Plank on Social Security
I was thinking about the Ponzi scheme created by Bernie Madoff and came to the conclusion that it is exactly the same as is being done to us by our government as far as Social Security goes. The basics of a Ponzi scheme are that you start collecting money to be paid back at some time and then pay off the first investors with the money put in by later investors. All the time this is happening you pay yourself a huge commission. The problem arises when the pool of new investors dries up and the later investors want their money back. The money has already been spent and any assets claimed are found to be smoke and mirrors. At that point someone usually goes to prison (hopefully Bernie will get to go as he stole 50 billion).
Lets look at Social Security. A long time ago the government started collecting money from everyone working with the promise that they would get it back later. The first recipients were paid back with the money taken from later recipients. Since the government was collecting more money than it was paying out they started paying themselves a commission by spending he excess to keep themselves in office.When the pool of new workers dried up (baby bust) they were not able to pay out all the old recipients while adding the new people wanting to get paid (baby boomers). The money was already spent and the assets of social security are a promise that the government will pay itself back with money that it does not have.Sounde like smoke and mirrors to me. We are now to the point where the scheme usually falls apart and the mastermind goes to prison. But wait, the schemers in Washington can not be held accountable and to make matters worse they have devised another scheme to put off the day of reconing even farther. They will simply borrow the money from future generations to pay for the recipients now. I guess Bernie could not borrow 50 billion to pay off the later investors with a note promising to have his grandchildren pay it off with interest.
As long as we are at the beginning of a depression we should take this opportunity to fix Social Security. A whole new system is needed based on the actual return on the investment that people make into the system.The system should not be ran by the government as they will do whatever is needed to keep themselves in current power including running the worlds biggest Ponzi scheme. Maybe the money could be invested in building alternative energy systems with the idea that they would make a real profit. I would much rather have my money invested in a profit making wind farm than in a promise from a government that is broke and borrowing on its grandchildren.
Now I am about to get myself into real trouble and suggest something that would make the usual politician run like a scalded dog. Since the people that invested in the Ponzi scheme with Bernie Madoff will only get back part of what they think they have coming then I think that the people that have invested in the government Ponzi scheme knows as Social Security should get back only a part of what they think they have coming.If the bondholders in Ford and GM will only get 30% of their money back and everyone that has money in the stock market has lost half of their investment then why should our grandchildren have to pay for the current retirees to keep getting the same amount and be guarenteed a COLA increase every year etc etc etc . Just as Bernie Maddoff's scheme has little or no money left so the governments scheme has little or no money left. We need to spread the pain and misery equally and not exempt the retirees simply because they are the biggest voting block and politicians are terrified that if they ask the old folks to share in the pain that they will never get elected again. They are called the greatest generation for a reason. They will be willing to shoulder their share of the load one more time for the sake of their grandchildren and future generations. The problem is that no politician now in office has the nerve to ask them out of fear of AARP and the rest of the old folks lobby. Does every generation have some whining greedy slobs? yes but we have to be able to look past that for the long term good of the country.
For us baby boomers with a few years left to work it will also mean sacrafice. Maybe we will not be able to afford to retire at 62 or 65 or even 67. We will have to continue to work until we get a combination of old social security at age 70 and new social security profits and our own savings that will enable us to retire.
You younger people can forget about ever collecting old social security. You will have to lose whatever you have invested in the system now and retire on the actual profits fron new social security and from your own savings. When you retire will be based on how much profit is generated and by how much you save. The good news is that time is on your side and your taxes will be lower than they would have been if we borrow the money from your childrens future.
The new system should be based on pay for yourself and pay as you go. It will last forever and not cost the taxpayer anything. If you do not save for yourself then you may never retire, it will be up to you.
Disability will not be part of the new system and will be paid for out of general revenue discounted for what you have earned. Double and triple dipping on disability should not be allowed.
Lets look at Social Security. A long time ago the government started collecting money from everyone working with the promise that they would get it back later. The first recipients were paid back with the money taken from later recipients. Since the government was collecting more money than it was paying out they started paying themselves a commission by spending he excess to keep themselves in office.When the pool of new workers dried up (baby bust) they were not able to pay out all the old recipients while adding the new people wanting to get paid (baby boomers). The money was already spent and the assets of social security are a promise that the government will pay itself back with money that it does not have.Sounde like smoke and mirrors to me. We are now to the point where the scheme usually falls apart and the mastermind goes to prison. But wait, the schemers in Washington can not be held accountable and to make matters worse they have devised another scheme to put off the day of reconing even farther. They will simply borrow the money from future generations to pay for the recipients now. I guess Bernie could not borrow 50 billion to pay off the later investors with a note promising to have his grandchildren pay it off with interest.
As long as we are at the beginning of a depression we should take this opportunity to fix Social Security. A whole new system is needed based on the actual return on the investment that people make into the system.The system should not be ran by the government as they will do whatever is needed to keep themselves in current power including running the worlds biggest Ponzi scheme. Maybe the money could be invested in building alternative energy systems with the idea that they would make a real profit. I would much rather have my money invested in a profit making wind farm than in a promise from a government that is broke and borrowing on its grandchildren.
Now I am about to get myself into real trouble and suggest something that would make the usual politician run like a scalded dog. Since the people that invested in the Ponzi scheme with Bernie Madoff will only get back part of what they think they have coming then I think that the people that have invested in the government Ponzi scheme knows as Social Security should get back only a part of what they think they have coming.If the bondholders in Ford and GM will only get 30% of their money back and everyone that has money in the stock market has lost half of their investment then why should our grandchildren have to pay for the current retirees to keep getting the same amount and be guarenteed a COLA increase every year etc etc etc . Just as Bernie Maddoff's scheme has little or no money left so the governments scheme has little or no money left. We need to spread the pain and misery equally and not exempt the retirees simply because they are the biggest voting block and politicians are terrified that if they ask the old folks to share in the pain that they will never get elected again. They are called the greatest generation for a reason. They will be willing to shoulder their share of the load one more time for the sake of their grandchildren and future generations. The problem is that no politician now in office has the nerve to ask them out of fear of AARP and the rest of the old folks lobby. Does every generation have some whining greedy slobs? yes but we have to be able to look past that for the long term good of the country.
For us baby boomers with a few years left to work it will also mean sacrafice. Maybe we will not be able to afford to retire at 62 or 65 or even 67. We will have to continue to work until we get a combination of old social security at age 70 and new social security profits and our own savings that will enable us to retire.
You younger people can forget about ever collecting old social security. You will have to lose whatever you have invested in the system now and retire on the actual profits fron new social security and from your own savings. When you retire will be based on how much profit is generated and by how much you save. The good news is that time is on your side and your taxes will be lower than they would have been if we borrow the money from your childrens future.
The new system should be based on pay for yourself and pay as you go. It will last forever and not cost the taxpayer anything. If you do not save for yourself then you may never retire, it will be up to you.
Disability will not be part of the new system and will be paid for out of general revenue discounted for what you have earned. Double and triple dipping on disability should not be allowed.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Donna Naquin on -
Thank you for your interesting input.
I was told and correct me if I'm wrong, that social security is only deducted from income up to a particuar level of income. Somewhere like $250,000...not sure of the amount either. But if I'm right and it is true, that means that people making over 1/4 a million or whatever the cap, don't have to pay any more.
Wow that sounds like a fair system to me!!!
Why don't they have an across the board 10% tax on EVERYONE. THAT would be fair. If you make $10,000, you pay $1,000. If you make $50,000 you pay $5,000. If you make $500,000 ou pay $500.00. Etc.
Although that still gives people an opportunity to hide their income and the tax write offs!!! Don't even get me startd on that one.
I thought the "Fair Tax Act" guys had a right on idea. Only pay tax on what you spend!! The wealthy are going to automatically spend more than the less well-to-do. So it will automatically be fair. Just like toll roads...I know people HATE toll roads, but only the people that use them have to pay for them...that's fair. If you want to spend more time in traffice to avoid the toll, that's up to you.
If I can get from 1 side of town to the other in 15 minutes & pay $1.50 for it as opposed to spending 2 hrs commuitng that's my perogative. I don't know about you, but I would GLADLY pay $1.50 for an extra 1 1/2 hr sleep every morning and another $1.50 for 1 1/2 hr w/my family after work in the evening.
But I DEFINITELY think that EVERYONE should put their fair share into the social security pot!!
Thanx 4 allowing me to rant now I will get off my soap box
Donna
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Permalink Reply by Steve at work on -
Hello dscott;
I checked one time and there are 92 different Steves listed as members. I am actually two of them. One at work and one at home. Nothing like adding to the confusion. I am the same Steve that put in the plank on immigration if that helps.
What I am talking about investing in is not like Wall Street, not exactly. We would invest in companies but as actual owners with imput into the direction of the companies. We could invest in Ameican companies developing American jobs. As an example there is a shortage of American made wind turbines and towers. We could invest the money into buying an old auto plant in the midwest amd retool to build turbines and towers. We could partner with land owners to build wind farms and partner with rural electric cooperatives to build to transmission lines. If we build the transmission lines it will allow us to sell more turbines to put on more wind farms. We would use the American social security money to invest in new jobs that would increase the number of people putting money into the system. And the circle would go round and round.
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Permalink Reply by Steve at work on
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Oooops, I forgot. You need to put a tax on all the money being sent out of the coultry as part of the flat tax. That way you get the fat cats as they try to hide their income and the illegals as they try to stimulate the economy of theirhome country with our cash.
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Permalink Reply by Steve at work on
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Exactly right.That is a problem for the plank on taxes that I may or may not send in one of these days. All I am trying to do is to suggest some core values for the party that we can discuss. If we go into 2010 with only energy policy as an issue we will not be taken seriously by anyone.
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Permalink Reply by Steve at work on
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Hey Donna;
Social security is a kind of flat tax. Everyone pays the same amount, 7.5% with their employer paying an additional 7.5%. Self employed pay the entire 15% themselves. Yes there is a cut off for the current system at about that wage. In the new plan there would be no need for the exemption for higher incomes as there would be no cap on possible earnings. The more you put in hte more you get back out when you retire.
Please feel free to rant all you want. I consider it to be free therapy for my unresolved anger issues.
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Permalink Reply by John Hancock on -
I think the cap is a lot lower than that. I think Obama is talking of raising it to $250,000. If he takes it all the way to the top it seems fair to me because otherwise we will have to pay welfare taxes to support many of the old folks because their health care bills will evenyually break them.
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Permalink Reply by James Everitt on -
Freedom Line Links
On subjects from today's news to tomorrow's controversies, these links offer platforms that provide incisive perspectives and stimulating debates.
Advocates for Self-Government www.self-gov.org
American Conservative Union www.conservative.org
American Spectator www.spectator.org
American Land Rights Association www.landrights.org
American Legislative Exchange Council www.alec.org
American Policy Center www.americanpolicy.org
Americans for Tax Reform www.atr.org
Americans for Technology Leadership www.techleadership.org
Ashbrook Center www.ashbrook.org
Association of American Physicians and Surgeons www.aapsonline.org
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Cato Institute www.cato.org
Center for Defense of Free Enterprise www.cdfe.org
Center for Individual Rights www.cir-usa.org
Center for Libertarian Studies www.libertarianstudies.org
Citizens Against Government Waste www.cagw.org
Claremont Institute www.claremont.org
Competitive Enterprise Institute www.cei.org
Constitution Society www.constitution.org
Council for Government Reform www.govreform.org
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Defenders of Property Rights www.defendersproprights.org
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Federalist Society www.fed-soc.org
Foundation for Economic Education www.fee.org
Freedom Network/Henry Hazlitt Foundation www.free-market.net
FreedomWorks www.freedomworks.org
Free Speech Coalition www.freespeechcoalition.org
Frontiers of Freedom www.ff.org
Future of Freedom Foundation www.fff.org
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Heritage Foundation www.heritage.org
Hudson Institute www.hudson.org
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Independent Institute www.independent.org
Individual Rights Foundation www.cspc.org
Institute for Justice www.ij.org
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Landmark Legal Foundation www.landmarklegal.org
Libertarian Party www.lp.org
Ludwig Von Mises Institute
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Permalink Reply by James Everitt on
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Permalink Reply by Steve at Home on -
Thanks for the info
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Permalink Reply by Hugh Hemington on -
Apparently the 1st Amendment gives people the freedom to be ignorant of what freedom means!
I always wonder where they find people for videos like this. And right after that, I shed a tear for public education.
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Permalink Reply by Steve at Home on
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I heard this morning that the government is expecting to lose 17 Billion in taxes on the Madoff Scam. I honestly don't know whether to laugh or cry.
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Permalink Reply by Jim on -
How do I double and triple dip on disability. We - my wife and I - are trying to get by on 2 disability checks out of which the gvt takes almost 200$ for medicare. That leaves us about 1700 dollars to pay bills, buy meds - copay - and buy food. Very little is left and we are always concerned about where we will get enough to last the month by the 15th.
I could get Mass Health and free medicare while my wife was working and bringing home a more money than we are making now. Now that she is on disability we are making too much (about 200$ more) to get those and have to pay for them. We're making 200 over the poverty level!! I'ld like to see them make it on our "over the poverty" income. If we could work 40 hours a month we could get Mass Health. If we could we wouldn't need it!!
Come on Gov!! Get with it and show the people you haven't forgotten them !!! We need to keep up with the cost of living too!
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