Social Security Surplus Already Gone

[auditor0007]

I have been harping on the need to address SS and Mediare for the last eight years. GW started the ball rolling, whether or not anyone agreed with his ideas about fixing SS. Unfortunately, he was completely rebuked as everyone told us that SS was in good shape.

Well, that time is gone. Now we have no option other than to address these two boondoggles. Who's going to step up to the plate?


Moneynews - Social Security Surplus Already Gone

Social Security Surplus Already Gone

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 11:37 AM

By: Marc Davis Article Font Size



Another victim of the recession has cashed in its chips — the Social Security surplus.


Expected to survive until 2017, according to many educated estimates, the stock decline has instead wiped the surplus out completely.


It happened in the blink of an accountant's eye, as we were all paying attention to other serious financial problems, says Kevin Hassett of the American Enterprise Institute, commenting on this unamusing disappearing act in a column for Bloomberg.com.


"Social Security has for years been the near-term bright spot in the federal budget," writes Hassett.


"Each year the program has raised $50 billion to $100 billion more in payroll taxes than it paid out in benefits."


Opponents of Social Security reform often cited these surpluses as a good reason to postpone any attempt to fix the system.

 

[auditor0007]

Based on the number of responses to this, I can only assume the answer is that nobody wants to step up to the plate.

 

[Skull Pilot]

people do not want to take responsibility for their own lives.

i have repeatedly said that if everyone had their 15% of income that is snatched by the fucking government to fund the Ponzi scheme of SS, we could ALL have more saved for retirement, we could ALL afford reasonably priced disability insurance that would be far better than anything SS provides and we could ALL be in a better position to pay for more of our own health insurance.

But it's like beating a dead horse. the fucking sheep, lemmings don't want to listen because they don't want the responsibility that comes with freedom.

 

[editec]

SS Surpluses are NOT the same thing as government bonds.

SS never had a surplus.

The whole idea that the government can tax us, and then borrow that money from SS accounts and pay them back with bonds is voodoo economics at its finest.

When people retire and stop doing productive work, the workers of that time are supporting them.

The accounting magic (and I don't really care how they do that accounting) is specious.

Had the government put that money to work (buying stocks) then it might be reasonable to say that there was surplus, but they didn't do that, did they?

The governments of both the Republicans and the Democrats spend that money (and gave bonds in reuturn) faster than it came in.

They didn't invest it, unless of course you believe that accepting government bonds is a form of investment.

But since the workers of the future will have to pay for those debts into social security when those bonds come due, then calling Social security solvent is absurd.

Social security can never be solvent since social security will ALWAYS depend on the working population paying for the retired population.

 

[auditor0007]

SS Surpluses are NOT the same thing as government bonds.

SS never had a surplus.

The whole idea that the government can tax us, and then borrow that money from SS accounts and pay them back with bonds is voodoo economics at its finest.

When people retire and stop doing productive work, the workers of that time are supporting them.

The accounting magic (and I don't really care how they do that accounting) is specious.

Had the government put that money to work (buying stocks) then it might be reasonable to say that there was surplus, but they didn't do that, did they?

The governments of both the Republicans and the Democrats spend that money (and gave bonds in reuturn) faster than it came in.

They didn't invest it, unless of course you believe that accepting government bonds is a form of investment.

But since the workers of the future will have to pay for those debts into social security when those bonds come due, then calling Social security solvent is absurd.

Social security can never be solvent since social security will ALWAYS depend on the working population paying for the retired population.

I'm just pointing to the fact that since we will no longer be running surpluses and actually heading towards deficits at a sooner than expected date, we better start figuring out how we're going to pay for it, because the way it's set up now, the only way to pay for it will be to borrow more money. This is even more pronounced with Medicare as the future shortfalls for Medicare will far surpass those of SS.

 

[KMAN]

Another great government program...

 

[007]

I have been harping on the need to address SS and Mediare for the last eight years. GW started the ball rolling, whether or not anyone agreed with his ideas about fixing SS. Unfortunately, he was completely rebuked as everyone told us that SS was in good shape.

Well, that time is gone. Now we have no option other than to address these two boondoggles. Who's going to step up to the plate?


Moneynews - Social Security Surplus Already Gone

Social Security Surplus Already Gone

Tuesday, March 31, 2009 11:37 AM

By: Marc Davis Article Font Size



Another victim of the recession has cashed in its chips — the Social Security surplus.


Expected to survive until 2017, according to many educated estimates, the stock decline has instead wiped the surplus out completely.


It happened in the blink of an accountant's eye, as we were all paying attention to other serious financial problems, says Kevin Hassett of the American Enterprise Institute, commenting on this unamusing disappearing act in a column for Bloomberg.com.


"Social Security has for years been the near-term bright spot in the federal budget," writes Hassett.


"Each year the program has raised $50 billion to $100 billion more in payroll taxes than it paid out in benefits."


Opponents of Social Security reform often cited these surpluses as a good reason to postpone any attempt to fix the system.

C'mon auditor... don't sweat it man. Obama has his money printing mill printing new money as fast as he can spend it. He'll just throw a couple hundred billion in the SS kitty and everything will be fine.... just like he's thrown money at everything else, and that's going to be fine..... right?

 

[Sinatra]

SS has been a government run re-election fund for decades. It enslaves a large segment of the population by doling out funds in small increments over a number of years - and each election cycle, the politicians alarm this segment of the population by accusing the other political side of wanting to eliminate these little monthly payments to them.

In the meantime, the massive funds being collected to fund Social Security are spent post-haste by the government and the cycle is repeated over and over and over again.

This concept is central to all entitlement programs - highly wasteful and inefficient programs that have done little to help the population but rather have done far more to increase the size and scope of central government - and both of the two major parties have played ball on this.