Social Security Q&A

Q   Why are Republicans so hot to privatize Social Security?

A   It has long been a personal piggy bank of both parties. The United States Chamber of Commerce states on their website, "The government does not save our Social Security taxes for future retirees. Congress borrows this extra money and uses it to make up for deficits elsewhere in the budget. Thus, the Social Security trust fund contains nothing but IOUs the government has written to itself."

(United States Chamber of Commerce website,
http://www.uschamber.com/issues/retirementpension/socialsecurity/trust-fund-myth)

(See http://www.nationalreferendum.org/sstrustfund.html)

Former President George W. Bush once famously stated that "All that's left in the Social Security Trust is a cabinet full of IOU's" (June 3, 2005, The New York Times).
(See http://www.nationalreferendum.org/sstrustfund.html).

Editor’s note: he was already planning to use that money to invade Iraq.

Q    Is Social Security harming America?

A   Of course not. Many older Americans would be living in poverty if it weren’t for Social Security, a mandatory savings account for Americans during their productive years.

Q   Is Social Security fully funded?

A   Yes, Social Security is fully funded ... on paper.
Problem is Social Security has been raided by both parties.

According to http://zfacts.com/p/336.html, the national debt is borrowed from many sources and always has been. Once borrowed, the money is spent—that's the point of it. But the U.S. government has always honored its debts and is still the safest investment.

Is the national debt so big we can't pay it back? Compared to the size of our economy, it's smaller than in World War II, and we paid it down after that. There is only one danger to Social Security, and that's Congress.

Congress could decide not to let Social Security use its trust fund. Here's how. It could reduce Social Security benefits so much that Social Security would never need the trust fund. But the Democrats have always supported Social Security, so that danger could only come from the Republicans.

Editor’s note: in other words, your government is using the mandatory savings you’re putting away for your retirement for their discretionary spending. And the blackheads (new Republicans: young, aggressive, sans gray hair in the pack) have no intention of paying the American people back.

Q   Is Social Security funded at all?

A   According to http://zfacts.com/p/336.html, the paper in Social Security is safe. They give the following examples and discussion:

• What about the Federal Pension Trust Fund? It's just the same—all $800 billion of it. You mean there are no military pensions?!
• What about the $280 billion in Medicare Trusts—are those fake?
• And the highway trust and all other government trusts? $3.1 trillion all told.

And what's their problem with "paper"? A thousand dollar bill is paper, the check I write, my stock certificate, my government bond—all paper. Did they expect the trust would be made of diamonds?

What of the millions of Americans who own Treasury bonds, all paper? Seven trillion dollars of national debt has been spent on government programs, and there is "nothing left." Has the US of A defrauded the world of $7 trillion?

When you put money in the bank, you get paper, and they lend your money to someone who spends it. Your cash does not stay in the bank. Does Cheney really think the Social Security Administration (SSA) should have a storeroom of cash? They're just trying to frighten the people.

Editor’s note: this article was written when Bush and Cheney were still in office. But the blackheads’ scare tactics haven’t changed.