in all this talk about cutting Social Security benefits, let us not forget . . .

[OneBlueSky]

that the system was designed to be self-sustaining, and the only reason it's not is that Congress and the President (of both parties . . . deceit and crookedness know no party lines) have been using the trust fund as a government ATM for decades to keep the reported federal deficit artificially "low" . . . (well, certainly not low . . . but lower than it would appear without the SS dollars) . . .

so . . . we pay into Social Security, the government uses the funds we pay in for other purposes, and now they tell us that Social Security is the problem because we don't have the money to pay all those benefits . . . of course, they conveniently neglect to mention that the reason we don't have the money to pay the benefits is that they, the Congress and the President, have been systematically stealing it for years . . . and years . . . and years . . .

just one more humongous scam being perpetrated on us, the American people, by the crooks, liars, and thieves we continually send back to Washington to "represent us" and to "look after our interests" . . .

yeah, right . . . if you believe that, I got this bridge in Brooklyn you should look at . . .

[Cleita]

1. K&R

[in_cog_ni_to]

2. AND let us not forget: SS does not have anything to do with this country's debt.

Another little FACT they neglect to mention when they're on TeeVee blathering away. Rat bastards.

K&R!

[customerserviceguy]

3. Not necessarily

Right now, the Social Security outflows are more than the FICA tax inflows. Until we get out of this recession/depression, that's very likely to continue to be the case.

Yes, there's the Trust Fund. However, unless Congress authorizes a swap of the non-negotiable specialized securities held by that fund for fully tradable T-bills or notes, those IOU's are subject to the whim of Congress as to being paid back.

We could print money. Lots and lots of it. But we'd better stock up on paper and ink, because chained CPI or not, the inflation that's going to result will put us on the path to being Zimbabwe.

There is another solution, we could cut spending and/or raise taxes enough to run surpluses necessary to redeem those securities at a rate that will ensure continued payment of Social Security. However, if the combined pincer effect of low-paying jobs with high unemployment, and the rising tide of baby boomers looking for their checks continues, we'll exhaust the couple trillion in the fund in far shorter time than the folks with the rose-colored glasses (the Social Security Trustees) could see.

Even if you never had another dime borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund, all of the above would still be true.

[unblock]

4. yup, republicans have turned their hero reagan into a liar

he doubled payroll taxes to solve for the very problem they claim they now need to solve for again.