Posted on 12/25/2012 9:00:03 AM PST by SeekAndFind
(For discussion only, NOT picking fights!)The embezzlement of SS by both parties is small potatos compared to the theft that occurred after LBJ opened the vault and told the Congress to “have at it!”. (Unless, by “embezzlement”, you ARE addressing the open theft of SS funds by the Congress! In that case, we are on the same page and you may feel free to disregard my entire reply)
There is so much rampant theft of SS funds by politicians to buy every possible vote (and them some!) through any means possible, that the fact that SS is going broke fast should not be a surprise.
Okay, change “Medicare A&B” to just “Medicare.” That’s the away it is referred to in the benefit amount paperwork I got from Social Security.
“I’ve said for years that Social Security will be “fixed” partly through a deliberate under-reporting of inflation figures that constrains cost-of-living increases over time. Think of it: the government reports inflation of 1.5% while the real rate of inflation is 5% or higher, and it’s obvious what is happening here.”
Hasn’t the CPI been eviscerated before by taking out increases in food and fuel? i read somewhere that by converting to the chained CPI that old timers dependent on SS can just switch from eating chicken, to dog food and then finally to cat food as there checks dwindle. and if they find cat food unpalatable, they can fast until they no longer have the strength left to cash their social security checks.
the real reason that SS is running out of dough is because of all the illegals getting SSI, disability income, etc. but heaven forbid, we deny the illegal invaders their rightful due as we welcome them as they pour across our borders to enjoy free medical care, in-state college tuition, reduced mortgage principal and interest rates, because of their no document loans the banks forced on them.
“That sounds like a good option. Gazillionaires like Barbra Streisand and Michael Moore dont’t need it as much.”
wonder if there is a way to find out whether there are any movie stars that collect social security to supplement their paltry incomes?
“Sadly, most Americans don’t understand the concept of long-term investing and compound interest. They’re more than content to remain latched to the government teat, and let someone else foot the bill.”
The teat-latcher include may here on this forum, who should know better.
This is something that could potentially be managed.
Another, far more likely alternative is that at some point in the not-so-distant future nobody gets anything.
If you watch nothing else today....please watch this short illustration lesson. This is a non-partisan video produced by an accountant, Hal Mason, who retired after 27 years with IBM. He looks at the budget, its revenues and expenses, and very simply illustrates the financial problems of the U.S.
Amazingly, we get all the media talking heads blathering and shouting for hours and never give us clarity. This guy does it in a few minutes. The message seems to be very clear. Where Greece is today, we will be tomorrow, unless our representatives in Washington start to take some very decisive steps.
http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/EW5IdwltaAc?rel=0
We are in complete agreement. I am also in agreement with Mark Levin who believes members of congress who have joined in the act of looting our treasury should be tried.
Medicare Part A is funded thru part of the payroll tax (the HI trust fund.) Medicare Parts B and D are funded thru premiums from the retirees (25%) and from the General Fund (75%).
Medicare Part A is funded thru part of the payroll tax (the HI trust fund.) Medicare Parts B and D are funded thru premiums from the retirees (25%) and from the General Fund (75%).
Tried!!??? How about hung after their hands are cut off!??
(I really HATE thieves!! Or could you tell?)
No it cant. Socialism cant be fixed, its already working as intended.
I concur...no one in Washington has any courage to tackle serious entitlement reform, with the possible exception of Paul Ryan and a few others. Obama and the Dims are content to kick the can down the road indefinitely, figuring we can muddle through until most of them have left office. I can easily see all the entitlement programs going bust in the next 10-15 years, with a lot of “low information” recipients wondering what happened to their check.
One more thing...in an effort to keep the Ponzi schemes going, I can easily see the confiscation of private pensions and retirement accounts in the next 10 years, if not sooner.
You either raise the payroll taxes or decrease benefits or some combination thereof. Here is what the Trustees said in their 2012 report:
Social Security’s expenditures exceeded non-interest income in 2010 and 2011, the first such occurrences since 1983, and the Trustees estimate that these expenditures will remain greater than non-interest income throughout the 75-year projection period. The deficit of non-interest income relative to expenditures was about $49 billion in 2010 and $45 billion in 2011, and the Trustees project that it will average about $66 billion between 2012 and 2018 before rising steeply as the economy slows after the recovery is complete and the number of beneficiaries continues to grow at a substantially faster rate than the number of covered workers. Redemption of trust fund assets from the General Fund of the Treasury will provide the resources needed to offset the annual cash-flow deficits. Since these redemptions will be less than interest earnings through 2020, nominal trust fund balances will continue to grow. The trust fund ratio, which indicates the number of years of program cost that could be financed solely with current trust fund reserves, peaked in 2008, declined through 2011, and is expected to decline further in future years. After 2020, Treasury will redeem trust fund assets in amounts that exceed interest earnings until exhaustion of trust fund reserves in 2033, three years earlier than projected last year. Thereafter, tax income would be sufficient to pay only about three-quarters of scheduled benefits through 2086.
A temporary reduction in the Social Security payroll tax rate reduced payroll tax revenues by $103 billion in 2011 and by a projected $112 billion in 2012. The legislation establishing the payroll tax reduction also provided for transfers of revenues from the general fund to the trust funds in order to "replicate to the extent possible" payments that would have occurred if the payroll tax reduction had not been enacted. Those general fund reimbursements comprise about 15 percent of the program's non-interest income in 2011 and 2012.
While the combined OASDI program continues to fail the long-range test of close actuarial balance, it does satisfy the test for short-range financial adequacy. The Trustees project that the combined trust fund assets will exceed one year’s projected cost for more than ten years, through 2027.
However, the Disability Insurance (DI) program satisfies neither the long-range test nor the short-range test. DI costs have exceeded non-interest income since 2005, and the Trustees project trust fund exhaustion in 2016, two years earlier than projected last year. The DI program faces the most immediate financing shortfall of any of the separate trust funds; thus lawmakers need to act soon to avoid reduced payments to DI beneficiaries four years from now.
Thank you Seek. I have the video link but was unaware of Pat Dollard’s article. To date, have you seen anyone else introduce such detailed legislation re: Social Security? Maybe in light of what happened to T-Mac, no one wants to.
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