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Social Security: The Long Slow Default
Submitted by Kirby Cundiff via The Mises Institute,
When an investor buys an annuity or another retirement product from an insurance or mutual fund company, the contract is constant and enforceable through the United States court system.
When a United States taxpayer is forced to pay for a government backed retirement system such as the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program (OASDI) - also known as Social Security - the “contract” can be, and is, changed on a regular basis by the United States government, and those changes are generally not to the benefit of the taxpayer.
Participation in the Social Security system became compulsory in 1935 and the first monthly retirement checks were issued in 1940. The first monthly check was issued to Ida May Fuller of Ludlow, Vermont. She had paid approximately $25 into the Social Security system and received over $22,000 in benefits from the system due to living to 100 years of age. The other early retirees of the Social Security system on average also did very well. Retirees in 1977 are estimated to have received seven times what they paid into the Social Security system. Retirees entering the program as recipients today will probably receive a negative return on their “investment.”
The “Primary Insurance Amount”
The way that Social Security benefits are calculated is complicated, and can, of course, be modified at any time.
The amount of monthly income a Social Security enrollee receives is called the Primary Insurance Amount. The current Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) benefit formula was created in 1979 and is based on two “bend points.”
For an individual who first becomes eligible for old-age insurance benefits or disability insurance benefits in 2015, his PIA will be the sum of:
(a) 90 percent of the first $826 of his average indexed monthly earnings (AIME), plus,
(b) 32 percent of his average indexed monthly earnings (AIME) over $826 and through $4,980, plus,
(c) 15 percent of his average indexed monthly earnings (AIME) over $4,980,
where the Average Indexed Monthly Earnings (AIME) is currently the average of the Social Security recipients top thirty-five years of income during his lifetime divided by 12.
Significantly, each year’s monthly income is expressed in 2015 dollars using the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
Benefit Cuts Since the 1970s
By the late 1970s, it became obvious that the Social Security system was going to have significant solvency problems since the ratio of workers to retirees decreased from around 40-to-1 in 1945 to around 3-to-1 in 1980, and most of the money paid into the system had been spent on other government programs.
Payroll taxes were therefore increased, and a series of changes were made to the Primary Insurance Amount (PIA) payment formula to cut the benefits that Social Security enrollees would receive.
The PIA formula before 1979 was even more complicated than the one used in 2015. It had ten bend points, but gave more credit to high income workers. According to Robert J. Myers in his book Social Security, the changes in the benefit formula in 1979 resulted in, on average, a 7 percent reduction in monthly Social Security payments for new retirees. Under that current benefit formula, if a Social Security enrollee has a life-time income over $2 million, he will very likely have a negative return on his investment. For lifetime incomes between $0.5 million and $2 million, the enrollee has a chance to break even. Enrollees with a lifetime income less than $0.5 million have a good chance of still benefiting from the Social Security system. The number of years included in the earnings base (the number of years of income averaged to determine the monthly benefit payment) was gradually increased from twenty-three years, for people born in 1917, to twenty-nine years for people born in 1923 to thirty-five years, for people retiring in 2015.
For mothers who took time off from their career, people who spent a long time in graduate school, and people whose income was much larger during later parts of their life, this resulted in a significant decrease in benefits. (See The Social Security Book by Jack and Erwin Gaumnitz.)
Using the CPI to Keep Payments Down
Since the 1970s, the AIME used to determine the PIA has been indexed using the Consumer Price Index (CPI). So the higher the CPI, the larger a recipient’s monthly Social Security benefits will be. Social Security benefits for current retirees are also increased annually by the CPI. This means that one way the government can lower benefit payments is by under-estimating the inflation rate. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has redefined how the CPI is calculated several times since the 1980s, lowering the CPI in each case. According to economists at Shadow Government Statistics, the CPI currently underestimates the inflation rate by at least 4 percent per year. If this is the case, Social Security recipients receive a 4 percent reduction in their buying power each year.
“Mini-Defaults” in the Social Security System
The US government knows it cannot keep up its end of the original Social Security bargain. So, to address its insolvency issue, the federal government simply responds by reducing benefits while increasing taxes. Increasing the retirement age, for example, is an easy way to reduce benefits.
The retirement age was increased from sixty-five for those born in 1937 or before to sixty-seven for those born in 1960 or after. Since enrollees do not get maximum benefits until age seventy, it could be argued that seventy is really the current full retirement age.
The taxable earnings base (the maximum income that is subject to Social Security taxes) and Social Security tax rates have increased drastically since the system was first created. The taxable earnings base was $3,000 in 1937, $25,900 in 1980, and $118,500 in 2015. The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) tax was 2 percent in 1937, 9.04 percent in 1980, and 10.98 percent in 2015. This number includes both the employer and employee portion. When the 1.42 percent Disability Insurance tax and the 2.9 percent Medicare tax is added, the total payroll tax is currently 15.3 percent.
In 1983, legislation was passed to tax Social Security benefits for the first time. Currently, if a taxpayer’s provisional income is more than $25,000 on a single return or $32,000 on a joint return, their Social Security benefits will be taxed at between 50 percent and 85 percent of their normal tax rate.
Further Tax Increases and Benefits Cuts are Likely in the Near Future
According to the Social Security Administration, by 2033 future payroll taxes will only cover around 77 percent of estimated benefits. It is therefore likely that even further benefit cuts and tax increases will occur in the near future. Increasing Social Security tax rates from 12.4 percent to 15.5 percent and eliminating the taxable maximum (i.e., making all income subject to Social Security taxes) is currently being considered. Other tax increases being proposed include taxing contributions to flexible spending accounts and creating a national Value Added Tax (VAT).
Further cuts to Social Security benefits are also on the table. Proposals to cut benefits include increasing the retirement age from sixty-seven to seventy years, increasing the number of years included in the earnings base from thirty-give to thirty-eight or forty, and increasing the percentage of Social Security benefits that are subject to income taxes. Redefining the CPI index to further underestimate the inflation rate is also on the table.
Social Security has long been sold to the public on the notion that what a worker will receive back is what he or she pays into the system. For decades, however, the government has been changing the terms of this “agreement” as part of an effort to avoid outright default. This long, slow method of piecemeal default, however, is likely to continue.
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Think of social program as is bandage. Because of socio-politic, is pull off very very very slow.
SS is the primary income of most older people and people fully expect it to be there in the future.
The future of SS is increased taxes and increased benefits.
SS isn't going anywhere.
So young people should pay MOAR today, and receive even LESS at some point in the future. FUCK YOU!! Give the government a dollar today for them to give me back 75 cents in the future----SOME INVESTMENT!! You shouldn't get out one thin dime more than you put into the system, that would solve EVERYTHING. And you forgot to mention WORK LONGER, in addition to increasing the tax. Why should young people work 5 years longer than their parents did to collect what they paid into the system? They probably won't live any longer, but will work longer than their parents did. SS is the shittiest retirement program out there, and people like you clamor for MOAR of it.
I'll never get what I put into it. My daddy got nothing. He died the month he was to start collecting. So much for 40 years of work.
Still this is one of the few government programs that delivers anything to blue collar workers in the private sector when they are at their most vulnerable.
Yeah, and life is also unfair sometimes.
About that Social Security "contract"...? Does anyone here realize that a "contract" isn't something you get shoved into at the point of a gun!!!
Social Security isn't a contract, it's more like rape.
So in other words, your daddy would have had more money had he been able to keep the money himself and shove it in his mattress. You just made my point. Thank you very much.
My grandfather on the other hand lived to 90 collected morethan his share and was independent in his old age.
Otherwise he would have been a burden on me.
A burden beyond FICA tax.
You put a dollar in, you get back far far less 30-40 yrs down the road, thanks to the FEDSs insistance of 2% inflation/yr. The dollar you put in as a young adult is only worth 50% when you retire, or worse.
Your grandfather probably got 10 times more out than he put in, and therein lies the problem. You and I on the other hand will get 10 times LESS than we put in. Great system. But you go right ahead and believe in it. You will be the burden on your grandchildren however.
pssst... As long as baby boomers are okay, everything is fine. Young people have to pay more and enjoy less benefits because we play videogames, have iphones, smoke weed and use facebook.
"Give the government a dollar today for them to give me back 75 cents in the future"
Not really, if your born after 1959, expect to pay a dollar, and get nothing back. SS is a tax unless your 55 or older. Also consider a dollar in earned in the 50,60, and even early 70s was worth a heck of lot more than it does today. Those recieving SS will be paid in ever increasing devalued dollar as the gov't prints and prints.
That said, it probably doesn't matter since most real paying jobs are going to disappear over the next 10 years: Automation, Outsourcing and Downsizing. 95% of jobs will be part time working that can't be effectively outsourced or automated.
Does anyone have tips on how to reclaim $$ paid into SS, or ways to quit paying?
yes
"Does anyone have tips on how to reclaim $$ paid into SS, or ways to quit paying?"
yes, to quit paying, simply stop working! No income, not taxes to pay.
No way to reclaim SS money that was spent before you could blink, unless you're already 62 or older.
I've recounted this story here before. A couple of years ago, I had a private one-on-one meeting for over an hour with my congressman. SS was one of the topics we discussed. I asked him to show me or tell me anyones plan that it would in any way be solvent when I retired (i was 48 then). He said it wouldn't be. I asked him then why I should keep paying into it (I'm self-employed so pay both halves). His answer was "because it's the law". They know and are just riding this out to the end.
Yep.
And government is gunna stop climate change,
Moron.
So tired of hearing all this. SS should have a $3 trillion dollar surplus. It isn't and wouldn't be broke if the Gov hadn't taken all the money and replaced it with IUO's over the years.
If not for gov pilfering, SS would be fine.
Simply not true -
If it makes you feel better thinking / believing this is true go ahead -
BTW Santa will be stopping by your house on 12/24 to give you some gifts - \\
SS is a form of guv pilfering. duh.
Sadly
....and people fully expect it to be there in the future.
People naively expect it to be there in the future.
People naively expected to save $2,500 (on average) a year under ObamaCare too...Apple was really counting on that...lol...as the words of Jonathan Gruber echo down the hall ;-)
don't forget your Doctor! "You can keep your Doctor."
I hate the idea of Obamacare.
Nevertheless I am saving $5,000/year. I am stunned.
And I kept my doctor.
I am in my 30's and I don't know anyone my age or younger that thinks they are getting SS in the future.
It is properly termed "Socialism Security" as it's main purpose is to secure socialism in the formerly capitalist USA and make it the USSA.
Structurally, it is a Ponzi.
My 68 year old recently retired Teamster uncle's pension was just cut by 50% .
His reliance on SS just went up significantly. He's talking about going back to work as a long haul truck driver.
So much for a decent retirement huh?
For the thousandth time! Nobody "pays" into the social security system. The money is stolen from each of us through an immoral direct taxation scheme.
if the Social Security is bankrupted, why does the private sector wants its money?
Dig FDR up and ask him.
I did. But he’s as dumbfounded as I am why would anyone wants to steal those funds.
And, what happened to the American compassion about others.
“When you're born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America, you get a front row seat.” — George Carlin
What funds? You mean IOUs?
FDR is dead and gone but the GOVERNMENT did in fact steal those funds.
But let's allow FDR to speak from the grave for himself, do you still believe him?...
"But they are guilty of more than deceit. When they imply that the reserves thus created against both these policies will be stolen by some future Congress, diverted to some wholly foreign purpose, they attack the integrity and honor of American Government itself. Those who suggest that, are already aliens to the spirit of American democracy. Let them emigrate and try their lot under some foreign flag in which they have more confidence."
http://millercenter.org/president/speeches/speech-3307
The government...did in fact...steal those funds, taken from every workers check...they are as gone as FDR.
An interesting question to ask would be: What’s the threat to our current system if these funds were to be given to the savers to be invested locally.
Of course we all know the answer for that: Taking matter on their own hands is very dangerous for the managers of the America society. A crisis of democracy. Independency that would reduce their willingness to comply to state socialism and state capitalism.
It would take money out of the pockets of the government and their cronies. This has nothing to do with what is good or bad for the people or the country. This is about the federal mafia and their bosses getting paid.
Fuck you, pay me.
Well come to think of it. Yeah, you are correct. It is socialism.
"compassion about others".
Yeah well 'government' begins as an idea. As that 'idea' fails....
"compassion" becomes 'destroy all those who oppose you'.
Sadly..and truly.
You just can't swallow that pill though huh?
Not to worry.
You will.
Even if it kills YOU.
There are those who keep saying its 2.7 trillion dollars of worthless IOU's until they get their grubby hands on it, and then poof! Whaddya know??? It all of a sudden becomes MONEY!
You who downvote me are nothing but a bunch of Wall Street boiler room chop stocks pumpers.
Wall street is never getting its hands on SS. Everyone saw 2001 and 2008.
Annuities? Several insurance comapnies were slated for destruction along with Lehman. They quickly bought banks and scooped up some TARP funds.
What in the world makes anyone think private annuities will survive the coming downturn and SS will not?
Fucking nonsense.
Well, it says it here right at the top of ZeroHedge: "On a long enough timeline the survival rate for everyone drops to zero", so just throw up your hands and give up.
The private sector -- and let's be real, it's not the private sector, it's fucking banks -- wants that FICA money that's deducted from everyone's paycheck to go into a 401K like entity. They're not trying to grab SSI's existing debt burden, just the principal that's put into it.
They want it because it goes into this .gov 401K and it's used to buy stocks. Stocks that investment banks sell them. It's about a constant profit stream from sales fees, management fees, and then being able to dump absolute shit onto the ultimate bagholders who are forced to buy it if SSI goes private.
What's not to love if you're a sociopathic banker?
That is why the private sector wants the money.
"if the Social Security is bankrupted, why does the private sector wants its money? "
The private banking system doesn't want the booked liabilities; only to put the payroll tax collections directly into their casino instead of having to wait for the government to disburse it via it's bureuacracies, the MIC, etc..
The next trick is to gradually increase the age of eligibility to 75 or even higher.
And then means testing to see if you're eligible to collect... your own fucking money.
By including SS in taxable income, the benefit is already means tested.
Are the great majority of recipients affected?
No.
Not to worry.. President whoever will 'fix' it.
Just vote.
"he next trick is to gradually increase the age of eligibility to 75 or even higher."
No trick, it simple will happen one day, probably sometime in 2017. It will go up for the younger folks first, and keep on going up so that no one under 55 gets a dime. But it doesn't matter since, the Federal gov't is bankrupt. if your 55 today, what are the odds that the US would become the next Venzuela, Argentina for you can collect? SS will end up paying less than a penny on the dollar when the dollar starts tanking.
Social security is indeed a failure, but it is a failure precisely not because it was a bad idea. As the vast majority of Americans know, pensions no longer exist for all but a few. Anyone who invested with Madoff or Corzine knows how private investing can work out, not to mention the risk of a stock market, bond market, etc failure. Annuities are not safe -- think of all the people who would have been screwed if AIG had been allowed to fail. You can't earn interest in anything that does not carry substantial risk. What's left? All Americans paying in to a pension system where risk is spread over the entire population is a great idea if the funds were not used to fund military adventurism, pork projects, and all other manner of crony capitalism.
Government pretty much rendered the notion of a big ass pot of money sitting in front of politicians as an unviable solution Rand, get over it.
There is corruption in every human endeavor. The point I make here frequently is that corruption is not limited to government, and in fact it is the private sector that corrupts government. I can't "get over it" when I feel that the solution proposed by many here is merely cutting out the middle man. I will grant you that enacting and enforcing real laws against government corruption would not be easy, and will likely never happen. But I refuse to give up on the idea because I haven't heard a good alternative yet.
Well, one could save for themselves, for their own retirement. Ya know, instead of using the government to stick a gun in their own childrens faces.
Government has shown itself wholly incapable of policing itself and there is no one who has more of a vested interest than the one who's retirement we're actually talking about.
"Well, one could save for themselves, for their own retirement. Ya know, instead of using the government to stick a gun in their own childrens faces.
Government has shown itself wholly incapable of policing itself and there is no one who has more of a vested interest than the one who's retirement we're actually talking about. "
That's the hustle right there: if we all pool our money and everyone just lets me and my homies manage it for all of us,then there will be plenty of money for each of us when we are tired and old.
THen one day you realize those assholes did eveything imaginable excluding investing the money in productive ventures or even stuff it in a lock-box.
Pure theft.
I couldn't agree more that one should save for themselves. I don't expect to receive a penny of SS, and I'm almost 50. But that doesn't make it a bad idea to have a nationwide pension system as a supplement and/or as a safety net for those who don't save, or as a supplemental means of income for those who don't save enough and live to 100. Even at my age, I need probably 5 or 6 million in the bank at current interest rates at age 65 to be sure I have enough to live according to my current annual spending if I live at or near my life expectancy. How many people can do that? I'm hoping I can, but the reality is that most cannot, and I'm not a big spender.
You might want to lower your expectations just a tad...lol.
The governments a broke dick dog, you're (and their) only hope now is that they keep printing at warp speed to pay it's promised obligations to the masses. Now do you see the insidious nature of the government constuct called...the Federal Reserve? ;-)
I don't know, man. I have it all riding on FAZ and Valeant and I'm pretty sure that's going to pan out for me.
lol...the thing about FAZ is you actually have to sell it at some point, the nature of the casino beast and all.
The funny thing (for the bankers) is that I actually did put a few chips on FAZ 5 years ago when I still didn't get the whole Fed thing. I think my investment of several grand is now worth at least 3 or 4 dollars. I refuse to sell it. When I look at my statement from that account, it is a reminder not to fight the Fed.
Your thesis goes of the rails at the notion of a Private Sector. There IS no Private sector.
The problem is: If you cannot stand over it with a gun, and defend it from theft....you DO NOT OWN IT.
"and in fact it is the private sector that corrupts government."
"government" is the means by which corruption and lawlessness becomes normalized. Pretty fucking cute how the political left figured that out huh?
"for the children".
"for the planet".
Blah, blah, blah.
I dream of a world where busy body psychopaths merely destroyed themselves, not entire generations.
Nonsense. 97% of the money in the US is privately owned. These are who corrupt the system.
"Give me control of a nation's money and I care not who makes it's laws." — Mayer Amschel Bauer Rothschild .
Here’s an example:
https://represent.us/action/private-prisons-1/
Now back to the thread mill.
Madoff investors were quietly and slowly bailed out because most were dual shit-i-zens.
The trustee seemed to keep recovering money and many received all of their money back. .
Some Madoff investors get all their money back.
http://www.npr.org/2015/10/21/450464745/some-madoff-investors-to-get-all...
the Jews keep popping up everywhere there is corruption. I AM SHOCKED
It is a failure bc it is a government program. Eventually those running it will corrupt. Power Corrupts and Absolute Power corrupts absolutely
I just want the option to opt out. Let every citizen choose whether or not to opt out, forfeiting any "funds" already "earned" in their account, but they will never again be made to pay into the Social Security system (not even through tricky means like bailouts from the general fund, etc.) and they cannot sign back on to the Social Security system ever again.
Most people my age and younger will opt out. Keeping our forced contributions over the rest of our working lives will end as net positive return for us. The current recipients of Social Security of course will attempt to force (as in using lethal force of armed IRS agents) the younger non-recipients to continue to pay in. At that point, it will be made painfully clear that it is a Ponzi scheme to even those who scoff at the claim now. If it isn't a Ponzi scheme, why would the beneficiaries need to use force to keep the "contributions" going?
Canny argue with yer logic there chang!
It's like obamacare, if it's so good, why did you have to put a gun to our heads to make it work for ya?
you want options, choices? you want to opt out? who do you think you are? someone who lives in a free society? ha ha
Amway doesn't work unless you keep bringing in more potential millionaires.
If you're a millennial now then it is 100 fold more likely that you witness a nuclear war than ever see an SS Payment.
pay ur taxes...
the MoneyChangers MUST be honored....
as for u...u will recieve NOTHING......
I expect to receive zero and am planning accordingly.
Me too, after 28yrs of paying in how do we protest or stop continuing to pay into a fraud? At this point Im going need every fucking penny I get? FUCK YOU UNCLE SHAM! OUR DICKHEADS CANT HANDLE MONEY, THEY INSIST ITS ALL THEIRS.
Its time to reduce our politicians benefits for poor / fraudulent handling of the peoples funds. Maybe Dickhead Schneiderman should stop worrying about fantasy and start by looking inward at the reality of fraud. These guys are cocksuckers all of them. They should be prosecuted and hung by the people, if the people had half a brain.
Just as long as the public unions still get their pensions. Defined benefits. It's a contract , afterall.
/s.
And by God government employees (both elected & appointed) deserve nothing but the best in pension plans! They're only working FOR the people!!!
(I don't use sarc tags...lol)
Geez, so much hate.
Pay into a system your whole life kicking and screaming knowing its a fraud and then have it confirmed. I hope you lose your fucking job working for the cocksucker politicians, in a fraudulent fucking government that should be ripped down because its a menace to the world and its people. Trust me dont fucking trust these pukes. I want your salary as pay back cocksucker!
We need to stop paying to be abused. Now tell me how upset I should be COCKSUCKER? Anyone who thinks this system is OK is part of the problem, especially you government fucks! This government has no right to do what they have done with this money, if they were wall street COCK SUCKER NEW YORKS Attorney General would have destroyed them.
There is no excuse for the current state of S.S. other than useless, criminal, traitor politicians. To have any credibility they need to get S.S. out of the general account. They are beyond idiots and this is our future, not theirs.
Im embarrased to explain our system to my kids and Ill be god damned if they will grow up with this "type" of system. There is no excuse. All of our leaders are a piss pour excuse of life.
Explain the game " airplane". They will understand.
Go have a toke dude. Oh, btw, I can't be fired.
"Go have a toke dude. Oh, btw, I can't be fired."
You FUCK!! You wonder what the problem is.. anyone that is arrogant enough to say that doesnt deserve to be in that type of position. If you cant be fired you really must be useless. What is the insentive to do fucking anything? This is what is wrong with Uncle Sham.
Eliminate the cap on earnings for the 6.5% SS tax. You earn a million dolllars send in $65k. You earn a billion, send in $65 million. Also your employer, just like all the little people. Problem solved.
If you thought they liked offshoring jobs before... wait until you see what happens with this!
very few people earn $1M in earned wage income. most CEO's of even very big companies might have an income of $500k or so and they get the rest in stock options. many earn their millions in dividends and interest. none of that gets the SS tax
It is another government failure
So give it more money. Unbelieveable -
It is creative solutions like this that got us to the fucked up place we are now -
Let me guess you make less than $108K (or whatever the max is now)? So your solution just takes more of my money and gives it to stupid fucks like you.
The author has cherry-picked his data and time lines to support an argument that would not stand up to a thorough analysis of all the data that is pertinent. For shear entertainment, the author states that "generally" participants do not receive back in benefits what they have paid in, and then immediately cites the example of the first beneficiaries who received in benefits many times over what they paid in. It is difficult to determine what proposition the author is trying to prove: that participants are getting too much or are getting too little. He also tells us nothing about the method of calculating the initial benefit on retirement, or how it is adjusted annually in payment by the movement of the cost of living. The SS adminstration keeps an index of the average movement of wages over time and applies it to adjust the value of wages received during the early career of the beneficiary to the current equivalent at the time of retirement. If, for example, a participant received a salary of $5000 in 1950 and the wage index increased by 100 percent up to his retirement, those 1950 earnings would be revalued to $10000. In addition, that initial benefit is adjusted in payment each year by the movement in the cost of living index. This latter adjustment is especially valuable under current conditions in which inflation is moving faster than wages, and supports the argument that retirees are being overly protected by comparison to current wage earners. In any case, we have to keep in mind that the SS retirement system was not set up to be an endowment, but rather as an insurance policy to confront the risk to seniors of living longer than expected. It is an annuty system that is very generous to participants. The author correctly observes that current retirees are supported by only three active workers, as opposed to a much higher number of workers in the earlier years of the system. This longer life expectancy has required adjustments to both contributions and retirement age over the years. This is simple arithmetic.
Like all others who like to attack the SS system, the author claims that SS contributions are "stolen" from the Trust Fund and used to pay other government expenses. He leaves out one very important legal point: the contributions are credited to the Trust Fund, which then INVESTS those funds in government bonds. The government has the same liability to repay the Trust Fund for these bonds as it does to repay any other bonds that it issues.
so everything is fine then? great!
The money goes into the general fund? Benefits are constantly being reduced why the fuck would I want to pay into this system? Give me one good fucking reason? There are none. WTF Cherry coat it all you want its fraud? That I refuse to pay into anymore, I have enough "forced" poor performing investments. "You will be able to take care of yourself with this money TRUST US!.." Hows that working for ya? Why do we need to give them more money? More abuse? With the money I have given them over the last twenty eight years? I would be in that much better shape? WTF? But No.... They took it and spent it so everyone be happy! Our government is the largest criminal organization in the country with little competiton.
Yes, here are some reasons: The statements in your first sentence are entirely wrong. SS contributions do not go into the general fund. They go into the SS trust fund. As explained in my original comment, benefits are constantly being increased, not reduced. Retirement benefits in payment are increased by the movement in the cost of living each year that there has been an increase in the cost of living. (I know because I have been receiving them for 20 years.) In addition, as explained above, beneficiaries also benefit from the recalculation of the value of their earnings early in their careers when their base benefit is calculated upon retirement.
A big wall of text to defend a Ponzi scheme that, frankly, is less honest than a game of New York 3-card monte.
Guarantee Molineaux works for the government. And has a nice defined benefit pension awaiting his retirement at a modest age.
Guar. En. Fuck. En.tee it!
It's his job to placate us little people. Tell us where we are wrong.
Motherfuckers like that need to be led to the Guilllitines first.
To answer your questions - I am one of those "little people," not having had to file a federal income tax return for the last 5 or so years due to low earnings. I believe it is important for all us little people to understand the facts about the SS system and pay no attention to the propaganda of the wealthy republicans who have always tried to destroy it.
Easy come easy go.
At a certain point all those females living in their parents basements will exchange places.
The parents go into the basement and she and her brood move on up to the main level.
Oh but we had a surplus in the 90's.....
And a WTC complex.
LOL
I can see the Tylers and others seem to hammer SS every chance they get. Too bad people would rather see old people starve but have little complaints over boondoggles like the F22,,, the Bankster bailouts,,, the trillion dollar never ending wars,,, the billions spent by government spying on everyone or the lavish retirement benefits of their elected representatives. Even Obama Care that costs far more than SS gets less complaints
The young say they don't like the idea of paying for their parents retirement yet with the part time, low wage, unskilled jobs they hold their is no way they're covering that expense. The government that stole the surpluses boomers paid in is printing up the cash. I guess you could say the children are on the hook for the borrowing but lets face it. This governments debt cannot and will not ever be paid.
The question is,,, why are the younger generations so enraged about their parents receiving these benefits? Are they concerned about the financial condition of the nation,,, or is it a little more selfish, that they don't think they will get "their fair share" I think it's the latter. A millennial making $20,000 a year pays about $1,200 in SS and about $1500 in taxes. Most are refunded all or more of their taxes paid because of their low earnings. Many even double or triple their refunds because of "Earned Income"
It's interesting these youngins complain about supplementing their 80 year old Grandma but never complain about receiving most if not more in tax refunds then they pay in.
THE SAME ARGUMENT THEY PUT FORTH ABOUT THEIR GRANDMA RECEIVING MORE THAN SHE PAID IN.
The hypocrisy overwhelms the average logical thinking person.
no full SS benefits until age 70?! first ive heard of that
Presently the SS Trust Fund has $2Trillion,764Billion dollars. Last year payouts came to $714Billion, and after that the reserves still increased by $55Billion. 1.)Gov't (fed, state, local) nor media will ever mention this report required by every gov't office and business and corporation in the US, called the CAFR, Comprehensive Annual Financial Report. CAFRs show true financial status. 2.)What gov't and the media DO talk about is "budgets". Budgets are wayyyy different than money-on-hand. To illustrate: think of the fedgov as dad. Think of the US as a household. Think of taxpayers as mom. The dad tells the mom 'we have a budget of $50,000 this year'. The mom runs the house all year while dad goes to work as an investor. At end of year, mom and dad total up and see they've spent $55,000. Oh no, they are $5,000 "over budget"! ****The thing missing in this puzzle is---HOW MUCH $$ THE DAD ACTUALLY MADE! (This is the difference between a budget report and a CAFR) Let's say the dad made $100,000 total. the mom (taxpayers) think they're in debt by $5,000, BUT THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW ABOUT THE REMAINING $45,000 THAT DAD'S GOT. They are fine. That's how government works; they invest taxpayer monies and figure the returns on those investments are for gov't to keep and use however they want. Multiply this money-making scheme by every city, state, and fed gov't office. That's truckloads of monies/investments/returns we don't know about, unless you look at their CAFR. Here's a couple pages from the Social Security CAFR showing SS Trust FUND asset INCREASES which slush around in the General Fund. The SS Trust Fund has been making $Billions from investments that would put peoples' minds at ease. But the feds don't want The People to be so informed, then they wouldn't be scare-able! here's a link to the Social Security CAFR; scroll down to Tables 2 & 3: https://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/index.html
2 trillion sounds like alot, but if they didnt fucking steal most of it we would have way more? Yippee! Idiots! FUCKING IDIOTS! Just flash some big numbers in front of them, they'll feel better? ASK FOR ANOTHER PLEASE. I would be better off with my money not in their hands. They spend it and give me back pennies on the dollar? They have proved time and time again they cant handle it?
The problem is going to be when us X'ers get done paying for the Boomers, there will be nothing left because of demographics, because its a ponzi, only 50 billion for reserves this year with everyone paying in. ITS A JOKE. Its always great to show raw numbers, like they remain roughly the same over long periods of time? We are eliminating jobs at a break-neck pace and with TPP its over! FUCK OFF UNCLE SHAM.... ITS ALL A SHAM. Almost 1/3 of the population doesnt work? They will cover it up till they cant, at all costs just like the FED. These people are bad people. Should we wait till they take it all? Or should we do something about it now? Why put off till tomorrow what we can deal with today?
Get it out of the General Account and stop fucking putting IOU's in it you useless fucking scum politicians. Prosecute these Aholes for stealing everyones money. They are crooks. They should not be in charge of the fund. Politicians cant handle money. AT ALL! You should start with "because there is only 2 trillion left, benefits will have to be cut." What about politicians benefits being rewarded based on performance? I would say give them a lump of coal, OUR politicians need to start losing their benefits... PERIOD, THEY DONT DESERVE THEM.
Why give benefits to politician thieves? Our Corporations pay them plenty. Why do we need to? STOP DRINKING THE FUCKING KOOL-AID? WTF?
Look at the trend in the participation rate? Think thats good for S.S.? WTF is the matter with people? Just so you know we are going to cut your benefits so we can start a war with Russia. Without a vote just for good measure.
Social Security is funded by a payroll tax- employees and employers pay 6.2 percent in OASDI taxes. The SS trust fund has been running a surplus for decades. All SS taxes go into the government’s general fund. Washington “borrows” funds from the SS trust, issuing IOUs, and using this money to pay for other expenses, including tax cuts for the wealthy, $ multi-trillion wars and Wall St bank bail outs, etc. So in effect, the SS trust fund has been a “cash cow” to fund other programs.
The so called "Social Security Trust Fund" consists of a row of grey file cabinets in the basement of the Social Security building in WADC - I have seen them - containing thousands of special US Treasury debt certificates that are never traded or even seen publicly because they are private debts from the USA Treasury to the Social Security Administration for all the trillions in Social Security taxes collected that the USA Treasury already took and spent over the decades, under legislation passed by the "leaders" in Congress.
It is just a bunch of paper certificates with fancy scroll borders containing "I owe and promise to pay" language, no different to blank debt certificates you can buy from forms supply outlets or just make up and print from your computer. The loot is looooooong gone, used to fund election-supporting projects in their home districts for members of Congress, for the exploding vote-buying entitlement programs (MEDICAID, EBT, bama phones, etc), for the "poor", (home-made and imported), for current era christian crusade in middle east, etc.
I think we should band together and file a class action lawsuit against the federal government for violating the original SS contract.
Im in! Its time they start working it off.
Why is there no threat of default .... from the food stamp trust fund .... or the permanent disability trust fund .... or the cash grants for Syrian refugees trust fund .... or the HUD Section 8 trust fund ?
I've been on "Early Suck" .... for 8 years .... and I've gotten back more than I paid in .... Muslim invaders get back more general relief suck than they paid in .... the first month they're here ?
If the general fund borrowed from the suck fund .... then the suck fund should now be able to borrow from the general fund ?
Don't worry.. YU-ASS retards don't understand what the above article is all about. All long as Kardhasian Ass on TV..
SEP-IRA, IRA, SIMPLE, 401k, public and private pensions are all scams that pump up the stocks and wallets of Oligarchs and stealing from ordinary people.
None of them have funding sufficient for next 1-5 years not to mention 30 years or more, they are all broke, the fact that author ignores. The SS is the only thing that works despite the fact that it is being robbed daily by falsifying inflation.
The SS was originally devised not to help poor and elderly but to support dead demand for goods and services including rent and housing a indirect bail out the oligarchs and banks who ultimately receive the SS money. Oracle from Omaha collects millions of SS checks from its poor subjects living in trailer parks he own.
The fact is that they do not need us anymore, nor any work we do except for few servants , they print their profit themselves. They want us dead.
More on that:
https://contrarianopinion.wordpress.com/economy-update/
If they are constantly taking from it then it doesnt work? Just because they are cleanest pair of underwear, that doesnt mean theyll do. I agree they dont want us around anymore and thats why I think they want nuclear war, what a great excuse just have Russia blow up our population....we just need to take control out of their hands its very simple, make their money worthless.. Which it is already and band together. They think they dont need us, but what if we turn on them? WE DONT NEED THEM! IT WORKS BOTH WAYS. They are only 1%. We need to make sure those who are trying to strangle us are scared. The time will come when our job becomes hunting billionaires down. They will leave us with no choice, but to do just that. I dont care how deep they go in the ground or where they go in the world, the American people will find them and extract them. At the point people have no money, money will become worthless and the people will band and share together.
If even 20% of us went after them THEY ARE FUCKED! Thats only 2 in 10! FUCK YA good odds. its not like we cant take over the military, THE MILITARY IS US! THE POPULATION IS US. THE 1% is all theyll have a completely dependant group of losers! If they cant buy anything they are worthless. Maybe a few loyalist that will run when they see the real threat. No contest.
Why is everyone so afraid of these cocksuckers? Stand up for yourself and rip the money back out of their fucking hands for Christ sakes! Tear these fuckers down! These fuckers are way more vulnerable then they think.... go after their arrogance its their weakest point. Tell them how great they are while walking toward the cliff.
WRONG, WRONG, WRONG. The writer of this article is massively confused. FIRST, SS is NOT a contract. Contract would involve PROPERTY RIGHT. NO individual has any liberty or property in the PUBLICS TREASURY. As a matter of law and fact, what the SS Act created was a TAXABLE PRIVILEGE aka extraordinary protections paid for with money from the public treasury. The legal basis of ALL entitlements, State and federal, fall under the umbrella of the SS ACT.
And as for the COMPULSORY claim. AGAIN BULLSHIT. By way of example and first hand knowledge. I have 2 children born in Minnesota that have NO SS numbers. The hospital where my second was born intentionally fucked up the paper work and as a result, he was issued an SS #. I contacted the SS administration and informed them that NO CONSENT had been given by the parents and the application must be voided. The SS admnistration VOIDED the application and recinded the number. I have the letter to prove it with a statement saying that if my son APPLIED into the system in the future he was to claim that he has NEVER HAD THE NUMBER. The god damn fucking system is entirely VOLUNTARY and the SS administration via form letter admits that there IS NO LAW THAT REQUIRES A US CITIZEN TO PARTICIPATE PERIOD.
Now ask yourself WHY???? Give up? Because your application, in law, constitutes a WAIVER of constitutional/judicial protections of CONTRACT and PROPERTY (your labor) in exchange for STATUATORY PROTECTIONS PAID FOR WITH PUBLIC MONEY (taxable privilege) that can be MODIFIED or TAKEN AWAY at the will of the legislative body that created them.
Now look at your paycheck. You see all the witholding taxees? Thesde are ALL EXCISE taxes. FACT. The term EXCISE or PRIVIVILEGE tax is synonomous. FACT: An excise tax is an INDIRECT TAX. FACT: The excise is NOT a direct tax on property (WAGE) but merely uses the WAGE as a UNIT OF MEASUREMENT to calculate the indirect excise. FACT: The taxing power is an excluse function of the Legislative Branch under the doctrine of Separation of Powers. FACT: The power to tax is the power to destroy is a principle to only that which IS NOT A PROPER OBJECT OF TAXATION. FACT: AS THE COURTS CANNOT CONTROL THE AMOUNT OF THE EXCISE, TGHE LEGISLATURE HAS THE ABSOLUTE POWER TO TAKE 100% OF WHAT YOU MAKE VIA WITHOLDING AND LEAVE YOU WITH NOTHING SAVE FUTURE EMPTY PROMISES THAT CAN BE TAKEN AWAY DUE TO ANY REASON INCLUDING AN INSOLVENT TREASURY AS NO RIGHTS WHATSOEVER ARE INVOLVED.
Now how do you function in our society without the number? Difficult but not impossible. By way of example. My eldest son has a drivers license. The LAW recognized the fact that some people do not have the number therefore ADMINISTRATIVE EXCEPTIONS ARE CREATED BASED ON STATUTORY LANGUAGE. If you have the number, you must disclose it. If you dont have the number, you simply state the fact. In MN, both hunting licenses (DNR number) and drivers licenses have these provisions. My 17 year old son has a MN drivers license and NO SS#.
I have 30 years and over 60,000 hours studying constitutional law. PURELY judicial perspective. I know exactley what these fuckers have done. The SS ACT is unconstitutional on its face yet NO PERSON has come even remotely close to identifying the real issues of LAW surrounding this contyroversy. As far as I am concerned, the article here is soooo off point that further examination of its merits would constitute a waste of time.
So it's like a mandatory pyramid scheme, except that as you get closer to the top, they just keep increasing the height of the pyramid so that hopefully, you die before collecting.