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Attention sheep: This Social Security article really angers me. You should feel angry, too.
Monday, November 11, 2024 17:48
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What would you think if you received the following urgent notice?
YOU WILL VIOLENTLY CRASH THROUGH THE DOORS AND CONTINUE THROUGH THE BACK WALL, DESTROYING EVERYTHING IN YOUR PATH.Would you think, “That is the silliest thing I have ever seen”?Would you say to yourself, “I will simply slow down, come to a stop, open the doors, glide slowly in, and close the doors behind me? What’s the problem?”
No, you wouldn’t, at least not if you were to believe a ridiculous warning article published repeatedly, for years and years, by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) and by other self-appointed experts.
Here are excerpts from my least favorite liars—least favorite because they seem to have the ears of many in Congress while explaining why you should have less Social Security and more taxes — the fearmongering CRFB.
And what makes me even angrier. The public, especially those who need Social Security more and can afford tax increases less, believe the lies being promulgated by the rich — and do nothing. Or they don’t believe the lies, and still do nothing.
We believe that the federal government is running short of money, so please sheer us. Then eat us.
The Social Security and Medicare Trustees released their annual reports today on the financial status of the Social Security and Medicare programs over the next 75 years.
The latest Social Security projections show that the program is quickly approaching insolvency and highlight the need for trust fund solutions sooner rather than later to prevent across-the-board benefit cuts or abrupt changes to tax or benefit levels.
In other words, Social Security, which is 100% funded and controlled by the Federal Government,will run out of funds unless the Government adds dollars to the program, which it easily could do at the touch of a computer key. Crazy.
Before we detail the lies, here are the truths.
The U.S. Federal Government is Monetarily Sovereign. You can look it up here. The shorthand version is that it never can run short of dollars unintentionally. Even if it didn’t collect a single penny in taxes, it could continue spending forever—even at ten times the current rate.The government also has absolute control over the dollar’s value (i.e., inflation) and has arbitrarily changed the value many times. -1792: The Coinage Act of 1792 established a bimetallic standard, setting the dollar’s value at 371.25 grains of silver or 24.75 grains of gold, with a gold-to-silver ratio of 15:1. -1834: The Coinage Act of 1834 changed the gold-to-silver ratio to 16:1 by reducing the weight of gold coins. 1873: The Coinage Act of 1873 effectively demonetized silver, ending the bimetallic standard and making gold the sole standard. -1933: President Franklin D. Roosevelt took the U.S. off the gold standard domestically, allowing the dollar to float against gold. =1971: President Richard Nixon ended the dollar’s international convertibility into gold, marking the end of the Bretton Woods system and the transition to a floating value system.
Because the Federal Government cannot run short of dollars, no agency of the Federal Government can run short of dollars unless that is what Congress and the President want.
Social Security and Medicare are federal government agencies. As with all federal agencies, their expenses are paid not by taxes but by federal dollar creation. Here is the process:
The creditor’s invoice is approved by the federal agency, which has been told by the federal government how much it could approve.
Payment is made, not by dollars, but by instructions (check or wire), telling the creditor’s bank to increase the balance in the creditor’s checking account. This creates new dollars (no tax dollars are used), which are added to the M2 money supply measure.
To balance its books, the bank obtains approval of the transaction from the Federal Reserve, which has been told by Congress how much to approve.
Yes, they’re going to have us for dinner, but it’s way too much trouble to protest. Bah, bah, bah.
Returning to the CRFB article:
Social Security is approaching insolvency. Under current law, Social Security cannot guarantee full benefits to current retirees.
Note the words “current law.”
Nothing prevents the federal government from changing any law, which it does thousands of times each year.
Essentially, the CRFB says, “Your car will crash into your garage door unless you put on the brakes and/or open the door, which you do every evening when you come home.”
The Trustees project the Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund will deplete its reserves by 2033, when today’s 58-year-olds reach the full retirement age and today’s youngest retirees turn 71.
First, the so-called “Trust Fund” isn’t a trust fund. It’s just a bookkeeping line item:
A “trust fund” implies a secure source of funding. However, a federal trust fund is simply a bookkeeping mechanism used to track inflows and outflows for specific programs.
In private-sectortrust funds, receipts are deposited and assets are held and invested by trustees on behalf of the stated beneficiaries.
In federal trust funds, the federal government does not set aside the receipts or invest them in private assets.
Rather, the receipts are recorded as accounting credits in the trust funds and then combined with other receipts that the Treasury collects and spends.
Second, the federal government owns the accounts and can unilaterally alter their purposes and raise or lower collections and expenditures by changing the law.
Thus, Congress could solve the insolvency “problem” simply by passing a rule and clicking a computer key. The government does not need to collect a single tax penny or cut benefits.
It’s a fake problem.
Returning to the misleading CRFB scare article:
Upon insolvency, all beneficiaries will face a 21 percent across-the-board benefit cut. Including the Disability Insurance (SSDI) trust fund, the theoretically combined trust funds will be insolvent by 2035 and beneficiaries would face a 17 percent cut.
Right, and tonight, when you return home, you will crash into your garage door, unless you park in the street — or, you simply could touch the brakes and open the door.
Social Security faces large and rising imbalances. According to the Trustees, Social Security will run cash deficits of $3 trillion over the next decade, the equivalent of 2.3 percent of taxable payroll or 0.8 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Annual deficits will grow to 3.4 percent of payroll (1.2 percent of GDP) by 2050 and 4.6 percent of payroll (1.6 percent of GDP) by 2098. Social Security’s 75-year actuarial imbalance totals 3.5 percent of payroll, which is over 1.2 percent of GDP or nearly $24 trillion in present value terms.
Gee, you mean the federal government really can’t run short of dollars? Nobody told us that. Bah, bah, bah
All of the above is meaningless for a Monetarily Sovereign government agency, although it would be correct for monetarily non-sovereign state/local government agencies.
In short, the CRFB, whether by intent or ignorance, confuses Monetarily Sovereign problems with monetarily non-sovereign problems. It’s like telling you that eating a piece of chocolate is dangerous for you because it happens to be dangerous for dogs. Such is the ignorance being promulgated.
The nonsense continues:
Social Security’s finances have improved from last year but remain perilous. Its 75-year solvency gap was reduced from 3.61 to 3.50 percent of payroll due to stronger-than-expected economic performance and fewer expected disability applicants, partially offset by lower expected birth rates in future years.
Time is running out to save Social Security. Policymakers have only a few years left to restore solvency to the program, and the longer they wait, the larger and more costly the necessary adjustments will be.
Acting sooner allows more policy options to be considered, allows for more gradual phase in, and gives employees and employers time to plan.
What the CRFB really means by “time to plan” is “time to raise taxes and/or cut benefits, two wholly unnecessary options.
Who wants such terrible options? The rich, because those options will make the rich richer by widening the income/wealth/power Gap between the rich and the rest.
Cutting Social Security benefits and/or raising FICA taxes scarcely affect the rich, but they affect you, by making the rich richer. The CRFB is shilling for the rich at your expense.
The idiocy goes on and on:
Social Security’s retirement program is only nine years from insolvency, and action must be taken soon to prevent an across-the-board benefit cut for many current and future beneficiaries.
The action that “must be taken” is for the federal government simply to put dollars into the fake “trust fund.” Better yet, the government could eliminate the fake “trust fund” and just pay for Social Security the same way it pays for Congress’s salaries: By voting and budgeting.
Best yet, the federal government could and should provide generous Social Security benefits to every man, woman, and child in America (aka Universal Basic Income) and stop lying to the public.
The Trustees project the Social Security Old-Age and Survivors’ Insurance (OASI) trust fund will deplete its reservesby 2033; the SSDI trust fund is in much stronger shape and will remain solvent over the next 75 years. On a theoretically combined basis – assuming revenue is reallocated between the trust funds – Social Security will become insolvent by 2035.
Upon insolvency of the OASI fund, all retirees – regardless of age, income, or need – will face a 21 percent across-the-board benefit cut,which will grow to 31 percent by the end of the 75-year projection window. We previously estimated that a typical couple retiring in the year of insolvency would face a $17,400 cut in their annual benefits.
On a combined basis, insolvency would lead to a 17 percent initial cut, growing to 27 percent by the end of the window.
Everyone says we must be shorn and eaten, so it must be so. We care, but it’s too much trouble to protest.
The article goes on and on interminably, quoting misleading facts and figures and presenting ridiculous graphs, all designed to make you believe the federal government is running short of the dollars it creates every day from thin air.
We used to be sheep, but we decided it was too much trouble to do anything about . . . .
I won’t bore you with the rest, partly because I can’t handle the nauseating lies, and you shouldn’t be forced to.
IN SUMMARY
Suppose you decide it is too much trouble to protest to your Congressperson and/or even believe the lies. In that case, your benefits will be cut — unnecessarily, your taxes will be increased — unnecessarily — and you will only have yourself to blame.
If you’re angry that your favorite team’s quarterback throws to the wrong jersey color and your favorite singer wasn’t nominated for a Grammy, save some of that emotion for the fact that you are being royally screwed by the people you just voted for, and you aren’t doing a damn thing about it.
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Before It’s News® is a community of individuals who report on what’s going on around them, from all around the world.
Anyone can join.
Anyone can contribute.
Anyone can become informed about their world.
"United We Stand" Click Here To Create Your Personal Citizen Journalist Account Today, Be Sure To Invite Your Friends.
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