Posted on 07/08/2011 4:41:50 AM PDT by blam
The Sneaky Way They Plan on Cutting Social Security Benefits
July 8, 2011
Talk of changing the way the CPI is calculated is now part of on going talks on how to deal with the debt expansion. Reuters explains bluntly what is going on:
President Barack Obama and lawmakers are considering cutting Social Security and increasing revenue by changing the way the government measures inflation.
Four senior congressional aides said lawmakers are discussing using an alternative yardstick to gauge inflation, known as the “chained consumer price index,” to determine annual cost-of-living adjustments for millions of Americans. How much of an impact will the change in the method of calculating CPI have on Social Security?
It could result in cutting Social Security by $112 billion over 10 years, raising taxes by $60 billion and cutting pension and veterans’ disability payments by $24 billion, according to estimates by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Taxation.
According to Reuters:
Advocates say the change is needed because the government’s current measure of inflation overstates how quickly prices rise. Got that? In May, the annualized core CPI came in at 2.4% and the government debt negotiators think this is too high a number.
Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma goes one better, he says:
There hasn’t been any economist anywhere that says we shouldn’t do that, [change the way inflation is measured] Earth to Couburn, start with John Williams at Shadow Stats, if you are looking for some one who thinks the CPI measure has been manipulated downward enough already and read up on the last manipulation of the CPI, which was inspired by President Richard Nixon.
Coburn continues with this outrageous remark:
We need a CPI that truly reflects what’s happening in the economy, not what’s good for the politicians.
Bottom line: D.C. politicians are attempting every way possible to raise revenue and cut expenditures, even if it is on the back of the elderly. They will lie and say things with a straight face, even if a quick trip to the supermarket confirms the absurdity of the statements made by politicians like Coburn.
I reposted yours because it is verbatim the truth!
One out of every nineteen Americans are now collecting Social Security Disability. That includes gang-bangers, kids with bad tempers, almost anyone with HIV - even if it’s devolved to common cold status...
Disability will be destroyed for the people who really are disabled - and Social Security will be destroyed for those who are too old to work. And the promise made to the young still paying into the system will be broken.
All so the same old same old can work one more scam.
When the system is bankrupt those who are truly disabled and without family will die. Same with the 80 year old grandfather... Scammers won’t be hurt - they’ll get work or go on to steal from some new victim.
The "surplus" is in special-issue government bonds that will have to be redeemed out of the general fund.
In other words, either the Feds will have to borrow, starve another program of funds, or raise taxes.
The way that the politicians over the decades (starting with Democrats, continuing with Republicans) handled this, they convinced an entire generation to vote for a massive stealth tax increase on their children and grandchildren.
I'm not blaming them for anything.
I merely wanted to point out that the argument of "well, we paid for your parents and grandparents!" doesn't work on me.
The first shortfall of current year SS receipts (to meet payouts) was in 2010. I believe it was $30 billion the government had to make up. 2011 will be worse due to the economy, but the SS shortfalls are still tiny compared to the spending on numerous other programs.
There is time to reform SS, to made it sound and to give participants more control over part of their contributions.
And it still amazes me that we hear no discussion of reforming and looking for savings in this $950 billion annual payout for welfare and other support programs. I guess that would be "balancing the budget on the backs of the poor.
Is $950 Billion Per Year Enough?
But that $950 billion is not looking to the future. That's being paid out this year and will be more next year.
I don't want reform; I want the program stone-cold dead.
Well, in that case, prepare to be frustrated for the rest of your life.
SS is a ponzi scheme, period.
Madoff went to jail.....let me know when a bundle of politicians go to jail for doing what Madoff did.... =.=
and you don’t “rob” the people who have payed into S.S. their whole life.
People who get robbed shouldn’t expect to be able to rob their neighbors to make up for it (even if they permit the neighbors to rob others). The robbery must stop.
Think again..it was simply transferred to another place...so transfer back what is owed the people. Nothing too dificult to understand about that...it's not there money to spend on Politicians favored projects....cut those out and a vast number of other nonesense projects and problem solved.....that's not hard to understand. And while their at it start collecting the debts from other countries and stop giving them a free pass to use our money.
Who says I have to stick around to pay for the previous generation's screw-ups?
It isn't mere robbery. It's robbery by means of taxation, and the people being taxed (future generations) are being taxed without any representation whatsoever.
Two-hundred and thirty-five years ago, Americans fought against taxation without representation.
Two-hundred and thirty-five years later, they are fighting for taxation without representation.
Fail.
No, it was spent - not simply transferred. What is spent over and above what is budgeted must be paid back with future revenues, i.e. higher taxes on current tax payers, taxes on people who are too young to vote or people who haven't even been born yet.
Politicians of all stripes spent money from people not even born yet to buy votes from the current crop of ignorant voters.
How are you going to get that back? You can't get back or transfer what's already been spent. All you have left is a pile of IOU's miles high. Who's going to pay those IOU's?
Thanks - glad you liked it.
Think again..it was simply transferred to another place...so transfer back what is owed the people.
It was spent on bombers, retirees, federal employee pensions, and toner cartridges, among other things. It’s GONE.
The only money you will receive will be right from the pockets of earners, who have no hope of enjoying the same benefits when their turn comes.
If you want the hope of some return, then help the golden goose survive, instead of squeezing it to death.
There is a $2.5 trillion surplus that will keep it solvent until 2037.
(When an entity - the government - owes itself money, that’s not an asset. You’ve been duped by the left.)
As usual, we’ve found the limit of of some people’s “small government, spending cuts” thinking. Namely, when the cuts hurt them.
They willingly put you in the position your in.
The so-called "Greatest Generation" and their children have voted to tax their children and grandchildren without the consent of their children and grandchildren.
In short, they as a whole have become no better than the English tyrant George III.
What's your point here, exactly?
You have attempted to shift the conversation to blaming my parents.
Idiot.
You're a poor reader and an even worse budget/financial analyst.
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