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Posted on 01/26/2011 12:06:02 PM PST by pissant
Today’s CBO report has some bad news about the deficit. But CBO has some really, really bad news about Social Security: It’s officially broke.
The CBO’s revenue/expenditure estimates now place the program in permanent deficit. There had been some hope that payroll taxes would recover sufficiently post-recession to put the program back into the black (the theoretical black) for at least a few more years, putting off the day of reckoning for an election cycle or more. No more: The new CBO estimates put Social Security in the red for as far as the eye can see.
But there’s a bit of camouflage attached: If you include the “interest” that the federal government “owes” the fictitious Social Security “trust fund,” then the program is in the black. Which is to say, if you think that borrowing another $1 trillion from the bond market to shift money from one government account to another government account makes the nation $1 trillion richer, then everything’s hunky-dory. But if you compare the program’s tax income to its benefit outlays, without the “interest” owed, as CBO does, what you get is deficits from this year forward to 2021 of $45 billion, $30 billion, $28 billion, $30 billion, $31 billion, $33 billion, $44 billion, $59 billion, $77 billion, $98 billion, and $118 billion — by my always-suspect English-major math, about six-tenths of a trillion dollars in the hole.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
But, you see, intra-governmental transfers aren't counted as borrowing. Why? Because a bunch of accountants said so.
What are we talking about here, ...illions? That’s nothing for creative economists and liberal politicians. A little stimulus here, and a bailout there, and everything is peachy. Stop thinking about it as cash. It’s just numbers that don’t mean anything.
Check with Dingell-Norwood
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But there’s a bit of camouflage attached: If you include the “interest” that the federal government “owes” the fictitious Social Security “trust fund,” then the program is in the black. Which is to say, if you think that borrowing another $1 trillion from the bond market to shift money from one government account to another government account makes the nation $1 trillion richer, then everything’s hunky-dory. But if you compare the program’s tax income to its benefit outlays, without the “interest” owed, as CBO does, what you get is deficits from this year forward to 2021 of $45 billion, $30 billion, $28 billion, $30 billion, $31 billion, $33 billion, $44 billion, $59 billion, $77 billion, $98 billion, and $118 billion — by my always-suspect English-major math, about six-tenths of a trillion dollars in the hole.”
It's about time. Now Republicans need to RAM the CBO numbers down Democrats throat since they LOVE the CBO. Problem is:Republicans seem terrified to tell voters the truth: that THERE IS NO SS TRUST FUND.
How could it be the black? they just cut FICA taxes!
“But, but, Harry Reid was on Meet The Press like 2 weeks ago saying this would never happen...”
He meant it would never happen to HIM. He’s not in the SS Ponzi scheme; it is not for the Ruling Class, only for the poor schlubs who pay their/Harry’s salaries.
just one time, i wish one of the 535 would stand up and speak the truth [besides ron paul]...
All we have to do is to find that lock box.
I have no expectations of receiving what I’ve been promised... it’s long gone.
On April 5, 2005, after visiting the Bureau of Public Debt in Parkersburg, West Virginia, President Bush said:
“I have just come from the Bureau of Public Debt. ... I went there because I’m trying to make a point about the Social Security trust. You see, a lot of people in America think there’s a trust, in this sense — that we take your money through payroll taxes and then we hold it for you, and then when you retire, we give it back to you. But that’s not the way it works.
“There is no ‘trust fund,’ just IOUs that I saw firsthand, that future generations will pay — will pay for either in higher taxes, or reduced benefits, or cuts to other critical government programs.”
Social security began in 1937 - people could retire and receive their SS “benefit” at age 65. Any guess to what the avg life expectancy was in 1935 - when SS was signed into law? 63 for a woman, 59.5 for a man. In all this time, the age to collect hasn’t changed. The avg life expectancy now is close to 80. The number of payers into SS has dropped from 16 down to 3 for each person collecting.
How can anyone realistically expect the system to remain solvent?
Madoff only wishes his ponzi scheme was as good a social security.
Don’t give them any idea’s remember the Fed is already monetizing our debt and with their new accounting rules that will come back to bite you doubly hard.
Throw this $6.3 Trillion IOU in there too.
Hmmmmm
sooo I wonder how many more months of the rather small sum are possible. LOL.
>>I don’t care what name we put on it. The money was taken from the people, against their wishes.<<
Under threat of imprisonment is more accurate. Loss of Liberty.
NOW is the time to float the retirement age without limit annually to maintain year-to-year break-even solvency.
Let the geezers fight to cut the SSI disability abuse, so they can retire sooner.
Prepare for a life without money, bro. I am.
Doing what I can in that department!
LUB
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