Social Security Reaches The Tipping Point
by Big Dog on Mar 25, 2010 at 18:33 Political
It was not expected to happen until no sooner than 2016 but Social Security will pay out more this year than it takes in.
This year, the system will pay out more in benefits than it receives in payroll taxes, an important threshold it was not expected to cross until at least 2016, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The New York Times
Officials say that Social Security has 2.5 Trillion dollars in the “trust” fund so they can pay retirees (and the myriad of others who have become eligible over the years) for some years to come.
The problem is, there is no real trust fund. A trust fund would be a place where they put the money and can get to it when they need it. Instead, Social Security is forced to buy government bonds and the money it collects goes into the general fund where politicians, instead of saving it for Social Security (as it was intended) spend it on other things.
We have no money in the bank for when the government bonds are cashed. The government paper is not worth the ink that is on it because we have no money to honor the commitment.
We borrow a lot of money from other countries to pay our debt and the interest on the debt is astronomical.
There is no way that government will be able to honor the commitment it made because it did not keep our money safe like it was supposed to. If the money had been put away we would be in good shape.
So if they are going to be collecting money for the next four years to pay for health care what are the odds that they will spend it one something else and there will be no money when it comes time to deliver Christmas to all the serfs?
Never surrender, never submit.
[tip]If you enjoy what you read consider signing up to receive email notification of new posts. There are several options in the sidebar and I am sure you can find one that suits you. If you prefer, consider adding this site to your favorite feed reader. If you receive emails and wish to stop them follow the instructions included in the email.[/tip]
Tags: bankrupt, health care, lies, Obama, social security
“Instead, Social Security is forced to buy government bonds and the money it collects goes into the general fund where politicians, instead of saving it for Social Security (as it was intended) spend it on other things.”
This was a key design feature of Social Security. Not only did it undermine the private, individual system of saving for old age; it also ensured a growing pool of “mad money” the government could use to fund its own enterprises. Garet Garrett called it FDR’s attempt to make the federal government “the great capitalist and enterpriser.”
FDR was certain that Social Security could not be repealed, owing to its political dynamic. What he failed to foresee was the demographic dynamic of declining birth rates — apparently an inevitable concomitant of rising prosperity — that would undo his system financially.
But then, pyramid schemes have to run out of suckers eventually, don’t they?
FRAN: “FDR was certain that Social Security could not be repealed,”>>
DAR
And he was right. Although the far right was making similar stupid and false arguments about SS then, that are now making about health care now, it went on to become a tremendous success. I expect this will be similar. History repeating.
FRAN: “What he failed to foresee was the demographic dynamic of declining birth rates…”>>
DAR
Rubbish. This was and is well understood. With a “pay as you go” system (younger workers paying for older) it’s entirely normal, understood and accepted that adjustments must be made to account for changes in demographics.
FRAN: “But then, pyramid schemes have to…”>>
DAR
When someone compares SS to a pyramid scheme they reveal their ignorance. A pyramid scheme is unsustainable for well understood reasons. Social Security, with minor adjustments for changes in demographics, is entirely sustainable, in perpetuity.
D.
——————-
“There is no unsustainable progression driving the mechanism of a pay-as-you-go pension system, and so it is not a pyramid or Ponzi scheme.
If the demographics of the population were stable, then a pay-as-you-go system would not have demographically-driven financing ups and downs, and no thoughtful person would be tempted to compare it to a Ponzi arrangement. However, since population demographics tend to rise and fall, the balance in pay-as-you-go systems tends to rise and fall as well. This vulnerability to demographic ups and downs is one of the problems with pay-as-you-go financing. But this problem has nothing to do with Ponzi schemes or any other fraudulent form of financing; it is simply the nature of pay-as-you-go systems.[94]”
Link.
I remember it as clearly as yesterday though it was 50 years ago. “This is your Social Security number, carry it with you always. Your number will NEVER be used for anything except for Social Security.”
It was Lyndon Johnson who opened the lock box. And BD is right, all this extra money we will have to pay, it’s mad money for the RATS.
Honestly, I have begun to condsider worst case scenarios and am making future plans accordingly. Barrak Soetoro Hussein Barry Obama’s soending is insuring that none of us will grow old and die in the America we once knew with anywhere near the money we would have had. Keep your home videos people. You’ll be able to watch them as they hook you up to your last iv drip.
Social Security has not been a success and it not sustainable with adjustments. It is trillions of dollars in the hole because the money collected for it was spent. We do not have it. Is that money had been put aside for the program then it would last some time.
It is gone and we cannot make up the trillions (106 trillion in unfunded liabilities among the 3 big social programs).
SS is a scheme. People should save for themselves but we allow the workers of today to pay for those of yesterday. Fewer in the workforce and more in retirement will cause huge problems. The Dem solution will be to tax more and more and to tax people who will not be able to get their “fair share” of SS. But why do the rich need to draw it?
Because they paid in. If you don’t want them to have it then do not make them pay.
It is another government failure. The people who said that about it then turned out to be correct.
The only thing it has done is enslave the elderly who could not save for their own retirement. They are prey to politicians who will exploit them and use SS as a billy club to beat them with.
Quite sad.
I am glad I will not have to depend on it.
Social Security, Medicare, and now FUBARCARE are all examples of extremely flawed thinking, based on “rights” we do not have, nor should we have.
They are examples of government gone wild, and usurping the functions of a free nation, based on LIMITED GOVERNMENT.
Any one who can read the Constitution can clearly see this- it is only that segment of our society that wants to seize power in ever larger grabs that like to twist the language of the Constitution to suit their own ends.
They should be hung out to dry, tarred and feathered, and run out of town on a rail.