Russ, I don’t think the piece you posted is accurate.
<<Instead of red ink, Social Security made almost $102 billion in profit, to add to the more than $652 billion it had in surplus from previous years.>>
Yes, this is true, in the sense that the Social Security Administration has taken in billions more than it has so far payed out to meet obligations. The trouble is, those extra billions of dollars of overpayment are treated like ordinary tax income by the US Government, and HAVE ALREADY BEEN SPENT.
When the Social Security Administration turns over surplus dollars to the Government, it receives something back in return: an IOU. But this IOU 1) cannot be sold; and 2) does not collect interest (well, actually, that’s wrong; sorry; it does collect interest --- in the form of more IOUs). When you consider that the US government makes absolutely no provisions in its current budget to meet the claims that these IOUs will place on future income, it’s a clean sweep. The IOUs are an optical illusion.
See the Grandfather Report on Social Security mwhodges.home.att.net
Excerpt:
<<As of the end of fiscal year 2003, $1,313 billion ($1.3 Trillion) of in-coming surpluses from workers had been siphoned-off to-date from the Social Security trust fund - a 345% increase of $1.1 trillion since year-end 1991 - every penny spent on non-pension stuff. ($140 billion of that was extracted last year).
Non-marketable IOUs were put in the trust in exchange for the cash taken out - - with zero plan budgeted to redeem those IOUs in order to repay the trust fund in cash or marketable securities for the prior cash surpluses removed for other purposes. Same goes for interest due, it's paid with more IOUs instead of cash. It seems clear that either a budget should amortize out those IOUs by paying in cash, or workers should have their FICA pay-roll deductions reduced so they are no longer required to send in surpluses which will not be there when they retire - - let them save it for themselves.>>
Social Security is a fraud of such dimensions that you have to congratulate Bully and the Crooks not just for pulling off a heist, but for having the balls to think big. That they want to go back and steal yet more, after making off with ONE TRILLION DOLLARS..... well, I tip my hat. I am willing to acknowledge genius no matter what strange form it takes. |
