By the way, Z, more proof that the SS "trust fund" is a myth. Current calculations of the federal budget deficit do not account for the increase in debt due to the SS "trust fund" lending money back to the government. In other words, revenue from SS taxes is counted as part of the general revenue, and expenses from SS benefits are counted as part of the general expenditures.
As a result, Clinton never balanced the budget, and Bush's deficit is actually close to $570B. Now you tell me whether SS is "just fine."
This is exactly what I do not understand about all the SS reformers. If a crook robs a bank, do you say the bank is "broken" or do you nail the crook?
People rant on and on about the "trust fund" being nonexistent. Fine, vote to wack the pillagers. SS would be just fine if all the funds that have been collected for it were spent on it.
Even more astonishing, some people will actually try to claim that the government cannot hold and invest funds (in Treasuries) since this is just one branch of the government giving an IOU to another. What fools! Any loan is an IOU! The fact that the government repays those loans with tax income is completely irrelevant to who the made the loan. Taxes used to repay T-bills held by Joe 6P American, or the Bank of Japan, or the IOU's to the SS trust fund are absolutely no different from each other.
When SS income slips into the red, the government damn well should start repaying the SS trust fund from annual taxes. There is no need to raise SS taxes. It has absolutely nothing to do with SS taxes! Profligate spending by the government for many years in the annual budget caused the debt, but the source of the loans over the years is irrelevant. They all have to be payed back.
In your own words:
more proof that the SS "trust fund" is a myth.
Using your logic, US Treasuries are surely a myth as well. After all, they are nothing more than an IOU which the government must pay back with tax funds at some later date, exactly the same as the SS trust funds borrowed to cover current yearly budget shortfalls.
Bush (and a long line of predecessors!) have done a good job of conflating this issue. So good, that half the people on this thread, including the main supporters of SS "reform" are totally blinkered by it! |
