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Congress Proposes A Chilling Resolution On Social Security
Submitted by Simon Black via SovereignMan.com,
On August 14, 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt arrived at his desk to sign the Social Security Act into law.
It had been a contentious legislative process, something like the Obamacare of its day.
Fiscally conservative politicians derided the program for its obvious long-term costs, the massive bureaucracy that it would create, and the huge tax increase that it represented on workers.
But Roosevelt was able to find support, and the law was passed.
And just before signing it, he proudly proclaimed that the law would go down in history “as a protection to future administrations of the Government against the necessity of going deeply into debt to furnish relief to the needy.”
Needless to say, that didn’t happen. Quite the opposite, actually.
Just like most western governments, the US government has gone deeply into debt to fund its social insurance programs.
Officially, the US government is now $18.5 trillion in debt, and Social Security is the biggest financial sinkhole in America.
Social Security’s various trust funds currently hold about $2.7 trillion in total assets; yet the government itself estimates the program’s liabilities to exceed $40 trillion.
And Social Security’s second biggest trust fund, the Disability Insurance fund, will be fully depleted in a matter of weeks.
The trustees who manage these massive funds on behalf of the current and future retirees of America are clearly concerned.
In the 2015 report of the Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees they state very plainly:
“Social Security as a whole as well as Medicare cannot sustain projected long-run program costs…”, and that the government should be “giving the public adequate time to prepare.”
Wow.
Now, we always hear politicians say that ‘Social Security is going to be just fine’. So this Board of Trustees must be a bunch of wackos. Who are these guys anyhow?
The Treasury Secretary of the United States of America, as it turns out. Along with the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The Secretary of Labor. Etc.
These are the folks who sign their name to the report saying that Social Security is going bust, and that Congress needs to give people time to prepare.
And prepare they should.
The US Government Accountability Office recently released a report showing that tens of millions of Americans haven’t saved a penny for retirement; and roughly half of Baby Boomers have zero retirement savings.
This means that there’s an overwhelming number of Americans pinning all of their retirement hopes on Social Security.
Bad idea. In a recently proposed resolution, H. Res 488, Congress states point blank that Social Security “was never intended by Congress to be the sole source of retirement income for families.”
Apparently they got the message from the Social Security Trustees and they want to start preparing people for the inevitable truth.
This is no longer some wild conspiracy theory.
The Treasury Secretary is saying it. Congress is saying it. The numbers are screaming it: Social Security is going to fail.
Ultimately this is a just another chapter in the same story– that government cannot be relied on to provide or produce, only to squander and fail.
Sure, their intentions may be noble. But this level of serial incompetence can no longer be trusted, nor should we be foolish enough to believe that some new candidate can fix it.
If you’re in your fifties and beyond, you’re probably going to be OK and at least get 10-15 years of benefits.
If you’re in your 40s and below, you have to be 100% prepared to fend for yourself.
Fortunately you have time to recover. Time to build. And time to learn.
Financial literacy is absolutely critical here, which includes the ability to both generate income and manage money, two things that aren’t taught in the government controlled education system.
You might also consider some lifestyle adjustments, which may include moving abroad where your money can go much, much further.
Ultimately, learning to rely on yourself is no easy task, but it is an incredible opportunity to become more free.
And in doing so, one day you will no longer panic about the decisions being made by incompetent bureaucrats, because you will be the one in control of your own fate.
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Sure you pay into it your whole life and then they give you nothing out of it. Seems fair in government accounting land.
Grand Theft Country
If you like your Ponzi scheme, you can keep your Ponzi scheme.
SS will be just fine. When the chips are down they'll just take your 401k and IRA money to fund it.
Suckers!
One borned every minute.
If they now admit that there's nothing to be received on the back end, why are we still paying into it?
Well, there are these men with guns...
Anyone here should not be shocked by this "revelation"
The problem is with Social Security and not with Middle East wars, F35s, bank bailouts, tax loopholes for billionaires, pharma subsidies, farm subsidies, the MIC, and outrageous salaries and retirements for government employees.
Can I subsistence farm in the 1000ft2 of my Cali McMansion backyard that's not hardscape? It does rain here during the winter. Gonna be fine.
Yes, but you'll need the proper permits from federal, state and local governments.
Don't leave the sprinkler on too long, or the EPA just might declare your back yard a "wetlands".
Better check the HOA rules, I'm pretty sure they specificially forbid it. Take your house if you have a chicken for eggs and pest control.
Wall Street. Quantitive easing. Membership has its privileges.
and then im sure ther'll be a new law soon criminalising back yard veggie growing. Coz you might feed the homeless with it. And only big Agriculture with the govt contracts knows how to produce food that is 'safe' for you and me
I'd much rather use those Trillions to bomb the crap out of the ME and open dozens moar military bases aroun dthe world. We don't even have one in Tuluvu. Why pay back all those workers who have paid into the system?
Makes sense to me.
Hey, c'mon! Was it over when the German's bombed Pearl Harbor???
Fuck No!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep-xgd_eETE
Are you ready for a Ponzi Party????? Fuck yeah!!!
PONZI! PONZI! PONZI! PONZI!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1Mk7idVfcA
401 (k) plans are toast, derivatives or hypothecation ad infinitum.
Social Security is next, to continue funding the Public Sector which will fold to fund MIC.Gov pensions.
Who is going to be the last pension standing? Not hard to see the writing on the wall.
I don't needs no So-so sekeerity!
Livin tha dream....It's MyRA fo me, bitchez....!
Then they'd better pay a cash settlement using compound interest on the avg DOW gain per year x how much and how long you paid in.
I'll be ok with them cutting benefits to old people if Congressmen take the same % cuts to their benefits, salaries and pensions.
I've never seen the headline:
Welfare running out of money!
or foodstamps, school lunches, low income housing....
I've never seen the headline:
Welfare running out of money!
or foodstamps, school lunches, low income housing....
Just a case of War Nerves
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc4_6fg8PXw
We Ponzi'd some folks.
HELL YEAH !!!
Working and paying taxes is for pimped hoes.
A REAL man needs to know how to kill something for eating it, use the land, store valuables, standing his ground and fuck everything else.
Kinda like this:
http://www.thepornster.com/video/67/
That would be Tuvalu?
They have the equivalent of a military base in that they measure sea level changes, (or lack thereof) in Funafuti.
Oppression takes many forms and Tuvalu is doing their part.
If you are dumb enough to give a criminal gang your money for retirement, you don't deserve to get any back.
When I pay my tithe to the criminals I don't expect any back.
That rain belongs to the state. What makes you think you can use it to grow food?
The USA and Western europe can afford millions of illegal aliens flooding in but Social Security is screwed. F them. Soros and the other zio monsters.
Yeah, WTF. It's getting real and in the open. I think we are looking at the convergence of multiple uncoordinated incompetents working on goals that were embedded a long time ago. I have seen this first hand - give a dunce a job and hint what you want to happen, scare him he might get fired, then stand asside for true stupidity as they define their job and responsibilities and authorities themselves. All independently with no idea of the ultilate consequences. Red Russians, Red Guard, Pol Pat redux. And you are in the middle.
Of course we could just all start to embezzle 10's of K from our local police youth mentoring program for 5-10 years... Ah, never mind, that doesn't turn out so well either.
This article, like most about Social Security left out the important fact that the Gov stole about $2.6 Trillion from the SS trust fund. Even on Zero hedge these kind of articles want to make SS system out to be a big negative for the Gov. If the congressman hadn't stole the money, SS would be solvent for many more years before there was aproblem
so, back in 1995, Robert Rubin, we remember him, when Treas Sec under Bill "surplus" Clinton took marketable securities from the trusts in return for Treasuries. (if not for Y2K printing we would not have had as biga run up in dot com and we would not have had huge taxes paid, which allowed the govt to come close to breakeven but nope. no surplus esp if you look at debt increase
What happend there with the marketable securities?
The entire structure and system is BS.
Well I guess on a positive note it's good to know that the only thing that has caused our 19$ trillion in debt is social security and the inept manner in which it has been run. Imagine if the other parts of our gov't, like the military or other agencies, caused this many problems and created debt??? Hoo boy would we be in bad shape!
Thought bubble.........
Maybe if I had created some way to generate some income for my retirement. Hmm what if I start to grow poppy plants in my back yard and then manufacture and sell heroin??? I hear that's pretty popular with the kids these days. I'll call my company Creative Investment Agricultur - or CIA for short. I also am given to understand acronyms are all the rage these days!!
just a word of advice----grow it in someone elses back yard---manufacture it at the local community center bathroom and get cops to sell it in private prisons-- you will be rich---
On June 28 the police invaded my dilapidated trailer park home with guns drawn, due to my failure to appear in court on marijuana charges. (Felony possession of approx 1.5 ounces of marijuana in one quart mason jar.) They found three (3) poppy flowers in my large vegetable and flower garden. The investigators pulled up the plants by their roots, put them on a scale, and concluded that I was in possession of several pounds of opium. They charged me with Opium Trafficking and held me in jail on a $50,000 property bond for four months, until the prosecutor finally offered a reasonable plea bargain, which I accepted. I was finally released from jail on Nov 3rd, and just got all my computer equipment back today. While in jail, my trailer was ransacked by the local meth heads and at least $5,000 worth of tools, equipment, and automotive parts was stolen. Then the landlord evicted me, with a 10 day eviction notice placed on the door, which my mom didn't find until days later. I'm now in the process of sorting through my remaining possessions in the storage locker and picking up the pieces of my broken life.
True story.
Think very carefully and plan well before implementing your get rich quick scheme.
By the way, my investigations inside and outside of the jail from multiple sources have revealed that the sheriff of this county is a drug dealer (meth and heroin) and murderer. He was in business with the former sheriff, who died recently under suspicious circumstances. (The ole "heart attack during hunting trip" routine. Body cremated less than 24 hours later, with no autopsy.)
Heroin of the highest purity has been hitting the streets here (Alabama) since about 2012. This was right about the time of the proposed Syrian invasion, which the American people rejected, necessitating TPTB to use other means to achieve their goal. Shortly thereafter, the well-funded organization known as ISIS magically appeared from the ether. And where does ISIS get their funds from? From the opium fields of Afghanistan of course, which are not accidentally or coincidentally producing more opium and heroin than ever before, under U.S./CIA management. The Taliban had almost completely shut down opium production just before the U.S. invasion in 2001. The CIA brings it in, sells it, and the funds go somewhere.
We are definitely living in interesting times.
Well, first off I would suggest that our 19 trillion in debt is not inclusive of SS, as that nut is closer to 40 trillion. Secondly, SS was an explicit contract between those being forced to contribute to it and its eventual payout...like life insurance, whereas general taxes are for general things and while wasteful AND destructive, are not the same thing. We should be able to focus on two separate issues without equating them.
If it is determined that SS must be changed to a means tested program, at 62, I will not like it but accept it...under one condition (like anyone cares), they must stop calling it insurance and they must fund it from general revenues and NOT a specific payroll tax. If they are going to convert and insurance program to a welfare program, then CALL IT WHAT IT IS.
Sorry, had to down vote you for this statement: "SS was an explicit contract between those being forced to contribute to it and its eventual payout". Please produce this contract signed by both parties. I never signed one yet was coereced into paying into the scam for many years. I doubt it was a good investment....
Sorry, have to agree. What the state gives the state can take away. Get used to it.
When you or your parents applied for a social security card - that is your contract. When you voluntarily provided the SS number to your employer. There is no law requiring anyone born in the US to possess a social security number in order to work. None. This is the same contract that makes your wages subject to the IRC.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/contract_implied_in_fact
For my entire adult life I have been hearing the continual lies about S.Sec. It was around Reagan's time the tax went up to 12.4% and all was good, forever. Of course it is never forever, is it? In fact, it is rarely for long.
1. It is NOT a retirement plan by any definition of the word.
2. You have no property rights unlike real wealth, a real retirement plan and things you actually own.
3. It prevents the actual building of wealth and transfer of wealth. That is the exact opposite of what was claimed. If you really had that money, had it invested and could even borrow against it (like a real asset) the amount of wealth in the USA would probably be at least double for the middle class. Also, if you happened to leave this planet at age 64.9 your heirs could inherit it, like real wealth.
4. There is no fiduciary responsibility in the fund. It is not a matter of being "well run". It cannot be run by law. It is allowed only one investment, treasuries. It is also stealable by the rest of the government since the Johnson administration (a Democrat!). If S. Sec. was allowed to invest like a real fund it would be much better off...but then the whole nature of it would change, anyway.
5. It is an honest to God ponzi. That is precisely what it is. Each generation was presumed to be larger than the next, just like the tiers of a ponzi. We screwed it up by living longer and not having four kids per family like the 1940's. However, it has never been anything but a money transfer.
6. The disability portion was added later. I cannot remember but I think that was the 1960's, too. It was never funded or priced in, either...kind of like Obamacare not being able to price risk or Bush not charging Medicare for a new benefit. (See #4).
We are the f-ing idiots because we continue to tolerate it and 75% of the population prefers the lie to the truth and reelects the liars. In fact, historically if you even tried to reform it, you were doomed. The reforms that are most likely such as means testing and uncapping the tax are still more government failure type reforms.
Milton Friedman had the right idea and the only reform that should be done. Each person has an expected benefit. That benefit can be bought out or replaced with a private annuity. Personally, I would offer all Americans an annuity or cash settlement at roughly 80% of the full value. You know 99% of people would take the money and run. It would solve about ten problems at once.
Has anyone heard the plans of any of the R-candidates? I have not. S. Sec bankruptcy, Obamacare and the general corruption of the government is going to kill us all. IN fact, financially the USA would really like it if everyone would kick the bucket right at age 64.99. So, you had better start testing your Metamucil for government weapons grade arsenic, soon.
You must have been under a rock. The Supremes called it a tax way back in the day.
Did you think the Patriot Act was about being Patriotic or the Affordable Care Act was about cheap health care?
Correct. Same from the people who designed it and administered it. Social Security is only a tax. It is not insurance, there is no contract, there is no account with the tax taken being held for you. The payments are defined as gratuities from Congress. That's all they are. I prefer to call them one of the many forms of anti-riot payments, in this case, to keep the old folk from rioting.
In 1953, a subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee conducted hearings for the express purpose of settling the question of whether social security was contractual in nature; see Hearings of November 27, 1953 entitled "The Legal Status of OASI Benefits," (Part 6). The witness at the hearing was Dr. Arthur J. Altmeyer, who held several offices in the Roosevelt administration. He was a member of the first Social Security Board, and by 1946 became the Social Security Commissioner, retiring in 1953. During this hearing, various parties stated that social security was not a contract:
At page 918:
"Mr. Altmeyer: * * * There is no individual contract between the beneficiary and the Government.
"Mr. Dingell: Congress knew that, did it not?
"Mr. Altmeyer: Yes, of course. I am sure it did.
* * *
"Chairman Curtis: The individual * * * has no contract? Is that your position?
"Mr. Altmeyer: That is right.
"Chairman Curtis: And he has no insurance contract?
"Mr. Altmeyer: That is right."
At page 937:
"Chairman Curtis: We came to an agreement on one of our major premises, that this was no insurance contract, and the words did not come from me. They were volunteered by Mr. Altmeyer."
At page 968:
"Mr. Winn: * * * Mr. Altmeyer, there being no contractual obligation between the Government and the worker, it follows, does it not, that the benefit payments under title II of the Social Security Act are merely statutory benefits which Congress may withdraw or alter at any time?"
At page 969:
"Mr. Winn (reading): ‘These are gratuities, not based on contract * * *. Moreover, the act creates no contractual obligation with respect to the payment of benefits. This Court has pointed out the difference between insurance which creates vested rights, and pensions and other gratuities, involving no contractual obligations, in Lynch v. United States, (292 U.S. 571, 576-577)."
At page 994:
"Mr. Altmeyer: I have answered your question, sir. If you will refer to section 1101, you will find, as you read into the record, that there are no vested rights, that Congress may create different rights * * *."
At page 996:
"Mr. Winn: We have also established that there is no insurance contract between the Government and the worker within a covered wage whereby the rights and obligations of a party are set; that is correct, is it not?
"Mr. Altmeyer: No. You did not establish that. That has been self-evident since the law was passed in 1935."
At pages 1013-14 (the Chair's concluding remarks):
"Chairman Curtis: Mr. Altmeyer, it is apparent that the people of the country have no insurance contract. That does not mean that I do not want to do my full part to do justice to them and to carry out and make good on the moral commitment that has been made to them. Yet, notwithstanding the fact that they had no insurance contract, it remains true that the agency under your direction repeatedly in public statements, by pamphlets, radio addresses, and by other means, told the people of the country that they had insurance. I think a number of people were misled by that."
Back in 1976, in a Joint Economic Committee hearing, Senator William Proxmire was engaged in a question and answer session with then-Commissioner of Social Security James Cardwell. This was the conversation:
*
Senator William Proxmire: "...there are 37 million people, is that right, that get Social Security benefits?"
Social Security Commissioner James Cardwell: "Today between 32 and 34 million."
Proxmire: "I am a little high; 32 to 34 million people.
Almost all of them, or many of them, are voters. In my state, I figure there are 600,000 voters that receive Social Security. Can you imagine a senator or congressman under those circumstances saying, 'We are going to repudiate that high a proportion of the electorate?' No.
"Furthermore, we have the capacity under the Constitution, the Congress does, to coin money, as well as to regulate the value thereof. And therefore we have the power to provide that money. And we are going to do it. It may not be worth anything when the recipient gets it, but he is going to get his benefits paid."
Cardwell: "I tend to agree."
*
Senator Reed asked the sitting Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan if he still believed that we should maintain the fundamental principles of Social Security?
“I believe that we should maintain the principles of Social Security, but I think the existing structure is not working. Until we construct a system that creates the savings that are required to build the REAL assets, so that the retirees have REAL goods and services. We don’t have a system that is working.
We have one that basically moves cash around and we can guarantee cash benefits as far out and whatever size you like, but we cannot guarantee their purchasing power. Do we have the material goods and services that people will need to consume, not whether or not we pass some hurdle with respect to how legal financing occurs. Financing is a secondary issue and it is a means to create the REAL wealth, not an end into itself.” -Alan Greenspan 2005
We all know what it is. What I want is for them to CALL it what it is. A fucking tax.
And as far as the contract is concerned, no I suppose I don't have a copy of it...but they do, and they have assured me that if I don't live up to my part of the "contract" as they read it, I will be punished. We waste words for what is.
And yes, I fully realize the futility and delusions of my demands.
True
Before assuming the spin is correct have a read - https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-resolution/488/text
Wow, Stuck-on-Zero, who is that one, lonely downvote? an intern in the basement of the Rayburn Building?
Soc Sec Trust Fund backstops all that paper sold to China. They would love to raise taxes to reassure the Chinese. Ain't going to happen. Can't raise interest rates to attract foreign investors. Can't raise taxes. Too many deer hunters in PA and WVA.
No. I was mentally prepared to have zero social security for myself nearly 10 years ago now. Doesn't mean I was financially prepared, but hey, there's always a smith-and-wesson retirement for that day.
If everyone used a "Smith & Wesson" to "retire" the politicians and bankers making these decisions, then maybe...
I have liberal relatives in their 50's that repeatedly and thoughtlessly spout the Actuary's line (lie) "Even if current challenges to the system remain unresolved, SS will still be able to pay 75% of benefits in 2030 and beyond." What these fools do not understand is that inflation is running far above that acknowledged and COLAd by SS, and these projections of amounts and dates have always been optimistic, insolvency dates being adjusted forward every few years as payrolls fail to expand and interest rates paid to the trust fund fail to increase as modeled. They are screwed.
Greenspan said it long ago, they will be able to pay SS, it just might not buy anything. AKA money printing.
Medicare folks got a letter explaining that those who have their medicare fees deducted from their SS payments will see no increase this year but those that pay directly will pay for all required increases. Appears that thr govt cannot at the same time say there is no inflation with no COLA increase and at the same time say that rates are increased. Make it up as you go along as always.
back in 1970 after college I was signing my w4 and the office manager looked an th e5 guys startign and asked, you guys do not really think ther wil be a retirement fund like this when you retire?
The problem is this problem has been known for at least 40 years. Nothing bold has been done.
Amazed the author actually referred to CONgres in the article as The Board of Trustees. In reality , it's really is via The Emergency Banking Act of 1933.
The Criminal Fraud Fraud UNITED STATES, CORP. INC. outed in it's true form. Headed by a Criminal Fraud Fraud CEO.
I think we ought to tell our friends and family that when they have new babies to not sign them up for a SSN when they are born. Let the child decide when he/she is an adult.
So the Social Security Administration doesn't want to (can't) pay me when I turn 65? Cool, Roth my life, asshats! Exclude me from ever having to pay a dime in taxes of any kind for the rest of my life and you can keep the money you owe me.
But you know they won't. These fucking vampires will not turn me loose until they have sucked all they can from my withered, desiccated cadaver.
Just as no single snowflake feels responsible for the avalanche, no single grabbing hand considers itself responsible for societal insolvency.
During the last election cycle a retired woman I know said Romney would balance the budget. I said what is he gonna cut? Defense? National Parks? Social Security? Medicaire? She said "Well not, medicaire, I depend on that!" She is well off but doesn't want to pay for her own health care. And so it goes.
Aside from the fact that balancing the budget would cause a bigger, badder financial crisis, that about sums it up.
I had a conversation a few weeks ago about the school system in my state. Teachers here start at $30k and most don't go past $45k-$50k. I think that the highest a teacher here can get paid is somewhere around $70k, but that's with a PhD and 25-30 years of teaching. This person sometimes is rational and sometimes subscribes to "If we imagine unicorns, they might be real" thinking. In this case, she was arguing that we need to pay teachers significantly more than we do. My response was "where are we going to get the money?" She was willing to pay a tad more in taxes. I told her that wasn't enough. I started asking her which agencies she wanted to cut. State parks? State Police? She fell back on higher taxes. I asked her if she wanted to pay 30% more to the state. She didn't think it would require that much, until I pointed out that 50% of the state's budget goes to the school system and 2/3s of that is teacher salaries. And that doesn't count any local inputs into the school system, nor does that count any federal funds that the schools receive.
That same kind of thinking (the government will pay for it) runs across the board. People never question where the government gets its money and they never question why the dollar has any value. It's a sad state of affairs when people spend their lives chasing little green pieces of paper without ever questioning what they really are.
...and if you attempt to escape, and try to work elsewhere, you will still be stolen from. If you try to escape with cash in your pockets, it will be assumed that cash is drug money, without any evidence whatsoever, and it will be stolen upon attemted egress.
I am 70 and started working full time in 1970, before that I had odd jobs. I paid hte max in all my years lik emany here I beleive did. Employers had to pay in th esame amount.
Take those dollars you and employer paid in, cpmpound it with US average interest rate of 4% and it slikely you paid in th eeffective amunt of 800k to 1 million.
For that you get social security and medicare. Its hard to tell that that costs cause its all over the place, but if you paid in 1 million, at 4% its 40,000 a year just interest. and you get 3,000 a month for retiremnet benefit and pay I think 300 a month for medicare coverage
So net you get 32,500 a year for your 40,000 of interest you could have earning, so Medicare costs you 7500 a year. That woudl be a fair deal except that when you die the million stays with the US.
Now its gonna be means tested so think of it as a 1 million give away right up front. All those hours I pwrked and bonus effort I put in. I feel used by all ht econgresses and administrations for 45 years.
and these people really beleive they shoudl be put up on pedestals (Barbar Boxes ones dressed down a 5 star general for calling her mam vs senator.
they work for us and should be fired. enter Donald Trump.
And the honest truth is that it NEEDS to be means tested. Sure, there are a lot of people who have shit to show, but that's why this is INSURANCE. If they paid in, made some effort and came up short, then the insurance has their backs. If they ended up rich or even well off, then sorry, but no insurance payout for them. Remove the cap, means test it and there isn't a problem anymore, and it goes back to being what it was intended to be in the first place. If you think it's unfair, then go join a union and bring pensions back.
The rich pay very little into it. Everyone else makes minimum part-time at Wal-Mart, pays very little in, and requires food stamps. The other half have no jobs at all, and gave up searching 10 years ago.
So no money coming in now.
.."If they now admit that there's nothing to be received on the back end, why are we still paying into it?"..
It's for the same reason people in Illinois still buy lotto tickets I guess- bad habit.
I stopped paying into it three years ago
I knew this would happen years ago, so I stated saving all those leters you get every so often showing what you would be getting. I figure I could use these in court (Lorca's Novena vs. US Gubmint) to sue the shit out of them.
I-I-It will work r-r-right???
If they had been good stewards of the fund, and cut out fraud, the fund would be OK.
But they stole all the money.
I swear, I cannot understand why The People have not swung these utter bastards from the lamp posts around town.
I have never seen a more utterly corrupt, fascist government than the USSA. They make Hitler and Mussolini look like pikers.
OK, Motherfuckers, I withdraw my consent. I'm not voting, I'm going into barter, and anything else you can legally do.
If they are not trying to start a nuclear war with Russia and China, they are spending their other available time STEALING our property and sustenance.
We would have a better chance under Idi Amin than the niggers and zionists now in control.
It's moar downhill from here. I fully expect Bath House to openly drone US citizens on American soil before he leaves office, if he ever does. I would not be surprised if he ordered dh s to just machine-gun hundreds of people looking for food and protesting.
actually I think its worse than that---
Most likely make you invest in those safe government bonds instead of risky stuff that actually makes money. For your own good of course.
"If you’re in your 40s and below, you have to be 100% prepared to fend for yourself."
FWIW: Many moons ago (about 15 years ago) an insider told me the cutoff is 1960. Anyone born after 1960 is unlikely to see a Dime of SS. so unless your 55 or older, be prepared to get nothing.
That said I don't Congress or anyone in gov't will let the cat out of the bag. Any announcement that SS will not be available for younger folks would have an impact since younger people will likely cut consumption and increase savings, which would impace the economy negatively. Those already over 55 pend less and save more already.
However, it going to be increasing difficult as the gov't debt mountain grows. At this time I can't see the US dollar not getting devalved. so if your 55, your SS might only buy a six pack, due to inflation and devalution.
It's in the works, babe. Look up "guaranteed retirement accounts," or google the name Alicia Mungell. She's the wealth-confiscation/distribution guru, sort of like a Jonathan Gruber for establishing govt annuities.
This was on deck after Obamacare, but fortunately they ran out of political steam. For now. Fuckers.
Alicia Munell, thanks for the heads up. Another statist NWO professor.
teresa ghilarducci at New School is the other bookend.
And another name for the Patriots' list when they begin their armed assault on the citizenry.
They stashed all that Jade Helm shit for just this reason and bought contracts for enough ammo to fight 20 years against China AND Russia.
Then they printed up de-sensitising posters of pregnant moms, little kids and grandpas to have their Sturmabteilung gun down.
That hag should be skilled at redistribution, she spent 20 years at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and then was an assistant Treasury Secretary under Slick Willy.
Definently not from the defense fund, oh by the way what is this social security u talking about? cant wait to laugh at the disabled portion going bankrupt next year. Freeloaders time to pick cotton...
It will be more sinister than that. The will print currency to pay benefits then blame every boogeyman from the past for the collapse it causes. Profiteers, hoarders, capitalists, etc. Everyone but the real criminals.
Progressively later retirement ages and means testing will come first. After that it's government confiscation of 401(k)s and IRAs to fund a national retirement program (to be done under the guise that they can invest the money better than you).
It's right in line with the Marxist credo... "From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs."
Here's the real scam.
People paid into it with higher purchasing power and when they receive payment it is paid back in diluted dollars.
it's genius just like most insurance products
It's a Ponzi scheme to begin with, and it relies on an even bigger Ponzi scheme which is fiat currency in a fractional reserve world. It's a Ponzi on top of a Ponzi.
Ponzi squared ? Fuck, the fractional reserve system is Ponzi squared, so this must be Ponzi CUBED !
Just wait until the Fed introduces Ponzi factorial!
Ponzi infinity.
It's ponzi schemes all the way down.
Social Ponzi
the turtle is named "Ponzi"
I sure hope they have this shit fixed in the afterlife !!!
"an overwhelming number of Americans pinning all of their retirement hopes on Social Security" SS does not pay nearly enough to live off of.
"Financial literacy is absolutely critical here, which includes the ability to both generate income and manage money, two things that aren’t taught in the government controlled education system." That's the truth. I don't know many people who are good at managing their money.
"which may include moving abroad where your money can go much, much further." Move abroad? That's not so easy. Most countries won't take you if you're not a citizen. They're not going to give you as a foreigner a job that one of their citizens can do. Plus, you have to learn the language.
Wait, foreign countries dont have scads of jobs that natives wont do? America is exceptional after all.
You can't get a job in a foreign ciountry if you're not a citizen? Not true if that "foreign" country happens to be Amerika.
The trust fund is paid 1% on those special bonds and the Fed goes nuts trying to achieve "normal" 2% inflation.
The torches and pitchforks should have come out long ago.
The casino is a rigged house where the IRS forces you to play.
Agreed on the torches & pitchforks sentiment. But, regarding the rigged house where the IRS forces you to play ... that kinda reminds me of "The Deer Hunter" ... ya know, The Russian Roulette Scene? Same exact!!!
Agreed on the torches & pitchforks sentiment. But, regarding the rigged house where the IRS forces you to play ... that kinda reminds me of "The Deer Hunter" ... ya know, The Russian Roulette Scene? Same exact!!!
"People paid into it with higher purchasing power and when they receive payment it is paid back in diluted dollars."
Well not entirely true. Boomers benefited from the increased gov't spending funded by SS. Money collected for SS ended up funding gov't pork that built highways, airports, education, miltary spending, etc. All that increase spending provided boomer with more jobs and higher wages. Millienials probably got the worse of the screwing, since they entired the workforce when the economic collapse (year 2000) began, and still have to pay into SS. That said, Millienials also didn't help themselves by getting worthless liberal arts, no employable skills degrees.
Sooner or later someone will hit the reset button and everyone will get screwed.
Quit with the bullshit boomer stuff. I have been voting and agitating since 1973 about this bullshit. TPTB just don't give a fuck.
I didn't vote for any of it. Did you?
Well, McGovern did promise free Pot in every garage.
Moe, Re-read what I wrote. The Money came out of SS, and was spent during the boomer Generation years. The spent money created jobs that benefited Boomers.
FWIW: it does matter that One in Ten boomers such as yourself didn't vote, but the other 90% did. Boomers did vote for the TPTB at the time. Who voted for LBJ, Nixon, Carter, Reagon, Bush 1, and the Senators, Congressmen during the 60's,70's,and 80's? It wasn't GenX, to young to vote, and it wasn't the Millenials who weren't born yet! Who Moe? Who Voted these lunatics in office then? Green Aliens?
No, I won't quit dragging the boomers in. They are part of the f*ing Problem! FWIW: GenX and Millenials are just a bad if not worse. All these wankers want Free stuff from the gov't. Boo-Hoo if your feelings are hurt.
A ponzi is voluntary. Social Security and the likes are coerced, legalized theft. By using the system, Alisa Rosenbaum demonstrated the moral imperitive of reclaiming private property from those theives who stole it.
The last official act of any government, is to loot the treasury. Better get yours while you still can.
The solution? MOAR immigrants. Especially unskilled ones from the Third World who will be net losses to the System. Financially, it makes absolutely no sense, but politically its a win/win. Just keep that QE a com'in.
I'm okay with this. Just refund all the money my employer and I have paid in and we will call it even.
Wait, it was just another tax for those living on the Human Farm?
pods
All they could refund to you is non-negotiable IOUs .... the real fiat you paid in is loooong goooone !
I feel like the guy in Dumb and Dumber who just opened that suitcase.
pods
Social Security is the biggest financial sinkhole in America.
Bullshit. At least SS money is then spent on local consumer goods and services by it's recipients. How much of our bloated MIC budget (I refuse to call it Defense) makes it to Main Street???
"At least SS money is then spent on local consumer goods and services by it's recipients. "
The gov't raided the SS surplus and spent it on Gov't pork. The MIC budget was partially funded by the SS Surplus.
the missing ss fund money, was spent on the m i c
We know we are living in Bizzaro World when we use terms such as "real fiat" and instantly agree on the understanding of the meaning as something of value.
I guess 'real fiat' back in the day were the notes you could redeem for silver ?
Pods, if there was an "opt out" for SS I'd take it right here on the spot. They could even keep what I've already paid in. Consider it a parting gift.
I'm self-employed. That means I pay the ~7.5% rate that regular W2 workers pay PLUS ANOTHER ~7.5% THAT IS NORMALLY PAID BY THE EMPLOYER (because I AM the employer. Therefore I pay both halves).
That's a ~15% tax rate ON TOP OF income taxes and all the other taxes I pay. I don't earn astronomical amounts of money, but my marginal tax rate when you add it all up is probably around 50%. And that's not including all the state and local taxes that aren't even tied to my income.
Yep, self employed get it in both holes.
Not the threesome you had envisioned, is it?
pods
Boned in the ass, sans KY. My brother is on the same shit barge, and he has 11 employees too.
Great, so he can pay 15% for himself, plus the 7.5% half of their FICA, too. Plus FUTA, SUTA, Worker's Comp, pension fund...
NoDebt, do you file as an S-Corp? My wife is an LLC and we're making the election next year to file as a Corp instead of a Partnership...much better for tax purposes. That SE tax is a real bitch.
if you want to keep all the money you earn, work the black market.
I give 30% discount for undocumented cash. No invoices or receipts.
until they ban cash
Yawn, cash is so pre 2009.
Let Nancy help you w/ that threesome:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbyAZQ45uww
"These boots are made for walkin'
and that's just what they'll do;
one of these days these boots are
gonna walk all over you"
boom boom boom boom boom boom
"Me so horny. You have girfriend Vi'nam?"
I have been in the self employed boat for 12 years now, the last time I added it up my marginal rate was somewhere in the 40%-50% range as well. And since my wife is one of our employees we pay both sides on her, too.
My favorite thing is to listen to all the lucky sperm club limosine libtards I am forced against my will to associate with say the rich need to pay their fair share. Of course all their income is taxable at dividend or cap gains rates, god forbid they were taxed as though they had to actually work for a living. Hypcritical clueless useless fucks.
Here are 5 opt outs from the Social Security Ponzi:
1) Convert to Mennonite/Amish (and receive qualified religious exemption that has been accepted for over half a century)
2) Go to work for a municipality with a Section 218 Agreement with the Federal Government (e.g. Galveston)
3) Move to a country with a social security treaty with US and pay into their crappy ponzi scheme (e.g. Switzerland)
4) Stop working/wage slaving, then you (and your employer self) don't have to pay payroll taxes
5) Renounce your US shitizenship.
I have been working on the Amish thing. Still looking for the straw hat. My branch of Amish will allow two seater sports cars.
As I walk through the valley where I harvest my grain
I take a look at my wife and realize she's very plain
But that's just perfect for an Amish like me
You know I shun fancy things like electricity
At 4:30 in the morning I'm milkin' cows
Jebediah feeds the chickens and Jacob plows, fool
And I've been milkin' and plowin' so long that
Even Ezekiel thinks that my mind is gone
I'm a man of the land, I'm into discipline
Got a Bible in my hand and a beard on my chin
But if I finish all of my chores and you finish thine
Then tonight we're gonna party like it's 1699
We been spending most our lives
Living in an Amish paradise
I've churned butter once or twice
Living in an Amish paradise
It's hard work and sacrifice
Living in an Amish paradise
We sell quilts at a discount price
Living in an Amish paradise
A local boy kicked me in the butt last week
I just smiled at him and I turned the other cheek
I really don't care, in fact I wish him well
'Cause I'll be laughing my head off when he's burning in Hell
But I ain't never punched a tourist even if he deserved it
An Amish with a 'tude?
You know that's unheard of
I never wear buttons but I got a cool hat
And my homies agree
I really look good in black, fool
If you come to visit, you'll be bored to tears
We haven't even paid the phone bill in 300 years
But we ain't really quaint, so please don't point and stare
We're just technologically impaired
There's no phone, no lights, no motorcar
Not a single luxury
Like Robinson Crusoe
It's as primitive as can be
We been spending most our lives
Living in an Amish Paradise
We're just plain and simple guys
Living in an Amish Paradise
There's no time for sin and vice
Living in an Amish Paradise
We don't fight, we all play nice
Living in an Amish Paradise
Hitchin' up the buggy, churnin' lots of butter
Raised a barn on Monday, soon I'll raise anutter
Think you're really righteous?
Think you're pure in heart?
Well, I know I'm a million time as humble as thou art
I'm the pious guy the little Amlettes want to be like
On my knees day and night scorin' points for the afterlife
So don't be vain and don't be whiny
Or else, my brother, I might have to get medieval on your heinie
We been spending most our lives
Living in an Amish Paradise
We're all crazy Mennonites
Living in an Amish Paradise
There's no cops or traffic lights
Living in an Amish Paradise
But you'd probably think it bites
Living in an Amish Paradise
Nodebt - I hear you. My answer was to become a micro business. I have a part time contractor once in awhile and write the rest off. Of course, I have to do most tasks myself but if you have no real chance to escape gravity...
I deduced the real choices are this:
1) Make enough money to at least have enough for a better view during collapse and world war.
2) Kill yourself. Drinking yourself to death is part of this option.
3) Go oversees where the sociopaths that benefited the most from being theives and murderers now live and kill one.
Options 2 and 3 dont really work in a practical sense.
I could write a few articles explaining this logic. Simon may think moving abroad is the answer but that is part of option 1. The rape victim is often strangled, tgink about what this really means. I see media from around the world and comments. The gist is that 'All Americans deserve it' so after the supposed ultimate commeupance your still back to choices 1-3. Empire never ends pretty. Hedge accordingly which is all most of us have said for several years.
"'m self-employed. That means I pay the ~7.5% rate that regular W2 workers pay PLUS ANOTHER ~7.5% THAT IS NORMALLY PAID BY THE EMPLOYER (because I AM the employer. Therefore I pay both halves)."
Everyone pays both halfs. Its just a gimmick to hide it from the dumb workers. If you hire someone you include the employeer half in the wages provided to the worker. If the employer didn't have to pay half of the SS, then they employee would have gotten a higher wage. SS almost when up another 2% for 2016, but it didn't get included in the 2016 budget. Probably will go up in 2016, since SS is running a deficit of 80B to 90B. The SS Cap has also risen just about every year. I remember back in the 1990s it about 50K, Now its about 118K.
"That's a ~15% tax rate ON TOP OF income taxes and all the other taxes I pay. I don't earn astronomical amounts of money, but my marginal tax rate when you add it all up is probably around 50%."
Same here. I am above 60% combining it all (Fed, Payroll, State, local, Unemployment, etc), except for Property taxes. I wonder if some EU countries now have a lower Tax liablity than the US. I don't believe EU nations have state taxes, just national income and a VAT.
Incorporate. Pay yourself a minimal salary so that the 7.5% the employer (you) pays is an expense and take the majority of your income as a distribution (no self employment tax).
What I would like to see is if they aren't going to cough up the dough I would like to swap what they owe me for a chunk of all that land the government owns, maybe throw in a few free GM autos, too. Not kidding.
Fuckers.
FedGov could liquidate part of its balance sheet to pay for SS.
I'm assuming it hasn't already been rehypothicated to China.
On the other hand, so what if it has.
I like the land plan, but we have a debt to settle with China
"What I would like to see is if they aren't going to cough up the dough I would like to swap what they owe me for a chunk of all that land the government owns, maybe throw in a few free GM autos, too. Not kidding.'
Probably worthless desert land or a superfund site. GM cars are awful. You'll end up paying more in maintaince then the retail cost of the car over a 5 year period.
I just crossed 90k miles in a 2005 chev 1/2 ton pickup. original everything, but k&n air filter. haven't even done a tune up. runs perfect. just oil changes and tires. not bad for a gm.
"Now, we always hear politicians say that ‘Social Security is going to be just fine’. So this Board of Trustees must be a bunch of wackos. Who are these guys anyhow?"
The board are a bunch green eyeshade clerks. Remove the cap on wages and ask the Board how things look then. My guess? Clear sailing.
I suspect that's why politicians aren't worried. They know the cap will have to be removed and they will do it without too much fuss. It is essentially a political decision. Better to remove the cap than face certain defeat at the polls.
Remove the cap on wages and ask the Board how things look then. My guess? Clear sailing.
Because guessing has worked so well this far.
The average congressman just wants to get thru the next election.
#winning
Agree on Social Security being fixed by killing the cap.
But on Medicare/Medicaid we are fucked. Something has to give.
Don't you mean someone's got to give? That's how you plan to fix SS and I'm sure you'll find someone else to squeeze for a Medicare fix. There's always someone else's money (until there isn't).
So when do I get 20 years of contributions back?
I will never see it by the time I need it...
What part of mafi..a, um, government don't you understand?
Before you work, scum, get license, permit.
F you, pay up.
Work how, when, for as we order you.
F you, pay up.
You get fairly compensated.
F you, pay up.
With whats left over, you get some calories so yku can be, or breed/raise future tax donkies.
F you, pay up.
You make land serf/peseant payments for shelter to too big to fail banks.
F you, pay up land tax every year.
And, so on......
https://thinkpatriot.wordpress.com/2015/10/24/lebowski-enlightenment-9/
60% of soverigns will default by S&P estimates. Our financial sector uses soverign bonds as the base of its pyramid of leverage.
Sovereign Bond = Human (READ: taxlivestock) Production at the base of the leverage pyramid.
"Pay into it"
You mean pay a tax - there is no account with your name on it like it is some type of 401K -
You pay a tax - you become entitled to benefits
It is an entitlememnt program just like all wefare programs.
The reason democrats don't want SS means tested is because then everyone would be able to clearly see it is nothing more than income redistribution.
And the funniest part, is that SSI _is_ the flat tax that Republican candidates are forever proposing, as enacted by Democrats: absolutely flat rate, no exemptions or deductions, and best of all, investment income is excluded.
75% of these mutherfuckers on disability havwe nothing wrong with them except they are lazy and/or junkies
More like 95%...
I know one, she's on permanent vacation. She spends here days riding her bike and taking walks in the park. Perfectly healthy, convinced a Dr. she was crazy. She now laughs about it.
Don't worry - they'll fix social security!! It's called thermonuclear war and it gets rid of all those pesky "recipients". You won't even know what hit you. So cheer up - no need to start the weekend with a harshed vibe.
So, as my generation won't see a dime, can I please op out not to pay it?
Modern day Nostradamus on social security. Carlin
https://youtu.be/acLW1vFO-2Q
Simon Black is a shameless Chicken Little and needs to learn to read a budget report
Your pension money were spent on financing "moderate terrorists" in Syria and the puppet regime in Ukraine. Sorry, but pro-American fascist regime in Kiev just can not survive without regular subsidies from the US budget.
Michelle will be trotted out to teach Seniors of the many vitamins and nutrients available in Cat Food.
She will do no such thing.
Don't you know that Wookies are allergic to cat food?
Sheesh.