Posted on 03/03/2005 7:13:56 AM PST by Rakkasan1
In a Feb. 22 editorial the Star Tribune wrote favorably of Rep. Martin Sabo's Social Security "fix." The Sabo "fix" essentially promises to pay a higher rate of interest on Social Security's trust fund than is now being paid.
However, both Sabo and the Star Tribune fail to acknowledge that the trust fund doesn't consist of real money, but is simply an IOU from one part of the government to another.
Raising the interest rate on bonds issued to the trust fund simply raises the amount of general fund revenue that the government will eventually be required to transfer back to Social Security.
These transfers to the trust fund are not free: They must come from raising income taxes, reducing other government programs or increasing the national debt.
Even at the current rate of interest, repaying these trust fund dollars would within 20 years require cuts in the general fund totaling about $120 billion annually.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
Back when there were 14 workers for every recipient the government robbed the American people blind. If they hadn't given themselves a license to steal the fund would be in the TRILLIONS and growing exponentially every day.
Even now - if they would keep their hands off the money and use it ONLY as it is intended a sizable fund could be built up in a short time.
NOW - we the people are debating which thieving politicians to trust to fix the problem they created.
This is news?
It's just an IOU?
Did anyone really think that the Government cashed the checks from employers for Social Security, and then just piled up the cash, maybe with your name and SS number written on the wrapper, in a giant vault like Scrooge McDuck?
So9
Yes, unfortunately, I think you'll find that rather a lot of Americans over the years have believed something quite similar to what you describe. And it has been in the best interest of various entities to perpetuate that lie.
You nailed it. If Teddy Kennedy was a CEO of a Corporation, the Feds would be frog marching him to trial for stealing employee pension funds!
This simply restates the facts. The problem with Social Security reform is not just getting this message out, but changing the mindset of the Great Depression generation. These old timers lay awake at night reliving the market crash of '29, and praying everyday that this doesn't happen tomorrow! They are the same people that refused to save for retirement outside of U.S. Savings bonds. What they don't realize is that they've been duped for over 70 years by a government that has been slowly eroding their desire to take risks --- the very thing that founded this country. Old folks today do not understand that this 'retirement' system is an outdated 'safe' socialist way of thinking, never intended to be sole income.
Today's younger workers are already doing things to secure retirement income outside Soc. Sec., so why not allow people to reduce their payroll tax by a fair amount so that we can move away from Soc. Sec. I believe that many would be willing to means-test Soc.Sec. and even forgo the possibility of future benefits if the system could be wiped from the books in the next 10-15 years.
Let's put Soc. Sec. out to pasture to forever gum it's oatmeal and remember the 'good old days' of socialist steal and spend programs of the past. Let's pay the system off and get it out of our lives, and our children's pockets.
If I'm not mistaken, thats EXACTLY what they told America they were doing.
So is every other T-Bill out there.
Actually, your image of Unca' Scrooge is exactly what the "Great Society" politicians were doing. But they took the checks out of everybody's envelopes and cashed them first.
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