Marti Oakley (c)copyright 2010 All Rights Reserved
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From the years 1984 to 2002 the US government had collected 1.7 trillion more in social security taxes than it paid out in claims. By 2006 this surplus had ballooned to 2.4 trillion in excess SS taxes. This is 2.4 trillion in excess of all claims paid to widows, retirees, orphans and disability benefits. And, it is this 2.4 trillion surplus that has Wall Street slobbering all over itself trying to come up with plans on how to siphon that money off of SS and into Wall Street markets.
Where did the surplus go?
Every administration since Lyndon Johnson, who made the SS trust surplus available to the general fund to finance the Viet Nam war, has used the SS fund to finance anything and everything. The current president has used the SS surplus to finance the day to day operations of the federal government in lieu of the massive loss of tax revenues generated by the tax cuts to the obscenely wealthy.
The reason that administration economists insisted that the economy was growing was because Social Security surpluses were used to finance tax cuts for people who were so rich they didn’t need them. On paper, and without admitting the theft of and misuse of funds, the economists reported a “growth” in revenues generated by cutting taxes to the rich. That growth was a direct result of re-designating the stolen funds as “tax revenues”.
What the Bush Republicans have done is to use Social Security taxes so the wealthy can enjoy big huge tax cuts.
The extra funds were also used to finance government, purchase war weaponry, fund the Iraqi war to some extent, and to pay the salaries of FBI agents who are busy putting all of us under surveillance as possible terrorists.
In his first year as president, Bush also took 20 million out of SS to fund privately owned schools that taught neo-conservative based curriculums. SS also has been paying for SSI, the federal version of welfare for the indigent. Originally, the Social Security Administration administered SSI but the funds for this program were separate from those generated by the SS tax. Now, SS pays for all of it.
Social Security has also been hard hit by the funding of illegal aliens. In 2005, the cost to the federal government for expenses directly related to illegal immigrants was 200 billion; that’s food stamps, healthcare, housing and education. This does not include state by state costs incurred by these same illegal residents. Most of this paid for by again raiding Social Security.
Although these few items are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to who stole the money and why, it should give you some idea as to why various politicians are still beating the privatization drum; although how any one could even utter the word after the current financial crisis is beyond me.
Social Security is NOT an unfunded liability. Social Security is very well funded by American workers. The federal government is the unfunded liability but covers this liability by stealing the retirement of workers.
The next time your politician of choice suggests to you that Social Security is an entitlement program implying that it is some kind of unearned welfare, remind them that taxes on your wages is what funds this program. The federal government does not fund Social Security…… Social Security funds the federal government. Maybe it is some perverse form of reverse welfare. Then, ask them what happened to this 2.4 trillion dollar surplus that was stolen from our retirement accounts and how they intend to pay it back.
The same politicians who proclaim Social Security to be a socialist entitlement program seem not to be aware that if it didn’t exist, they most likely wouldn’t have gotten a pay check. Maybe if it hits them in their pockets they’ll get a clue.
© 2008 Marti Oakley
The PPJ Gazette 
Aug 14, 2010 @ 20:07:36
A word from A working POOR guy. I PAY My TAXES on ALL my income. WHY Do The Fat Cats pay only PART? If I Steal, I go to Jail. What Makes The Government Different? What Happened to Justice for All? I Don’t Feel Reprisinted, I FEEL USED!
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Aug 21, 2009 @ 14:46:41
The decrease in tax revenues from those in the upper 10% resulted in an estimated 264 billion right off the top. The Death tax…..otherwise and accurately known as the billionaires tax, allowed those with incomes above 3.45 million a year to defer 78% of their income when filing taxes. This could be done for years on end. The agreement was that upon death or distribution of the acquired estate the wealthy would reconcile the taxes owed on the deferred income. Of course that never happens. Thats a whole other issue.
The result was that the wealthy are assessed taxes only on 22% of their actual income and defer up to 78%. Then with the use of creative bookkeeping, tax loopholes, hedges, and various and sundry accounting creations, actually pay a marginal rate of only 5.5% on only 22% of their real income.
The rest of us are subjected to the Alternative minimum tax. When you file your taxes at the end of 2010, the ATM will eat up an approximate 38% of your income…..and thanks to the Bush Crime Administration, your access to deductions will effectively be wiped out totally.
To top it off……whether they buy securities, or use it for toilet paper makes no differerence, it is not there to purchase anything or to pay bills in other areas of government……when they steal our investments for retirement from SS…..I consider that yet another tax on the middle class so that the wealthiest don’t have to pay.
If I am taxed on 100% of my income……why shouldn’t the wealthy have to do the same?
The end of the “death tax” did not affect the billionaires tax……It simply moved the accounting and taxation scheme into other areas where it remains in affect.
The whole “end the death tax” was parroted by people who knew nothing about it but somehow thought their 50,000 a year job woudl make them subject to it. In their dreams.
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Aug 21, 2009 @ 06:17:45
I’m not sure what inaccuracies Kschmidlapp is talking about. Most of Bush’s tax cuts did go to the wealthiest people who needed them least. 50% of all income went to 10% of the population. Considering all the loop holes they have, it IS much higher than that. i.e. If you by a Hummer you got a tax break the average American didn’t get; this doesn’t show as income. Those tax cuts were borrowed, it wasn’t from cutting spending, quite the opposite. Along with those tax cuts were huge cutbacks to states, shifting taxes down line to the state in local tax and fees. Of course two wars paid for with borrowed money. Who will eventually pay it back? The wars and SS surplus is all off budget making the books look better at least to Americas fool class. Is it that hard to understand that if you cut your income, go out and run up the credit cards things will end well?
Who do you think gets the money when the health insurance company profit goes up 1000% in 5 years? That top 10% of that got most of the tax cuts. And remember, that insurance profit, including the 1000% increase created nothing.
I question if our nation can survive as a free nation, 230 years isn’t that long, we can easily still fail. We have a small filth rich group of people who hire the best PR firms, who hire the best psychiatrist and psychologist in the world to convince people that the only policies that will make you happy are the ones that make the richest people richer; they are good at it and convince millions. It akin to being convinced that it is good to stick a 2 x 4 up your own butt and then being convince to blame the pain on anyone who knew better.
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Aug 21, 2009 @ 05:12:25
Just want to correct a few inaccuracies in the above essay. All people got tax cuts, a straight percentage based upon what you pay in. The rich got more because THEY PAY MORE. Social Security didn’t get raided to fund any specific purpose least of all the “obscenely rich” Get real.
As of the mid 1980s, by law, any surplus of SS must be used to buy government securities. No other choices. This basically places it into the general fund and is lost to future SS recipients.
It is not at the discretional use of politicians anymore.
Thought you should know.
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Aug 18, 2009 @ 16:58:14
I wish more people knew about the SS rip off, especially in light of what Obama is trying to do to our healthcare
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Apr 29, 2009 @ 05:42:25
Thats exactly what they intend for you to do. SS is set up so that it provides just enough to get by on……and not a dime more. It forces you into cracker box housing if you are unfortunate enough to have to rent. Still, thats better than a cardboard box in an alley.
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Apr 29, 2009 @ 01:00:33
Thank goodness for Railroad Retirement – I’d starve on Social Security
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Mar 04, 2009 @ 22:53:02
I will be doing more on this verey soon. In the meantime…….just remember that “unfunded liability” is code for……we have been stealing your investments in SS and had no intentions of ever paying it back……We now owe investors in SS an estimated 3 trillion (unfunded liability) meaning government is “liable” for the funds stolen and can’t pay them back with out stealing more from the original investors.
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Mar 04, 2009 @ 18:59:23
This is such a huge issue, but it is so hard to find good facts about it on-line. I’m not a big conspiracy guy, but if I Google the BS statement “Obama not born in America” I get hundreds of hits. It you Google anything like “total tax burden” I only find numbers that include income tax. This is the first site I found that explains the SS scam well. Please, if you have any links or resources that expand on this let us know. This subject has angered me since Regan’s huge SS tax increase back in the ’80s and still got the title of being a tax cutter when he should have gotten the record of giving the larges middle class tax increase in history.
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