What Washington doesn’t want you to know: Social Security starts going bankrupt in 2013
January 8, 2013 at 1:43 pm in News by Dustin Siggins 58 Comments
Shortly after the fiscal cliff deal passed Congress, it was reported that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) had literally burned a written proposal by President Obama to offer changes to Social Security as part of a fiscal cliff offer. This is consistent with Senator Reid’s purposeful ignorance about the dire straits facing Social Security, even as the program’s fiscal health has gotten worse. It’s also consistent with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) full retreat on Social Security reform last Friday, and the lack of Social Security reform in the 2012 House Republican budget.
How bad is the program’s fiscal health? While tax revenues started falling short of outlays starting in 2010 (seven years earlier than expected, due to the recession), the Trust Fund was predicted to start losing money in 2020. However, as reported by the think tank Just Facts, the program will start losing money this year. In a phone conversation this morning, Just Facts President Jim Agresti explained where the government got it wrong:
The media and government are telling people that the trust fund will not start declining in value until 2020. But this ignores inflation. When you account for inflation, as all legitimate estimates should, the Trust Fund will lose value in 2013.
What are the implications of the Trust Fund going empty? As I wrote at Hot Air last year, major cuts, major tax increases or major deficits are the future of Social Security. According to Social Security Trustee Charles Blahous in testimony to my former boss Rep. Kenny Marchant (R-TX) in June 2012, the Social Security Disability Program is facing a $30 billion annual shortfall by 2016, and that the entire program will face a $367 billion (inflation-adjusted) annual shortfall in 2033. For some perspective, this is over 4 times what we will spend in 2013 on food stamps. It is therefore doubtful these cuts are actually going to happen, which means Blahous’ prediction that the program will rob the general fund of the Treasury to cover the Social Security shortfall is likely correct.
Blahous’ testimony, which can be found through the above link, is worth watching in order to translate Washington-speak on Social Security to English. Similarly, Blahous’ more recent analysis on the necessity of bipartisanship to fix the program is also worth reading. Blahous points out that the program is so far gone that traditional solutions offered by both parties would not actually keep the program solvent. Most relevant, perhaps, for Tea Party activists is Blahous’ assertion that eliminating the Social Security tax cap would not balance the program’s long-term obligations.
Politicians, media pundits, and others have often claimed the Tea Party puts ideology above reality. Yet it is increasingly clear that the real ideologues are those in the overspending crowd – people who are closing their eyes to the facts rather than admit their fantasies do not match reality.
starting from the top salary and retirements of the president, congress, senators and all who are riding on the tax payers dollars. Social Security is not a gift from the government. It is a well earned paid for retirement fund. You will basically throw the retired workers that HAVE PAID in to this system their whole lives into financial bankruptsy or total ruin. What little I get every month, I have earned and still cannot make it in the financial world now. I make too much for welfare, but not enough to live. I work still to supplement my retirement that I worked for 46 years to deserve.
Sincerely
A very disappointed tax payer
Carolyn,
Respectfully, most retirees get more out of Social Security and MediCare than they have paid into the system. Also next to Defense, it is the two biggest expenses to the government.
I beg to differ that the “retirees” get more than they paid into it. Where do you get off? both my parents worked their whole lives and when my dad suddenly passed away my mom couldn’t even collect on social security she wasn’t 65 so she went back to work after retiring . And when she did retire at 69 it was told to us that she and my late father had paid almost close to each other in social security and benefits. She was told to choose between what she paid in on all her 45+ years working or my dads who also worked for 50 years she chose my dad. And now because of the rising costs she received a letter shed getting a reduction in social security. My mom has lost her home her car etc and living with my sister and her husband my mom’s medicare and social security will not cover allot of her medications and shes even signed up for a part B type supplemental .He medication expenses are around 600.00 a month ( which many are not covered like Alzheimer medications) plus living how do you expect her to get more than they deserve? .Your comments Hell ire or Carolyn are so misguided and not factual. I hope your “parents” are never faced with what many seniors are facing and your ignorance is beyond comprehension.
i agree with kim ,you tell them honey i am a retiree
How about all the people that die not to collect a dollar? what about all the interest of all the dollars for 50 plus years that the Gov’nt used? too many cheaters getting SS and working. people remarried and collecting on their x husband that is dieing of cancer as his care giver and married to another man. People collecing SSI saying they are disabled and working under the table. someone is not doing their jobs …..
It’s not an expense to the Government when you pay into it. What happened is the politicians saw they could dip their hands in our money & Spend it any way they wanted to without regard to the taxpayer…
Just wait, Congress now wants to take and control peoples IRA’s, 401k’s, etc. and provide the individual with a minimal benefit. After all, it is “not” the people’s money, it belongs to the government.
That’s a shame when if you could invest your money in the stock market you be safe. The stock market ALWAYS goes up.
Historically, the stock market has ALWAYS done better than Social Security.
Carolyn, I agree with you.
I think they really need to take away all of the pork spending and all of the funds “borrowed” from SS over the years and NOT PAID BACK should be accounted for no matter whose pocket they have to be retreived from. That would really help matters.
The people in Washington need to take a HUGE pay cut and start living like the rest of us and that would really help matters.
Deb – Not sure why you support the Republican party because they want to lower Social Security and Medicare. For example, they pushed using the CPI (Consumer Price Index) to calculate inflation for future adjustments. The AARP stated this was a bad deal for seniors.
hellfire, it was the Dems robbing SS # 1` Clinton to balance his budget.
Elaine – Check your facts. It’s been going on a long time. Ever since WW2. See how much Reagan borrowed from it too.
Carolyn,
The SCoTUS has already decided that, despite the common misperception to the contrary, any dollar collected by the IRS for the treasury, be it payroll or income tax, is then fully the property of the US govt to be spent according to its will. You have no personal trust fund. You have no retirement account at the SS office. They took your money and spent it elsewhere — and, I should point out, mind you, that this was done during a time of unprecedented wealth creation, a small retirement age group, and a very large working populace.
No, we are screwed. The politicians did it — but your generation asked them to. It should be criminal to push the bill for one generation’s greed and uncontrolled desires onto the next.
Yes, the end is near.
Carolyn, I’m sorry you’re disappointed, but that’s pretty much the inevitable result of depending on government. They just aren’t dependable!
Didn’t you read the article?
In short, there isn’t and never was any “trust fund.’
There just aren’t enough young working people to fund all the promises made to baby boomers. Keeping the promises to baby boomers will entail impoverishing today’s young working people- all of them, for most of their working lives.
Is that what you want to do?
This doesn’t surprise me and the “seniors” who voted for this incumbent you are the most ignorant so called Americans. Not only have you screwed yourselves you took other “seniors” with you. What is the saying a fool and his money are soon parted? .Well I hope you reap what you sow because you just made the lives of other “senior” Americans hell . Are you proud of your selves ? when many other “seniors” can barely live on what they have now and with the impending cuts? are you gong to dole out and help them?. No of course not, you rank right up there with the selfish and ignorant. So when your social security checks and medicare runs low a or dry who will you blame? .I say look int he mirror it will be your fault.
a few seconds ago · Like
Kim, Maybe you should pay more taxes to help these seniors instead of spewing insults.
The problem isn’t the amount of taxes paid. The problem is how it is being spent. When there are billions in EBT-controlled funds going into strip clubs and tatoo parlors and liquor stores and buying drugs, etc., etc., etc., then the seniors will ultimately get less when the reality that money doesn’t grow on trees becomes impossible to ignore. It’s the management of the programs that is the cause of the waste. There should never have been even considered giving an EBT card, and allowing institutions like strip clubs having EBT-compatible ATM machines. And those negotiated agreements were ok’d by the RINOs and naive TEA Party members of Congress.
Hellfire — so… let me get this straight. The response to the profligate spending of past and present Congresses is, as you so eloquently alluded to, “Shut up and give me your money, citizen. Get back to work.”?
Really… so much for the wisdom with age adage.
Yes, her comments to Carolyn were pretty mean and insensitive.
Kim are you a nut. ok so people voted wrong, not the first time. you are getting carried away i think.
The world is a series of mistakes and corrections. The Great Depression, the Great Recession, wars, the list is endless. What do you do now?
Here is 2 ideas:
Modify the Social Security tax cap. Workers pay into the Social Security system on earnings up to $106,800 in 2010. About 83 percent of worker earnings were subject to Social Security payroll taxes in 2008. If all earned income above $106,800 annually were subject to Social Security contributions but did not count toward benefits, Social Security’s projected deficit would be completely eliminated. If the higher income counted toward Social Security benefits, about 95 percent of the shortfall would be absolved. Other ideas: apply a new Social Security formula to earnings above the current cap or raise the amount of the income cap to apply to 90 percent of all worker earnings.
Average in more working years. Social Security checks are currently based on an average of a worker’s 35 highest paid years in the workforce. Those who haven’t worked 35 years have zeros averaged in. The averaging period could be increased to 38 or 40 years, which would reduce the deficit by 14 and 23 percent respectively.
Yes, all progressive ideas, including socialist programs like Social Security, are a mistake.
The problem is, the people who make the mistakes are in government, so they don’t have to pay for their mistakes, the taxpayers do.
When it started, Social Security was sold as a means tested program for widows without pensions, and widows with small children.
Those sorts of things are now well covered by a multitude of other welfare programs.
Social Security should just be eliminated, it can’t be “fixed”.
Jeff,
Over my dead body…..I’m on Social Security, which I will defend with ALL my guns and IEDs!!!!
Jeff,
Are you a Libertarian? They want to get rid of everything except local courts and the police.
We would live like the Amish do today. Kind of cool really….horses and wood stoves
The problem is that benefit levels do not equate to contributions. I hear a lot of seniors griping that they paid in to the system, but they are failing to do the math. If you compound what you put in at the interest rates of the day over the course of your life, and then pay that back out based on actuarial predicted lifetimes, you would be collecting no where near what SS payments currently are.
This thinking also takes the irresponsibility of politicians, and the older generation’s utter failure to hold them accountable (i.e., repeated election of fiscally irresponsible representatives) and attempts to impose the costs of those failures on the next generation – this is not just irresponsible, it’s robbery and immoral. Didn’t save enough for retirement? Repeatedly elected representatives that didn’t maintain the programs to provide for it? Too bad – robbing your kids (using the government power of the gun to take from them for the benefits you didn’t save for) is very fundamentally wrong. The boomer generation has utterly destroyed the fiscal and moral fabric of this country. For shame.
Everyone ignores the fact that the Democrats hijacked the Social Security system and turned it into a catch-all welfare program. The first thing that has to be done if the intent is to fix Social Security is to fix that. Here’s how that is fixed. Just a very simple statement in the next Social Security “fix” legislation:
IF YOU DIDN’T PAY INTO SOCIAL SECURITY, YOU DON’T GET ANYTHING FROM SOCIAL SECURITY.
Then, we can work on a steady-state solution of income/outflow. If we don’t stop the Democrats from using it as a welfare program, there is not a snowball’s chance in hell of fixing it.
You are Right On, DBW! Read my comment to get the NEXT step. LET PEOPLE put their Social Security + Employer’s deposits into an Interest Account of some kind, and the folks would be able to retire as near Millionaires. If what I had paid in had gained the average Savings Account Interest from the start, I WOULD have been close to a millionaire at my retirement age of 63. But, instead, I’m trying to live on $1100/mo with NO health insurance & I can’t get Medicare ’till I’m 65. And after I started getting my S.S., I fell off a ladder and fractured my foot, unable to have the surgery necessary, and am now disabled. If only I’d have been able to put my SS + Employer deposits in a compound interest account…oh, well. You’re right – these evil democrats have ruined America!
SF says it all. LOL nuff said
The following systems would only be the basic lockbox accounts. Anyone could purchase additional insurance or investments if they could afford them. These systems even though they would be forced savings and I do not like that type of government interference I believe is what it would take to turn the entitilest attitudes of decades into proud American citizens who could hold their heads up and be proud that their own healthcare and savings would at least allow everyone to provide for themselves. I see the biggest problems being the Congress and institutions having to adjust to keeping their hands off and truly having major security for that to be accomplished. A Congress and President who could put these systems into place would be the Champions of all the people in this nation, perhaps the world.
A Real Single Payer Healthcare System
Is anyone paying attention to solutions other than Obama’s’???? This system will not be promoted by either political party due to the political avarice of the re-election model and lobbyists!!! It will take a real hero of Patriotism and love of this country and its citizens for this model to become the healthcare system for the USA. It removes the political option for campaign donations and lobbying by an out of control medical care industry and insurance system and a dictatorial political system!!!
The option of developing a single payer system owned by you the consumer in a private lockbox account (willable and locked for life) is not being discussed by anyone but mildly suggested by a few elected officials that occasionally voice their opinions and we as a nation need to focus on alternatives and other systems instead of just beating down “Obamacare” or asking to leave in place a Medicare system that will not function soon due to the lack of funds. (I saw an interview done in 2008 with you and your wife where medical accounts were discussed briefly, “hope springs eternal for this type of system”.
Instead of having all of us start paying for a new 1 plus trillion dollar untried system, have those who actually can afford to invest in their own lock box account, but do not want or need to have major coverage now, start with them and then take all those illegal immigrants out of the picture. There will probably only be 10 to 15 million, people needing assistance that have no form of insurance but the indigent emergency care anyone can be served under. As far as any immigrants illegal or otherwise who are not citizens are concerned, have them verify their citizenship (country of origin) and provide needed emergency care before having them return to their countries for their continued care and then bill their countries health care plans and if they do not pay us, pay ourselves by deducting funds from foreign aid to that country. (See my thoughts on this in an old Immigration Reform Plan I suggested to Congressman Doolittle 10 years ago in a short format in this letter.)
The government could jumpstart underprivileged individuals lock box medical accounts for the truly uninsured American individuals, call it Dollars for Doctors!!! All other medical insurance accounts could be moved incrementally and phased in, beginning with the employed and parallel Medicare transition with Seniors and the disabled until they have a minimum requirement in their accounts. Set an inexpensive catastrophic monthly premium plan for all people and for seniors have it paid for out of existing Social Security funds until medical account transition has taken place; didn’t Obama say it would take 10 or 15 years to accomplish his plan? This could be done much sooner. We need to reform the Systems of Medicare and State Healthcare Systems. I already paid out of my employment for Medicare and now out of Social Security I would just as soon start rotating those funds into my own account instead of the governments. Many employers are using this type of system with great results. A model for precedence has been set, why let government take over more of our lives, have all of the public employees and elected officials moved onto the same plan they dictate for ourselves for health care and retirement!! There may be those who elect to opt out of any plan but have the resources to pay as they go. They still must have a basic account should they have a financial failure.
We can have an electronic record of our life’s treatments, there would be a chip in our medical account cards (NOT in on our person)to keep our records confidential to us and our doctor of choice, and remove the rights of government to view them, if we change to another doctor they move with us. Even x-rays, test results and all scans can be carried by anyone and only emergency services would be able to access info like allergies to drugs etc. If the patient is not conscious, this would be an invaluable resource for EMT’s and reduce unnecessary mistakes by first responders and doctors and hospitals. This would reduce the costs of record keeping and billing and a multitude of other problems and those jobs that would be lost due to this system would be needed to convert and revise and maintain a new system and provide better and more care instead of taking time to push paper.
Individual medical lockbox accounts with everyone paying a small catastrophic event health care premium with a no cap policy that would eliminate the lobbyists for, unions, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, doctors, lawyers, etc. This would hopefully allow everyone to design their own private health care system and would stop them from looking to the government and eliminate fraud and waste of taxpayer dollars. All medical services would be required to leverage their costs against each other rather than have insurance companies decide who gets what from whom. They would have to market their services to the individual account holder and not allow government intervention. An individual would design their medical plans and would select an insurance plan holder who would get a small monthly fee for managing the account, much the way a bank gets a fee and they would not be able to use those funds in the accounts, but hold them in an interest bearing account. They would make sure the funds they are entrusted to protect are used by the American citizen account holder for certified health care services. No one but the doctor and you decide what care you need, and if you don’t like your doctor, get a new one. Also pre-existing conditions would be allowed all care or services.
You will get to decide which doctor or clinic and where you want to buy your prescriptions on what plan you chose and where you want to have physical therapy and what level of catastrophic health care you want to buy and or change at different times in your life, (young adults usually would need catastrophic accidental coverage with their lockboxes just building they would have the lowest risk and others would need more levels of care as they age). Preventative health care should be an available option for people who want to utilize proven treatments that stem from natural or holistic medical services that are used reliably in other countries.
The other overriding issue of tort reform and frivolous lawsuits has prevented physicians from reducing the excessive cost burden to the medical industry to work to improve a more fail safe system of medical services and better pay for those being given the responsibility of patient care with minimal wages.
So much could be accomplished for the good of the economy and relieve individuals and families concern for their health care needs, with a no-cap policy in catastrophic care. Employers could opt for minimum co-pay into these accounts or entice employees with a larger share much like 401Ks. Only the accounts move with the employees for a lifetime.
I have a self-employed family member that pays $1200 a month for a Kaiser Healthcare Plan, with a $25 co-pay, at the end of 20 years he will have paid $280,000 for health care to protect his family, which is more than it will have cost him to buy his home. If that amount had been divided up into individual accounts for his and his spouses and children to earn interest there would have been no need for the government to get involved, they would pay for each doctor visit out of their own accounts for their health care issues and have more than enough in their individual lockbox accounts to cover their end of life care without the government “end of life care specialists” deciding if they get to live or die! No pre-existing condition clauses and NO cap on care for anyone through a catastrophic account.
This would truly be a healthcare system belonging to individuals but allowing medical insurance companies they select to review and present to their lockbox holders the overview of what they are being charged and point out where they could question costs and or be provided better care with a consumer care review board attached to each insurance company made up of various physicians, patients, administrators, pharmacists, nurses, nutritionists, etc. They could also be volunteer watchdogs holding unpaid positions. There already is a coding system in place for procedures, this could be made more user friendly and used as the benchmark for the system. There will always be those trying to benefit from their involvement and the human greed factor.
If you go to your doctor and pay out of your own lock box account, the government cannot access for any reason, as it grows, earns interest and can be added to by you, family and or your employer or anyone and then used for end of life care with surpluses passed on to your children and their children or willed. You are the ONE PAYER SYSTEM that would solve the problem, NOT THE POLITICAL PARTIES THAT THINK THEY ARE IN CHARGE OF YOUR LIFE. YOU ARE THE GOVERNMENT. Suggest alternatives, don’t just complain and yell about what is proposed for your life, take charge!!!
Propose the same for retirement accounts and get rid of the IRS, (See lockbox retirement accounts) and push for a flat sales tax (See sales tax instead of Fear Tax by the IRS) sales tax funds that would proportionately be divided up for Feds, States, Cities and Counties based on population, etc!! Let’s get our America back on track and start building a more prosperous country and moving forward instead of being side tracked into a socialist nation with known failures.
“We the People” will be sure to make our decisions for our lives at the ballot box!!!
Immigration solution starting place:
How would you fix the immigration problem?
Here is my idea I gave to Congressman John Doolittle many years ago and also talked to Congressman Tom McClintock of how we could start out the discussion it will be interesting to see the others. Maybe we could send it to Governor Romney and ask him to think about the suggestions.
First off we do not need to have fences along our borders as only the drug traffic or terrorists would be trying to come in illegally. Use the National Guard or military along with border agents to patrol the border.
Immigration reform needs to immediately take the form of providing ANY and ALL immigrants with an Ecard visa that contains each individuals DNA, fingerprints, iris id’s and photo.
This would fit into a reader identifier unit that is used by all security agencies and corporations down to the littlest of employers and allows anyone who is not a felon or criminal into the US for touring, business, work, school, or other valid reason. Illegal’s, all of them who are already here for any amount of years) who are want to achieve citizenship will be put behind those who have been waiting and have put in for citizenship ahead of those illegally here. Also their taxes and social security funds will be kept and tracked like any other employee and ANY employer that is found to have employed ANYONE who is illegal and does not have a Ecard will be fined the first time, then the second time with a warning and larger fine and the third time closure of the company and a removal of the company’s assets. Each card will have the driver’s license information and insurance and if medical insurance accounts are not available for their emergency needs the costs of those immigrants emergency medical will be taken out of the foreign aid to the country of origin before it is dispensed each year. NO welfare or assistance will be provided to any immigrant outside of emergency medical and children will be provided emergency medical as well. Anyone who cannot provide a means of employment, insurance for their vehicles, or pay a small fee for their children’s education will be asked to return to their own country until they can return and work.
This is not a do all be all plan but it is a starting point and should be adjusted using a bipartisan committee and many ethnic groups as members.
_ LOCKBOX RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS
Here is a short suggestion about a true retirement lockbox account (Social Security) that could begin with the more affluent now and move down from those that could start putting aside their Social Security into their lockbox accounts even if they do not want to have one (things happen to people and everyone should have a minimum account no matter how wealthy they are) and the youth who are entering the work force would begin now also. These would be locked to all and willable and dividable upon ones demise with grandchildren or if no heirs it would go in to a pot to aid those that do not have a startup fund at birth. Remember lockboxes would be hands off to the governments, individuals or institutions. Handling fees could be earned by insurance companies or investment companies who only hold and ensure the funds earn the expected growth without investing or using the funds. Anyone could transfer their account where ever they choose. Holding companies would earn their income from a few dollars a month in fees to handle the accounts only!
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“Entitlement???”
This is from a person who sent this as an example. Remember, not only did you contribute to Social Security but your employer did too. It totaled 15% of your income before taxes. If you averaged only 30K over your working life, that’s close to $220,500. If you calculate the future value of $4,500 per year (yours & your employer’s contribution) at a simple 5% (less than what the govt. pays on the money that it borrows), after 49 years of working you’d have $892,919.98. If you took out only 3% per year, you receive $26,787.60 per year and it would last better than 30 years, and that’s with no interest paid on that final amount on deposit! If you bought an annuity and it paid 4% per year, you’d have a lifetime income of $2,976.40 per month. The folks in Washington have pulled off a bigger Ponzi scheme than Bernie Madoff ever had.
Entitlement no way, I paid cash for my social security insurance!!!! Just because they borrowed the money, doesn’t make my benefits some kind of charity or handout!! Congressional benefits, aka. free health care, outrageous retirement packages, 67 paid holidays, three weeks paid vacation, unlimited paid sick days, now that’s welfare, and they have the nerve to call my retirement entitlements!!!!!!.
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The real problem is that people are living too long. The used to die at 70. Now it’s 85. Something has to give. Choices: cut benefits, raise the retirement age to 75, rase taxes.
I
Jerry, the “real problem” is people living too long. So you blame this problem on longer life. What about the real fact that politicians have been stealing this money for decades, which is why social security is where it is today.
Yep, when Social Security started 70 years ago the average life span was 65 years. Now it’s in the 80′s. Living longer costs more. If taxes were indexed to life span the problem would be solved.
For all my 45 years in the U.S. workforce, then being unemployed for 3 years (as RN in a medium-small San Joaquin Valley town, CA), deciding not to take the 3rd, 4th & on unemployment extensions, I was forced to take my Social Security at 63 y.o. just to live, and it’s almost impossible, now disabled through an accident, with NO health insurance, unable to get Medicare until I’m 65…WHO could live like this on $1100/mo??? Yeah, THAT’S IT! But I blame the Democrat administrations, who have always thought they could take that S.S. money we paid in and spend it however they wanted to buy the votes of all the non-workers. If they would have let that money gain interest, like a TRUST Fund is SUPPOSED to, our Social Security fund would be doing just fine, now. If I would have put my Social Security (+ Employer’s ) deposits in a compound interest account at the start, I’d have retired a MILLIONAIRE! Well, just about. It’s all the crooked government’s fault.
Richard, The gov’t is required to pay back all the money they borrowed from the trust.
Hellfire that is tooo funny The Gov’nt pay back is that right? with interest too right? land of oz maybe ….. lol
Agree Richard, but some of these lids blame us. blame someone else is the thing to do you know.
SS and MC are now, and have always been, structured as redistributionist welfare ponzi schemes with the purpose of vote buying. They’ve been amazingly effective in that regard — “oh dear goodness, let’s not make the seniors angry. you know, they vote, after all.” Goodness.
There are three possible scenarios in this forced scheme: get back what you paid in, get back more than you paid in, or get back less than you paid in. In order for the system to work, there has to be as many dollars coming from those who would get back less than they paid in to cover the counter groups. Given the nature of the funding (indexed to income), this means that it is inherently redistributive. When you take the monies collected today to pay for the benefits of today and leave the benefits of tomorrow to be paid for by those following in line, you have a Ponzi scheme. When you have an unstable / changing population distribution, any system designed in such a way is structurally flawed and guaranteed to develop the problems we have today.
Big surprise that the politicians cannot fix a catastrophe of their making without admitting they messed up from day one… and have been lying ever since.
Sanity – Don’t forget the Medi-Care Prescription Drug Plan created by Bush and passed by the Republicans to win the 2004 election. This is one of the biggest expenses in the Medi-Care program, and was basically a free giveaway to the drug companies. The government didn’t even negotiate favorable pricing, and we pay more than other countries.
Sanity,
What is your suggested solution? I mean politically you can’t just dump the old people in the street. Many would die off. You could save costs by teaching seniors to live on cheaper food and then reduce their benefits a little
Actually the US should look at Germany for how to make it work. They have had Social Security since 1870.
Jerry, what about looking at the fraud and abuse of social security.
Which is that? I mean you think 40 years olds are dressing up in wigs with grey hair to qualify?
Social Security
Cards up until the 1980s expressly stated the number and
Card were not to be used for identification purposes. Since nearly everyone in the
United States now has a number, it became convenient to use it anyway and the
message, NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION was removed.
An old Social Security card with the “NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION”message.
Our Social Security
Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social
Security (FICA) Program. He promised:
1) That participation in the Program would be
completely voluntary,
No longer Voluntary
2) That the participants would only have to pay
1% of the first $1,400 of their annual
incomes into the Program,
Now 7.65%
On the first $90,000.
3) That the money the participants elected to put
into the Program would be deductible from
their income for tax purposes each year,
No longer tax deductible
4) That the money the participants put in went to the
Independent ‘Trust Fund’ rather than into the
General Operating Fund, and therefore, would
only be used to fund the Social Security
Retirement Program, and no other
Government program, and,
Under Johnson the money was moved to
The General Fund and spent.
5) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed
as income.
Under Clinton & Gore
up to 85% of your Social Security can be taxed.
Since many of us have paid into FICA for years and are
now receiving a Social Security check every month —
and then finding that we are getting taxed on 85% of
the money we paid to the Federal government to ‘put
away — you may be interested in the following:
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —-
Q: Which Political Party took Social Security from the
Independent ‘Trust Fund’ and put it into the
General Fund so that Congress could spend it?
A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the Democratically
controlled House and Senate.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —
Q: Which Political Party eliminated the income tax
deduction for Social Security (FICA) withholding?
A: The Democratic Party.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— —–
Q: Which Political Party started taxing Social
Security annuities?
A: The Democratic Party with Al Gore casting the
‘tie-breaking’ deciding vote as President of the
Senate, while he was Vice President of the U.S.
———— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— ——— –
Q: Which Political Party decided to start
giving annuity payments to immigrants?
(AND MY FAVORITE):
A: That’s right!
Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party.
Immigrants moved into this country, and at age 65,
began to receive Social Security payments! The
Democratic Party gave these payments to them,
even though they never paid a dime into it!
———— — ———— ——— —– ———— ——— ———
Then, after violating the original contract (FICA),
the Democrats turn around and tell you that the Republicans
want to take your Social Security away!
MDRoss,
Thanks for the time and effort in putting together your comments. For those of you having interest in such things…
http://www.ssa.gov/history/law.html
Anybody know the current GOP plan to fix Social Security? How many votes does it have?
It’s pretty funny. Both the Democrats and Republicans don’t want to be seen as the party who cut Social Security.
Somebody, somewhere has to have some kind of useful idea on the subject….Tea Party, Libertarian, Constitution Party….somebody. It’s cheap and easy to complain but that doesn’t solve the problem. Where would we be today if after 9/11 we sat around muttering “we got attacked” all day, instead of doing something about it?
This is the perfect solution issue that could unite all the Tea Parties. We’re pretty old on average. Not many under 55 types. So a solution is important to all of us. Let’s start looking for one!!!
Here he Libertarian Plan. Basically they say get rid of it so we can play the stock market with the money. They don’t say what they would do with current old people.
http://www.lp.org/issues/social-security
Here is a Tea Party plan to fix Social Security
http://www.teapartynation.com/group/fixsocialsecuritynow
3 GOP fixes for Social Security
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreybrown/2012/01/17/three-strikingly-different-gop-visions-about-social-security-reform/
Constitution Party fix
http://azconstitutionparty.com/social-security
At last here is a site that lists a bunch of fixes and options.
Let study this and get behind a fix that protects us best!
http://www.fpanet.org/ToolsResources/SocialSecurityPredictor/ProposedFixestoSocialSecurity/
Do you know that our representatives don’t have Social Security as part of their retirement? Maybe we should think about the Idea of redistribution on a experimental basis. Lets start with having our elected officials use some of their retirement to shore up Social Security.
I have a friend retired from the US Post Office, another retired from the US Bureau of Land Management, a brother-in-law retired from the Ted Stevens International Airport Fire Department, another got a disability retirement from the Ted Stevens International Airport Police Department and several other people I know retired from education jobs; none of them were part of Social Security.
just close the post office seeing those morons are losing 25million a day for a service you have to pay to use ,amazes me
Yes, email works fine for sending small packages