Greenspan warns against deficits (says to cut social security)

CNN ^ | 02/24/04

[hoosierboy]

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned Congress Wednesday to take quick action to fix the nation's swollen budget deficit, saying it could impair the ability to pay Social Security benefits and weigh on the broader economy.

[Orion78]

I bet if I took all the money I've paid into SS and put it in a low interest savings account, I'd end up with more money at 65 than SS will ever give me.

[AuntB]

There absolutely should be a program for people like your relative. It just shouldn't be Social Security. SS was set up to be a "pay into" to get benefits plan. It is also easier to get an approval for things like "depression" or "mental disorders" than real physical maladies like your relative. It is also easier for people who have never worked or had limited experience. The entire administration of the SS is an abomination. How long did it take to get her approved? Generally SSI is much quicker than the plan we pay into.

[AuntB]

See post #118, 122. Then read some of the comments on this petition: http://www.PetitionOnLine.com/SSDC/petition.html

The big problem with abuses, both ways...getting it when you shouldn't and NOT getting it when you should is that no one in the SSA or our legislators have to survive under the same health/retirement system as the rest of us. Judged by our peers? I think not.

[Pitchfork]

Exactly!!
We should all recall for a moment that the payroll-tax funded Social Security system was more than solvent it was in surplus!! I'm not sure why it is fair to argue that because we drastically cut taxes on high income earners that we need to now pay for that by reducing the benefits (either through more restrictive COLA or retirement age conditions) that hard working contributors have more than paid for!
I certainly favor shifting toward an end to SS and a private savings system, but that require some kind of phase in period and the shifting of funds FROM general tax revenues TO the SS system to support SS payments while payroll taxes were slowly ratcheted to zero. Right now it seems Greenspan is advocating the transfer of funds from the SS system to the pockets of high income earners who benefited from that last tax break. That's not going to sell well anywhere but at the country club.

[Dr. Marten]

Cut social security?

I dont think so. How about placing limits on it as to who can collect? Stop dependents from collecting on their parents.

How about either a freeze on Congressional pay raises or a cut all together?

[Clemenza]

Eliminate the Ponzi Scheme known as Social(ist) Security for us youngin's, but allow the seniors and older boomers to collect their benefits.

[MinuteGal]

Greenspam should STFU till after November. All these little SS pearls in his speech were deliberate. He's been around the block a few times in his life and knows darn well his words will be spun, taken out of context, mis-titled and mis-quoted because this is an election year.

And he also knows in which direction they will be spun, taken out of context, etc. etc.

Bush will get the blame for everything Greenspam says between now and election whether it's true or false, optimistic or pesimistic, good advice or fake advice. His exact words mean nothing. It's all in how the media spins the words to make the Prez look bad.

There are few people in the country in a better position to torpedo GW and the Republicans before November than this cunning old geezer sharing the pillow with his leftist reporterette wife.

I never trusted this guy and never will. He is NOT on our side. Watch his lips in the coming months.

Leni

[BOBTHENAILER]

If Bob could figure out how to harvest, transport and market that hot gas, we would not have an energy shortage when combined with what the libs emit each day.

Put 'em all in a biosphere type environment, lock it shut, let the self-congratulations start to flow, like, ya' know, you go girl, let's get busy sister (stolen from Ann Coulter), let's all FIGHT for the common man (although there won't be one of those in there), and in less than a week, the methane created would be around 2-3 TCF, enough to immediately refill the storage fields.

The only glitch would be the resulting suffocation after the build-up, but what the hell. I'm sure they'd all gladly expire to create clean energy.

[SierraWasp]

Please, please, please, could I git ta lite the match??? (snort!)

[DustyMoment]

Can you define high income earner?

[Kozak]

Me too.

[Lijahsbubbe]

If the government was serious about saving money, which they're not, they could begin by stopping all of the benefits they are giving to illegal aliens.

Bravo Brownie! I thought the same when I read this:

that the recent surge in the deficit is particularly dangerous, coming less than a decade before Baby Boomers begin drawing on federal retirement benefits, putting an ever bigger strain on government resources.

"This dramatic demographic change is certain to place enormous demands on our nation's resources -- demands we almost surely will be unable to meet unless action is taken,"

The gov't has enough money to continue to let illegals overburden our hospitals, schools and social programs, but not enough to give back to the people who paid in. They're not serious about saving money.

[evad]

..but also boomers, if they feel that they have been paying into the system for 30 plus years ..

Hey..I resemble that and I say, "Cut It To The Bone".

[SendShaqtoIraq]

"They also increased the amounts of the tax to save the system and then spent the money on other things. That is what happened.

Also, the fact that medicine has improved so much and the lifespans of nonworking years have increased to the point of negating the original intentions."

The fact that there have been 40 million plus future workers murdered in womb doesn't help either.

[lainde]

I despise Greenspan! You are right...That was deliberate sabotage. He said that the congress should cut costs, but the Rats made him say that wouldn't be enough...Implying we needed another bloody tax hike.

[Grampa Dave]

This would be a positive Greening of America.:)

[trebb]

What you won't see here is the fact that Greenspan said not to cut benefits for those already retired or about to retire.

What you also won't see is how he blamed "out of control entitlements" as the main problem.

[hobbes1]

And personally, I'd like to see them add means testing to those who remain on the plan.

Be careful Annie, I was branded Heretic for saying that about a month ago.

Now that Greenspan is reiterating a good deal of the points I made, I wonder where the attackers went....

[hobbes1]

The easy fix is to change the SS tax structure, I believe right now the tax is something like 12% of the first $87,000 of income, with no tax above that income level. I'd expect you would see something like a cut in the tax rate coupled with a lifting of cap. So perhaps you might see something like a 10% rate on the first $100k of income, or a smaller tax above the cap rate, say a 2% rate above $100k.

Half right. That and Means test, and institute Private accounts Immediately for those that will, so that down the road, Means testing, combined with The Accrual of Compund interest pushes 95% of the people out of the program leaving only a governent subsidized social welfare program for the remaining 5% (and it is a Social Welfare program NOW regardless of how many want to dance around the facts.)

Make no mistake however, this is a Socialist program in its current constitution, it need to be all but ended, leaving a small government safety net in its place.