Tag Archives: social security

Economics, Politics

Obama’s Social Security blackmail may backfire

6 Comments

There are a few possible upsides to Obama’s threat that Social Security checks won’t go out if Congress doesn’t increase the debt ceiling.

1. The President’s Remarks Prove Social Security Trust Fund is a Hoax on the Public — As I noted in my piece about how Social Security is basically a Ponzi Scheme, there is no “trust fund.”  There never has been a trust fund.  They have always spent all the excess Social Security money on other projects.  Yet I’ll bet if you surveyed the average voter — and especially the average Social Security recipient — they’d claim otherwise.

But if there is a trust fund, how could the budget debate have any impact on Social Security payments, especially short term ones?  Hmmmm . . . maybe there isn’t a trust fund after all!

2. If our country’s financial status is so precarious — and it is — then perhaps the Left should be taking the whole “spend less / borrow less” themes more seriously.  Obama’s threat that we’re that low on funds is more proof that we need to do something significant about our finances.

3. Hopefully the independent voters will realize what a pathetic scare tactic it is and be further turned off by Obama.

Christian worldview

Ponzi schemes: Illegal for Bernie Madoff but not the government

2 Comments

As I noted in Repeat after me: There is no Social Security “trust fund”:

There is no trust fund.  No. Trust. Fund. Anyone claiming there is such a thing is ignorant and/or trying to deceive you.

The government does not have the capability to set aside funds in a bank account like we do.  When the Social Security funds come in they are spent on Social Security, or, as they have done for decades, on other spending projects they didn’t want to raise taxes to fund.  Decades of dishonesty and financial mismanagement by both parties are becoming more visible.

If Social Security taxes stopped today there wouldn’t be a penny saved to meet the commitments the government made.  It is the world’s largest Ponzi scheme.

If some of these Social Security funds went to private investments that you could control then that would limit how much the politicians could abuse.  But they don’t want to lose control, so they play on your fears that something bad will happen.

Yes, the market could crash and you could lose your investments.  It is a risky world.  But think about this: Whether your private account crashed or not it isn’t like the government is saving our taxes today to pay out tomorrow.  Either way the payouts they will make 10 years from now will come from taxes paid 10 years from now.

Simply put, we can’t lose by having at least part of current contributions devoted to private accounts.  The politicians will lose because they’ll have to find a way to fund current spending, or not spend the money at all.

Don’t let fear-mongering by politicians fool you.  The system has been broken for a long time.  Democrats didn’t want you to be informed and Republicans didn’t try hard enough to inform you.  But it isn’t that complicated.

Here are some great ideas from Time to Opt Out of the Social Security Ponzi Scheme.  I urge you to the whole thing.  Now is the time to educate people on how Social works, why it is doomed to fail, and what we can do about it now.  Those young people who swallowed Obama’s lies and are now unemployed and saddled with massive college debts may be willing to listen to some truth now.  Same thing for middle-aged people who will realize that they will spend their careers paying into a system that will be beyond bankrupt when they retire.

The Social Security Ponzi scheme is perhaps the most consequential government infringement upon our lives.  Conservatives are justifiably outraged that Obama egregiously mandated that we purchase health insurance.  However, the individual mandate is not nearly as meddlesome and tyrannical as the government’s complete control over our retirement security.  The only reason why these two programs are regarded differently by the public, is because Social Security has been around for 75 years.  Consequently, most Americans are conditioned to believe that a person’s retirement is indissolubly tied to government-run Social Security.

Now that Social Security is running a perennial deficit and is facing insolvency, conservatives have an opportunity to reverse one of the most flagrant violations of our property rights, by offering workers the option to opt out of the Madoff-style program.

As the unfunded liability for Social Security balloons to $21.4 trillion over the next 20 years, it is painfully obvious to young workers that they will not enjoy much retirement security, if any, from the government program.  Democrats are totally apathetic to their grim future; they will be long retired by then, enjoying the full array of government benefits that they secured for themselves.  Meanwhile, they would rather demagogue the issue, using fallacious scare tactics to stir up current retirees.  Accordingly, we should harness the Democrats’ Mediscare demagoguery towards seniors, and direct it towards younger Americans.  If Paul Ryan’s Medicare plan will push granny over the hill, the status quo of the Democrats’ Ponzi scheme will prevent the grandchild from making it up the hill.

With high unemployment and polls showing a precipitous drop in support for Obama among young voters, now is the time to reach out to those voters.  Congressman Pete Sessions is proposing the SAFE ACT (HR 2109), which would allow younger workers to control all of their retirement savings.  Here are some of the key details of the proposal:

  • Every American would be able to opt out of the current system and direct the full 6.2% of payroll taxes to a personal retirement account beginning January 1, 2012.  Conversely, anyone who wishes to remain in the current system would not be affected.  An employee who chooses to opt for the SAFE account can switch back to the current system during the first five years after opting out.
  • After 15 years of the bill’s enactment, employers would be able to contribute “their share” of payroll taxes to the employee’s SAFE account.
  • Self-employed individuals would be able to divert the full amount of their payroll taxes to a SAFE account.
  • The SAFE accounts would be tax free and any cash contributions would be tax deductible.   Also, all post-retirement distributions from the account would be tax free.  Any pre-retirement distributions would be taxed as income.
  • Upon the death of the account beneficiary, irrespective of his/her age, the inheritors of the estate will be able to assume full ownership of the account.

. . .

So, young Obama zombies with skulls full of mush; with whom do you trust your retirement security: your bank account or Obama’s defunct ATM?  How about Bernie Madoff?

Christian living

What is your retirement plan?

7 Comments

No, not your financial plan (Though I hope you are saving regularly via a 401k or some other mechanism.  Do not count on Social Security!).  I’m asking about your plans for your post-retirement activities.

Self-indulgence would get old very quickly.  The Bible doesn’t speak of retirement.  God numbers our days and we never know what might happen health-wise, but there is plenty we can influence with our habits. Of course I hope to spend time with family, enjoying hobbies and doing a little traveling.  But my larger goals are to continue to teach, study, serve, etc. as long as I can.  I try to keep myself in great shape so I can be energetic and stay on the giving end of the service spectrum as long as possible.  God willing, I’ll still be doing prison ministry, mission trips, teaching, and more for a few decades.

John Piper made some excellent points in What Happens When You Turn 65, including a laundry list of people who did amazing things after the age of 65.  His closing thoughts:

Dependant Till the End

And don’t forget, if you are running this marathon with Jesus, you have a great advantage. God has promised you: “Even to your old age I am he, and to gray hairs I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save” (Isaiah 46:4). Nothing to be ashamed of here. We’ve been dangling in the yoke of Jesus ever since he called us. At out peak, we were totally dependent. So it will be to the end.

So, all you Boomers just breaking into Medicare, gird up your loins, pick up your cane, head for the gym, and get fit for the last lap. Fix your eyes on the Face at the finish line. There will plenty of time for R and R in the Resurrection. For now, there is happy work to be done.

What are your plans?  I hope you are aiming at a strong finish!

Hat tip: Randy Alcorn

Politics

An adult approach to the Federal budget

2 Comments

This should be big news tomorrow: New at WSJ: Paul Ryan announces that GOP’s 2012 budget would cut $6.2 trillion in spending over 10 years « Hot Air.  The Democratic proposals on the table would destroy the country.  I say that without hyperbole.  Don’t believe me?  Try borrowing 40% of your spending year after year and see how that works out for you.

I keep hoping against hope that The One will gradually realize that signing on to this plan, or some version of it, is actually in his interest politically. There’s literally nothing he could do to alienate the left to the point where they won’t vote for him — most of them trust his judgment more than they trust their own, an unforeseen side effect of Hopenchange messianism — so he could win over independents by coopting Ryan’s plan and have nothing to fear about losing liberals in the general election. There’d be nothing much to fear from seniors, either: I think Ryan and Boehner are so sincere about tackling this problem that they’ll give O whatever bipartisan cover he needs to get this done. (Boehner has promised as much.)

Roundup

Repeat after me: There is no Social Security “trust fund”

4 Comments

The disingenuous / lazy media and politicians are at it again with Social Security “trust fund” myth:

WASHINGTON – Sick and getting sicker, Social Security will run at a deficit this year and keep on running in the red until its trust funds are drained by about 2037, congressional budget experts said Wednesday in bleaker-than-previous estimates.

The massive retirement program has been suffering from the effects of the struggling economy for several years. It first went into deficit last year but had been projected to post surpluses for a few more years before permanently slipping into the red in 2016

This year alone, Social Security will pay out $45 billion more in retirement, disability and survivors’ benefits than it collects in payroll taxes, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said. That figure nearly triples — to $130 billion — when the new one-year cut in payroll taxes is included.

via Social Security fund now seen to be empty by 2037 – Yahoo! News.

But there is no trust fund.  No. Trust. Fund. As I’ve noted before, anyone claiming there is such a thing is ignorant and/or trying to deceive you.

The government does not have the capability to set aside funds in a bank account like we do.  When the Social Security funds come in they are spent on Social Security, or, as they have done for decades, on other spending projects they didn’t want to raise taxes to fund.  Decades of dishonesty and financial mismanagement by both parties are becoming more visible.

If Social Security taxes stopped today there wouldn’t be a penny saved to meet the commitments the government made.  It is the world’s largest Ponzi scheme.

If some of these Social Security funds went to private investments that you could control then that would limit how much the politicians could abuse.  But they don’t want to lose control, so they play on your fears that something bad will happen.

Yes, the market could crash and you could lose your investments.  It is a risky world.  But think about this: Whether your private account crashed or not it isn’t like the government is saving our taxes today to pay out tomorrow.  Either way the payouts they will make 10 years from now will come from taxes paid 10 years from now.

Simply put, we can’t lose by having at least part of current contributions devoted to private accounts.  The politicians will lose because they’ll have to find a way to fund current spending, or not spend the money at all.

Don’t let fear-mongering by politicians fool you.  The system has been broken for a long time.  Democrats didn’t want you to be informed and Republicans didn’t try hard enough to inform you.  But it isn’t that complicated.

Financial, Politics

People who say that Social Security has a “trust fund” are ill-informed– or they think you are

Leave a comment

You often hear from politicians that we must protect the Social Security “trust fund,” but the truth is that there is no such thing.  They know that – or at  least they should know that.  So they are ignorant and/or trying to deceive you, both of which are bad.

The government does not have the capability to set aside funds in a bank account like we do.  When the Social Security funds come in they are spent on Social Security, or, as they have done for decades, on other spending projects they didn’t want to raise taxes to fund.  Decades of dishonesty and financial mismanagement by both parties are becoming more visible.

If some of these Social Security funds went to private investments that you could control then that would limit how much the politicians could abuse.  But they don’t want to lose control, so they play on your fears that something bad will happen.

Yes, the market could crash and you could lose your investments.  It is a risky world.  But think about this: Whether your private account crashed or not it isn’t like the government is saving our taxes today to pay out tomorrow.  Either way the payouts they will make 10 years from now will come from taxes paid 10 years from now.

Simply put, we can’t lose by having at least part of current contributions devoted to private accounts.  The politicians will lose because they’ll have to find a way to fund current spending, or not spend the money at all.

Don’t let fear-mongering by politicians fool you.  The system has been broken for a long time.  Democrats didn’t want you to be informed and Republicans didn’t try hard enough to inform you.  But it isn’t that complicated.

Roundup

Roundup

Leave a comment

New York Times-owned About.com posts on the Abortion/Breast Cancer link — this has been debated for some time.  Seems like it should be getting more attention than it does.

—

The obvious question: What if Sarah Palin or anyone else had made the racist remarks that Harry Reid did, especially considering how Reid played the race card against those who oppose health care reform?   Would Al Sharpton immediately forgive her? 

—

From the “this is so gross that I’m reluctant to blog on it but it is being shown to elementary school-aged kids so I will anyway” category, Fox network inserts bestiality into family programming.  An American Dad episode went so far over the top it is hard to comprehend.  Think about how many people had to create, produce and market this episode and no one thought it was too much for kids to see.  Is Obama “Safe School” Czar Kevin Jennings the program director for this show? 

—

Democrats playing with dangerous fire: admit to plan to not seat Senator Brown until after Healthcare Rationing vote — I really hope he wins Ted Kennedy’s seat.

—

Social Security running deficits ten years ahead of schedule — that ain’t no good.  Social Security is a Ponzi scheme.  If you run it then you go to jail.  If politicians push it they get re-elected.  Anyone with a most basic understanding of economic principles realizes it has to fail.  The only question is when.

—

Democrat Strategy: Vastly Expand Vote Fraud — Sound like hyperbole, but it isn’t.

Financial, Politics

Privatize Social Security

9 Comments

Lotteries are illegal unless the government runs them, and so are pyramid schemes like Social security.

For most people, the government extracts over 15% of their pay for FICA.  Technically, half comes from the employee and half from the employer, but of course the employer could give it to the employee since it is already part of their total payroll costs.

So if Social Security were privatized you could invest a full 10% of your pay in a personal account and the government would still have over 5% of your pay for general welfare.  But that isn’t enough for them!  Most people pay more in FICA than they do in Federal Taxes (again, when including the employer portion).

If business leaders published financial statements the way the government does with respect to FICA receipts they would be put in jail.  Enron pales by comparison.

Remember, Social Security programs may be good public policy if administered properly, but they don’t qualify as individual compassion.  That is a foundational mistake of liberalism: Taking other people’s money at the barrel of a gun and considering it compassion on your part. 

And I’m not being dramatic.  What do you think happens if people don’t pay taxes?  Does the government just try to reason with them?  No, they take away your property and/or your freedom, and they will point a gun at you and take you “hostage” if they have to.  I always wonder how pacifists ignore this when they are demanding government taxation and controls. 

Real compassion is donating money out your wallet. 

Am I saying that we should let old people die in the streets?  Of course not.  But there is a much better way than continuing the lies and the pyramid scheme that is destined to fail.

Why is it that liberal politicians are pro-choice when the “choice” is to crush and dismember an innocent human being, but anti-choice when it is (allegedly) your retirement money, the school your kids attend, etc.?