DescentBB

http://www.whitehouseforsenate.com/act/ ... uts_domain

I figure a better strategy is to remove candidates rather than endorse any of them, so I'm not endorsing any candidates republican or democrat. But, since Social Security...etc is pretty much what we got, sign it if you want to. I'm not really looking to lose one thing we already have in our favor.

I would rather sign a petition that demand a balanced budget and a few other behavior modifications to Congress because SS is going broke from their taking in the tax to fund it and using it for other things. Then they write an IOU to the ledger saying they owe the SS fund that money they took with no plan to repay it...then, if that wasn't bad enough, they count the IOU as an asset on the general ledger!!

If you or anyone else in business counted a debt as an asset on their tax form or loan application etc. to make their bottom line look healthy they would find themselves prosecuted by the same government that is doing that very thing to us right now.
So when Obama, or any politician, whips out that tired old scare tactic of their political counterparts trying to take SS away from seniors they are being truly despicable. they have already set SS on the course to failure and without some kind of reform it is going to be taken from you regardless of this current little kabuki dance the politicians are performing.

Of course Obama thinks people making anything more than a couple hundred thousand dollars a year are keeping money they don't really need so one way, his way, to fix it is confiscate the majority of the wealth to fund the government. I think his way isn't quite as good as giving it to the gypsy down the street so she can cover it in chicken blood and instruct you to bury it in a graveyard at midnight and then walk home backwards so you can return days later to find your money has doubled.

I wonder why no one has floated a bill that says, "all Social Security money must be used for Social Security," or something similar, if Congress taking money out of it it such an issue.

the original bill stated that. but congress changed it so they could spend spend spend.

http://peoplespension.infoshop.org/blog ... %E2%80%9D/

What's evil is that Social Security shouldn't even be part of the debt ceiling problem at the moment. Medicare and Medicaid are though, and all those on it know how valuable that government run health care coverage is when private coverage will most certainly break the banks of most seniors and poor. Republicans are just using this crisis to cut both of their least favorite liberal programs.

I wonder why no one has floated a bill that says, "all Social Security money must be used for Social Security,

Probably because nobody wants to limit their ability to use those funds, democrat or republican. The best we get is a petition , which serves our interests for the moment.

tunnelcat wrote:http://peoplespension.infoshop.org/blog ... %E2%80%9D/

What's evil is that Social Security shouldn't even be part of the debt ceiling problem at the moment. Medicare and Medicaid are though, and all those on it know how valuable that government run health care coverage is when private coverage will most certainly break the banks of most seniors and poor. Republicans are just using this crisis to cut both of their least favorite liberal programs.

I suggest you look at your pay check stub. You will see not only that you are paying into SS but also Medicaid.

woodchip wrote:I suggest you look at your pay check stub. You will see not only that you are paying into SS but also Medicaid.

That is how it works.

That's how it's supposed to work. Nobody's giving us anything. They take the money directly from our own pockets so we take care of each other with our own wages. That money is OURS and should be locked solely for that purpose. An equal tax is the only peaceful way forward.

woodchip wrote:

tunnelcat wrote:http://peoplespension.infoshop.org/blog ... %E2%80%9D/

What's evil is that Social Security shouldn't even be part of the debt ceiling problem at the moment. Medicare and Medicaid are though, and all those on it know how valuable that government run health care coverage is when private coverage will most certainly break the banks of most seniors and poor. Republicans are just using this crisis to cut both of their least favorite liberal programs.

I suggest you look at your pay check stub. You will see not only that you are paying into SS but also Medicaid.

Ah, but Medicaid, and Medicare, are victims of 3 things. Massive fraud schemes, inelastic demand and overall rising health care costs, none of which are being addressed. Obama did drop the ball on that one. The Dems want to keep feeding the beast without trying to fix the rampant fraud and high costs and the Repubs want to eliminate it all together and let the free market take over. Yeah, like THAT will fix the problem.

I don't see retirement costs skyrocketing at the moment, there is no inflation according to the government, so SS doesn't quite have the same problem ...... yet. It still shouldn't be part of the debt ceiling talks at the moment. It's not the problem. But with Congress raiding the fund, fewer and fewer workers paying in with the Baby Boomers retiring in the next 10 years and just plain fewer jobs all around due to outsourcing, the system will have a big problem in the future.

I'd say fraud and abuse is rampant across the board form the top to the bottom. A non-issue. We need to secure some guarantee's.

flip wrote:I'd say fraud and abuse is rampant across the board form the top to the bottom. A non-issue. We need to secure some guarantee's.

How about a Constitutional Amendment that guarantees that the SS trust fund is to be used ONLY for SS? Can't think of any other way to keep Congress' fingers out of the pot. As for Medicare/Medicaid, I don't know. Health care cost is going to be one giant problem, public or private, and no one's come up with a fix for something that people want at any cost and don't want to share the burden on.

I wonder where they would go for money once it was hand's off "our" retirement plan. It disgusts me to think that the wealthy of this country had rather dip into a little ole lady's measly 4-500 dollar a month check while declaring their excess magic money off limits. That's no one I want looking after my interests.

All those lies president Bush told no one gives him credit for his words of truth.

GW Bush Jr wrote:Some in our country think that Social Security is a trust fund -- in other words, there's a pile of money being accumulated. That's just simply not true. The money -- payroll taxes going into the Social Security are spent. They're spent on benefits
and they're spent on government programs. There is no trust.

President Participates in Class-Action Lawsuit Reform Conversation

Well, it's more complicated than that small brain of Bushie was able to iterate:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_Trust_Fund

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/0 ... rust-fund/

http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/05/news/ec ... /index.htm

The real problem is that there are generational cycles and the Boomer Generation is now starting to retire, while the work force required to sustain the program is considerably smaller. The pyramid is now upside down.

tunnelcat wrote:while the work force required to sustain the program is considerably smaller.

somehow that math doesn't add up

Population of the United States 1955 / 165,931,202

the Height of the Baby Boomer Generation

Population of the United States 2010 / 308,400,408

The work force is not smaller…the ratio of workers to retired persons has changed.