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March 28, 2005 As it is, we’ve got a good chance that the entire rip-off of our supplemental retirement surpluses will come out in the open. Maybe. With $71 billion stolen last year – $82 billion the year before that – $89 billion in fiscal 2002 – and $98.7 billion the first year of the George W. tenure, and more to come if and when the job situation picks up, there’s little valid reason to raise the age of retirement, cut benefits, or increase the “cap” on payroll taxes. In fact, even George Bush is promising that he will not raise payroll taxes, despite the fact that he’s done it every year he’s been in office and the Social Security Administration has done it 49 times in its 70 years of existence. Most of the supposed urgency to “save” Social Security is based on the idea that rates will remain the same as they are today which is ridiculous. What could possibly make reformers think that payroll taxes will not be adjusted several times in the next 13 or 37 years as actuarial insurance conditions change? Given its history, you would have to be nuts to believe that it all stops now. Even the increase in life expectancy that’s touted as such a problem for Social Security is overblown. The National Vital Statistics Report shows a rate of increase of roughly 0.2 per year or an increase for white males from 74.6 to 74.8. Wow, what an extension. I feel a lot better now. And then there’s the baby-boomer myth so dramatically popular in the nineties, but not mentioned much anymore. Maybe people have finally realized that Clinton missed the decimal point in his speech and there are only 7 point 6 million boomer births above normal, something Social Security can handle without breaking a sweat. Now George is bringing out the big guns to prove to elderly objectors that under his plan their retirement checks will not be affected. But really George, you should tell your mother to stop talking about her “fourteen grandchildren” because it makes it more obvious that’s the very thing that might be worrying the already retired generations. They have grandchildren too you know. Even Salon.org published an article called “Keep Talking Mr. President” because it seems that every time Bush speaks on the subject of Social Security reform he puts his foot in his mouth. Lou Dobbs recently did one of his “unscientific” audience polls on possible solutions for Social Security reform. By the end of the show, something like 70 percent of the people picked “raise taxes” from the list of options that included “personal accounts.” Even Bush himself claims that his “ownership” accounts will do nothing to solve Social Security’s long term problems. But let’s hope he continues anyway. Eventually, and even if he doesn’t use the huge surplus argument to bolster his case, the people may begin to realize just how much they have been and continue to be ripped-off by the federal government. A real malappropriation issue that’s been going on for ages and is committed by both republican and democratic administrations. An issue that makes Enron and WorldCom look like children playing in the same sandbox.
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Borrow-holics Setting Records- Time For Honesty About Social Security Stop The Bleeding For Real Social Security Reform- Social Security Trust Already In Trouble The Real Crisis Of Social Security Comouflage Surrounding Social Security Boomer Myth - The Great Fear Story For Social Security First Things First - STOP Social Security's Bleeding Secrets Neither Political Cult Will Tell You Bush Put The Fox Back In The Chicken Coop Unfunded Liabilities - What They Are Job Market Reflected In Payroll Taxes $3.2 Billion A Day - $2.25 Million A Minute Complete Archives for Ed Henry | ||||||||||||||
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