Donald Trump campaigned on protecting Social Security. At the Miami GOP presidential debate in March, he said he would “do everything within my power not to touch Social Security, to leave it the way it is; to make this country rich again.” In August, his campaign told CNNMoney that “We will not cut Medicare or Social Security benefits, but protect them both.”
But two of the people said to be helming the president-elect’s Social Security Administration (SSA) transition team have a record of hostility to the program.
In an email obtained by The Intercept, unions representing Social Security employees reported that they had been notified of the names of four SSA veterans who were picked to run the transition team.
They are Mike Korbey, former senior advisor to the principal deputy commissioner in George W. Bush’s SSA; former Reagan SSA commissioner Dorcas Hardy; former SSA Inspector General Patrick O’Carroll; and former SSA General Counsel David Black.
Korbey is a long-time right-wing activist who has argued incorrectly that Social Security is “broken and bankrupt.” He worked for an organization called United Seniors Association, a sort of conservative counterpart to the AARP, that pushed for George W. Bush’s Social Security privatization scheme — and was hired by Bush to help tout his failed push for changes.
Dorcas Hardy, a Reagan administration SSA veteran, has also called for privatizing the program — in 1995, she took part in a press conference at the libertarian Cato Institute to advocate for that idea.
The SSA cannot unilaterally privatize the program. That takes legislation that Congress has to pass and the president has to sign. But if these are indeed the people the Trump administration is picking to helm the SSA, it’s a signal that he may be far more open to cutting benefits or privatizing the program than he let on.
Top photo: Trump after the Miami GOP presidential debate in March.
if wall street ever succeeds in privatizing social security it will be the most shameful change ever enacted. incidentally i think it is a crying shame that there is any ceiling at all on how much income can be taxed for social security!
Privatizing Social Security is the holy grail for Wall Street. Since the day it was created the big money interests have been trying to loot and destroy it. Why?; because it is so successful. It has always been self funding and hasn’t added one nickle to the deficit unlike the bail out of Wall Street or the cost of the military and the endless wars. It has kept millions of Americans out of abject poverty. Sure it has to be tweaked. Raising the amount of income taxed to $500,000 would end funding problems. Wall Street would love to privatize SS and begin looting it as it now does with 401Ks. Let’s not be fooled. Social Security is the best thing average American get from being a U.S. citizen. Don’t let the Wall Street thieves steal it from us!
robbing large populations is an acquired art. Hasnt been easy what with the threats of jail and all. But over the decades the thieves of wallstreet have managed to whittle down all the barbs. Once their chosen AG and director of the F…B…I… are in place, robbing the public of social security is a breeze – it’s called THEFT BY DECEPTION. Wallstreet thieves will promise Americans more money! Yes, raising the payout in exchange for handing over all the money to the thieves is a real ass kicking bonanza. The whole thing can be annuitised and packaged and sold to retirement plans which will in turn place the money into rental complexes and rake in the bucks from ever increasing rent-to-americans rates for luxury apartments. Of course then there is the employment and wages problem to pay the too-damn-high rents but then “unrented unit packages” can be handed over to the private federal reserve as collateral.
3rd World America – the worlds largest pawnshop.
Social Security is the biggest, I mean biggest, scam ever bestowed upon the American people. This article is written out of ignorance.
When it was first instituted, the age you could draw SS was 65 but the median age of death in America was 63. So a majority of people that paid into it didn’t live long enough to get it. And if you did die before you could get it, the gov’t kept the money, you could not give it to your kids or your favorite charity.
Fast forward to today. The average American and their employers have paid in over $200,000 to SS in their name. Bet you didn’t know that. And when you reach retirement, you start to withdraw it at a rate based on what you paid in and when the gov’t thinks you’re going to die. Live past that age and you win. Die before that and you lose. OBTW, since you’ve paid in the first $, the rate of return on that $ is less than 2%. Thats horrible.
Once again you can’t pass 1 cent of whats left over of the $200,000 to your kids, family, or charity. Its the gov’t’s and then they give it to the people that lived past their predicted death age.
The best thing that could happen to SS is to privatize it. Make it like a 401k and you own it. But that cannot happen because there is no SS Trust Fund, the money was spent or lent to other gov’t agencies so if we privatized it, there would be no $$ to pay current beneficiaries. Its a ponzi scheme that the gov’t will not allow to fail or be exposed.
I won’t bother to attempt to disabuse you of your standard right-wing misconceptions and outright lies — life’s too short to wrestle with pigs.
I’ll just say this: I fervently hope that, if Trump decides to follow the lead of Ryan and the Wall Street scam artists who are drooling a the possibility of getting their hands on the money flowing into SS, they make it a highly-touted feature of their program and try to push it through starting on Day One, with great fanfare. The shitstorm would be like an F5 tornado.
But Herr Drumpf probably isn’t quite crazy enough to try it. After all, his core constituency owns most of the guns in private hands in America.
Privatizing Social Security is the holy grail for Wall Street. Since the day it was created the big money interests have been trying to loot and destroy it. Why?; because it is so successful. It has always been self funding and hasn’t added one nickle to the deficit unlike the bail out of Wall Street or the cost of the military and the endless wars. It has kept millions of Americans out of abject poverty. Sure it has to be tweaked. Raising the amount of income taxed to $500,000 would end funding problems. Wall Street would love to privatize SS and begin looting it as it now does with 401Ks. Let’s not be fooled. Social Security is the best thing average American get from being a U.S. citizen. Don’t let the Wall Street scumbags steal it from us!
So what you are really saying, is that my investment of $200,000 will be paid for in less than 7 years of retirement. Highly plausible since my family is averaging living well into their 90s. Seems to me I should collect more than 6 times my investment, which is a hell of a lot more than I could save on my own despite trying.
Privatizing Social Security is the holy grail for Wall Street. Since the day it was created the big money interests have been trying to loot and destroy it. Why?; because it is so successful. It has always been self funding and hasn’t added one nickle to the deficit unlike the bail out of Wall Street or the cost of the military and the endless wars. It has kept millions of Americans out of abject poverty. Sure it has to be tweaked. Raising the amount of income taxed to $500,000 would end funding problems. Wall Street would love to privatize SS and begin looting it as it now does with 401Ks. Let’s not be fooled. Social Security is the best thing average American get from being a U.S. citizen. Don’t let the Wall Street thieves steal it from us!
“Die before that and you lose.” Love this logic. Dead is the ultimate losing.
SS is actually pay-as-you-go. It explains it on their site. What you pay in when you’re working pays for people who are on ss now. It is insurance not savings. That’s why it works. The trust fund is just evidence that the taxes are too high right now. Saving now does nothing about future productivity and therefore doesn’t do anything about future payments. Privatization undermines its functionality. See Chile where they tried this already. A Ponzi scheme requires constant growth of funders whereas Social Security cycles through generations because of death of retirees and new workers entering the workforce. If Social Security is a Ponzi scheme then life is a Ponzi scheme.
So an investment genius type like Bernie Madoff should be allowed to manage the Social Security Trust Fund?
For all its flaws, Social Security is an idiot-proof retirement program. You and your employee make contributions during your working years.
Did you know old age poverty was a major concern before the enactment of Social Security? Should old people choose between living with their kids or in group housing run by the state?
You’re just reciting the overrated Paul Ryan Talking Points on Social Security.
So, just hand it over to the crooks on wall street huh? I would guess you won’t need it, but I DO.
Yeah, I Had a 401k, then I refinanced my house. I put a new roof on, upgrades to the kitchen, you know, investment in an asset. Then my payments went up, by 55%. I tried to get them to honor or agreement but they kept losing my paperwork they would claim I didn’t sign a form…l lost everything, my house, my savings, everything. Now, I know you could give a rats ass about any of this.
But, you steal my money, and it IS.MY.MONEY. I will treat you like the thief you are.
45 years of Social Security payments, and I’m just supposed to give it away?
NOPE.
When I see comments such as this, I see just how effective the propaganda machine at Faux News is. I sincerely hope you end up penniless and living in the street in your retirement years, RG.
Haha! I love this! So now we may know (sorta speculation at this point):
DJT is HRC is BHO is GWB is WJC… they’re all the same… and and I bet DJT couldn’t fucking “drain the swamp” if the plug to the swamp was in a vagina.
>>> DJT is HRC is BHO is GWB is WJC… they’re all the same… and and I bet DJT couldn’t fucking “drain the swamp” if the plug to the swamp was in a vagina.<<<
No… they are are controlled by the same control group. What do they ALL have in common???
HINT: Communism is really run by bankers. I shit you not. Think about their business model. Not mine. Their model IS communism.
Read Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand really knew what she was writing about to the smallest minutia.
“Read Atlas Shrugged. Ayn Rand really knew what she was writing about to the smallest minutia.”
You know, that tells me all I will ever need to know about you.
And…. likewise… it tells me HOW MUCH you DON’T KNOW.
Thank you for these great articles. Keep the truth coming. I hope someone is making a list, comparing promises to reality – good and bad. The truth will set us free only if we know it.
Let’s make some easy to read graphics for those who don’t know the players.
Good luck to us all and may peace and prosperity be our legacy- in spite of the odds.
Donald Trump – did like every politician before him – said whatever it took to get elected.
I’ve been saying great soundbites – because that is what they were…..no intention of ever carrying them out. The best SEWER, gonna sue everyone – look at his record. The Charlatan won and the people are going to pay for it….
True politicians do say what you want to hear. However, just a note; Tump isn’t a politician he’s a businessman.
Um, Trump is now a politician. He’s in the political sphere and just got elected to the highest political appointment in the US.
Zaid, With respect, you cannot save a Ponzi scheme which is what Social Security is right now. Ideally money that you put aside for your retirement would be wisely invested earning a healthy interest until you were ready to retire. The money would either throw off enough passive income that it more than covers your expenses or you’re drawing it down at a slow enough rate to cover your expenses that some would be left by the time that you died. The money from a person’s work was never invested it. Instead was recycled to pay off thoses who have been paying into Social Security for longer than yourself and who have already reached retirement age. In a ZIRP environment put in place to further siphon off people’s wealth (i.e. where one has to pay to hold even government bonds), I ask you where can you or anyone of working age earn a healthy rate of return to be able to pay their retirement? That will possibly happen only once the major credit event that would wipe out many of the banks and wreck major havoc on the financial system allows for the return of an environment where one is rewarded for saving and where Central and private banks are not allowed to print money. In any case, I fail to see any hope without radical change including possible privatisation (similar possibly to what exists in Chile).
Not how Social Security works. They do not invest your money. They take away your spending power, then add to the spending power of retirees. When you retire they give you new money not your old money. Your old money doesn’t exist anymore. Alan Greenspan tried to explain this to Paul Ryan but Paul Ryan’s brain was clogged with ideology and he couldn’t understand.
Sometimes it feels like you are talking to a wall…….I sympathize with you……
Please! I duly invested the max IRA deduction once I could afford to do so for about 10 yrs and what has it accrued in 20 yrs? $5000! I transferred a $3000 CD IRA to an investment account one year and Wachovia took 75% of what the CD earned back as a “termination fee”. If I had maintained a private investment account for 30 yrs and was 67 1/2 in Sept 2007 I would have lost 50% of what I had accrued when the banksters crashed the system.
SS is NOT a ponzi scheme any more than any other private retirement pensionor insurance fund is and is not subject to fees, recessions, fraud ir mismanagement nor requires me to be an expert on stocks and bonds or subject to the dynamics of the stock market at the time I am of retirement age.
It is, however, holdimg a 4 TRILLION dollar IOU from the general fund that was spent on wars, tax breaks for the rich and corporate welfare. If that was paid back the system would be able to pay twice the benefits it does now for the next century.
The problem with SS is not that it doesn’t work – either mathematically or fiscally, it is that it is a pool of trillions of dollars the oligarchy collects no return upon.
Does anyone out here know the real purpose for Social Security? So before you spout off, first check out its history. Question to ponder-How do you save for and retire during a depression? The fix that is needed is not liberal or conservative it is a must; but again, check out its history. I promise you, you will be shocked
Ah, come on, give us a hint or link
No way! lol. Just like Clinton’s team, huh? I’m “shocked”.
This is why his election is so good. If HRC had creeps in her team that advocated privatization it would have been largely ignored because she’s a “liberal” and would never do anything so awful.
There’s a lot of money in the swamp that’s going to be drained.
What you do once elected does not necessarily bear any resemblance to what you say during a campaign.
#maintaintheswamp
Hillary told the bankers in her private speeches that she supports Simpson-Bowles plan (Grand Bargain) that will cut SS benefits. Wall St won after Bernie conceded.
#IAMtheSWAMPTHING
we’ve seen this movie before and didnt learn?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1A-CnkZtc3s
great to see my fellow americans constantly voting for assholes who WILL asset strip them as their first priority then preach to them about god and all that moral superiority shite. well done folks. im sure the 99%are in great hands now. well done. clap…clap…clap….it will be up to the rest of us to carry the load when the shit goes down. democrats throw you a bone, the republicans take it away. my grandfather came from a mining town in upstate ny. he was not very educated but at leadt he was clever enough not to support these types of vultures now coming into office. im happy to watch the mess from far away.
“. . . it’s a signal that he may be far more open to cutting benefits or privatizing the program than he let on.”
Let him try it. It will clear the decks for a massive Democratic Party resurgence. Just keep screwing with people and you will get a double dose of what the Democrats just got.
Anyway, most of the action now is in pillaging pension funds through investor fees. Just ask governor Pence or Kasich.
The Democrats should have rallied around Alan Grayson and made him House leader instead of Nancy Pelosi. Trump should hire Grayson as a liaison to what is left of the Democrat party.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myq6y3HFNb4
1. you know who else has eyeballed SS in the past?
the clinton campaign
https://theintercept.com/2016/03/02/larry-fink-and-his-blackrock-team-poised-to-take-over-hillary-clintons-treasury-department/
and obama.
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2010/08/obamas-cat-food-committee-alan-greenspan-and-dancing-grannies-medicare
at least trump’s picks have a history of failure. plus things are even worse now than they were in the “cat food committee” days.
>>> at least trump’s picks have a history of failure. plus things are even worse now than they were in the “cat food committee” days.<<<
As I said in another post… a ponzi scheme is mathematically impossible to "fix"
At "saturation point"… There's only two possible mathematical solutions to a ponzi like the subject matter of the article:
1) Breeding Farms of productive beings (increase payers)
2) Kill unproductive beings (decrease claimants).
Hard TRUTH. But, it's a MATHEMATICAL TRUTH that cannot be contradicted. Period.
How do you reconcile the mathematics with the fact that Millenials out number Boomers, and the generation after that, Gen Z, are of equal size of Millenials. That’s a lot of people paying in. With only minor adjustments to the cap, even without the giant population of young people paying in, we would be ok.
>>> How do you reconcile the mathematics with the fact that Millenials out number Boomers, and the generation after that, Gen Z, are of equal size of Millenials <<<
How do you reconcile a 2:1 ratio when the ratio needs to be 16:1????
It takes at least 2 kids to care for 1 elderly */or sick adult under normal circumstances.
Gays don't have kids. How do my 2 kids take care of me… and the Gay?
I didn’t realize being gay made you unable to have kids…
You’re really, really, reaaaaallly out of touch with reality.
Did anyone believe what Trump said when he was campaigning?
No.
Why?
He didn’t really say anything because he knows that you can’t fix a ponzi scheme. It’s mathematically impossible. The only way it can survive is if we set up human breeding farms.
Guess what? That’s the way it’s been done since the days of the pyramids. Kids have always taken care of their own parents. The difference: Today, your kids can be enslaved by your neighbor… just like the “collective” of slaves on a cotton plantation in 1850.
ObamaCare is based on “fiscal policy” (first page of Affordable Care Act). What happened to old or disabled slaves in 1850?
Fiscal policy of the plantation.
Most young people know SS will not be there for them. They would rather invest on their own. Weaning the nation off of SS would be a good thing.
Would you also eliminate the disability program?
Thank you; far too many people forget that those of us who are disabled & unable to work rely on SSDI for our survival!
We are the largest minority & yet virtually forgotten/invisible. Given the SSDI, supportive services (i.e. In-home Personal Care that enables us to live as independently as possible & prevent institutional placement that’s far more expensive) & affordable accessible housing (which is in short supply) that those of us with disabilities depend on, we are at grave risk with a Trump presidency along with a GOP-controlled Congress!
Incidentally, for readers of this comment; refrain from side-tracking the points I’m making by launching into rants about those who abuse the disability system. While I acknowledge that this happens, these are NOT the people to which I’m referring. I have a rare progressive spinal cord disease called Syringomyelia. Because, other than using an assistive device for walking, I look perfectly fine & have been accused of scamming the system as well as being a drunk &/or drug addict when my Ataxia is flaring up. I can’t lift anything heavier than a gallon of milk nor exert any greater force because it may do further damage to my spinal cord. While I can walk for relatively short distances, I can’t stand for more than half an hour without resting. I can drive fine, but am limited in what I can do once I get anywhere. Most of my Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) have been severely impacted even though I look very nearly perfectly fine! I am a member of a very large & growing group with an Invisible Illness/Injury/Disability!
Keep that in mind when you cast judgement on anyone who’s receiving Social Security Disability Income (SSDI); which is NOT a handout! Prior to becoming symptomatic with Syringomyelia, I was gainfully employed full time for many years & paid into Social Security!
I understand your plight. My YL is a PT.
I’m sorry to hear about your plight. As a retired Social Security Disability Hearings Officer, I saw many cases such as such as yours. The vast majority of the disability fraud is due to the collusion between attorney “advocates” and federal Administrative Law Judges. Unfortunately, SSA has allowed these two groups to hijack the system. Congress is well aware of the problem, but I don’t see any remedial action being taken.
>>> The vast majority of the disability fraud is due to the collusion between attorney “advocates” and federal Administrative Law Judges. <<<
Slaves have no remedy. Classic. The collusion is a depravation and the bar is the instrument.
Since most of Congress is comprised of attorneys, any remedy won’t be coming from the foxes guarding the henhouse, obviously. They would be permanently banned from the club.
>>> Since most of Congress is comprised of attorneys, any remedy won’t be coming from the foxes guarding the henhouse, obviously. They would be permanently banned from the club. <<<
You'll be happy to know that the first prosecution under the Sherman Antitrust and Clayton Acts were against the conspiracy between the Bar and the Insurance Companies.
The really ironic thing about SSDI is that those people so disabled they never could work don’t qualify, since the money is contingent upon X years working at Y wage. The result is people who develop disabilities later in life can qualify while many more severe cases cannot.
BTW this isn’t really directed at you Jules, I just thought it was an interesting aside.
Although I retired from the system 14 years ago, I do recall that the earnings requirement for SSDI for those under age 31 are different from older workers. I just represented my ex-BIL for SSI benefits, as he had worked sporadically over his 60 years in the construction industry and did not have the requisite quarters of coverage to be eligible for SSDI. At least I was able to save him at least $3000 that an attorney would have charged to represent him. For those over age 31, a claimant has to have been covered for 20 out of the last 40 quarters to be eligible to file for SSDI.
How do you fix a Ponzi Scheme? Why are Ponzi Schemes illegal?
ANSWER: Ponzi’s cannot be fixed. They are illegal because they are scams.
How do you get rid of a scam?
Abolish it.
This is what’s going to happen: The alliance that has tended to congregate here at The Intercept, forged of common — but surface — anti-establishment principles, is going to utterly fracture. You are not going to be an accepted voice here, at all.
Not that you will be banned. But neither are you part of what the founders and core readers of this site are about.
>>> Not that you will be banned. But neither are you part of what the founders and core readers of this site are about. <<<
Ohhhhhh…. It's a club?
1))) Note my handle… Truth Seeker… I don't lie.
2) Not part of what the founders are about?
Really? Let me tell you something. This site started because of Snowden stuff.
I know stuff Snowden and Greenwald won't even touch. And I *knew* it 8 years before Snowden surfaced (and gave topically focused presentations on the subject matter)… and I had the evidence that could prove it in courtroom 2 years before anyone even heard of Snowden.
Lastly, I'm not here for a popularity contest. I'm interested in only one thing… TRUTH… Not the Ministry of Truth.
I break this point out separately…
>>> forged of common — but surface — anti-establishment principles. You are not going to be an accepted voice here, at all. <<<
How much do you know about Quaker Trusts and slavery? What is Social Security? What is an involuntary Trust.
Is that "acceptable"???? You might want to break out a few law books on this one including the Code Napoleon as imported into the Louisiana Territory.
>>> The alliance that has tended to congregate here <<<
Let me say one more thing. I'm an American by blood. The firstborn native American of my father's side was born in the Colony of Maryland in 1770. My mother's side goes back to ~1660.
A free man follows the status of his father. When establishing a free man's status, he will be asked the name of his father when it comes to his identity and rank.
A slave follows the status of the mother. When establishing a slave's status, he will be asked the name of his MOTHER when it comes to his identity and rank. (What's your mother's maiden name?)
You should have ceased the comments while the tiniest sliver of credibility still remained. Here’s a clue for the clueless: the mother’s maiden name is generally asked – are you ready for this? – not because we’re slaves but because half the population (males) already bear their father’s name. Get it?
NOT. Do you history studies … back to the days of the Code Napoleon.
PS… GET ANOTHER CLUE: Read the Bible… Solomon was the son of… the son of… the son of… son of … son of… son of… male male male male male male male.
What I described is the fundamental restatement of the law on slavery since times predating the Bible (5-10K years)
…you fellers are wholly out of your lane talking
econmics, monetary policy or a sovereign’s capability, when fiat as a tool, is used as a collective democratic good, relative to using it as a means to bail out (trillions) toward a fraudulent, predatory concentrated few.
But hey, reading back bumper stickers, baseless or mythical is both so in vogue and well-trained.
Just look to Facebook for your thesis…hey, lookie
there…me like.
>>> collective democratic good <<<
You mean like the 3/5ths "collective clause" of the US Constitution? That was for slaves.
Where does the concept of upper class, middle class, and lower class come from? (Note, under Communism… there's only two classes… a committee of dictators and slaves. "FROM each according to his ability; to each according to his need." NEED=2500 calories per day for slaves.)
Which one are you? How do you know? Can you prove it?
———–
No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.
[Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.]1 The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct.
>>> when fiat as a tool, is used as a collective democratic good <<<
Fiat is never really fiat. It's always backed by a gun or whips pointed at the collective the fiat is directed at.
Social Security is all I have. When I starve homeless on the street it will be your fault.
>>> Social Security is all I have. When I starve homeless on the street it will be your fault. <<<
First and foremost… you cannot YET understand WHY Social Security is all you have.
FIRST RULE OF PROBLEM SOLVING — UNDERSTAND THE PROBLEM
(Just like a story problem in high school math)
MY PURPOSE of my posts has been to "wake you up" to the truth. Understand the problem, first.
I don't like your situation any better than you do. I'm very familiar with it cuz I hear about persons like yourself almost every day.
Now… get to work … and understand the problem, first. When you do, THEN you can figure out both of these things:
1) Why did this result occur…
2) How to solve the problem.
3) and, last but not least, who really caused it.
Believe me: It ain't my fault. I've never held an office and never wanted to. (Hint: You should be looking at the persons who HAVE occupied DC and your state govts)
You'll figure it out. In the meantime, don't shoot the messenger. I'm working diligently to find a peaceful solution to the whole mess that has grown exponentially over the last 70 years. As it stands, UNTIL PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF understand the real problem, there is no hope.
Join me. LEARN. I've posted everything you need to know to begin your studies and figure it out.
“Now… get to work”
You sound like Romney asking “How come people are so poor? Can’t they just go buy some money?”
Wanna know what the main problem with society is???
99% don’t do anything except bitch about a problem they don’t understand.
Is that my problem? No. I’ve spent years studying this stuff. I saved you a lot of time.
Now… get to work.
SS isn’t a “Ponzi scheme”. It’s a social insurance program. SS and what Charles Ponzi and Bernard Madoff pulled off have little in common.
To be explicit: Ponzi schemes work by paying past fund investors returns out of the money that present investors have put in, and fooling everyone into thinking the apparent high rates of returns are based on the fundamentals of the invested asset instead of a mirage. Social Security takes in money from workers and keeps track of it, then pays out money to retirees from the same fund (which may have an excess in a given year that goes into Treasury bills). Since we’ll always have workers paying into the system (we don’t depend on fooling more of them based on bogus rates of return), there’s no mirage or trick – adjustments to taxation rates might need to be made here or there, but you get out roughly what you put in over your lifetime, with the important point that it’s a guarantee backed by the USG, not by some stock market best described as a casino.
To discover this “hidden truth” takes all of five minutes on someplace like Wikipedia. It’s not that complicated.
>>> SS isn’t a “Ponzi scheme”. It’s a social insurance program. <<<
"Social" insurance. An insurance policy is a piece of paper. In this case, it's a piece of paper archived in the National Archives and published in the US Statutes at Large and compiled periodically into something called US Code.
It's a piece of paper.
All "ponzi schemes" are "pay as you go." That's what it is. Go read the SS brochures and website.
Lastly, it's actually a "military pension" under the 14th Amendment that was extended in gradually from the Revolutionary War vets to 1934 when it finally included most Americans under the crisis of the monetary collapse (Great Depression) that occurred in 1933.
It was meant to be temporary. Unfortunately, politicians discovered it could be used to buy votes; and, everyone likes the illusion of a free handout or enslaving their neighbors. (Thou shalt not covet or steal, right?)
PS… >>> Lastly, it’s actually a “military pension” under the 14th Amendment that was extended <<<
Let me point out that a traditional military pension (for active duty) is paid out of general revenues/taxes.
Social Security, tho it really is an extension of law of military pensions, it's accounted for differently and paid out of "contributions." In maritime law, it's equivalent to "general average."
To: Truth Seeker
Re: Your name
Keep looking.
Thank God for FEMA camps and the sickle cell, right?