note: The theft of SS funds has been ongoing since President Johnson took the fund out of trust and put it into the general fund to help finance the Viet Nam War. The Bush2 Administration used SS funds to hide the loss of revenue from his tax cuts the upper 3%; redesignating these stolen funds as “revenues” to hide the theft.
____________________________________________________
By ALLEN W. SMITH
Guest columnistPublished: Saturday, July 10, 2010 at 4:01 a.m. NewsChief.com“The 1983 payroll tax hike has generated more than $2.5 trillion that is supposed to be in the trust fund”
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In December, the Obama deficit-reduction commission will make recommendations for budget cuts that will then be voted on, with an up or down vote, by the lame-duck Congress.Already, there is much speculation that Social Security will be one of the big targets. The rationale for cutting Social Security seems to be that, during such difficult economic times, everything should be a candidate for the chopping block, and that the public should support such cuts out of a sense of patriotism.The flaw in this argument is that Social Security has not contributed a dime to the budget deficits or the soaring national debt. Social Security is funded exclusively by payroll taxes (also known as FICA taxes), paid into the fund by working Americans.In 1983, the payroll tax was increased substantially in response to the recommendations, the previous year, of the Greenspan Commission on Social Security Reform. Prior to 1983, Social Security had operated on a “pay-as-you-go” basis with each generation responsible for paying for the benefits of the generation that preceded them.The 1983 legislation changed the nature of Social Security funding. In addition to paying for the benefits of the preceding generation, as was customary, the baby boomers were also required to pay additional taxes to partially pre-fund their own retirement.The net result is that the baby boomers have paid more into Social Security than any other generation. Yet they are often made scapegoats and blamed for the Social Security funding problem. I am not a baby boomer, but I am very sympathetic to them. They are getting a bum rap.The intent of the 1983 legislation was to generate large Social Security surpluses for the next 30 years that were supposed to be saved and invested, in order to build up a large reserve in the trust fund that could later be drawn down to pay benefits to the baby boomers. The 1983 payroll tax hike has generated more than $2.5 trillion that is supposed to be in the trust fund. If the trust fund actually held this amount in real assets, full Social Security benefits could be paid until at least 2037 without any changes. Unfortunately, none of the surplus revenue was saved or invested in anything. It was all spent, by the government, on wars and other government programs without making any provisions for repaying the money.During the past 25 years, five presidents, and the members of Congress, have participated in the great Social Security scam. All Social Security contributions made by working Americans, except the amount which was needed to pay current retirement benefits, has been funneled into the general fund and used for non-Social Security purposes.Some like to say that the government just “borrowed” the money during the time period when it was not needed to pay benefits. But borrowing implies repayment, and no provisions for repayment have been made.The government did not enact future tax increases that would automatically kick in when the Social Security money was needed. Neither did they enact legislation that would end other spending programs once the Social Security money was needed so the money could be transferred to the trust fund.The government spent the Social Security money, pure and simple, without making any provisions for future repayments. The IOUs in the trust fund are not marketable, and they could not be sold to anyone even for a penny on the dollar. The Social Security trustees confirmed the worthlessness of the IOUs in the 2009 Social Security Trustees Report with the following words:“Neither the redemption of trust fund bonds, nor interest paid on those bonds, provides any new net income to the Treasury, which must finance redemptions and interest payments through some combination of increased taxation, reductions in other government spending, or additional borrowing from the public.”In order for Social Security to pay full benefits after 2016, it will be necessary for the government to begin repaying the money it has spent on other things. This will mean increased taxes and/or additional borrowing.Neither of these is politically popular, and there is no assurance that future politicians will be willing to raise taxes to pay for the irresponsible behavior of past politicians. If the money is not repaid in full, with interest, it will have been stolen by the government from working Americans who paid into the fund.Since Social Security would be fully funded until at least 2037 if the government had not used the money for other things, the only reason that politicians are advocating cuts in Social Security benefits is the fact that the government does not have the money with which to pay its debt to Social Security.Given the fact that Section 13301 of the Budget Enforcement Act of 1990 made it a violation of federal law to use Social Security revenue for non-Social Security purposes, it is hard to justify using the word “borrow” to refer to any of the Social Security money spent after 1990, even if it is eventually paid back.Allen W. Smith is a Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at Eastern Illinois University. Dr. Smith is the author of seven books and holds a Ph.D. in economics from Indiana University.
Kendal
Jun 03, 2021 @ 17:43:36
Shawn Tyler, you act as though every single one person can be rich in this life! What a foolish statement!!
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Kendal
Jun 03, 2021 @ 17:39:30
Straight Thieves
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ppjg
May 21, 2018 @ 12:57:15
I do not know. But to sue the government./….they have to waive sovereign immunity and ALLOW you to sue them
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Susan Kowzic
May 21, 2018 @ 12:19:17
can we sue our goverment if they rob our s.s. funds under section 13301.?
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Carol McGovern
Oct 18, 2017 @ 14:08:03
WellPoint and United Health wrote the ACA. They Robbed 714 Billion Dollars from the MEDICARE ACCOUNT and 300 Billion from Vantage. President Trump is STOPPING the Subsidies to these CRIMINAL insurance companies which Insure ONLY the PROFITS for THEMSELVES and their shareholders.
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George Morris
Jan 10, 2017 @ 14:29:48
There is no trust whatsoever in what our elected politicians do This evil deed confirms not one iota of respect to all Americans -not just those who rely on Social Security as well as Medicare The government will never pay Socila Security the money that was taken .In fact every time when the federal budget deadline nears Social Security checks are used to pressure the parties to agree since there are no funds in the so call trust fund to fund those payments.
Anyone that would run a business in this manner would be locked up for a long time The mess that we are in has enriched the elite and destroyed the working class
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ivan
Oct 04, 2016 @ 20:15:20
how can illegals get anything , and us nothing ?
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David
Apr 07, 2016 @ 21:02:18
We need to force congress to put back the 2.5 Trillion taken for use other than ss. Plus interest. If we stop sending money to 3rd world countries that hate us we would be in much better shape. The money is taxed when its held out of your payroll check. It is taxed again when you draw it from your ss account. Then when you make a purchase its taxed again. Its time for them to pay us back or pay the consequences its Boston Tea party time.
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john gallagher
Feb 28, 2016 @ 09:55:24
The Republican Party thinks its better to do away with the program then fix it. After all their the ones that benefitted by the second Bush tax cuts
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Zenaida Wedekind
Feb 15, 2016 @ 20:40:00
I’ll right away grab your rss feed as I can not find your email subscription link or e-newsletter service. Do you have any? Kindly let me know so that I could subscribe. Thanks.
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will gieser
Oct 19, 2015 @ 08:03:36
Give back the money they have stolen or go to jail
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Cheryl
Jun 24, 2014 @ 06:09:59
The government is always talking about Ponzi schemes, but the government theft of social security is the biggest Ponzi scheme around.
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ppjg
Oct 15, 2013 @ 15:57:13
Rose: Right now that would be about 3.2 TRILLION stolen over the last 60 years. The Republicans have not said one word about this when they insist on cutting SS and calling it an entitlement as if it was welfare.
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Rose Vanhoy
Oct 15, 2013 @ 01:26:30
We the people really need to get together and do something about this. I never hear any politician say anything about the money they took from social security for other things. Before they cut one penny from social security they need to pay back all the money that was used for other than social security.
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Sheri Gibbs
Apr 13, 2013 @ 08:00:51
What the American government is doing to Baby Boomers to hide its having stolen, spent and never repaid the Social Security we were forced to give them from every paycheck we ever earned is the biggest nationwide hate crime ever perpetrated on any segment of our population since the Emancipation Proclamation that said no one could own slaves anymore. Still, millions of us worked in jobs without retirement funds, pension plans, unions, sick time, vacation time, health insurance, and no pay for overtime…just like slaves, all the while being forced to pay into Social Security believing it would be there for us when we got older, could no longer work. Instead of creating any kind of separate fund for disabled children, veterans, and people who never worked, all that comes out of our Social Security, too. We spent our school years with 50 or more to a classroom in rows of little desks with only a teacher, books, pens and paper, none of the billions of dollars of toys, bells & whistles every school whines about never having enough of these days, and millions of us have died young due to the chemicals allowed into our food, air, water, every product introduced to the market since the late 1940s. Our young men died in a war we should never have gotten into, or came home destroyed. The first generation all females were not only expected to work, but had to or we would not have survived. So we worked for terrible wages because that is how women are seen in this country. Our money has been spent and, now that those of us who have survived are in our 60s we live every day with the fear, worry, stress illnesses, depression, and trauma of a government and media propagandizing a whole nation to hate us, to believe Social Security is “welfare” that will “break the nation.” Every month, rich people who don’t need one cent from Social Security take it and don’t even know what amount goes into their bank account — when every one of those could be declining it or giving it to someone who truly needs it.
The result of what they are doing to us is becoming genocide. Hundreds of thousands of elderly people every day try to commit suicide because they can not afford basic costs of living, lose their homes, or can’t afford one at all. Most of us receive under $1000 per month, many only half that. In 6 years there have only been a couple of tiny raises, $13, $16, maybe $20 a month. When they cut Social Security now, or “get rid of it” as they hang the constant threat over our heads, the genocide will be so huge any of us who survive a little while longer will remember the words…and have to be back in the streets reminding them THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING, THE WHOLE WORLD IS WATCHING.
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Shawn Tyler
Feb 13, 2013 @ 16:02:32
Wow Murray,
You REALLY hate the success of others. Maybe you should’ve done better in school or took a chance on a dream. I suspect, though, that you just went through life complaining about what others had and how you got a raw deal.
I’m glad that we aren’t a whole Country full of Murrays. We would be Europe.
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Murray
Nov 29, 2012 @ 16:02:31
The richest 2% of Americans have more money than they can spend in a lifetime and yet complain that the poor and the middle class receive Social Security benefits. The call it an entitlement program. I call it an earned program. And the funniest thing is that these rich will still take Social Security benefits if they can-and put in the money they get into their bank accounts while complaining about the program. Remember that while there is a limit on the amount you put into Social Security (no matter how much you earn), but the amount you get is based on your earnings (So if you only earned $25,000 a year, you’ll get less Social Security than someone who earned $14,000,000 a year.).
What a wonderful country we have if you are rich.
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Peggy Saunders
Aug 16, 2012 @ 23:11:16
Is there anyway the American people can sue the gov’t for stealing our money? We need to stick together and go after the govt for what is rightfully ours. How can we go about doing this?
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Fred
Apr 11, 2012 @ 22:18:06
If you make $110,000 you pay $6.000 in Social Security. Every thing you make after this is tax free from the Social Security tax. The government uses Social Security at will. Therefore this is a tax on the poor. Can anyone else see this? If you make $1,000,000 a year you still only pay $6,000 a year in Social Security.
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Edward Taylor
Dec 18, 2011 @ 18:18:03
As far as I’m concerned,these thieves should be setting in a prison cell, with the rest of of the SCUM-BAGS
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Gary Foster
Jun 22, 2011 @ 05:54:48
“pearson” is right. Bernie Madoff’s scheme is small compared to what the government is doing with S.S.: essentially stealing from Peter (our young taxpayers) to not even neces-sarily pay Paul (the elderly). If “Paul” needs to be concerned about the solvency of S.S., that leaves “Peter” holding an empty bag of promises. Mr. President and Congress: keep your hands off S.S. money and let it be used for what it was intended.
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Gary Foster
Jun 22, 2011 @ 05:36:41
It’s too bad there isn’t a “Steven Segal” to teach presidents and congress they are not “above the law”. If a mining company took pension funds and used them for non-pension purposes, an attorney would have the company in court so fast for misappropriation of funds. Yet we keep hearing that money has been taken from Social Security and put in the general treasury to pay for non-Social Security costs. And we keep hearing about how soon Social Security will go broke if we don’t raise the tax rate or delay paying benefits until we reach an older age. That money was specifically designated on the paycheck stub for S.S. The IRS already got their money as income tax. There should be more than enough money left from the reduced amount wives get, though they pay in at the same rate; and all those people who pay into S.S., but never live long enough to collect it. (There’s another group of people who lose: civil service retirees – depending on the amount of their pension, they may lose a part of their S.S. benefit. You shouldn’t lose a part of your benefit just because the government was your employer.)
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If Social Security pays for itself, why do right wingers want to cut it? - Politics and Other Controversies -Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Conservatives, Liberals, Third Parties, Left-Wing, Right-Wing, Congress, President - Page 8 - City-Data Foru
Apr 15, 2011 @ 16:01:11
» Glenn Beck Distorts Social Security:
Apr 03, 2011 @ 15:33:51
Social Security is not an “entitlement” program | The Global Realm
Feb 18, 2011 @ 18:07:11
Social Security is not an “entitlement” program « The PPJ Gazette
Feb 17, 2011 @ 18:48:02
pearson
Feb 12, 2011 @ 02:20:39
Our Federal Government is no more honerable than Bernie Madoff. Their crimes should be discussed on the television and newspaper every day for a year. Every classroom in America should hold discussions regarding the dishonesty of the American Government. Heres a laugh. In the February 2011 Readers Digest there is a quote on page 149 by John Boehner. He is now majority leader in the House of Representives and I believe third in line for the presidency if anything happened to the pres and vice pres. To show how twisted this man is I quote what he said….”We need to look at the American people and explain to them that we’re broke. If you have substantial non-Social Security income while you’re retired, why are we paying you at a time when we’re broke? We jujst need to be honest with people.” This quote reflects how twisted the thinking is of these law makers…..sick…sick….sick minds. He and George W Busch wouldn’t make good 5th graders.
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Jim Brown
Jul 17, 2010 @ 20:50:58
Too bad the federal law has no penalty, but laws governing the Congress aren’t enforced anyway. Lopholes, loopholes, loopholes.
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