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Wednesday, June 15, 2011 | 2:01 a.m.
Rep. Joe Heck is a little ahead of himself when he worries about Social Security going bust in 20 or 30 years.
Before we get to that point, Heck and the other members of Congress have another problem to solve that they have been ignoring for years. That problem is how to repay the $2.6 trillion that Congress has borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund over the years.
Before Social Security goes bust, Heck and the Congress have to decide if they are going to borrow another $2.6 trillion from China or raise taxes by $2.6 trillion to pay back that little IOU tab they have run up.
The Republicans would like us to forget about this IOU and think there is a deficit in Social Security that is being paid out of the current budget. Nothing could be further from the truth. Congress is really paying back money it has borrowed from the Trust Fund.
I know that the Republicans have taken a strong stance against raising taxes for any reason, but it might be a little embarrassing for the Republicans if the Democrats were to point out the fact that the $2.6 trillion borrowed from Social Security is exactly the same amount that the Bush tax cuts have cost over the past 10 years.
Yes, folks, Social Security has been funding tax cuts for the rich. Only Congress can get away with creating a Ponzi scheme to cover up embezzlement.
Good letter Richard. I've never figured out this Republican thing that tax cuts for millionaires are good for the Economy, but $1100 monthly Social Security checks will bankrupt us.
In 2003 when the Bush tax cuts were enacted, the unemployment rate was 6.2% Now, in the ninth year of those tax cuts, it is 9.1%. So, how is that job creation thingy supposed to work again?
Nonsense, Pratt! The Social Security "Trust Fund" has been raided since its inception by both parties so they could bamboozle the American people. The dollars have been used to prop up failed social programs such as welfare, food stamps, housing subsidies, as well as foolish endevours such as the ethanol subsidy that make companies such as ADM rich while we pay more for food at the grocery. It's a scheme and a scam that's been perpetrated upon the American people since FDR and his legislative cronies devised a tax that everyone liked or at least thought they liked. It enabled all kinds of dopey social engineering and political payoffs to favored cronies for decades and now the bill is coming due and the piper must be paid, but not by me. You see, I'm one of the "beneficiaries" of the scam & scheme. You, Pratt, may be one of the victims. However, I am more than willing to give back some of my "largess" if it means and end to the raiding and solvency for the program for younger folks such as my children & grandchildren. How about you, Pratt? Or are you part of the "parasitic class?"
We get it Jerry, you are a closet bigot who hates poor people because it is obviously their fault for not being born with a silver spoon in their mouth and attending the right schools while being members of the right clubs. And to top it off, as a beneficiary, it is self hatred. Wanker.
"The Republicans would like us to forget about this IOU"
_________
Geez, what planet has this guy been living on? It's going to be tough getting SS straightened out with Demoklan members whining everytime someone like Joe Heck has the gall to talk about "reforms" and this kind of stuff going on. Of course the lib/leftwingers don't have a problem when the "poor" scam the system.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/06/1...
We can balance the budget by taking away Heck's medical benefits that are paid for by the taxpayers.
Is Heck going to be at the $2500 a plate Romney-fest?
Since Romney is the modern version of "Damien Thorn" (from the Omen Movie) - I predict something bad will happen in Nevada when he is here like a flood, tornado or earthquake.
Certain things never change.... For example:
dipstick again hits the nail on the head with his post....
Thanks dipstick!
On the other hand, Jerry Fink again misses the bus and rambles off on a long winded rant that explains nothing, but does gives credence to the belief that right-wingers are people lost in thought and short on logic...
Jerry Fink says that the "Social Security 'Trust Fund' has been raided since its inception by both parties so they could bamboozle the American people."
Not sure where the little guy came up with that information. Actually, Social Security was never touched by the government until the Vietnam War in the 1960's....
Prior to that, the system had been left alone and the trust fund was rolling in dough....
Yes, both political parties since the 1960's have made the Social Security Trust Fund their own little cookie jar and have raided the jar to pay for anything and everything under the Sun..
Remember how Ronald Reagan used Social Security to inflate the defense budget? How about the two wars that George W Bush took us to in the Middle East?
Boy, didn't the Social Security Trust Fund come in handy in both cases?
dipstick is 100% correct when he said, "theres nothing wrong with social security that proper management cant solve...."
dipstick says that we should "pay back all that has been taken by ending the bush tax cuts, reducing our military budget and establishing a flat tax on ALL individuals and corporations, (thus) eliminating off shore loop holes...."
Makes sense to me.... What's more logical than that?
Hey Jerry.... I'm still waiting for you to answer the question that I ask you concerning the defense budget. Why won't you answer the question?
I've NEVER known you to be a guy of few words or no words at all....
Step up to the plate and take a swing.....even the little Chicago blow-in does that, despite the fact that he always strikes out.....
Demorat liberals are so envious of "Rich" people! They hated them when they had to work for a "rich" person. They hated them when the "rich" person provided their families with health insurance. They hate them now that they failed to save in life and only have a government program to live on "SS". Oh, those "rich" people have deprived me from all of the joys of life! Demorat liberals, get a life! You are embarrassing yourselves!
If you need some money read on
On June 14, 2011, a vote was taken in the Senate to eliminate the $6 billion annually excise tax credit for ethanol refiners
Coburn (R-Okla.) has been trying to get a vote on this legislation for months, saying refiners don't need the incentive to produce ethanol because they are required to produce ethanol under the federal Renewable Fuels Standard.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), co-sponsored Coburn's amendment, But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has resisted Coburn's efforts to bring the bill up for a vote, so the vote had to come up on a procedural motion that requires 60 votes to pass under Senate rules.
Only 6 Democrats, joined by 34 Republicans, voted in favor of the motion, while 47 Democrats opposed eliminating the $6 billion tax credit to refining businesses that do not need the money.
The problem is not Social Security, it is gutless politicians that don't have the courage to maintain the system. When SS was established, the life expectancy in the US was 68-ish, now it is 78-ish. Instead of paying benefits for a few years, it now pays the last decade and a half.
SS was not meant to take the place of retirement planning. It was meant to keep people who are too old to work from starving on the streets (the poverty rate for seniours at the time was >50%).
The "solution" has been to raise the SS withholding cap, which is a tax on the middle class. The tax cap has gone from 80K in 2001 to 106.8K today. This additional tax directly targets hard working middle class people. The effective solution would be to tie retirement age to life expectancy, but no politician (republican or democrat) will propose this because they know there is no way to articulate it in a way that won't incur the wrath of the senior voters.
With the huge advances in medical technology being developed, this problem is only going to get worse.
Any reasonable person should be able to see that VegasEngineer has accurately described the situation. The math behind SS isn't rocket science.
But an even bigger problem is showing up in Medicare and Medicaid. See this story that came across the AP wire today: http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/jun...
It is a MYTH that SS is broke. Start there and the rest is seen for what it is, an excuse manufactured by the Elites to steal your money.
How many more times do you people have to be bent over before you stand up and say no more? I realize you like it up the rear, but come-on now.
Talking about Social Security and Medicare are the
biggest republican distractions of all time.
They do this because they have no plan for jobs.
They already sent all of our jobs to
COMMUNIST CHINA.
REPUBLICANS SUPPORT COMMUNIST WORKERS OVER
AMERICAN WORKERS.
It's worth repeating...
"The Republicans would like us to forget about this IOU and think there is a deficit in Social Security that is being paid out of the current budget. Nothing could be further from the truth. Congress is really paying back money it has borrowed from the Trust Fund."
Nail on the head, Richard!!!
Mark Schaffer...
Nail on the head, also!!!