Social (In)security
Reading an article this morning addressing the government facing a negative cash flow for the next two years regarding the payout of Social Security benefits to early retirees (see link below), I found myself intrigued by the following excerpt from that article:
Those funds have actually been spent over the years on other government programs. They are now represented by government bonds, or IOUs, that will have to be repaid as Social Security draws down its trust fund.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090927/D9AVHRDG0.html
So, basically, what nobody is willing to “fess up” to is the fact that there is plenty of money flowing from our tax dollars to fund the Social Security debacle. The real issue is: the government is “borrowing” faster than the “trust fund” can be replenished! So, what is the solution? Instead of reining in their penchant for “robbing from Peter to pay Paul”, the government decides to raise the minimum age you must attain before you can begin drawing Social Security payments!
This is outrageous! Instead of the government doing the right thing by keeping their greasy little hands off the Social Security Trust Fund and stop treating it as their personal slush fund, we are forced by law to put off accessing our own money until later in life! The following quote (with link) explains this all too “typical” solution by a government unwilling to govern themselves first.
The Social Security “trust fund,” currently at $1.7 trillion, contains no hard assets. It represents money the federal government owes to itself. Congress has spent the surplus money and promises to pay it back someday.
http://www.washingtonpolicy.org/Centers/government/policynotes/05_celis_socialsecurity.html
Here is one more quote that puts it into perspective as to what would happen if we attempted to do what the government continues to get away with:
This situation is equivalent to you using your retirement savings to buy a car, and then writing an IOU to yourself and filing that in a folder called “Retirement Fund” in a safety deposit box at the bank. The following year you do the same to pay for your vacation. You pay for your kids’ college education the same way. Every year you assure your spouse that your joint retirement fund is growing, safe and secure, in a lock-box. If you tear up those pieces of paper, it has no economic impact.
Simply put, the following quote says it all:
Former Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacoca once said that any CEO who tried this with a firm’s pension fund would be thrown in jail.
As the government continues to “spend our way out of debt” we can only hope that we the people will continue to wake up and smell the coffee and, with one voice, shout out “ENOUGH!!” and insist on the same level of fiscal responsibility from our elected representatives that is expected from us. Until then, it will only result in more stringent controls forced on the citizens of this great country by those who should be setting the standard instead of placing themselves above the law.
In conclusion, check out this link with quotes from many of our elected representatives over the last few years “confessing” about what is really going on with our Social Security:
http://www.uncle-scam.com/Confessions/house/confess-house.htm
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