Posted by Tina
“Putting Social Security on Solid Footing,” by Jon N. Hall in The American Thinker begins:
If you lend yourself money, should you charge interest on the loan? It would depend on how badly you need the interest income, wouldn’t it? If you were desperate for cash, you’d pay yourself a hefty interest rate. After all, you need the money, right?
If you fail to see the absurdity in those questions, you might be a member of Congress.
A funny opening to the story but, as Hall notes, the yoke’s on all of us. The Social Security system is not carefully managed to ensure a great return for working Americans who surrender their hard earned dollars every payday. The fund is managed with interest rate gimmicks and then used as a slush fund to finance profligate spending on programs for votes.
Republicans apparently missed a great opportunity decades ago when they had control of Congress and the presidency that would have altered the way our government handles our money.
This is a good article. Hall draws several conclusions worthy of serious consideration. The clowns in Clowngress won’t do anything until the voices of the people become to loud, too constant, and too informed to avoid…or we just throw the b-tards OUT!
If GW had privatized SSI it would have crashed. It is solvent and good til 2037, but the Tea Party is looking for a way to raid those funds. Yes that 2 billion surplus. Now how can the billionaires get that and the 55 billion in USPS funds?
All about stealing taxpayer dollars! La Malfa being on corporate welfare as well.
Funny how their voters are cluesless.
Too funny [SSI] “is solvent”. Yep that Ponzi scheme dissolved decades ago.
Is anyone besides me getting a clue as to how much of a horse’s ass epic fail boy is?
He’s a broken record. “Tea Party…repeat…repeat…repeat…
At least he dropped the Koch brothers since that study listed them as 59 on the list of fund raisers with Democrat groups filling the 58 spots above with their billions of dollars total.
A summery report by the Social Security trustees:
Theres more but who need so much bad news in one shot.
Yes, the Dewster is an Epic Fail unto himself.
Off Topic — GEE WHIZ, I WONDER WHY
Gun Debate Tradeshow
Remington to Expand in Huntsville
Brian Stelter’s just asking questions, folks.
Vast Right-Wing Journalism
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun on the 72nd birth anniversary of North Korea’s late leader Kim Jong Il
Horror in the Hermit Kingdom
Restricted Access
Clinton Foundation keeps tight leash on papers from Bill Clinton’s tenure as governor
http://freebeacon.com/restricted-access/
So this topic leads me to what I thought would be a great question:
“We are always hearing about how Social Security is going to run out of money.”
“How come we never hear about Welfare running out of money?”
Before you comment, let me share a thought with you. The people receiving Social Security had to work and pay into it in order to receive anything back.
The people on welfare don’t work or pay into what they get, so who deserves it more?
Harold you’re right. And the one’s who are on 2nd and 3rd generation welfare sure as heck don’t!
The congress admits SSI is solvent
Spending? Corporate welfare is a huge problem.
Funny how so many people on social security are trying to eliminate it!
Doug La Malfa collects welfare in the form of farm subsidies……..and a congressional salary!
Bottom line social security is solvent and the Tea Party’s goal is to privatize it to wall street and end it.
http://vtdigger.org/2010/08/16/sanders-a-way-to-make-social-security-solvent-for-the-next-75-years/
And why is it that red states have the biggest welfare problem?
http://www.nasi.org/research/2012/social-security-finances-findings-2012-trustees-report
http://www.businessinsider.com/red-states-are-welfare-queens-2011-8
Epic fail for sure.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/04/the_red_state_ripoff.html
But we know truth is not a goal in these parts.
Americans like social security PERIOD.
GW put it on the ballot and he lost
Also spending on the phony for profit Iraq war on a credit card seems to be a non issue?
Let’s take a look at the claims made by Bernie Sanders in the article posted by Dewey under his comment: “Bottom line social security is solvent and the Tea Party’s goal is to privatize it to wall street and end it.”
Bernie: “The Social Security system has been enormously effective and efficient for the last 75 years.”
Except that it has cost each of us much more than the creators of the law ever imagined it would and although the WWII crowd benefited greatly, we have been warned for decades that the program is unsustainable! That means it won’t work effectively for the next seventy-five years without adjustments.
Bernie: “Working people are entitled to the continued security that the system provides and should not be forced to be dependent for their retirement and basic needs upon the ups and downs of the stock market”
Bernie, SS is subject to the same ups and downs. CATO:
Also, proposals to include “optioned” privatization for a portion of employee contributions is not “forcing” people into the private market.
Since Social Security contributions are forced participation in the first place, Bernie has a lot of nerve using this term at all, much less in error.
In addition, if the private option was chosen, the money would be invested in safe instruments (the market has three levels of investment; safe being the safest) I imagine young people might like to be invested in companies like Apple, Microsoft, or the companies that are making that new 3D printer that may one day soon print out hips or lungs, and are already printing out walls for buildings!
Or some of these hot companies.
And lastly, the market does experience ups and downs (Often as a result of stupid politically motivated regulation) but from the beginning, the market has gone up, dramatically! Young people would benefit greatly from having their money invested over their entire working life. CATO:
Bernie: “Despite the deep recession that we are currently in”
THE RECESSION ENDED IN SPRING OF 2009!
Bernie: “Social Security is not going bankrupt”
It isn’t “going” bankrupt; it isn’t solvent. It does suffer a cash flow deficit. All of the payouts to current recipients come from the money deposited by current workers. The so-called “fund” is filled with IOU’s from borrowing that Congress engages in and then keeps off the books when they report on the state of SS and the economy.
Bernie: “Social Security Trust Fund today has a $2.5 trillion surplus”
Snort! That’s a lie unless you consider the loan papers on your house evidence of a surplus in your bank account. FedSmith:
Quoting Dewey, “Epic fail!”
Bernie: ‘…if the Social Security payroll tax was applied to all income, Social Security would be solvent for the next 75 years.”
Since Bernie an his buddies in Congress didn’t do what the law compelled them to do Bernie suggests the public, YOUNG PEOPLE, give up more of their earnings. Since his party is encouraging less work and more dependency the strain on investment in the private sector will mean the shrinking of the middle class would continue. Idiots!
Bernie: “…someone who earns $106,800 a year pays the same amount into Social Security taxes as a billionaire.”
This is just plain ignorant since we tax on earnings rather than wealth. Any billionaire earning $106,800 would pay the same amount of FICA tax.
I might consider countering some of the other Dewey droppings if I have some extra time…for now I’m sure you’ll all agree,this is quite enough!