Inkwell Institute
Federal Budget Deficit Series #6
Before someone says….Duh!….and I know they will……I like stating the obvious in case some are not paying attention……I am aware that this subject has been bitched about in Washington for a generation or more…..I know all about the problems that “Boomers” are causing for the system…..and I know that some form of reform is needed…..before I talk about the reform let us look at the growing problem (yet again)…..
As reported in the AP article:
Social Security is financed by payroll taxes — employers and employees must each pay a 6.2 percent tax on workers’ earnings up to $106,800. Retirees can start getting early, reduced benefits at age 62. They get full benefits if they wait until they turn 66. Those born after 1960 will have to wait until they turn 67.
Social Security’s financial problems have been looming for years as the nation’s 78 million baby boomers approached retirement age. The oldest are already there. As that huge group of people starts collecting benefits — and stops paying payroll taxes — Social Security’s trust funds will shrink, running out of money by 2037, according to the latest projection from the trustees who oversee the program.
The recession is making things worse, at least in the short term. Tax receipts are down from the loss of more than 8 million jobs, and applications for early retirement benefits have spiked from older workers who were laid off and forced to retire.
The national debt — the amount of money the government owes its creditors — is about $12.5 trillion, or nearly $42,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. About $8 trillion has been borrowed in public debt markets, much of it from foreign creditors. The rest came from various government trust funds, including retirement funds for civil servants and the military. About $2.5 trillion is owed to Social Security.
For decades the Congress has been skimming funds from SS and using it to save the budget from such drains as war, etc…..not ONE of the a/holes mentions that when they start their crap about it going broke.,…yes it is going broke and it is the fault of the Congress….I wish they would stop blowing smoke of the citizens asses and admit that they are the reason the fund is in sad shape….not the Boomers…
And there is the problem……the a/holes in Washington have been skimming off the fund for decades and now it is all the “Boomers” fault that it will be bankrupt by 2016….Okay I am a smart ass….do I have a fix for the problem?
Hey! Here is a novel idea……..make people pay their FICA and Medicare taxes……simple huh?……did you know that people that make over $75,000, I believe, are exempt from paying these taxes on everything over that figure……it will help the immediate problem and probably make it more stable in the coming years….yes, it is that simple! (he said condescendingly)…..another thing…STOP! Raiding the fund to pay for bullshit programs that win votes!
Apart from the chronically sick and half a dozen genuinely poor people, most people who are willing to earn their own living are only poor these days because the government’s stolen all their money to pay for wars, assholes in government and the giant bureaucratic machine that no one except them wants.
So… NO TAXES AT ALL – EVER unless they are fully approved by referendum EACH year by a majority of the people! End of!
More to the point perhaps, since that’s never going to happen, AP stated the whole of the problem it in a nutshell in the first line of your quote – “Social Security is financed by payroll taxes” – that’s THIS year’s Social Security is financed by THIS year’s payroll tax – it’s a Ponzi scheme in it’s purest and most ILLEGAL form! If you have a lot of people getting old and fewer working, it’s basically fucked!
Which is pretty much where we are today… there is little more to say on the subject, except to mention that (as I might have done in the past), WHEN it is soundly financed as a proper INSURANCE scheme (which is what it’s even NAMED in the UK, but simply ISN’T!) and only gives MY money to people who really need and deserve it, I will support it wholeheartedly – until then, I object LIKE FUCK to being ROBBED!
Incidentally, UK citizens (and employers) pay nearly double what you do in the US, so stop bitching – all of you – it’s gonna get a whole lot WORSE!
I still say that if we ALL paid the same percentage and they stop raiding the fund to pay for their adventurisms like war and such then there would be nothing for the Repubs to say . “we told you so”……..when it comes to SS….I have NO problem paying that tax…it is all the hidden taxes I object to…like fees and service charges and exise taxes….crap like that….
But if I stop bitching, what would we have to debate? LOL
I get your point, but if I am FORCED to buy and pay for for a cup of coffee and it turns up cold and half empty at four times the average price, I get pissed!!!
You’re so right about the bitching, of course – just winding you up (not hard) 😆
It is fine….I need a good kick in the butt from time to time…lol
Don’t we all 😆
What I would like to see is whose names are on those IOUs. My gut feeling tells me that the party that is complaining the most about its failure is just as guilty of raiding the kitty.
I have the list for you, Terrant:
S.Claus; T.Fairy; Y.Ou; M.E.; J.Public…
There may be others, but those are the principle ones who will have to pay the bills in the end (if anyone). 🙂
Actually, it is both parties…it has been used to balance a budget by one prez…..