Posted on 09/18/2024 2:45:22 PM PDT by bitt
Ask any budget expert in Washington to explain the ballooning deficit and debt, and Social Security and Medicare will be high on the list of causes. That’s wrong. The real driver, the elephant in the room, is means-tested social-welfare spending—Medicaid, food stamps, refundable tax credits, Supplemental Security Income, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, federal housing subsidies and almost 100 other programs whose eligibility is limited to those below an income threshold.
True, Social Security and Medicare are a drain on general revenue and will become big fiscal problems if not reformed. But they aren’t the major source of our current fiscal crisis, because both are financed in large part by dedicated payroll taxes. Since its inception, Social Security has produced cash surpluses 60% of the time. In 2023 Social Security payroll taxes funded 88.9% of benefits. The cost of Social Security’s Old-Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance program, net of payroll tax collections, was only $88.1 billion. Medicare payroll taxes and premiums funded 49.7% of Medicare expenditures, producing a net cost of $509 billion.
Means-tested social-welfare spending totaled $1.6 trillion in 2023. Welfare spending now absorbs an astonishing 72.6% of unobligated general revenue (total revenue net of Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes and premiums and mandatory interest on the public debt) and is larger than the claims against unobligated general revenue by Social Security (4.1%), Medicare (23.5%) and defense (37.2%) combined.
(Excerpt) Read more at welfare-is-whats-eating-the-budget.tiiny.co ...
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Cloward-Piven explained all this in 1971.
Those things are used to buy votes. Simple as that.
who let the dogs out
Ignore the $7 trillion Inflation Expansion Act.
/\ This. It explains why spending in this category is out of control.
And this welfare is going to Non-US citizens. Many who are in the country illegally.
Don’t worry, with our very own Central Bank and our pure fiat currency, we can print all the money we need whenever we need it...AND THEY WILL!!!
Not sure I agree. Interest on the debt is a major problem. We could decide to pay the debt off over 20-30 years. Just print about 2 trillion each year. Yes it would be inflationary but it would also force private money into capital investment and likely grow the economy. It wouldn’t be government spending - it would force private investors into something other than treasuries. I’d trust the private investors, in the aggregate, more than I would these government boondoggles.
The $3+ trillion, 80%+ unconstitutional portion of the federal gov’t is the ONLY cause of inflation and pressure to tax and what is eating up your profits, your livelihood, and the economy.
The real driver of the ballooning deficit and ntl debt is means-tested social-welfare spending—
<><>Medicaid, food stamps, refundable tax credits,
<><>Supplemental Security Income,
<><>Temporary Assistance for Needy Families,
<><>federal housing subsidies
<><>and almost 100 other programs to those below an income threshold.
And all of it describes foreign illegals pouring over our borders.
Just one pricey example below, an “estimated” $3 billion Democrat giveaway.
This is so bogus-——the kids arent missing, they are loaned out, passed around to other migrants. to be used in lucrative scams to get tax dollars from S/S and hefty disability checks.
Vindictive Biden overturned Trump’s order to get the DNA of these so-called needy families, to make sure the kids are really theirs.
A common practice by these greedy illegals is getting a crooked doctor to say a kid’s autistic b/c they get hefty SS tax paid benefits every month for the kid.
The maximum possible disability benefit for autism in 2024 is $943 per month for SSI and about $3,822 per month for SSDI. These maximums apply regardless of what condition you have or whether you apply with one condition or multiple. The actual amount received depends on specific circumstances. (Dec 7, 2023)
Disability Living Allowance (DLA) is a key benefit for children under 16 living with disability, including autism. It is assessed according to care needs, and a diagnosis is not required to make a claim. DLA helps cover the extra costs of raising a child with a disability. (Jan 30, 2024)
And it’s a sure bet they invent their “family circumstances.”
Plus senior illegals are draining the S/S system, collecting without working a day here, not having put a dime into the system.
Won’t be long before we’re all going to be Hungry Haitians eating road kill.
60 years of the great society and we have more on welfare now per capita then we did then. Why? It is a really good deal. Trillions upon trillions of dollars spent on the poor and blacks and all the problems are still with us and worse now than ever.
Around here they only work for cash and I won't play that little game any more than I will allow illegals on my property no matter who pays them so I do it all myself.
Welfare is payment to not riot........................
Using taxpayers’ money to “buy votes” is what’s eating the budget! If giving voters a pink pony would get a politician elected, there would be the federal department of pink ponies!
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