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Social Security, checks, and Rube Goldberg: Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen suggests that 50 million seniors “could stop receiving benefits for a time.”
American Thinker ^ | 02/08/2023 | Brenton Smith

Posted on 02/08/2023 6:53:54 AM PST by SeekAndFind

The debt ceiling limit is back in the news. In the past, political leaders have responded to concerns about this issue by suggesting that Social Security checks might not go out on time should Congress not agree on another debt ceiling extension.

This begs the obvious question: Why a program with a $2.8 trillion reserve cannot pay benefits on time?

Pundits have weighed in on the subject, as have the fact checkers who largely agree that checks should not be at risk -- at least in theory. It is time for the Treasury Department to explain why Social Security checks might not be sent, and what steps have been taken to protect seniors who depend on the monthly checks.

In 2021, the last time this question surfaced, Treasury secretary Yellen wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal suggesting that 50 million seniors “could stop receiving benefits for a time.”  

 Clearly, “could” is a puzzling choice of words considering that Social Security serves as a lifeline for many of America’s senior citizens. Telling these Americans that “their monthly checks are in danger” conveys a cavalier attitude to the needs of the elderly.  

If there is any uncertainty about how Social Security would work in a situation where the government’s finances get tight, the question should move to the top of the priority list. “Could” implies that the question is not at the top list.

The history of the question makes me wonder whether it is on the list at all. It has lingered for more than a decade, dating back to 2011, when Barack Obama warned that “checks might not go out” in a CBS News interview.

(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: debtlimit; seniors; socialsecurity; thevoteisautomated
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To: SeekAndFind

How about instead “the govenrment COULD stop,getting taxes sent to them for a time”?


41 posted on 02/08/2023 7:27:18 AM PST by Bob434
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To: Starboard

[[Whenever there’s any talk of spending restraints the liberals immediately trot out their threats of draconian cuts to services]]

But the arts and PBS and ilk will continue ue to get $$


42 posted on 02/08/2023 7:29:57 AM PST by Bob434
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To: odawg
If I am not mistaken, when the Federal government takes monies from the Social Security Fund, they replace them with U.S. Treasuries.

Is that not the case?

If it is, wouldn't a failure to pay the SS fund would constitute a default on Treasury Bonds?

43 posted on 02/08/2023 7:36:27 AM PST by RoosterRedux
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To: RoosterRedux

The Social Security “Trust Fund”:

https://moneymorning.com/2017/03/31/the-social-security-trust-fund-is-just-a-stack-of-ious-in-a-west-virginia-filing-cabinet/

So—you have to watch the con man’s hands very carefully as he moves the shells around on the table.

The peas under the shells are “Special Obligation Bonds”.

They are debt owed to the US government, not assets.

You got that?

So—there is no “money” to take from “the fund”.

Welcome to the crazy world of .gov.


44 posted on 02/08/2023 7:42:40 AM PST by cgbg (Claiming that laws and regs that limit “hate speech” stop freedom of speech is “hate speech”.)
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To: SeekAndFind

They come out with those same ole scare tactics every time they want to pass a monstrosity tax-and-spend bill, raise the debt ceiling, etc.

It won’t be long before they are whining about the potential for a GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN.

Same ole tactics, same ole playbook.


45 posted on 02/08/2023 7:43:49 AM PST by TomGuy
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To: SeekAndFind

Vaccines are the solution to underfunded liabilities. Take your boosters to “do your part” for the team!


46 posted on 02/08/2023 7:46:06 AM PST by Jan_Sobieski (Sanctification)
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To: John Milner

“Somebody needs to tell these people 50 years behind the times that there are literally NO Social Security checks mailed out. It’s all mandatory direct deposit.”

Friend received checks all last year.


47 posted on 02/08/2023 7:52:08 AM PST by steve86 (Numquam accusatus, numquam ad curiam ibit, numquam ad carcerem™)
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To: cgbg

Are you saying that Special Issue Bonds (that’s what they are called IIRC) are not backed by the Government?


48 posted on 02/08/2023 7:52:25 AM PST by RoosterRedux
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To: Jan_Sobieski

Yup—I keep waiting for the Public Service Announcements with smiling old people holding their hands up high together with an American flag, a rainbow flag and a United Nations flag behind them.

“Senior citizens—Save the planet. Save Social Security and Medicare.

Do it for the children of the world.

Get your booster today!”


49 posted on 02/08/2023 7:52:46 AM PST by cgbg (Claiming that laws and regs that limit “hate speech” stop freedom of speech is “hate speech”.)
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To: RoosterRedux

I am saying that they are non-marketable securities that the government owes to itself.

If you take a dollar out of your left pocket and put it in your right pocket does that mean you are not backing it?

There is no there there.

This is magic.

Welcome to “government finance”.


50 posted on 02/08/2023 7:55:02 AM PST by cgbg (Claiming that laws and regs that limit “hate speech” stop freedom of speech is “hate speech”.)
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To: SamAdams76

Betcha Yellen doesn’t rely on HER Soc Sec checks for survival.

MANY of us on SS NEVER worked on jobs where pensions were available....and we worked for $1.30 an hour —if that-—on our first full time jobs.


51 posted on 02/08/2023 7:56:12 AM PST by ridesthemiles
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To: SeekAndFind

I wouldn’t be surprised to see these sleazeballs stop paying out Social Security, and then have their media stooges blame it on Republicans.


52 posted on 02/08/2023 7:59:18 AM PST by LuxAerterna
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To: I want the USA back
Uncle Joe will send another 30 or so billion this quarter, and the next quarter, and so on.

It's their latest "money laundering" scheme most of which ends up in the pockets of the schemers.

53 posted on 02/08/2023 8:07:08 AM PST by VideoDoctor
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To: SeekAndFind

They say 65% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck...gotta assume that includes SS checks too.


54 posted on 02/08/2023 8:14:47 AM PST by mac_truck (aide toi et dieu t'aidera)
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To: cgbg
Well, yes and no.

You and I paid into the SS trust fund and the government took our monies and put securities in their place. So they took our monies out of one pocket and put it in their General Fund. The securities they put in our fund may not be marketable--that's irrelevant for the most part--but they are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S.

I don't know if Yellen was speaking of a cash flow shortfall, but the SS fund is full of securities that, though not marketable, are mortgageable (i.e., they can be used as collateral).

On top of that, if the U.S. government refuses to redeem those securities at maturity, that would constitute a default of a government obligation. This is quite unlike an "implicit" government obligation a la Fannie Mae (i.e., no real obligation).

55 posted on 02/08/2023 8:20:16 AM PST by RoosterRedux
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To: SeekAndFind
Yellen should be asked to explain why she is investing the money in bonds, which she fully doubts will be available when the money is needed.

Because they are intentionally gaming the system for a desired outcome.

Gaming the system...can be defined as using the rules and procedures meant to protect a system to instead, manipulate the system for a desired outcome.

A crisis often leads to a rebuilding or reconfiguring of established systems. If the U.S. is to keep up with Agenda 2030, it must have systems in place that can collaborate on a global scale. The current Social Security system is likely dated and obsolete, compared with similar systems in other countries.

There are theories about the social order - some going back decades - that are coming to fruition in our time.

Government by algorithm (Wikipedia)

In 2006, attorney Lawrence Lessig, known for the slogan "Code is law", wrote: "[T]he invisible hand of cyberspace is building an architecture that is quite the opposite of its architecture at its birth. This invisible hand, pushed by government and by commerce, is constructing an architecture that will perfect control and make highly efficient regulation possible."

Cyberocracy (Wikipedia)

While the outcome or the results of cyberocracy is still challenging to identify, there are those who cite that it will lead to new forms of governmental and political systems, particularly amid the emergence of new sensory apparatuses, networked society, and modes of networked governance.

56 posted on 02/08/2023 8:26:46 AM PST by yelostar (Stay strong. Stay fierce. Stay SKEPTICAL. Never surrender your freedom, and don’t buy the narratives)
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To: SeekAndFind

American seniors might not get their Social Security checks, but the millions of illegals won’t miss a welfare check or be booted out of their free housing


57 posted on 02/08/2023 8:40:42 AM PST by The Great RJ
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To: SeekAndFind

This is a head fake by the DNC to try and get something out of the GOP.
Something has changed since the House Speaker battle.


58 posted on 02/08/2023 8:46:57 AM PST by Zathras
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To: 1Old Pro

“solutions that would be a win win”

The time for solutions that would be a “win win” was 20 years ago. It’s too late for those now.


59 posted on 02/08/2023 8:51:52 AM PST by Boogieman
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To: RoosterRedux

They replace it with IOUs.


60 posted on 02/08/2023 9:09:39 AM PST by odawg
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