ksa way to pay off the goverments debt.
I agree the goverment has stolen this money from us, but there is no way in haties I want some pencil neck in DC having the power to munipulate the markets by choosing where to invest trillions of dollars. That choice is best if left up to the individual people of this nation. That is why Social Security needs to be privatized.The system is broke and always has been when you consider the ROI.
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ORIGINAL: Red Lion
Why are there so many children in this country that do not have health insurance coverage? Public education that is underfunded, understaffedand inadequate? Our elderly having to sacrifice food in order to pay for necessary meds?
By the way state governments and county governments do handle social service programs, predominently the counties. The federal government gives funding. Funding which for rule 79 county case management for children, adolescentsand adultswas significantly cut 1 year, 5 months and 15 days ago.
No one is ever refused medical treatment. It's mandatory that emergency rooms provide it to everyone regardless of insurance.
Give me a break. The public education system is anything but underfunded. In fact, we spend more per child in NC, then I pay per child to send my kids to private school. Do I get a tax deduction and or credit, nope not one bit. I do get a better educated child though for less money spent. DC spends what? I think and I'm going off memory 13k/student, I know it's well over 10k and how many graduate without knowing how to read? Nationwide we spent 9k/student in 2003. Hardly underfunded.How much per student do you think we need to spend, Red Lion?
Seniors choosing food or meds. Give me a brake on that one. How come it's only during a republican administration that story comes out? It's a known fact the those bad pharmacuticals had programs for free meds to seniors who need assistance. It was and always has been available because it is a good business practice.
No federal programgets cut.Please show me the budget the year before and after so called cut. Maybe not increased on spending as much as you'd like but not cut from the year before. There in your sentence is the problem I'm talking about. We have to send our money at gun point to DC and they send it back with a one size fits all system telling states what to do. I say quit sending the money to DC in the first place and redirect it to the state. You control the state goverment much better. They each independently can come up with a plan to serve their citizens. If it works people remain in the state if not they can move to where it's better thus putting preassure for states to continue to improve their own system.
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John Adams The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
The Social Security Mess
