Posted on 05/09/2015 10:53:40 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Edited on 05/09/2015 11:21:13 AM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
According to the government, the Social Security trust fund is due to go broke in 2033. But two recent studies show that the Social Security Administration is using incorrect accounting procedures and that the fund will run out of the money years before that.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
THERE IS NOT SOME FEDERAL BANK ACCOUNT WITH A FEW TILLION LAYING IN IT!!!
this whole thing is a lie. All SS has are a bunch of BIG FAT IOUs
“the Social Security trust fund”
There lies the deceit. There is no Trust Fund. It was raided long ago. Now its a pay as you go IOU.
The problem isn’t the amount in the fabled Trust Fund, it’s the cash flow. When SS taxes exceeded the amount needed to pay benefits, SS gave the money to the government in return for IOUs. It didn’t invest in anything with market-determined value; it got a guarantee out of the “full faith and credit” of the Treasury. So, funding SS, regardless of the state of the Trust Fund, is an exercise in how large a deficit we are willing to run.
The size of the deficit we run is more than a matter of decency. It is linked, ultimately, to the US’ credit rating, to interest rates and to the value of the dollar. That will be completely unaffected by the book account known as the Trust Fund.
The fake disability claims, and newly minted illegal immigrants will wipe it out.
97% of the economics community agree that SS is and will remain solvent. Those “deniers” who say otherwise are *obviously* in the pay of greedy corporations that want SS to fail so they can hurt people.
That just means they’ll pop the cap sooner.
Social Security owns 16% of the National Debt ( http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikepatton/2014/10/28/who-owns-the-most-u-s-debt/ ) I wonder how this will play out if they are determined insolvent,
And whose fault is that? Social Security, as first conceived, was supposed to be a minimum, basic, last line of defense against total abject poverty in old age, and for the first few years of its existence, that is exactly what it was. Social Security was never meant or intended to be a substitute for a pension or savings, but as a transfer from the Federal Government to the “poor farms” where the very old or indigent were sent, and located in every county of the nation, as well as “alms-houses” in larger cities that were usually run by a non-profit organization.
The big deal was, that only a small part of the population ever lived long enough to collect Social Security, and once they had, their life expectancy was measured in months or maybe a few years. Now, routinely, we have people living well up into their 90’s or beyond, collecting from Social Security for more years than they ever spent in the workplace.
We are fast reaching a point where it is as if Social Security never existed.
Social Security is too big to fail . . . they’ll just print some money and there . . . everything’s fissed.
I wouldn't say it that way, although I agree with the sentiment. Wipe "what" out--the Trust Fund? The way I look at it, the disability and illegal claims just increase the amount of cash given away, which increases taxes on the productive. Whether it is booked as driving down the Trust Fund (and it will be to justify more SS taxes, mostly in the form of lifting the salary cap), is irrelevant to the budgetary health of the country. More money will be spent (and the things you mention are money that shouldn't be spent).
Maybe I'm just arguing about words here; as it seems to me we mean the same thing.
Paul Krugman of the NY Times said printing lots of money is no big deal. And he’s won economics awards, so he must be right. What a @#$@#$
I personally know a construction worker who has been drawing disability for years when he could easily be working a desk job or any other job that doesn't involve heavy labor. Although I should say that this guy belongs to a gym and works out regularly, so even the "no heavy lifting" restriction is in question.
It's too easy for somebody to go to the doctor claiming "back pain" or whatnot and getting strung out on pain pills (which can lead straight to heroin) paid for by Medicaid and SSI. Millions upon millions of our young people are existing this way and that is no exaggeration.
Add 33 million illegals to the roles and recalculate.
As a contrast:
* The amount owed China is 8.0% of our national debt.
* Japan just slightly passed China in the amount we owe them.
So... It looks like the amount owed SS is about the same we owe China and Japan.
Just print more money, eh?
Not at all. Bringing 12 million illegals onto the books will solve it.
The Democrats aborted all their children and gladly accept the able bodies from central America to fill the void.
But plenty of $$$$$ for actual “entitlement” programs. To heck with them rich old retired people. They don’t need the money anyway. :>{
Yep. Just more unsustainable debt.
If I a not mistaken, disability claims against social security are paid out of the general fund, rather than the "trust fund".
Well, seeing as there never WAS a trust fund, I agree : )
....off to my lockbox : )
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