Social Security Is Not 'Insurance'

redcliffsw · December 29, 2010, 05:47:24 AM

-Ron Paul

Perhaps the biggest media story of 2010 was the influence of Tea Party voters on the congressional landscape. The new congress comes to Capitol Hill with a mandate to end profligate spending and restore fiscal sanity, we are told. But when the House and Senate convene in January, the newly elected members will face tremendous pressure to maintain spending levels for entitlement programs. Even the most modest proposals to trim Social Security or Medicare spending will be met with howls of indignation and threats of voter revolt. Legislators who propose any kind of means testing or increased retirement ages can expect angry visits from senior citizen lobbyists ready to fund a candidate back home who supports the status quo.

But millions of Americans now realize that the status quo is an illusion that will not last even another 10 or 20 years. The federal government cannot continue to spend a trillion dollars more than it collects in revenue each year, because we are running out of creditors. Fiscal reality is setting in, and the consequences may be grim even if Congress finds the courage to take decisive action now.

Courage begins with a commitment to see things as they are, rather than how we wish they were. When it comes to Social Security, we must understand that the system does not represent an old age pension, an "insurance" program, or even a forced savings program. It simply represents an enormous transfer payment, with younger workers paying taxes to fund benefits. There is no Social Security trust fund, and you don't have an "account." Whether you win or lose the Social Security lottery is a function of when you happened to be born and how long you live to collect benefits. Of course young people today have every reason to believe they will never collect those benefits.

read more:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul714.html

Patriot · December 29, 2010, 09:22:24 AM

Really good article. Says it like it is. Thanks.

What he doesn't say is that when social security started, there were some 33 workers paying SS tax into the system for each retiree collecting benefits. Today there are only two per retiree! Talk about a Ponzi about to collapse. Unsustainable is an understatement.

Yet even today, we have an electorate so uninformed that many still worship at the Progressive alters of the likes of Woodrow Wilson, FDR, Johnson, Carter and BH Obama and their ilk in both parties & both houses of Congress (Kennedy, Durbin, Murkowski, Snowe, Reid, Pelosi, Schumer, et al). Some even believe the the Bush's were untainted by Progressive character stains. I suspect most don't even know (or care about) their names but just like their 'looks good on paper politics'.

Stock up on bean & melon seed! We may need em.

Teresa · January 02, 2011, 01:48:30 PM

quote.....When it comes to Social Security, we must understand that the system does not represent an old age pension..

But that is exactly what it was intended as.......... until Johnson and the Democrats stole the money to fund his useless "Great Society" BS...

Patriot · January 02, 2011, 06:17:15 PM

Quote from: Teresa on January 02, 2011, 01:48:30 PM
But that is exactly what it was intended as.......... until Johnson and the Democrats stole the money to fund his useless "Great Society" BS...

Again, I respectfully disagree, Teresa... The 'powers that be' (FDR & Co.) knew EXACTLY what they were selling. Redistribution Snake Oil! LBJ & Crew just repackaged the same stuff in suppository form.

redcliffsw · January 02, 2011, 06:35:32 PM

Yes Sir! Follow the money - what else has been set-up and served for the taking?

By the way, when the Federal income tax is repealed, let's don't allow or make provisions for a Federal "fair tax' or "flat tax". No more!
Nada.

Teresa · January 03, 2011, 11:08:15 PM

Patriot.. I realize that.. but also keep in mind when Bush attempted to reform SS to personal investment choices that were PROVEN to get a better return... the left thought he had just killed puppies, kittens, and babies.,.....
There were massive protests across the country.
The thinking of the American people has to change. The thought of the majority (and I believe it is the majority) have ..is they somehow can pay next to nothing in taxes and get a benefit that far exceeds what they paid. It seems that an entitlement society is what makes up a vast majority of this country...."What's in it for me?" As opposed to stay the hell out of my life.... has become a rampant problem.

I know all the talk about about cutting entitlement programs but how about also cutting the defense budget?
How about pulling our troops out of places we have no business being?? How about cutting programs that even military brass say they don't need.. and getting rid of the DHS?
I mean .. come on~~defense and entitlements make up well over half of the budget. You can cut discretionary spending in half and still won't start reducing the deficit.. let alone the debt.

Its time to tell Europe and Japan that the 50 year free ride on defense spending is over. Likewise~ we will stop paying Egypt and Israel billions apiece every year not to kill each other... and the Kosovars are on their own.
Let the EU deal with it.
There is only one way to get out of debt. Reduce spending and increase revenue. Its an iron law of economics and we aren't immune to it just because we are the US of A.

That might not cure the problem, but it will be a big step in the right direction.

Teresa · January 05, 2011, 04:06:19 PM

Was in the post office today.... and there were about 3 people standing outside discussing their SS. One old guy was hopping mad... I stopped and listened....
The government took his Mother's SS when she died. . he said they thumbed their nose at him with the answer of one less dependent to pay out~~ but here's your $200 one time death contribution.

Another gentleman said something to the effect of ......" Its the biggest scam of an entitlement society out there.
If I take a pistol and put it to a man's head and take his money,,....I go to Prison......The Gov't gets away with it every week."

Got me to thinking while I was doing my dreaded exercises this afternoon...

Social security can't be an entitlement if you are paid based on what you put in. Now if someone draws it as a disability.... then it should come out of the Welfare fund since it does not represent a lifetime of work deductions.

If I have an insurance claim against my policy that is not an entitlement. If I contribute to an annuity then there is a schedule to show what my payment will be when I retire and that is not an entitlement. It was intended as a supplement to whatever retirement you already had... that is why your pension is reduced when you begin to draw Social Security.
Now what gets in my hind end is giving SS benefits to illegals! That is totally is breaking a promise to the American people...plus breaking a couple of laws passed by Congress and signed by Presidents~~~ as well as violating the Constitution.

srkruzich · January 05, 2011, 06:57:30 PM

Actually teresa it depends on what you pay in to get disability SS. IF you don't have enough quarters paid you don't get it. You can get the welfare SSI but not SSDI which is based on what you pay in through the SS you pay every check.

Teresa · January 06, 2011, 01:22:48 AM

I get the SSI stuff all mixed up with the SSDI .. and medicare and Medicaid..
I can't keep it all straight. $:-\$

redcliffsw · January 06, 2011, 05:49:21 AM

All of it violates the intent of the founding fathers. The Fed's have been getting by with this stuff since the Civil War.

It was the Republican Party that brought socialism to this country and it's the Republicans who will never do anything
to change that.

Lincoln never saved the Union, Lincoln changed the Union.

Lots of people getting themselves a Federal check(s) in the mail box. It's gonna take a real change by the people to get the country
right and that's probably never going to happen. Meanwhile, when's the next Federal check gonna be here?