Social Security not a cause of, and not a solution to, national debt
It’s not, or at least it shouldn’t be, about Social Security.
Social Security is neither the cause of nor the solution to our nation’s financial problems.
Nonetheless, a bipartisan presidential commission looking for ways to reduce our national debt is making noises about dragging Social Security into the squabble. The Republican co-chair of the commission, former U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson, fed that impression in an email last month when he referred to Social Security as “a milk cow with 310 million tits.” Simpson also argued in that email that Social Security is in trouble unless it can be made sustainable and solvent over the long term.
Fortunately, that is an exaggeration of the program’s condition. The facts are as follows:
1.) With no changes in taxes or benefits, Social Security can continue to pay 100 percent of all promised benefits between now and 2036. It can do so by tapping a $2.5 trillion trust fund created precisely to cover the retirement years of the Baby Boom generation.
2.) Beginning in 2037, and for every year thereafter, Social Security would be able to pay recipients only 76 percent of promised benefits.
3.) That post-2037 gap could be closed with relatively minor fixes. For example, raising combined SSI payroll taxes from 12.4 to 14.4 percent would cover the bill entirely. A combination of a slight payroll tax increase, applying the tax to earned income above the current tax ceiling of $106,000 and adjusting scheduled cost-of-living increases could also eliminate the gap relatively painlessly.
If those are the kind of fixes that Simpson envisions — if his goal is to fix Social Security solely for the purpose of fixing Social Security — then that’s a discussion worth having.
However, if Simpson and others are after larger game — if they hope to tap the $2.5 trillion owed to Social Security as a way to address the nation’s larger fiscal problems, for example — they’re going to have an all-out fight on their hands.
Take a look at the chart above, from Stephen Goss, the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration. It documents, as a percentage of GDP, the amount of money collected each year in Social Security taxes above and beyond what Social Security paid out that year.
Note the year 1983. That year, a commission appointed by President Ronald Reagan recommended significant increases in Social Security payroll taxes in order to make the program actuarially sound. The idea, embraced by Congress, was that the additional revenue would be used to build a surplus in the Social Security Trust Fund so that when the Baby Boom generation began to reach retirement age, the money would be there.
Today, that surplus would amount to $2.5 trillion. But notice that word “would.” For more than 25 years, while working people were told that they were paying extra taxes to ensure their retirement security, that surplus tax revenue was actually being siphoned off to run general government operations. In effect, higher Social Security taxes were being used to offset revenue that had been lost to the government when Reagan cut income and corporate taxes, disguising the true fiscal impact of those cuts.
Today, technically, a surplus of $2.5 trillion now sits in the trust fund, ready to be used for Social Security. In reality, the trust fund contains government IOUs that taxpayers today and tomorrow will have to redeem, probably through payeing higher taxes. So here’s the question now before the body politic:
Will taxpayers — and politicians — honor the $2.5 trillion debt that is owed to Social Security and those who paid into it? Or, will they breach that trust by claiming that the debt is too big to be repaid in its entirety, and that benefit cuts will be required?
There’s no question that the nation’s longterm financial crisis is serious. Eventually, it will have to be addressed both through cuts in spending — including entitlements — and through tax increases. However, as long as it is made actuarially sound, Social Security ought to be exempt because it has been and continues to be a self-funding program, requiring no input from the general treasury other than repayment of what the treasury has borrowed.
To repeat, Social Security is not to blame for our financial problems. And it should not be treated as a piggy bank to be raided and not repaid, at the expense of those who count upon it.
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670 comments Add your comment
josef nix
September 7th, 2010
6:31 pm
Retro
Pride is what you should feel when OTHERS commend you…false pride is when you do it yourself
“A rabbi who must praise himself has a congregation of one.” Yiddish proverb
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 7th, 2010
6:32 pm
RW
Thanks for the help but I can’t get it to work. Anybody who wants to go further, just google this phrase:
roy barnes involvement in northern arc and beltline
Retro-Teacher
September 7th, 2010
6:33 pm
The concept of a “tithe” was originally to bring in a certain percentage of the crop for storage as a hedge against drought, crop failure and famine….
Blessed are the hedge funds! I don’t know about that one.
josef nix
September 7th, 2010
6:33 pm
Scout
Just hazarding a comment here, but is the missus on your case!
Matti
September 7th, 2010
6:34 pm
Paul,
Thanks! I read it, but the language is a bit confusing. Sometimes something inside me (a still, small voice that’s very clear) compells me to give to a certain person or group, or to reach out in some way to someone in particular. I follow that voice, as I trust it so much more than some man on TV or pounding a pulpit who directs me to send my funds and efforts his way. Giving is a natural human desire, (IMO), that is too often crushed or confined by the dogma and judgement of others.
Scout
September 7th, 2010
6:34 pm
Proverbs 11:22
“As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion.”
josef nix
September 7th, 2010
6:34 pm
Retro…
Every time I hear the term “hedge funds” that comes to mind!
Paul
September 7th, 2010
6:35 pm
jm
But what might happen is a VAT dropped on top of income tax, cap gains tax, etc……
josef nix
I seem to remember that…. then, it got given out to all those in need, right?
More socialist Jews which led to more socialist Christians…..
Scout
September 7th, 2010
6:35 pm
josef:
LOL ! Not yet ………….
Scout
September 7th, 2010
6:36 pm
Retro-Teacher :
Not enough !
Retro-Teacher
September 7th, 2010
6:37 pm
Pride is what you should feel when OTHERS commend you…false pride is when you do it yourself
My daddy was proud of me and my accomplishments so that’s good enough for me. What do you think.
If the rabbi praises himself and just one other praises him also? Two?
Paul
September 7th, 2010
6:40 pm
Matti
Yeah, the language of that time can be difficult to follow. But I think the meaning is just what you’ve experienced in your life. Nice part is, you actually act on it.
Doggone/GA
September 7th, 2010
6:42 pm
Mark 12:41-44 (New International Version)
The Widow’s Offering
41Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins,[a]worth only a fraction of a penny.[b]
43Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
Paul
September 7th, 2010
6:43 pm
Scout
“As a jewel of gold in a swine’s snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion.””
Without discretion? Well duh…. how else would a woman end up in a pig’s snout?
Scout
September 7th, 2010
6:43 pm
Proverbs 27:
“A continual dropping on a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.”
josef nix
September 7th, 2010
6:44 pm
PAUL
And then they came up with the International Zionist Conspiracy of Jewish Bankers to handle the dole-out!
Retro–
“My daddy was proud of me and my accomplishments so that’s good enough for me. What do you think.”
Then let Daddy say it…
“If the rabbi praises himself and just one other praises him also? Two?”
Then the rabbi doesn’t need to say anything else…still a congregation of one, but with a little chutzpah, that one can make it two!
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
6:46 pm
Another song that fits well with the blog topic tonight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWAl5V-SiKQ&feature=related
josef nix
September 7th, 2010
6:46 pm
Doggone
Thanks…I was just getting ready to search that one…one of my favorite of the parables…
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
6:47 pm
josef–Stop trying to hide it. We all know hat you’re part of the Illuminati.
Paul
September 7th, 2010
6:47 pm
Doggone/GA
Do you use the NIV? Do you like it? My wife’s looking for a new version, doesn’t click with King James. I used a New Jerusalem (Catholic) version in a study class. Some of the students looked askance but the instructor liked it. Then they looked at him kinda funny, too.
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
6:48 pm
“A continual dropping on a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike.”
I’d like to see you try that one out on Mrs. Scout. You’ll be sleeping in the pup tent for a week.
Doggone/GA
September 7th, 2010
6:49 pm
“one of my favorite of the parables…”
Mine too…and it meshes so well with this one: “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
6:50 pm
Paul–I highly recommend the NIV Student Bible. In addition to rendering a clear translation from the original texts, there are numerous sidebars which give historical context to the passages.
Paul
September 7th, 2010
6:51 pm
Doggone/GA
Yeah, and the widow, who had been given next to nothing, gave it all. Which was everything.
Talk about trust…..
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
6:52 pm
Doggone–I have to go with “Faith without works is dead”.
Faith alone is highly over-rated in my book.
Paul
September 7th, 2010
6:53 pm
Bruno
Thanks! We’ll give that a serious look.
josef nix
We’d better change topics, quick, or Unmentionable’s gonna get all flustered that we aren’t being malcontent enough!
Doggone/GA
September 7th, 2010
6:53 pm
“Do you use the NIV? Do you like it”
Yes, I like it very much. It lacks the poetry of older translations, but since I have a poor “ear” for poetry – especially the free verse form of poetry in the King James version – I appreciate the NIV more.
Paul
September 7th, 2010
6:56 pm
Doggone/GA
Okay, that’s two, so that’s a serious reference. Thanks.
Doggone/GA
September 7th, 2010
6:56 pm
“Faith alone is highly over-rated in my book”
I wouldn’t be prepared to argue that…but then I can scandalize people of faith (like Scout, for instance) with my belief that someone who does good works…but who doesn’t profess a form of faith…is still more saved than one who has ONLY faith.
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
6:57 pm
“Thanks! We’ll give that a serious look.”
I believe you will really like that one, Paul, especially given your intellectual bent. They suggest different reading programs as well depending on how much effort you want to put into it and how much time you want to commit. I went for the cover-to-cover reading program. The OCD side of me liked checking off the little boxes following each chapter conquered. Otherwise, it’s too easy to get bogged down in the OT.
josef nix
September 7th, 2010
6:59 pm
PAUL
I agree with Bruno on the NIV…it all depends on the particular passage…the King James Version of Ecclesiaticus is some of the most beautiful poetry in the English language to me…
Doggone–
Much agreed on that passage…
Bruno
Well, I am, after all, descended from a long line of cabbalists, court Jews and outright scoundrels!
Retro-Teacher
September 7th, 2010
6:59 pm
Then let Daddy say it…
He DID. What’d I just say! Now you know what daddy said too. You don’t have to do anything with it though.
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
7:00 pm
someone who does good works…but who doesn’t profess a form of faith…is still more saved than one who has ONLY faith.
When you couple that with “You will know the tree by its fruit”. I would argue that good works are the only true measure of faith. Otherwise you’re going strictly by self-evaluation with no objective measurement to confirm it. And as we all (should) know, self-evaluation is completely unreliable.
Paul
September 7th, 2010
7:01 pm
Bruno
Don’t let him kid you. It’s not all equal.. The cabbalists and court Jews are the recessive genes. The outright scoundrels? Waaaay dominant gene!
josef nix
September 7th, 2010
7:04 pm
PAUL
That’s rich…but I’m trying to be good…High Holy Days on the horizon, as Unmentionable puts it, “your annual foray into Goodie Two Shoes…!”
Recessive Gene
September 7th, 2010
7:04 pm
Dominant Gene! I thought most of them were female.
josef nix
September 7th, 2010
7:06 pm
Retro
But why do YOU need to tell me Daddy said it…?
I won’t tell you what MY Daddy said!
Doggone/GA
September 7th, 2010
7:06 pm
“I would argue that good works are the only true measure of faith.”
I wouldn’t argue that either. But I’m a bit heretical when it comes to the rich also. I see nothing in the Bible with which to argue that no one should be rich…as some would. The Bible is quite specific that it is harder for the rich to be saved, but it’s not because of the religion…it’s because it’s harder for the rich to understand that being saved can’t be bought.
Nathan's a Deal
September 7th, 2010
7:06 pm
your annual foray into Goodie Two Shoes…!”
Is that like twice a year, man.
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
7:06 pm
Here’s a goody, dedicated to HD:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07_bGSzHN54
Gotta love ol’ Johnny Paycheck ^^^^
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
7:07 pm
Paul @ 7:01 LOL. The worst part is that he’s damned proud of it.
Retro-Teacher
September 7th, 2010
7:08 pm
But why do YOU need to tell me Daddy said it…?
I won’t tell you what MY Daddy said!
But you sure are quick to tell us what every other relative had to say about ya.
josef nix
September 7th, 2010
7:09 pm
PAUL
I wish I had the genes of the court Jews to go with my scoundrel ones…now THEY wrote the book on scoundrels…!
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
7:13 pm
I see nothing in the Bible with which to argue that no one should be rich…as some would.
My buddy Mike Murdoch thinks there’s nothing wrong with being rich. If it’s good enough for Murdoch, who am I to argue.
For you, Doggone:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHYTW2rbXqM
josef nix
September 7th, 2010
7:13 pm
Retro
Oh, no…I tell what they said TO me! Not that I listened, mind you!
BRUNO
@ 7:O7
That’s false pride!
Paul
September 7th, 2010
7:13 pm
josef nix
And, they were the winners, ’cause winners always write the book.
josef nix
September 7th, 2010
7:16 pm
BRUNO
“Oh, dear L-rd! You made many, many poor people. I realize it’s no shame to be poor, but it’s no great honor either. So what would have been so terrible if I had a small fortune…would it change some vast eternal plan, if I were a wealthy man?” –Tevye
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
7:16 pm
I’m almost out of tax and money songs. Can’t overlook Pink Floyd’s take on it, of course:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkhX5W7JoWI
Doggone/GA
September 7th, 2010
7:17 pm
Thanks Bruno!
josef nix
September 7th, 2010
7:20 pm
PAUL
Nanh, left the writing of the book to Dumas…based d’Artagnan on great whatever grandpappy…and believe me, beyond the swordsmanship and doing up of Richelieu, it’s a sanitized version! Anybody who ever doubted if the three musketeers were gay…!
Paul
September 7th, 2010
7:20 pm
Well, just finished work. Took longer than expected ’cause of all the fun at Jay’s place. Time to shut it down.
Pleasant evening, all -
Allen W. Smith, Ph.D.
September 7th, 2010
7:21 pm
Will the government default on its debt to Social Security?
The government was supposed to use the surplus Social Security revenue to purchase public issue, marketable U.S. Treasury bonds in the open market. If they had done so, the trust fund would today hold $2.5 trillion in, marketable Treasury bonds, which the Social Security trustees could resell in the open markets any time they needed additional funds with which to pay benefits. These are the type of bonds that Bill Gates, the Chinese government, and pension funds hold. These real Treasury bonds are as good as gold, and they are default proof. Our government can never, and will never, default on any of its public issue, marketable bonds because doing so would create panic in the financial markets and tarnish the reputation of the United States forever. So, if the trust fund held such bonds, the government could not default on them. But, unfortunately, the government did not invest a single dollar in such bonds.
The government can default on its debt to Social Security because that debt is not in the form of real marketable bonds. If the government chooses to default, its action would have almost no impact on world financial markets, and most foreign countries would view the matter as a domestic issue between the U.S. government and its citizens.
Some people say “BY LAW, the government has to pay me full benefits because of the FICA taxes that I have paid.” But they are wrong. One of the least known facts about Social Security is that, although the government does have a moral obligation to pay Social Security benefits to those who have earned them, the government does not have a legal obligation to do so. In a 1960 ruling by the United States Supreme Court, the court ruled that nobody has a “contractual earned right“ to Social Security benefits. Section 1104 of the 1935 Social Security Act specifically states, “The right to alter, amend, or repeal any provision of this Act is hereby reserved to the Congress.” According to the above strong language, Congress could do whatever it wanted to do with regard to changing or even eliminating Social Security. Some did not take the language seriously because they thought it was probably unconstitutional. However, in 1960, in the case of Fleming v. Nestor, the Supreme Court upheld the denial of benefits to Nestor, even though he had contributed to the program for 19 years and was already receiving benefits In its ruling, the Supreme Court established the principle that entitlement to Social Security benefits “is not a contractual right.”
As a result of the 1960 Supreme Court ruling, the future of Social Security is totally in the hands of Congress and the President. They have the legal authority to amend any and all parts of the Social Security Act, as well as the authority to either increase or decrease Social Security benefits.
Beware of the goals of some members of Obama’s Fiscal Commission. They will almost certainly push for Social Security cuts, even though Social Security has not contributed a dime toward the large budget deficits and the skyrocketing national debt. Much of the surplus revenue, generated by the 1983 payroll tax hike, was used to offset the lost revenue resulting from the large unaffordable income tax cuts under Reagan and George W. Bush. To but it bluntly, the government stole the Social Security contributions of working Americans and used the money for tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. It is not an exaggeration to use words like “stolen” and “embezzlement” to describe the Social Security fraud. Both words have been used by United States Senators in speeches on the senate floor in describing the Social Security scam. The word “borrowed” can be accurately used only for the looting that took place prior to enactment of the 1990 Budget Enforcement Act. That law made it illegal for the government to use Social Security money for non-Social Security purposes. As a result, the government has been violating federal law for the past two decades as it participated in what I consider to be the greatest fraud every perpetrated against the American people by their government.
I have been trying to expose the Social Security fraud for more than a decade, but there is great opposition to having the truth come out. I could use help and support in my effort. If you are interested, please visit my website and consider contacting me.
Allen W. Smith, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics, Emeritus
Eastern Illinois University
Website: http://www.thebiglie.net
Email: ironwoodas@aol.com
Phone: 1-800-840-6812
Paul
September 7th, 2010
7:22 pm
josef nix
Yeah I saw the movie with Michael York, Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain. Those costumes!
But wait… didn’t those costumes get Raquel Welch? So much for that theory!
G’night!
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
7:23 pm
josef @ 7:16:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ_-CmwHWPo
TnGelding
September 7th, 2010
7:27 pm
Realistically, Social Security has to be revised so that the “trust fund” is never tapped into in a significant way. But all the Treasury Department needs to do is issue new bonds to pay SS when the funds are needed. As long as China and Warren Buffett, and you and I, are willing to buy those bonds there is no problem.
josef nix
September 7th, 2010
7:28 pm
PAUL
Theory, hell, Ole Jean Louis (the real D’Artagnan) was a favorite enough of Henri’s mignons to get a Duchy out of the deal!
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
7:30 pm
Well, since it IS soul week here on the JB blog, can’t leave the O’Jays out of it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCkLEo-DT1Q
TaxPayer
September 7th, 2010
7:32 pm
From a small right-wing church in Florida, there has gone out a call to burn copies of the Quran on September 11. Instead of being ignored as clearly cuckoo, this call won national media coverage.
As the German Jewish poet Heinrich Heine wrote almost two centuries ago, “Those who begin by burning books will end by burning people.” The theater piece for which he wrote those words, called “Almansor,” was addressing the Inquisition’s burning of the Quran. In 1933, university students in Heine’s own beloved homeland burned his books, along with many others. They burned people soon after.
A Quran, huh. I’m enlightened.
Doggone/GA
September 7th, 2010
7:35 pm
“there has gone out a call to burn copies of the Quran on September 11″
You have NO idea how much this makes me wish I had enough money to ship a couple/three big rigs of Bibles there to burn as a counter demonstration.
Clue, A Milton Bradley Game
September 7th, 2010
7:37 pm
But wait… didn’t those costumes get Raquel Welch? So much for that theory!
No. It was the hunter in the cave with the club.
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 7th, 2010
7:39 pm
Personally, I prefer the King James version but I’m for everybody using the version that works for them.
Bruno
Speaking of Paycheck, you ever heard this? First time I heard him do it, my jaw hit the floor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sdwCoR0HeA
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
7:39 pm
From a small right-wing church in Florida, there has gone out a call to burn copies of the Quran on September 11.
That doesn’t even compare to the tragedy that occurred on July 12, 1979 in Chicago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-fEtF9NKfc
josef nix
September 7th, 2010
7:45 pm
Bruno
At St. Elsewhere…don’t mess with me!!!
josef nix
September 7th, 2010
7:47 pm
The book burners…
Hopefully, this will backfire and the sacriledge will be countered by all those of good faith…this is the time to speak up and out forcefully…IMHO
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
7:49 pm
HD @ 7:39: Very moving, and a beautiful tribute to Johnny. I didn’t grow up listening to country, but sometimes a country song says things in a way that no other genre can.
The old guard is passing on, no doubt. I still can’t believe that Johnny Cash is gone, and Waylon too. It’s really gonna be a hard knock one day when Kris and Willie pass on. I know every generation has their own, but no one will ever match the Highwaymen in my book:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw1bHaUk1CM
Doggone/GA
September 7th, 2010
7:52 pm
“this is the time to speak up and out forcefully”
It is indeed, but I’ve seen no reports on any planned counter demonstrations. I wonder is there will be any.
josef nix
September 7th, 2010
7:55 pm
Doggone
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2010/09/koran-quran-patraeus-burn-dove-mosque/1
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 7th, 2010
7:56 pm
The Quran burning is a bad idea, on many levels, in my opinion.
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 7th, 2010
8:00 pm
Bruno
Glen Campbell was an original member of the Highwaymen but he dropped out. I can’t remember which one took his place. He originally recorded the song, “The Highway Man” but his record company wouldn’t put it out because “it wasn’t a hit”. He parted company with the record company because of that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukjYAuq6nGs
Clue, A Milton Bradley Game
September 7th, 2010
8:05 pm
There are often two responses to this discovery:
One is to say with surprise and delight, “You have shaped a different path from ours! Of course there must be many ways of lighting up the Infinite, unfolding truth. How could the great Infinity reveal itself except through sacred diversity? Let us learn from each other!”
The other response is to say: “We have unearthed the one way to the ONE, and any other path must be a false one. And worse than false–since you claim falsely to have made contact with the ONE, you must be lying. Corrupt. Deceitful. Worth killing.”
Kamchak
September 7th, 2010
8:06 pm
The Quran burning is a bad idea, on many levels, in my opinion.
From a property standpoint, if these object were legally purchased, then the owners have every right to do with them as they please.
From a demonstration standpoint, it’s free speech. Nothing more fundamental than that.
From an environmental standpoint…the air is foul enough. Why pollute it further? The locals are the one’s that have to breathe it.
Karma.
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
8:07 pm
Just got to Glen’s version, HD. I had to play the other one 5 times in a row first. Am I the only crazy person who does that??
I’d have to think whatever record executive who made that call was out of a job soon afterward.
Paul
September 7th, 2010
8:09 pm
Well, my wife got a craving for a specialty salad but some of her friends just dropped by, so I came back to fun place for a bit.
Koran burnings, huh? I’ll post what I posted at Ms. Cynthia’s.
So some guy leading a ‘church’ wants to burn Korans and the Muslim world is rioting and is most unhappy?
To borrow from one of the recent columns, Muslims have a right of free speech; however, if they exercise that speech in various forms others don’t like, Muslims should be prepared for the consequences. Like Koran burnings.
Their speech doesn’t shield them from consequences if it makes others unhappy.
@@
September 7th, 2010
8:11 pm
The Quran burning is a bad idea,…
Send ‘em an e-mail. I already have. Haven’t received a response though.
http://www.doveworld.org/contact
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
8:11 pm
MB–I’ve probably worn the quote out by now, but I keep going back to the wise words of Richard Feynmann:
“Looking back at the worst times, it always seems that they were times in which there were people who believed with absolute faith and absolute dogmatism in something. And they were so serious in this matter that they insisted that the rest of the world agree with them. And then they would do things that were directly inconsistent with their own beliefs in order to maintain that what they said was true.”
Dave R.
September 7th, 2010
8:12 pm
There are so many errors in Jay’s thought processes on this subject that I can’t keep track of them all.
1. Knew he’d get around to blaming Reagan, but once again Jay forgets that it is CONGRESS who approves and authorizes spending and taxing, and the Dems were in charge under Tip O’Neill during Reagan’s terms.
2. Social Security is in deficit spending right now, Jay. With unemployment so high, and under employment similarly high, less money is going into SS than is being paid out this year for the very first time. That train has already left the station. So SS IS contributing to the deficit already.
3. The tax increase Jay envisions that would make SS whole again is about 2 points shy of reality, and more importantly, is money that is taken away from workers wages and future pay increases. Every tax the employer pays, whether SS, Medicare or whatever is simply given to the government in lieu of take home pay. So wage stagnation ensues for the next 30 years while we pay back an IOU that never should have happened.
Don’t know where you got your figures, Jay (probably out of your butt as usual), but SS was going to be a drain beginning in 2015, and that number has been recognized by just about everyone who has researched this program’s viability for decades. This bad economy has just hastened that insolvency.
And there is no fix for it until all us baby-boomers die off, or unless a portion is allowed to be privatized for better returns.
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
8:15 pm
If someone wants to burn a favorite book of mine, I’m not going to stop them and truly won’t care. In strictly Biblical terms, a book is little more than an idol anyway. The message is what’s important, not the paper and ink. And history has shown over and over again, you can’t stop a great idea, no matter how many books you burn.
josef nix
September 7th, 2010
8:15 pm
@@
Thank you for that address…will do…
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
8:21 pm
@@–Be sure to skip this post, Bruno’s feeling sorry for himself and reminiscing again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5u5LZ-DN3iA
Maybe I didn’t hold you
All those lonely, lonely times
And I guess I never told you
I’m so happy that you’re mine
If I made you feel second best
Girl I’m so sorry I was blind
You were always on my mind
You were always on my mind
josef nix
September 7th, 2010
8:22 pm
Does this cretin’s proposed action not reach the level of inciting to riot?
It doesn’t matter the book, Sarah Palin’s or the Koran, book burning is just plain wrong at any level…just my opinion…
Clue, A Milton Bradley Game
September 7th, 2010
8:23 pm
Who killed an otherwise lively discussion on social security? It was Dave R. on Jay’s blog with his 8:12 post. He could have just posted that on his own website and waited to see if any of us found it.
Doggone/GA
September 7th, 2010
8:27 pm
“From a property standpoint, if these object were legally purchased”
All of what you said is true, but it is also true that those rights do not sheild them from criticism
Sarah Palin
September 7th, 2010
8:27 pm
What if we sell them dirt cheap to hotel chains.
Doggone/GA
September 7th, 2010
8:27 pm
Thanks Josef
josef nix
September 7th, 2010
8:28 pm
@@
Done. Again, thanks.
Dave R.
September 7th, 2010
8:34 pm
Hey, Clue. Get one.
The SS discussion had morphed as usual into many other things.
@@
September 7th, 2010
8:35 pm
Oh lord, Bruno.
You always seem to be mooning over the ones that got away…
or ran away.
I suspect you’re your own worst enemy when it comes to love(s) lost.
mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack the Liar Obama - BEND OVER, Here comes the CHANGE!
September 7th, 2010
8:35 pm
I guess you are just sticking you head in the sand. Of course Social Security WILL be a cause, just give it time. And BTW how about this precious gem…..Post/ABC: Fifty-two percent disapprove of the job Obama is doing while 46 percent approve, his worst numbers in 17 polls dating back to Feb. 2009.
Is’t it GREAT to be a conservative now, will the LIAR in Chief go down with the ship? One can only pray. mmm, mmm, mmm….
josef nix
September 7th, 2010
8:35 pm
For those of y’all with a sense of humor…check out “Old Jews Telling Jokes” on youtube…some really good ones to lighten up…
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
8:35 pm
Yeah, I’m goin’ to Jackson,
Look out Jackson town.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nzhzCF77GDo
Mark in mid-town
September 7th, 2010
8:36 pm
Jay wrote: “Note the year 1983. That year, a commission appointed by President Ronald Reagan recommended significant increases in Social Security payroll taxes in order to make the program actuarially sound.”
Jay, almost all of the future Social Security tax increase was signed into law by Jimmy Carter beforfe Reagan ever became president. You should have mentioned that. Under Reagan, that future increase was accelerated by 1 year, and the rate on self-employed was slightly raised to be more in sync with what employees and their employers paid.
mmm, mmm, mmm, Barack the Liar Obama - BEND OVER, Here comes the CHANGE!
September 7th, 2010
8:38 pm
CNN: Fifty-nine percent disapprove while 40 percent approve, Obama’s worst marks in this poll dating back to March 2009.
I guess Hanio Jane and Dumbass Ted weren’t available to vote, or maybe the did
.
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
8:38 pm
Truth be told, @@, I’ve done most of the running away. It’s a family trait.
If I move to Columbus, I think it may be different, though. Looking forward to possibly starting a family. Maybe even with a white girl.
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 7th, 2010
8:39 pm
Another one from Glen, written by Carl Jackson.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L75NS_ed6o
Kamchak
September 7th, 2010
8:40 pm
All of what you said is true, but it is also true that those rights do not sheild them from criticism
That criticism is also protected speech.
josef nix
September 7th, 2010
8:41 pm
BRUNO
Going to Jackson? Stop at the Mayflower Cafe and have the best Greek Salad you ever sunk your teeth into…and some good looking, sweet, and smart members of the fairer sex to take your mind off your woes! And, well, just in case that’s not the type you’re after…plenty of places on HWY 80!
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
8:42 pm
Sing it Waylon:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ecE1UML1q8
I’ve always been crazy and the trouble that it’s put me through
I’ve been busted for things that I did, and I didn’t do
I can’t say I’m proud of all of the things that I’ve done
But I can say I’ve never intentionally hurt anyone
Matti
September 7th, 2010
8:45 pm
Bruno,
Running away is a survival thing. (There’s always a reason!) Estrangement: it’s what’s for dinner. No judgement here.
Columbus Georgia or Ohio? BIG DIFF there, Dude!
Bruno
September 7th, 2010
8:50 pm
Had to save Kris for last:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qb4KHlQx5c
He’s a poet, he’s a picker
He’s a prophet, he’s a pusher
He’s a pilgrim and a preacher, and a problem when he’s stoned
He’s a walkin’ contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction,
Takin’ ev’ry wrong direction on his lonely way back home.
Hillbilly Deluxe
September 7th, 2010
8:54 pm
Bruno
Ever hear this one from Waylon? One of my favorites; a real pretty song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hI_OcW9wxGk