Posted on 07/30/2009 7:25:24 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
[...]
Perhaps as early as this year, Social Security, at $680 billion the nation's biggest social program, will be transformed from an operation that's helped finance the rest of the government for 25 years into a cash drain that will need money from the Treasury. In other words, a bailout.
[...]
Unlike the pigs feeding at Uncle Sam's trough, the people who qualify for Social Security old-age benefits -- the ones who'll benefit from the bailout -- have played by the rules and paid Social Security taxes for decades. It would be immoral to tell them, "Sorry, we have to trim your cost-of-living adjustment because we can't afford it," while expecting them to continue footing the bill for bailing out imprudent people and institutions.
Why am I talking about Social Security when health care is sucking up virtually all the oxygen in Our Nation's Capital? Because Social Security is a really big deal, providing a majority of the income for more than half the people 65 and up, and also supporting millions of disabled people and survivors of deceased workers; because the collapse of stock prices and home values makes Social Security retirement benefits far more important even to upscale baby boomers than they were during the stock market and home-price highs of a few years ago; and because the problems aren't that hard to solve if we look at Social Security realistically instead of treating it as a sacred, untouchable program (liberals) or a demonic plot to make people dependent on government (conservatives).
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
The same author not only mentions Social Security but Medicare, which he says is even MORE of a problem than Social Security....
When it comes to problems, Medicare makes Social Security look like a walk in the park, even though at about $510 billion this year, it’s far smaller. Not only are Medicare’s financial woes much larger than Social Security’s, but they’re also much more complicated.
You solve Social Security’s problems by reducing future payments below where they’d otherwise be (which is what raising the retirement age does), or you bring more revenue into the system than it would otherwise have, or some combination of the two.
Medicare is more convoluted, because the health-care system is much more complex than Social Security. Which, when you think about it, involves only money.
Medicare presents several touchy issues, one of which is what to do about horrendously costly end-of-life problems, which account for a huge proportion of our national medical bill. Do you ration end-of-life care? Do you decide that the cost of having a comatose patient live another few weeks is too high and order care discontinued? Who wants to be responsible for making those decisions? Certainly not me.
The Obama folks say they’ll solve Medicare’s problems as part of fixing the health-care system. Then it will be Social Security’s turn. —A.S.
There won’t be any need for a bailout! There won’t be anyone left alive to collect if these idiots get their way & pass the deathcare bill!
Who cares about social security. I will never see it. I’m 50 and paying in but what about my Clunker!
Obama you promised me cash for my clunker! Now you take it away.
This is the best news of the day. Now we can write to our demcrat congressmen and senators and tell them HELL NO ON HEALTH CARE. It the can’t deal with old junk cars the they are not competent enough to have a Gov sponsored health care program..
Say no to Obama care as its another Cash for Clunkers program.
Should be a hoot to find out.
I mean, between the gritted teeth of course.
Perhaps our idiotic moron politicians should have been fixing Social Security and Medicare before screwing this country up even more with their contrived health care/ObamaCare.
Misplaced priorities ftw.
Not to worry. After Obama saves healthcare like he saved the economy, we will all die sooner thereby saving both Medicare and Social Security.
Look for:
1. An early tax assessed (taken) from all 401k and IRA private-retirement accounts. They'll claim that people are retiring and forgetting that they have to pay tax when they withdraw from their private retirement and it is ruining personal finances. They'll drag a couple of actors out to play that role. The government will take 10% from all accounts to “reduce the burden” and “reduce the shock” of having to pay the taxes when retired. Of course, they'll tax again in a few years.
2. A surcharge assessed on all private-retirement accounts over a certain figure.
3. A forced rollover from all private-retirement accounts into SS. They'll promise to give you what you had in your 401k before the market crashed. People will be thrilled. But the government will default on that debt obligation just as surely as they are de facto defaulting on their debt obligation to other nations that have invested in our debt by paying them back with deflated dollars.
But SS and private-retirement accounts are as irrelevant as movement on the DJIA. Who cares if the Dow goes back to 14,000? When it pays out, it will pay out with dollars that have half the purchasing power the last time it was at 14,000.
And what good are our private-retirement accounts if the purchasing power of the money we have means we only have about half what we think we'll have.
In other words, the communists that are in charge of this country now, are so thoroughly and completely and deliberately destroying our economy, that none of this matters all that much, in a monetary sense.
What about the lockbox?
Sorry, this is middle class republican welfare and more proof that even that group demands social spending at someone elses expense
Wait! We can’t die until we’ve had “End of Life” Counseling.
Xer Ping
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
Freep mail me to be added or dropped. See my home page for details and previous articles.
Here is HOW I want Social Security FIXED.
A Corporation that has spent way too much, Shrinks, cuts workers. The Corp and its Employees take a hit.
Who is the Big spender Corp on SocSec ?
The Government.
OK, Cut Govt. Expense, downsize Govt. employees, take a BIG HIT you guys.... because ......CONGRESS/govt employees had a responsibility and they FAILED.
The Car is in the Ditch..Who is holding the steering wheel ?
Tough Shitsky for you guys, learn your lesson.....Cut a few Billion and Suffer.....I want my $120,000 I paid in.....no excuses....Government is in the wrong and the Govt. and its Employees Pay for their problem. Reduce the Govt. employee Benefits, cut BIG govt......I paid for them with my Taxes. I want my SocSec earnings, Govt. employees be damned.
That’s why we will die sooner; counseling instead of treatment.
LOL!
Ping!
Love the Pic!
It was creative accounting that caused this problem.
It kinda pisses me off to hear the word "bailout" used in this situation. Social Security funds were never meant to be used for the general budget. The reason Social Security is going broke is because Congress stole the money from the American people.
Love your rant!
ROFLMAO! This is serious, but you Freepers are hilarious! Almost as funny as the recent story of someone being put on a Restraining Order from the Huddle House. I’ve got to email Jeff Foxworthy that one.
The cost-of-living adjustment are not linked to the goods and servives CPI, it’s adjusted to the inflation of wages.
LOL! You may be right on with this one!!!
As mentioned by the poster of this thread, Medicare is the really big problem, and fixing it will be far more complicated.
I’m taking my check early (62) so maybe I’ll get something. The rest of you Boomers -— good luck.
They did it in Romania under the evil Dictator Cecescue (spelling), and I was told that by a Romanian who was a political refugee in this country. She said old folks were given lethal injections in Romania, and it was written up as a “heart attack.”
They did it in Romania under the evil Dictator Cecescue (spelling), and I was told that by a Romanian who was a political refugee in this country. She said old folks were given lethal injections in Romania, and it was written up as a “heart attack.”
Now that is truly sickening...but a realization isn’t it?
Yup. And, they spent it to get re-elected.
Yes, it is!
“will be transformed from an operation that’s helped finance the rest of the government for 25 years into a cash drain that will need money from the Treasury”
Why is no one screaming about this? Why has it “helped finance the rest of the government for 25 years?” Wouldn’t that be because they’ve been stealing from it for 25 years? People who’ve paid into this all their lives deserve better than this. They were NOT paying to finance the rest of the government! Pay back what you stole, then we’ll talk about reform!
Socialism sucks.
The will just cash in the T-bills [read IOUs] in the SSTF and the General Fund will have to redeem them by borrowing more money or increasing taxes or both.
ping
Obama you promised me cash for my clunker! Now you take it away.
Hahaha, you thought a clunker was a car.
Bring in your old folks 65 and older and get a $1000 rebate on your SS.
That’s why they want to make 20 million illegals citizens — income to cover the theft of money taken from people TO BE HELD IN TRUST which our government spent on something else (getting votes).
They better have a metal detector for the Govt. employees doing the End of Life interview of an Old person.....2nd Amendment rights and claims of self defense..? “He said NO to saving my life via medical treatment”.....so I shot the SOB in self defense. Please assemble a jury of my peers. I plead self defense.....but hurry, I don’t have much time.
The problem with that plan is many federal workers don’t pay into Social Security.
Some are under the civil service plan.
Let's be realistic. A needle is cheaper than bullets.
Disability’s the new welfare - dems will protect that part of the program. The elderly? They can work until they drop...
Jury? What Jury, you “Enemy Combatant” you!
“1. An early tax assessed (taken) from all 401k and IRA private-retirement accounts.”
Bingo. No matter how much the government has said about Roths’ tax-free savings, there WILL be an assessment on these, too. The pool of what assets there are left is just too tempting for the Commies running this show.
I’d like to pretend I saw it all coming, but I draw a paycheck, and the fact is that anyone who’s not working for themselves is in trouble. Having wages set for you instead of being able to set your own is a surefire way to go broke in Zimbabwe. That’s the future U.S., one way or the other.
May as well cut the SS benefits now. So what if you older folks have paid into it your whole life... we don’t have the money and us younger folks are paying and will continue to pay and pay, all without any hope of receiving anything in return for our toil.
“The same author not only mentions Social Security but Medicare, which he says is even MORE of a problem than Social Security....”
It’s bad
$39 trillion
When Bush brought up Soc insecurity The dems assured us there was no problem.
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