MileHighM
Posts: 400
Joined: 10/8/2009 Status: offline
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ORIGINAL: Fightdirecto The Right's Attack on Social Security quote:
You hear over and over that Social Security is "in trouble" or that we "can't afford it." This is as far from true as can be, and the idea behind this is to convince people to just give up on defending the program and let the haters have their way. The people who hate Social Security the most are the ones who say they want to make these changes to "save" it... Conservatives have hated Social Security from the start, because it is a program that demonstrates once and for all the value of progressive governance. Social Security is as clear an example of We, the People watching out for and taking care of each other as there ever was. It has made a huge difference n the lives of older people, and their/our families. It works, is cost-effective and requires minimal overhead to keep it going. So they hate it. A very recent example of conservative hatred for Social Security came from Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who said, that We, the People helping each other makes us weak, quote:
"These programs actually weakened us as a people. ... All of a sudden, for an increasing number of people in our nation, it was no longer necessary to worry about saving for security because that was the government’s job." Substitute the words "We, the People" or "each other" for "government" in Rubio's statement and you'll get the point: people don't have to worry so much because we're taking care of each other. Senator Rubio says that makes us weak... The Social Security program is entirely self-funded, separate from the way that the government taxes and spends for other programs. People set aside money in their working years, they get a monthly amount when they retire. (The program also has other benefits including disability benefits, survivors funds and others.) Social Security does not contribute to the deficit in any way. You never hear that the huge, vast, bloated, enormous, mammoth military budget is "going broke" or "won't be there for you." But year after year you hear that Social Security is "in trouble." Currently the program has built up a huge trust fund -- over $2.5 trillion. This is invested in US Treasury Bonds, and is earning interest... Senator Sanders of Vermont: quote:
When Social Security was developed, 50 percent of seniors lived in poverty. Today, poverty among seniors is too high, but that number is ten percent. Social Security has done exactly what it was designed to do! The Right hates Social Security because it works - and any project or program that works that is based on We The People helping each other rather than "every man for himself" and "survival of the fittest" (also known as "Social Darwinism") is something the Right cannot stand. They perceive Americans starving to death or living on a park bench without a home as infinitely better for our nation than any of their taxes being used to feed their fellow Americans or provide them shelter. For the Right, it is better for our country for people to die than for a penny of tax money to be spent to prevent those deaths. They would rather see the corpses of the poor and seniors be used as fertilizer for agribusiness farms - because, after all, anyone who is poor or old is poor or old due to their own fault - and the Right has no responsibility or obligation toward their fellow Americans. Directo, your arguement assumes all that your premises are correct. If the trust fund is in T-bonds, essentially the government is looting the trust fund to finance its debt. That 2.5trillion is only safe if the government can effectively pay it back. However, in other words, the government never saw that money as seperate item for spending. They took the money and spent it on other things and claimed it as an investment by putting the money just in T-bonds. While I find it better than borrowing money from the Chinese, I don't see it as a sound idea considering the sheer volume of debt the US carries. Also, is 2.5 trillion enough, or should there be more in the trust fund? I seem to remember Al Gore 10 years ago claiming the lock box was raided. In ten years of Bush and Obama, I assure you that money was not returned to the box with the wanton spending that has been going on. While I disagree with the Right wing position that SS should be eliminated, I agree that it is in trouble and is a major underfunded liability for the US. We are going to have tinker with it some how. Personally I feel the retirement age needs to start being jacked up and place a freeze on benefit increases for awhile. Furthermore, why not let people keep working at full time and pay while on SS (limited SS benefits) with no penalties down the road. At least they are still paying into the system as well. Also, the government needs to account for all of the money that should be in the trust fund and count it as its liability and debt. Keep an accurate accounting of whats owed. Finally, we will likely need to raise SS taxes in some way shape or form. One at the basic end by hiking the rates, and on the other by qualifying more of upper income made for SS taxes.
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