One thing that hardly gets mentioned is the fact that Social Security also pays for people in need. Social Security Disability takes our working class funds and delivers money to those who are in trouble or need due to injury or illness. And, the wife of that truck driver who was killed last month with 3 kids at home; they will all receive survivor's benefits - the single largest source of income for children of any federal program.
Churches, kind people, and family members cannot carry this load, so we all get to pitch in. That's why it's a Social program. When my right wing or phony libertarian friends and acquaintances tell me that social security should be privatized, I always ask them "who will take care of the survivors dependent on those funds?" Crickets on that one every time. IF they say that churches will pitch in, I remind them that in the good ol' days, America was populated with poor houses, places that were not the envy of every town.
What the hell is wrong with our country when we refuse to praise what is an amazing program, successful to the extent that it has paid for itself every year, and is for too many the only source of income when we retire? Can you just imagine millions of retirees listening to some baby with a cell phone on a TV commercial telling them to get busy with their portfolio? Ask all those folks who jumped on the Enron bandwagon how that one worked out for them?
Social Security was so flush with money after Reagan jacked up the FICA rate, that he went on a massive spending spree. It would have been much worse if the Democrats in Congress hadn't reined some of it in. Daddy Bush had to raise taxes despite his pledge not to, as our debt was skyrocketing. One solution to this problem, borrow money from social security to pay down just the interest on this debt. Under Clinton, hundreds of billions were borrowed each year just to keep the debt from exploding by paying our interest due. Much like Americans who can't pay down their credit card bills, but do somehow manage to cover the interest payments due to keep the whole thing from collapsing. So in a sense, Social Security was also applied to a country in need, a country disabled by voodoo economics run wild.
May Couric's toes find sharp corners in the dark the rest of her mendacious days!
The Shadow Mayor
= new reply since forum marked as read