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Politics : Ask Michael Burke -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: gnuman who wrote (70261)	11/8/1999 6:32:00 PM
From: Michael Bakunin	Respond to of 132070

From someday. On a societal level, there is no such thing as savings; welfare programs are by economic necessity pay-as-you-go. However, it is argued that a society that 'saves' now will be in better shape tp pay as it goes in the future -- so the social security 'trust fund' may be more than an accounting fiction -- assuming it's not spent. -mb

To: gnuman who wrote (70261)	11/8/1999 7:17:00 PM
From: Les H	Respond to of 132070

As pointed by Wayne, capital gains taxes are a main contributor also. There are no marketable securities in SS fund, just pension liabilities. Clinton also set it up to pay current Medicare expenses out of SS 'surplus'. They will likely raise FICA taxes. It's easier to raise more money that way than the income taxes. Through the Earned Income Tax Credit, a lot of people are rebated even the payroll taxes for SS and Medicare. No info on whether this counts against their future SS/Medicare eligibility --- probably not. So, there's a large portion of the population riding those programs for free, thanks to Nixon/Clinton.