BLOOMBERG'S CAROLINE BAUM -- ECONOMIC COMMENTARY
Hawkmoon,
Re: Actually, the SS system is one of the primary causes of the tremendous budget deficit we currently have..
Sorry, I simply cannot accept this twisted logic. The Social Security portion of government revenues is running a tremendous surplus. The cause for the deficit lies in abuses in the federal government's general ledger, not within the trust funds.
You are conflating the uses of this surplus with the cynical way that Congress and the Executive Branch regard the SSTF and the general Treasury as being basically fungible dollars.
I was made aware of this via the crystalline commentary of Caroline Baum of Bloomberg News. (More on Baum below...)
As you might be aware, Rep. Bernie Sanders recently demanded an audit of the Federal Budget from the White House. The White House declined. There are stories surfacing lately about vast amounts of money that are simply disappearing into thin air within the Department of Death, HUD and other agencies in mysteries that make the tea party of the Red Queen and Alice-In-Wonderland seem sane.
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Some info on Bloomberg's Caroline Baum --
bloomberg.com
The specific articles where she drew a clear picture of the "swap meet" called the federal budget are now a couple years old and lost from my bookmarks.
You might have an interest in a new Baum feature, a half hour radio broadcast that is archived on the Web:
Scroll down to:
"Guests Partnoy, Coxe: Securities Law Settlement and SEC
Donald Coxe, chief strategist at Harris Investment Management, and Frank Partnoy, a University of San Diego law professor and author of "Infectious Greed," talk with Bloomberg's Caroline Baum on "No Nonsense," which airs on WBBR, about the $1.4 billion settlement by 10 securities firms for securities-law violations. Listen"
Frank Partnoy is one of my heroes. One of the most honest and intelligent commenatators on the Wall Street scene today. His book sounds really interesting.....
"Infectious Greed" --
amazon.com |
