Posted on 10/01/2004 1:45:47 PM PDT by conservativo
If President George W. Bush is re-elected, watch out for radical changes in the Social Security system brought about by his attempts to privatize this bedrock government program.
Witold Skwierczynski, president of the AFL-CIO Government Employees Council, says Social Security is solvent until 2052. But he said the Bush administration's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and the enormous cost of the war in Iraq are chipping away at the current surplus in the Social Security trust fund.
"That's how they are paying for the big tax cuts," he said. "They are going after the poorest elements of society."
His union represents the government workers in 1,300 Social Security field offices across the country that handle benefit checks for the elderly, needy children under 18 years of age and the disabled.
The administration is playing the scare card and telling young people that the Social Security system is going bankrupt. After the baby boomers retire, younger workers are being told, retirement benefits won't be there for them. According to this dire scenario, private investment accounts are the answer -- unless you want to talk about hiking the Social Security tax or cutting benefits.
Since he came into office, Bush has been trying to give Wall Street a chunk of the Social Security trust fund by permitting voluntary private investment accounts to be drawn from the program's payroll taxes.
A University of Chicago professor, Austan Goolsbee, has estimated that Bush's Social Security plan would provide a $940 billion windfall over 75 years to the banks and investment firms that would manage all of that money flowing into individual private investment accounts.
(Excerpt) Read more at theiowachannel.com ...
So voting for the same president we already have would be a change, but voting for a different president means we stay the course.
The dems are about fear mongering...
They tell the seniors that the Republicans are going to kick them out of their homes and leave them without food clothing or shelter...Ed Asner did this for them in the last election..
Then they go after the college kids and tell them that if they dont get rid of GW Bush he is going to draft them all and they will get killed in Iraq...more fear mongering...
They lie and are never held accountable for their lies....
"I hope we have changes in the Social Security sometime soon, or else demographics so us that there will be no program to change."
Correct. Someone has got to have the guts to take this bull by the horns.
I certainly hope so.
But he said the Bush administration's tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and the enormous cost of the war in Iraq are chipping away at the current surplus in the Social Security trust fund.
There is no part of that sentence that isn't an outright lie.
...because the MSM is dominated by liberals!
Government workers don't pay into social security. If these approximately 30,000,000 people had to pay like the rest of us, social security might actually be solvent until the year 2052.
Next come the pics of BUSH PUSHING THE "OLD LADY OVER THE CLIFF" sd. Then come the starving "LITTLE CHILLENS". Then comes Bush stealing the Social Security checks from seniors. There is no end to this moronic mindset of a LOSING LIBERAL.
VOLUNTARY, and only up to 2%...you money grabbing liberal idiot.
LOCK BOX
There is NO "trust fund". People who get social security benefits TODAY, are getting them from the checks of people who are working...TODAY.
What surplus in the 'social security trust fund?'
It's been my understanding that payrole taxes go into the general fund and have been since the Johnson administration.
I want a BIG change with Social Security, I want to be able to invest MY money and take full responsibility for however it turns out. If we reform the system, I can retire 10 years sooner than planned; if we keep this system I get screwed.
I'm due to start receiving social security in early '07. After paying my entire life, I feel I am entitled to it and am counting on it. I am, however, willing to forego my monthly checks if the gov't. would just give me back the $90,000 that I and my employers have put toward it. No interest, just what was taken.
Let me see if I understand this.
A UNION guy is worried about someone taking money that is not theirs?
Does anyone else see the humor in this?
Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social Security (FICA) Program. He promised:
1.) That participation in the Program would be completely voluntary,
2.) That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of their annual incomes into the Program,
3.) That the money the participants elected to put into the Program would be deductible from their income for tax purposes each year,
4.) That the money the participants put into the independent "Trust Fund" rather than into the General operating fund, and therefore, would only be used to fund the Social Security Retirement Program, and no other Government program, and,
5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income.
Since many of us have paid into FICA for years and are now receiving a Social Security check every month -- and then finding that we are getting taxed on 85% of the money we paid to the Federal government to "put away," you may be interested in the following:
Q: Which Political Party took Social Security from the independent "Trust" fund and put it into the General fund so that Congress could spend it?
A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the Democratically-controlled House and Senate.
Q: Which Political Party eliminated the income tax deduction for Social Security (FICA) withholding?
A: The Democratic Party.
Q: Which Political Party started taxing Social Security annuities?
A: The Democratic Party, with Al Gore casting the "tie-breaking" deciding vote as President of the Senate, while he was Vice President of the U.S.
Q: Which Political Party decided to start giving annuity payments to immigrants?
A: That's right! Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party. Immigrants moved into this country, and at age 65, began to receive SSI Social Security payments! The Democratic Party gave these payments to them, even though they never paid a dime into it!
Then, after doing all this lying and thieving and violation of the original contract (FICA), the Democrats turn around and tell you that the Republicans want to take your Social Security away!
And the worst part about it is, uninformed citizens believe it!
Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions during this 2004 election year
I do!
got news for ya honey, no matter whp wins there are majpr changes coming to SS.
I wouldn't just change Social Security, I'd drive a stake through it's heart. Even my super-liberal daughter-in-law calls it a Ponzi scheme...which it is. Make sure the people who've paid into this confidence game get what they paid into it, and phase it out of existence so future generations won't be plagued with this eternally "crisis"-prone scam.
I like the way you think
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