Wrong.
Posted on 02/26/2004 4:47:51 AM PST by tomahawk
In yet another disgusting display of leftwing bias and stupidity, ABC News this morning with Diane Sawyer did a Social Security "story" which consisted of people in their 40's and 50's whining that if they don't have a lot of Social Security, their lives are ruined and they were counting on it. Then Diane asked the reporter, "What are the candidates for Presidents saying about this?" The reporter responded dutifully, "John Edwards says that the tax cut Pres. Bush enacted for the wealthy should be rescinded so that this can be avoided" (like that would do ANYTHING to fix the 70 million baby-boomers retiring and bankrupting the system at current benefit levels) and John Kerry has similar views.
Wrong. People pay payroll tax up to $87K, and the cuttoff rises every year. A few years ago, the max was something like $60K. And they do collect SS in proportion to someone making $30K. Check your facts. We need private accounts.
Wrong.
What you have paid into social security is yours and the lousy interest rate they plan to give you on your money is yours too.
Sorry to burst the bubble but it was never intended as an individual savings vehicle and there's case law to back that up. It is a well disguised welfare vehicle whose money goes right into the general fund when you ignore any nifty accounting gimmicks.
As long as the demographic curve was in their favor the politicians were sitting pretty, they got extra play money to use without raising direct income taxes. Now that the curve is coming around to bite them in the ass they're starting to squirm...
How will we make up for lost revenue caused by the loss of SS taxes to the general revenue (assuming that the people demand an end to the SS tax with the loss of SS benefits)?
You are obviously a male. Unfortunately, we are only 50% of the voters and there is a sizable amount of our gender who are traitors and socialists who will vote with the women, not to cut social spending.
Our entire economy is a pyramid scheme. It's because of the nature of our money.
You're taxes are going to go up to pay for it no matter what happens, the national debt (currently increasing at something close to a trillion dollars every two years) has to be paid or everything comes down on us. Your SS taxes you are paying now are not paying benefits to anyone, they are funding the daily operation of the government (part of which is paying back into the SS 'trust fund' that has been looted in the past, but that is repaying a debt, not providing benefits). You have no future, get used to it.
Currently, according to reports that I have read, Social Security is taking in more that is being paid out. Also, according to some, every Monday morning, 27% of the Social Security Trust Fund is transferred to the General Fund.
The ignorance of the American public about social security is astounding. Politicians have been demagoguing the issue while secretly manipulating the system. The social security trust fund is full of IOU's. Social security is a pay as you go system. Once the surplus becomes a deficit in 2017, the difference will have to be made up from the General Fund. Today, approximately 40% of all tax revenue comes from social security, 44% from individual income tax , and the remainder from corporate taxes and other sources.
Congress stealthily changed the age of retirement for full benefits to 67 when it used to be 65. Each year the cap of FICA wages is raised based on inflation. It is now $87,000. If something is not done about Social Security and Medicare (including the new prescription drug benefit), we will have very little discretionary (including defense) funding once you deduct entitlements and the interest on the national debt.
Greenspan is right that something needs to be done with social security. I would favor the private accounts proposed by Bush. Social security should be a safety net, as it was originally intended. The Dems love it because it makes more and more of the population dependent upon government. It is interesting that Congress does not have to contribute to social security. It has its own retirement system.
currently increasing at something close to a trillion dollars every two years
It is even worse than that. The national debt has been increasing $2.06 billion per day since Sept 30, 2003, which works out to $1.5 trillion every two years. The amount will go up due to compounding. The cost of servicing the debt will go up even faster. In FY 03, the USG spent $318 billion on servicing the national debt, the third highest expenditure in the federal budget behind DOD and the entitlement programs.
Check out this site: http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/
Good link. I checked it out and it's even worse than I thought.
318 billion a year just servicing the debt, more than the entire debt just 40 years ago. And still increasing in growth at an alarming rate.
Pres. Bush should point out that there is no 'lock box' on SS taxes per Congress.
He and other Repubs have attempted to reform SS a number of times, only to be whipped by the dems as trying to destroy SS.
Col. klink avoided this issue( among most other pressing issues).
As we have known and pointed out for years, the dems don't want a solution they want an issue.
Remember all the pet food talk?
You know what crossed my mind when they were talking about 3 workers paying for benefits of one retiree today?
How would the disparity look with the 30 million aborted babies since Roe v. Wade growing up and paying taxes had they lived?
Aside from the moral and religious issue with abortion.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.