Tax Revenues Way Down
by Big Dog on Aug 4, 2009 at 05:11 Political
Tax revenues are the lowest they have been since the Great Depression. In other words, the Obama recession and failed stimulus have resulted in a shortage of cash to the government in the form of tax receipts. Not that it matters much because they keep spending what we don’t have, but now we will be even further in debt.
The article from Yahoo news goes into great detail about the shortage and what it means. The two things that I want you to take away from it are contained in these quotes:
Social Security tax receipts are down less than a percentage point from last year, but in May the government had been projecting a slight increase. At the time, the government’s best estimate was that Social Security would start to pay out more money than it receives in taxes in 2016, and that the fund would be depleted in 2037 unless changes are enacted.
Some experts think the sour economy has made those numbers outdated.
“You could easily move that number up three or four years, then you’re talking about 2013, and that’s not very far off,” said Kent Smetters, associate professor of insurance and risk management at the University of Pennsylvania.
The government’s projections included best- and worst-case scenarios. Under the worst, Social Security would start to pay out more money than it received in taxes in 2013, and the fund would be depleted in 2029.
~snip~
Medicare tax receipts are also down less than a percentage point for the year, pretty close to government projections. Medicare started paying out more money than it received last year.
Social Security and Medicare are two government run programs and they are not in good shape. The worst case scenario is that SS will pay out more than it takes in by 2013 (2016 in the best case) and they claim the fund will be depleted some number of years later.
Here is a newsflash, the Social Security fund is already depleted. Each month the excess money taken in is turned over to the government in exchange for a government bond. Then Congress spends that money on other things. Instead of saving it, the government spends it. Since we don’t have any money just lying around, Social Security is broke. The government cannot afford to make good on the bonds because it spent all of the money. This is part of the 11 trillion in debt that is not reported when they discuss our financial obligations.
Keep this in mind as they talk about health care and “savings” because they will spend any excess money from any health care program as well. I believe that Social Security should be privatized and people can manage their own retirement and pass the money on to their heirs. However, the government runs the program so that is not currently an option. If I had been running this program the money would have been invested or saved so that it would be there when the bills come due. Congress does not think like that because most of them have no business sense.
These are the people who want to run your health care.
Speaking of which, Medicare is a government run health care program. It is now paying out more than it takes in. I am sure that government will soon raise the Medicare tax we all pay (including on those who make under 250k a year). That is assuming that Medicare is around for much longer. If the Democrats pass their health care plan then Medicare will go away and the elderly will be vulnerable.
When they started this program it was not supposed to cost this much money. They were supposed to collect the money and be responsible for making sure the program was solvent. Through years of fraud, waste and abuse, the program has gone broke. They were not able to run a health care program for a portion of the population (the elderly) but they want to run a health care system for the entire country.
If they cannot keep SS or Medicare solvent, what makes anyone think they can keep government run health care solvent? What do you suppose will happen once the health care program runs out of money?
They will ration care and the elderly are going to be on the wrong end of the stick. A 24 year old IV drug user with AIDS will get costly treatment while an active 70 year old will be getting counseled on end of life decisions.
It is troubling to see tax revenues down but the most troubling part of the story is the proof that government cannot run social programs efficiently. The story clearly demonstrates why we should not have government involved in something as complicated as our health care system.
The government cannot run a model train, SS and Medicare are a challenge they are failing to meet and if they run the entire health care system it will mean the collapse of this once great country.
The elderly will pay the biggest price.
Speak up senior citizens.
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Tags: great depression, health care, social security, tax revenue
And being democrats when everything fails they’ll blame either Bush or “angry white males” and they really can’t help themselves. What a bunch of deluded fools. They want socialism so much, they don’t see all the prices already paid.
Well done Big Dog, damn well done!
The economic index issued today revealed that personal income fell (yet again) for the month of June.
While there is an indicator of the slowing of the fall, it is false, and we will be in a depression within a year, I fear.
Your points about the 24 yo AIDS patient and the senior citizen are very valid and something that has crossed my mind. Should they now stop any costly treatments (or even research) for these diseases since they are terminal? What is to stop them from saying that, regardless of age, these treatments are not cost efficient to extend an already terminal patient’s life? This is a real slippery slope and just more proof that they are euthanizing rather than treating. Scary
What it would in essence cause to happen is that costly research would stop, and we would have to treat illnesses with yesterday’s medicines and technologies, because in the end, it is profit that drives initiative and makes opportunity happen.
This is the American spirit that Hussein hates and seeks to squelch, leaving us in a gray, desperate world with rationed hope.
I would like to see a miracle and see all of us senior citizens walk in divine health and live to really old age to amaze these morons. That would show them we do not need hospice and we will still cost them money.
These morons in Government would probably pass a law regulating the age you could max out at, after which you would be stripped of your property and become a “non entity”- in essence, put on that ice floe or become soylent green (choose one).
Of course taxes are down- when you penalize small business as they want to, this is what you get.
The US is struggling now, and this is akin to holding someone’s head under water as they are trying to learn how to swim with lead weights on their ankles. The outcome is doubtful at best.