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The Fed Is Systematically Destroying Social Security And The Retirement Plans Of Millions
The Social Security trust fund needs to earn interest to achieve levels that will preserve it till 2033; with interest rates close to zero, the trust fun is projected to be depleted ten years earlier - by 2023. By law, the money deposited in the SS trust fund must be invested in U.S. government securities, so it cannot just be thrown into the stock market. In order for SS Ponzi to work, the trust fund, invested in government securities, needs to produce healthy returns. It won't; it can't. Thanks QE-genie Bernanke. ~ Ilene
The Federal Reserve Is Systematically Destroying Social Security And The Retirement Plans Of Millions Of Americans
Courtesy of Michael Snyder of Economic Collapse
Last week the mainstream media hailed QE3 as the "quick fix" that the U.S. economy desperately needs, but the truth is that the policies that the Federal Reserve is pursuing are going to be absolutely devastating for our senior citizens. By keeping interest rates at exceptionally low levels, the Federal Reserve is absolutely crushing savers and is systematically destroying Social Security.
Meanwhile, the inflation that QE3 will cause is going to be absolutely crippling for the millions upon millions of retired Americans that are on a fixed income. Sadly, most elderly Americans have no idea what the Federal Reserve is doing to their financial futures. Most Americans that are approaching retirement age have not adequately saved for retirement, and the Social Security system that they are depending on is going to completely and totally collapse in the coming years.
Right now, approximately 56 million Americans are collecting Social Security benefits. By 2035, that number is projected to grow to a whopping 91 million. By law, the Social Security trust fund must be invested in U.S. government securities. But thanks to the low interest rate policies of the Federal Reserve, the average interest rate on those securities just keeps dropping and dropping.
The trustees of the Social Security system had projected that the Social Security trust fund would be completely gone by 2033, but because of the Fed policy of keeping interest rates exceptionally low for the foreseeable future it is now being projected by some analysts that Social Security will be bankrupt by 2023. Overall, the Social Security system is facing a 134 trillion dollar shortfall over the next 75 years. Yes, you read that correctly. The collapse of Social Security is inevitable, and the foolish policies of the Federal Reserve are going to make that collapse happen much more rapidly.
The only way that the Social Security system is going to be able to stay solvent is for the Social Security trust fund to earn a healthy level of interest.
By law, all money deposited in the Social Security trust fund must be invested in U.S. government securities. The following is from the official website of the Social Security Administration....
By law, income to the trust funds must be invested, on a daily basis, in securities guaranteed as to both principal and interest by the Federal government. All securities held by the trust funds are "special issues" of the United States Treasury. Such securities are available only to the trust funds.
.
In the past, the trust funds have held marketable Treasury securities, which are available to the general public. Unlike marketable securities, special issues can be redeemed at any time at face value. Marketable securities are subject to the forces of the open market and may suffer a loss, or enjoy a gain, if sold before maturity. Investment in special issues gives the trust funds the same flexibility as holding cash.
So in order for the Social Security Ponzi scheme to work, those investments in government securities need to produce healthy returns.
Unfortunately, the ultra-low interest rate policy of the Federal Reserve is making this impossible.
The average rate of interest earned by the Social Security trust fund has declined from 6.1 percent in January 2003 to 3.9 percent today, and it is going to continue to go even lower as long as the Fed continues to keep interest rates super low.
A recent article by Bruce Krasting detailed how this works. Just check out the following example....
$135 billion of old bonds matured this year. This money was rolled over into new bonds with a yield of only 1.375%. The average yield on the maturing securities was 5.64%. The drop in yield on the new securities lowers SSA’s income by $5.7B annually. Over the fifteen year term of the investments, that comes to a lumpy $86 billion.
So what happens when the Social Security trust fund runs dry?
As Bruce Krasting also noted, all Social Security payments would immediately be cut by 25 percent.....
Anyone who is 55 or older should be worried about this. Based on current law, all SS benefit payments must be cut by (approximately) 25% when the TF is exhausted. This will affect 72 million people. The economic consequences will be severe.
In other words, it would be a complete and total nightmare.
Sadly, the truth is that the Social Security trust fund might not even make it into the next decade. Most Social Security trust fund projections assume that there will be no recessions and that there will be a very healthy rate of growth for the U.S. economy over the next decade.
So what happens if we have another major recession or worse?
And most Americans know that something is up with Social Security. According to a Gallup survey, 67 percent of all Americans believe that there will be a Social Security crisis within 10 years.
Part of the problem is that there are way too many people retiring and not nearly enough workers to support them.
Back in 1950, each retiree's Social Security benefit was paid for by 16 U.S. workers. But now things are much different. According to new data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are now only 1.75 full-time private sector workers for each person that is receiving Social Security benefits in the United States.
And remember, the number of Americans drawing on Social Security will increase by another 35 million by the year 2035.
Another factor that is rapidly becoming a major problem is the growth of the Social Security disability program.
Since 2008, 3.6 million more Americans have been added to the rolls of the Social Security disability insurance program.
Today, more than 8.7 million Americans are collecting Social Security disability payments.
So how does this compare to the past?
Back in August 1967, there were approximately 65 workers for each American that was collecting Social Security disability payments.
Today, there are only 16.2 workers for each American that is collecting Social Security disability payments.
The Social Security Ponzi scheme is rapidly approaching a crisis point.
Sadly, the Federal Reserve has made it incredibly difficult to save for your own retirement.
Millions upon millions of Baby Boomers that diligently saved money for retirement are finding that their savings accounts are paying out next to nothing thanks to the ultra-low interest rate policies of the Federal Reserve.
The following is one example of how the low interest rate policies of the Fed have completely devastated the retirement plans of many elderly Americans....
You can understand the impact of the invisible tax on the elderly by watching the decline of interest income from $50,000 invested in a five-year Treasury obligation. As recently as 2000, this would have yielded about 6.15 percent and an interest income of $3,075 a year. Now the same obligation is yielding 0.7 percent and an interest income of $350 a year. This is the lowest yield on this maturity of Treasury debt since the Federal Reserve started keeping an index of the yields in 1953.
But it's more than a low interest rate. It's an income decline of nearly 89 percent in just 12 years.
And after you account for inflation, those that put money into savings accounts today are actually losing money.
Of course most Americans have not saved up much money for retirement anyway. According to the Employee Benefit Research Institute, 46 percent of all American workers have less than $10,000 saved for retirement, and 29 percent of all American workers have less than $1,000 saved for retirement.
Overall, a study conducted by Boston College's Center for Retirement Research discovered that American workers are $6.6 trillion short of what they need to retire comfortably.
So needless to say, we have a major problem.
Baby Boomers are just starting to retire and the Social Security system is still solvent at the moment, and yet the number of elderly Americans that are experiencing financial problems is already soaring.
For example, between 1991 and 2007 the number of Americans between the ages of 65 and 74 that filed for bankruptcy rose by a staggering 178 percent.
Also, at this point one out of every six elderly Americans is already living below the federal poverty line.
So how bad are things going to be when Social Security collapses?
That is frightening to think about.
In the short-term, millions upon millions of retired Americans that are living on fixed incomes are going to be absolutely crushed by the inflation that QE3 is going to cause.
Just like we saw with QE1 and QE2, a lot of the money from QE3 is going to end up in agricultural commodities and oil. That means that retirees (and all the rest of us) are going to end up paying more for food at the supermarket and gasoline at the pump.
But those on fixed incomes are not going to see a corresponding increase in their incomes. That means that their standards of living will go down.
Things are tough for retirees right now, but they are going to get a lot tougher.
Right now, there are somewhere around 40 million senior citizens. By 2050 that number is projected to increase to 89 million.
So how will our society cope with more than twice as many senior citizens?
Sadly, we will likely never get to find out.
The truth is that our system is almost certainly going to totally collapse long before then.
We are rapidly approaching a financial crisis unlike anything we have ever seen before in U.S. history, and the foolish policies of the Federal Reserve just keep making things even worse.
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If you think any of the bums in Washington are going to truthfully address this issue, you are as insane as a socialist. They will be taking their billions and heading for the hills to avoid being hung in the streets, which is exactly what they deserve. If in 75 years we will need $130 trillion, there is no way to solve this problem. Of course, Ponzi schemes were never designed to be fair and practical.
And how much money has been stolen from retirees due to COLA's being underfunded as a result of CPI-w data manipulation.
If you never had it, it wasn't stolen. SSI is welfare, a gift, charity program and you get what you get. You didn't "pay in" like a lay-a-way toaster plan. It was taken, forced, taxed, jailed from you. Totally different. Saying you "paid in" is palaver. BS. A lie. You were forced, by state power, like the Mafia, or else. Your liberty and possession were hostages if you didn't.
Now that the actual, true nature of "the system" has been exposed, free of Muppet palaver, why would you think that a system that told you, and you went along with it when you were young and strong, why should they care now that you are old and weak and costing them their money?
And anyway, they cut the cards and have said that outside food, energy there is no inflation. Forced in, forced out, but force none the less, and you are not the boss, and no matter what you want, he/they are years ahead of you/us. The thefting of the passive masses is their buisness and they are good.
Beach--I get your point, but whether it was stolen up front or stolen on the back end, the bottom line is that it was still stolen. You say it was "taken, forced, taxed, jailed from you," essentially at the tip of a gun held by govt against our heads. Others say it was "stolen" from us because we "paid in" and will never again see it. The reality is that, either way, govt has money that is ours, promised to pay it to us in later years, and now almost certainly will not do so. Govt is stealing it, one way or another. Your premise is that "never had it." Wrong. We had it. And it was taken by govt. Now it is gone and we will not get it back. That is theft by govt.
Actually, you never had it and it was never taken cuz you never realized it. It was just a shell game, a future, a gummint promise like Wimpy's "I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.". You may get something eventually, but it may not be all that you expect. Take what you can ASAP and run, converting it to bullion as you are able. I distrust benefits and especially the health benefits longitudinally.
How could anyone vote Obama after reading this?
How could anybody vote Romney after reading this?
"How could anyone vote Obama after reading this?"
Because the television will tell them to.
Is this what Bernanke is turning into and making the decisions he's making?
http://www.cnn.com/video/?hpt=hp_c2#/video/us/2012/09/22/dnt-2-headed-sn...
I would appreciate any "newest" thoughts on the merits of collecting SS at age 62-64 until waiting until age 66+.
I mean, in terms of this article.
Take the money and run at 62 - at least you will be a couple of years of social security payments before it goes bankrupt.
It is kind of hard to advise another without knowing their specific circumstances so please take this as food for thought. Figure out how much your benefits from S.S. will be if you retire at 62 or wait. Figure out how much you need to live on taking into consideration other forms of income, i.e., pension fund, 401k. Keep in mind you have to pay federal taxes on Social Security if your income is high enough and state taxes also in most states though not all for example you do in Minnesota but not in Wisconsin so look up your state. Take into consideration your health and family history.
If you will not have enough to live on by retiring early then the obvious answer is don't. If you will because of other income you may want to wait until 66 to get the full amount. However if you are worried about your health and if the money will run out (2035 is when it will have to start reducing benefits subject to change of course which could be either way since the fund has been low at least 3 other times & rebounded) then you may choose to take it early. Also figure out how many years of full benefits it would take you to make up for the difference of taking it early. Likely it will be from 8-10 years. Consider that you will have reduced benefits but you will have received a monthly check for an extra four plus years. You could also take the money and if you don't need it to live on put it to work and then pay the principal back to Social Security and get the higher benefits but only for 1 year it used to be all 4 but it was recently changed. It all really depends on your specific situation and how you feel about things in the end. This is a good read for a Life expectancy break even rate and other information. Hope that helps.
http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/resource_center/expert_insight/retirement_strategies/planning/when_should_you_take_social_security.html
LMA, great link. Looks like he/she has to live to at least 78 to break even.
And that Social Security has to live another 15 years too. No one I know under the age of 55 expects to collect a dime from Social Security. Blinded by Normalcy bias. Probably were similar articles written by German stockbrokers in 1920 about the merits of waiting to collect a pension from the Weimar government.
Start to collect as soon as you can
Do not wait!
"So in order for the Social Security Ponzi scheme to work, those investments in government securities need to produce healthy returns. Unfortunately, the ultra-low interest rate policy of the Federal Reserve is making this impossible. The average rate of interest earned by the Social Security trust fund has declined from 6.1 percent in January 2003 to 3.9 percent today, and it is going to continue to go even lower as long as the Fed continues to keep interest rates super low."
This is simply the stupid-shit comment of the century. Since the SS Trust Fund is merely inter-governmental debt (IOU's left after repetitive raids), all interest it "earns" comes from taxes paid by future SS beneficiaries. It is NOT a f-ing return on investment, which would require actually privatizing SS! We could have a 100% return in SS if we simply paid the taxes required to guarantee such a return. But that would be moving money out of the left pocket and into the right, with no net gain. And even if interest rates increased such that SS returns were better, that benefit would be more than erased by the higher interest paid on new and rolled-over existing debt.
To actually make money, SS should use the "Trust Fund" assets as capital and form a bank. Several Trillion in Treasuries, if leveraged at 10-1 capital, could run $20+ Trillion. At a 3% spread, that could mean $600 Billion revenue paid into SS annually. As operating capital, the Federal Government would have to keep its mitts off cash remaining after dispersal, whereas current law requires returning money to the general fund (which is why there IS NO money in the Trust Fund, only IOU's redeemable from the general fund. They can't be sold but are still considered money good so can be leveraged).
Refinance every mortgage that can be salvaged with this new bank. Then people would in essense be paying themselves the mortgage interest. Make the big banks eat what debt proves worthless. Remove liquidity from the TBTF banks as the new bank increaes liquidity, and watch them disintegrate. Drain the swamp.
Actually Obama has a plan to lower life expectancy that is kicking in soon. OBAMACARE as with most socialized medicine will eliminate choices and care for the aging. So by allowing grannie to die a decade earlier...that should balance the SS trust fund. GENIUS!
The 1% Want You Dead
Posted on September 24, 2012 by jischinger| 17 Comments
Damn Socialist!
http://maxkeiser.com/2012/09/24/the-1-want-you-dead/
Max Keiser is such a tool.
and whom is not?
I truly haven't seen much with Max other than on RT, but what I have seen has not been good. He seems to be harping on the one percent all the time, like there never were rich people before now (nobles, kings, etc. thoughout history). He seems to push a collectivist notion of equality which may work in Star Trek but it ain't going to cut it in the real world.
He comes off as one of those sniveling bald guys who always has something wrong with him. I don't see the purpose of attacking someone who is rich just because they are rich.... Does Max not own any property? Maybe he would like to share with the rest of downtrodden? I'm sure he is put up in some swanky London flat so he coud be paid to rail against the American sort of free enterprise system.
I think I know the answer to that question....
i link max cause he has an alternate an
confrontational style and perspective and
he know plenty about how markets work and
how they are corrupted to the point of
destruction. i doubt he ever argued against
free market systems, just the opposite, without
losing your humanity of course, that being
the purpose of a market in the first instance.
.
i find him to be manic yet refreshing and
frequently brilliant along with his lovely
partner. america without some introspection
and tolerance of criticism looks just like
nazi germany with iphones, no?
Max's voice sounds to me like it's emanating from his bunghole!!
I have been predicting that Bernanke will not survive this once people understand the degree to which he has mucked things up. He better hope Romney gets elected for his only hope is that some other lackey takes the reigns and some of the blame for the collapse of our country.
Tar and pitchforks all 'round.
There's a precedent for this. My Grandfather told me that there was a Panic (Depression) in the late 19th Century and some of the most egregious bankers were drug out of their banks and hung from lampposts. This in full view of the Sheriff or Marshall. This was in Kansas or Nebraska. If it gets as bad as I hope it won't, Peckerwoods like Bernanke, Corzine, Dimon --- Christ the list is endless --- will need to get beamed up to Mars or Jupiter's. Moon Io to escape the crowd's wrath. This will not end without blood and tears. I fully expect violence and have prepared for it. This may turn out to be a genuine sonofabitch of a problem.
qe , quantitative easing. what is that exactly?
how does one ease a quantity? quantity of what as
in what is the quality, we have quality and quantity
as terms to evaluate physical composition of matter.
like in chemistry. so in the finance dream what is the
quality that we are easing the quantity of i ask?
what is the relationship, the effect, of the easing
of the quantity on the quality of whatever it is
i'm talking about?
or is qe just fucking stealing with a suit and tie?
i wonder
and i should add we're not talking about 75 bucks
but 10's of trillions and counting. in broad
daylight no less. and the official monitors of
this see nothing unusual, there is a clue.
sssshhhh!!!!! you're not supposed to be asking these questions!
This is what will happen to social securty .The only question is when and how much.
1.there will means testing of SS recipients.This is already happening via taxing of benefits of those with incomes above a certain level but the threshold levels will be lower and instead of just paying tax on any amounts over the thresholds ,benefits will be eliminated.These thresholds will not be 250,000 or 150,000 or even 100,000 but probably 15,000 - 20,000
2.The amount of income subject to social security taxes will rise
3 All types of income will be subject to social tax
4 the amount of social security tax will rise
This story of nine financiers from 1923 might bring some cheer
http://www.thereformedbroker.com/2012/07/25/nine-financiers/
How they ended up
"Legend has it that in 1923, a meeting of America's most powerful men took place at the Edgewater Beach hotel in Chicago"
Attending the meeting were the following nine financiers and power brokers:
the president of America’s largest steel company,
the president of America’s largest utility company,
What it takes to get rich is not what it takes to stay rich.
Thank you for that article, I had missed it and am going to post it at PSW and Market Shadows.
The article says "people 55 and over should be worried."
Ought to read "people 55 and UNDER should be worried".
Yes?
Of course, anyone of any age who reads ZH hedge regularly is ALWAYS worried.
"The Fourth Turning"....
Can anyone say "revolution"?
By the way, that Bernanke photo makes a great rifle target or budgie paper!
People under 55 have pretty much been preparing for retirement without adequate SS income, or none at all. The end of SS will come from the collapse in political will to support it, as the Majority are asked to pay more into the system to benefit current recipients while the prospect of them ever benefiting from SS all but evaporates.
It's devastating everyone -- Social Security, Medicare, private pension funds, fixed-income dependents, and insurance companies.
The crisis will happen here more like Italy, not like Japan. The Japanese had a huge domestic savings flow and still have large foreign currency surpluses; that's buffered their problems, although not forever. And the US isn't Greece, Portugal, or Spain. It's more like Italy or France: basically a wealthy country with a little spending and growth problem.
The more central bankers I meet, the more I like my dog.
People who save are losing money.
If you have savings or a car worth more than $8,000 you don't get any entitlements such as food stamps, medicare, subsidized housing/cell phone, etc.
Many of the unemployed have an incentive to try to get S.S. Disability versus getting a suck job and paying into a corrupt system that will be insolvent by the time they retire.
The skullduggery and debauchery of Washington and Wall Street are another incentive to drop out of the "honest day's work" game and milk the system that has been milking the heretofore good citizen for many years.
Get it while you can versus busting your ass another 20 years to retire and hear some punk Millenial President make the announcement that S.S. is insolvent and no one is getting a dime.
This is what happened to the Soviet Union, and part of the reason why it collapsed. You're unfortunatley right, a lot of people would be better off not working at all and gaming the system. The problem is that when everyone tries to game the system, there is no system left.
THE SOONER THE BETTER.
First, corporate profits were goosed to the max by offshoring this country's productive base. The dumb public were too drugged by cheap walmart goods from China to notice. When that started to wear off we got our zero interest rate policy to provide a new goosing of corporate profits. Who cares if it destroyes the savings and retirement of the masses?
This is not a partisan issue. I still remember Clinton telling us that we would send the dumb jobs overseas and Americans would do the smart jobs. Trouble is Americans are too dumb themselves to do the smart jobs and the smart guys overseas will do them cheaper anyway. The same multi-national corporate friendly policies were followed by Bush and Obama. It's not about Red or Blue. It's about making the ruling class richer.
This country is hosed. No recovery possible at this point.
I agree Binko Social Security is a wedge issue and the situation was made worse by our politician's both by their deeds and their words. The ruling class has pretty successfully poisoned the minds of people regarding this issue and it is interesting to me that people fell for it and wouldn't even seem to mind Senior's being screwed.
Social Security will be paid unless the entire government collapses since it is a legally enforceable debt just like any other. Even left as is the only thing that would happen is the benefits would be reduced in the future. The fund does not have the authority to tax, by law it cannot deficit spent. Social Security is an entirely self funded program ZERO government money goes into Social Security something many don't seem to understand. It has NO EFFECT on the budget period other then when the fund actually cash's in some of it's IOU's like it recently started doing. Even then it isn't adding to the debt it is just collecting what it is owed. Social Security owned 19% of the debt last year far more then China or any foreign creditor. When/if it doesn't have enough funds it will have to cut benefits.
It doesn't matter if our government has been borrowing from Social Security for years ($2.7 Trillion so far). Social Security holds more of our debt then China and for the first time in history people will get back less then they were FORCED to pay in.
"According to a 2011 study by the Urban Institute, a married couple retiring last year after both spouses had worked throughout their lifetimes wound up paying about $598,000 in Social Security taxes. If the man lives to 82 and the woman to 85, they can expect to collect about $556,000 in benefits."
The public has been duped with lies about Social Security and obama's reduction in the payroll tax $166 Billion hurt Social Security even more. Many people act like it's the Senior's stealing from them. That claim is ridiculous as Social Security is an entirely self funded program paid for by Employers/Employee's not the government.
Think about this since it is a legally enforceable debt if anyone actually tried to dismantle the program right now where would they get the money to pay it off remember it was the largest holder of our debt last year. If you use entitlement in reference to Social Security in the sense that people are entitled to get back the money they were FORCED to pay in you are correct it's the law. Doesn't matter if it was a so called Ponzi Scheme or not the fault lies with the politicians who passed it into law to begin with long before the boomers who are starting to collect now had any say in it. Personally I am all for reform or getting rid of the program since I don't believe it was Constitutional to begin with but that's water over the damn now for the people who already paid into it. If you want to correctly phrase something as a welfare program obamacare would be the one that's full of taxes that DO affect the budget.
Medicare is the real issue right now that's why they are campaigning on it.
For those who WHINE about the Senior's wanting the money back they were forced to pay in you have no moral high ground to do anything less is outright theft. How could anyone complain about a corrupt government if they themselves are advocating theft from Seniors. By LAW our government is obligated to pay it back .
"Far from being "worthless IOUs," the investments held by the trust funds are backed by the full faith and credit of the U. S. Government."
In addition our Constitution has this to say...
Sect. 4 of the 14th Amendment. It reads in part:
”… .the validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law… shall not be questioned”
I think that threatening to create conditions that may cause the US not to pay the debt owed it's own citizen's falls under questioning the validity of that debt. A prior ruling by the Supreme Court albeit on an unrelated issue appears to back this up.
And second, there is this Criminal Mischief statute
18 US 1361. Government property or contracts
“Whoever willfully injures or commits any depredation against any property of the United States, or of any department or agency thereof, or any property which has been or is being manufactured or constructed for the United States, or any department or agency thereof, or attempts to commit any of the foregoing offenses, shall be punished as follows:
If the damage or attempted damage to such property exceeds the sum of $1,000, by a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than ten years, or both; if the damage or attempted damage to such property does not exceed the sum of $1,000, by a fine under this title or by imprisonment for not more than one year, or both.”
The TRUTH About Who Really Owns All Of America's Debt
snip..
Social Security Trust Fund
Percent of US Debt that they own: 19%
China
Percent of US Debt that they own: 8%
It is a DEBT just like any other debt and every debt is someone's elses assets in this case the Seniors. The people who set it up and the politicians who borrowed from it they are the problem yet they have successfully misdirected the anger.
"Here's how it works: For nearly three decades Social Security produced big surpluses, collecting more in taxes than it paid in benefits. The government, however, spent that money on other programs, reducing the amount it had to borrow from the public, including foreign investors. That's why some advocates complain that Congress has "raided" Social Security.In return, the Treasury Department issued special bonds to Social Security. The bonds are now valued at $2.7 trillion."
The bonds pay interest like other Treasury notes and are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government."
I am not saying Social Security is unlike a Ponzi Scheme but that isn't the fault of the people who paid into it, that's the fault of the Politicians who set it up and lack of leadership to either fix it for the coming generations or dismantle it.
Social security is NOT a legally enforceable debt! FICA is a TAX, plain and simple. The supreme court ruled on this in in 1937:
In Helvering v. Davis (1937), the Supreme Court had ruled that Social Security was a tax, not a contributory insurance program, saying, "
The proceeds of both the employee and employer taxes are to be paid into the Treasury like any other internal revenue generally, and are not earmarked in any way."
And also ruled in 1960 that no one has any right to expect benefits. FICA is a TAX, not a retirement fund or unemployment "insurance".
Many people believe that Social Security is an "earned right." That is, they think that because they have paid Social Security taxes, they are entitled to receive Social Security benefits. This is NOT CORRECT.
The government encourages that belief by referring to Social Security taxes as "contributions," as in the Federal Insurance Contribution Act.However, in the 1960 case of Fleming v. Nestor, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that workers have no legally binding contractual rights to their Social Security benefits, and that those benefits can be cut or even eliminated at any time.
http://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/is-there-right-social-security
There has NEVER BEEN a "social security fund". all FICA monies go directly into the general fund. Anyone that tries to tell you something different is telling an outright lie. Social Security is not a Ponzi, it is an outright completely unfunded LIE.
You are just wrong period it doesn't matter about Helvering v Davis that doesn't apply to what I said which is the money borrowed from the Social Security trust fund is a Debt owed by the government. You are also wrong about there not being a trust fund there most definitely is it is just filled with IOU's formally known as Special Issue Securities held under the Treasury Dept. Trust Fund Management Program and it was definitely funded by the people and their employers the fact that the politicians borrowed from it doesn't mean squat as long as the U.S. does not completely collapse it has to be paid back. The U.S. debt is guaranteed by the full faith and credit of America is guaranteed by our Constitution and in fact even if the country collapsed the fund being the largest creditor would then have first rights under bankruptcy against government lands, buildings, etc.
Trust Fund Management Programhttp://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/apps/tfp/tfp.htm
Trust Fund Datahttp://www.ssa.gov/cgi-bin/investheld.cgi
Social Security will be paid unless the entire government collapses since it is a legally enforceable debt just like any other...
holy cow, you are naive....nothing HAS TO PAID BACK................the federal govt does not care for what is legally enforceable when it is to their disadvantage....just as they did not care about the bondholders in the gm/chrylser bailouts....legally enforceable only works when its to the advantage to the federal govt.....post this on your forehead.....CURRENT SS RECIPIENTS WILL BE TAKING CUTS BY THE END OF THE DECADE...........and as far as the CONSTITUTION, perhaps you should review some of the CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS that have been gutted in one fell swoop by congress.....you, my friend, need to WAKE UP...............................
I find it amazing that everyone is right. The government owes the money, but they sure as hell ain't paying it.
When TSHTF all bets (and obligations) are off!
Hecho en Estados Unidos...
Well if no recovery is possible then get your zombie game on and eat some assholes face off. I admit, after a 20 pack the idea has crossed my mind occasionally. Of course I can't get close enough to anyone that deserves it and im pretty sure they'd taste so bad that 1 bite would have me choking and puking. Maybe take some drugs beforehand.
I hear that "Bath Salts" are particularly good in this regard.
Relax...the Fed is giving SS Trust fund a great deal on Mortgage Backed Securities.