Posted on 01/29/2024 6:28:45 AM PST by reaganator
Never heard with the endless talk about "protecting Social Security" are suggestions for the ending of the surplus Social Security contributions being moved to the general fund and spent by Congress. Every Social Security contribution, past and present has been spent and is gone. In place of this money are government bonds, the Social Security "Trust Fund." A government bond is nothing more than a promise by the government to collect money from future taxpayers. Not even the federal government can spend and save the same money. The spent money is gone. When determining the solvency of the Social Security system the government bonds are erroneously used. The only money in the Social Security system are the current contributions as they pass through being spent. This Ponzi Scheme has only survived because its victims are mandated by law to participate. Any fix to the Social Security system should begin with the ending of the surplus contributions being spent, the only way to do this is to allow participants to own their own accounts and be able to invest a portion of their contributions in real, actual investments. Please feel free to tell me where I am wrong.
I live in the Eastern portion of PA about 5 miles from NJ.
3500 Sq Ft home 1/2 acre of ground paying $10,800 per year in property taxes. I know TX is high but not this high-—We have a 3.01% flat state tax, which is very much doable. In NJ we were in the 7.87% bracket.
We are still lower than those across the river in NJ.
***Every Social Security contribution****
Forced contribution is confiscation.
Years ago AARP Magazine had an article on the SS system. It said the SS was NOT a Ponzi Scheme because Ponzi schemes always collapse. Because SS has not collapsed was used as proof the SS is not a Ponzi Scheme.
A few pages on was an article by Jane Briant Quinn on how the SS system was set up. Without saying the word “Ponzi” she showed how the SS was set up just like a Ponzi Scheme with FORCED “contributions” constantly coming in.
The only money in the Social Security system are the current contributions as they pass through being spent.
—> That is merely a promise by the government to collect money from future taxpayers to cover these bonds.
It’s even worse.
We create money out of thin air to fund debt to pay the interest…
At the beginning of this Century, that dude who was President during the proclamation of Global War on Terror did some kind of nation-wide effort. He said he wanted to reform Social Security so workers would own their accounts and control where the dollars were invested.
For the most part the media just ignored his ideas; well, they said people were not interested. And some Demonocrats (sic) mocked it and said it was a risky scheme (or some other trigger label).
Just remember this: YOU are on your own. No one is coming to rescue YOU. But the Feds will force YOU to rescue others. The status quo will change only insofar as it will cost (i.e., hurt/disadvantage) YOU.
Why are those that now have the gold willing to sell for soon to be worthless paper dollars?
We see their advertisements all the time in magazines.
“Paper money going bad and will soon be worthless!
WE got the Gold! Invest in Gold!
WE will give you Gold for your worthless paper money!”
AARP:
” It said the SS was NOT a Ponzi Scheme because Ponzi schemes always collapse.”
That is true.
The problem is that everybody involved thinks they are not a Ponzi scheme—until they collapse!
Promises from the past....
https://www.ssa.gov/history/ssa/usa1964-2.html
Self-Supporting
“The program is designed so that contributions plus interest on the investments of the social security trust funds will be sufficient to meet all of the costs of benefits and administration, now and into the indefinite future—without any subsidy from the general funds of the Government. Both the Congress and the Executive Branch, regardless of political party in power, have scrupulously provided in advance for full financing of all liberalizations in the program.”
And where your “contributions” went. Read and weep.
https://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/fundFAQ.html#n4
Unfortunately there is no such thing as an actual trust fund.
In the 1970’s I knew a family that had huge amounts of household items in the garage. Inflation was pretty steep at the time. The dad was a union plumber, wife was stay-at-home mom. One child in college.
Lots of dish soap, bar soap, laundry detergent. Can’t remember what else.
But look at it this way: People will always need toilet paper. (A year’s supply for one person will take up a few cubic feet.)
Reminds me of this old Roy Acuff song from 1939.
The Old Age Pension Check Lyrics
When our old age pension check comes to our door
We won’t have to dread the poor house anymore
Though we’re old and thin and gray
Good times will be back to stay
When our old age pension check comes to our door
When her old age pension check comes to her door
Dear old grandma won’t be lonesome any more
She’ll be waiting at the gate
Every night she’ll have a date
When her old age pension check comes to her door
Grow a flowing long white beard and use a cane
‘Cause you’re in your second childhood, don’t complain
Life will just begin at sixty
We’ll all feel very frisky
When our old age pension check comes to our door
Powder and paint will be abolished on that day
And hoop skirts will then be brought back into play
Painted cheeks will be the rage
And old maids will tell their age
When their old age pension check comes to their door
All the drug stores will go bankrupt on that day
For cosmetics, they will all be put away
I’ll put a flapper on the shelf
Get a grandma for myself
When her old age pension check comes to her door
There’s a man that turned this country upside-down
With his old age pension rumor going ‘round
If you want in on the fun
Send your dime to Washington
And that old age pension man will be around
See post 7.
The “trust fund” is a bunch of paper in a filing cabinet in West Virginia.
It “exists”—just like if I write “one trillion dollars” on a piece of paper and stick it in my pocket I now have “one trillion dollars”.
That is exactly the kind of silly word games .gov plays.
Technically true. No American has a "balance" at the SS fund, but we do each have pension/annuity accounts for promised monthly payments (as you correctly pointed out).
There is no money in US Treasury bonds.
Well. That's where you're wrong. The SS fund owns trillions of U.S. treasury bonds. A year ago that amount was $2.7 trillion. https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2023/05/the-federal-government-has-borrowed-trillions-but-who-owns-all-that-debt, which is more than Japan and China combined own of U.S. treasuries (same link).
I remember in the 1970s when Johnny Carson made a joke about a possible shortage of toilet paper.
It caused a run on the stores.
During the Covid panic all the stores were emptied of toilet paper and bleach. The Hydrogen Peroxide isles were untouched.
Also you could buy a dozen wash cloths for a dollar. Those who have taken care of babies know how to use the wash cloths over and over instead of toilet paper.
Again, U.S. treasury bonds are not actual money. Not even at the very large amount of $2.7 trillion. They are merely a promise by the federal government to collect money from future taxpayers. No? What do you think would be the process for the federal government to redeem the $2.7 million, million dollars in U.S. treasury bonds held by Social Security? I’m not trying to put you on the spot I just do not want to continue to be wrong.
People who think there is some magical account with their name and SSN on it need to have their pictures placed right next to the definition of the word "gullible"
“My point is this, in the many, many times I have heard people talking about “protecting Social Security” I have NEVER heard anyone mention that Congress should be forced to stop spending the Social Security surplus contributions. If you have heard someone mention this, please tell me who this was.”
I’m with you. I don’t know any current politician that has admitted that “excess” social security contributions should be “fully invested” outside of the government and not “leant” to the Treasury to be used for other federal expenses.
IOUs to the Social Security “trust fund” are nothing less than the American peopple having to pay twice for something - once when we pay contributions into social security and what we will have to pay a second time in general taxes when Social Security has to redeem the IOUs it’s holding from the Treasury dept.
Currently more contributions come into the Social Security System than money going out. The difference between these two is the surplus amount. The money coming minus the money going out.
Unfortunately the “bonds” in Social Security are “non marketable”.
What does that mean?
It means Ponzi my FRiend.
I honestly don't understand that. You can trade U.S. treasury notes on the market. Or to make it easier, you can buy and sell shares in ETF's like TLT or mutual funds like PRULX that buy and sell U.S. treasuries like stocks. The fund managers hold onto them to collect dividends, or sell them whenever treasury rates go down (which always make the sell price of a treasury note go up because your existing treasury note collecting at a higher rate has more value than a new treasury note at a lower rate).
So is there a law saying that whatever treasuries the SS fund buys has to always be held to maturity and never sold like other treasury investors do?
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