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 Steve at Home on -
Unless someone objects I will clean this up a little and send it to the plank group for final comments.
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Permalink Reply by Steve at work on -
Christine;
I just reread my responce to your posting here.I would like to apologise to you for my rude and insulting answer.I pride myself on telling the truth as I see it but my level of tact leaves much to be desired.Again I am sorry.
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Permalink Reply by Chris Lewis on -
I answered on your page because I had trouble finding this thread. Yes, I have tightened my belt for years now. I live on beans, rice and chicken. I have gone nowhere for two years now but to doctor appointments, stopping for errands on the way back home. I get a very piddly SS check until I was recently widowed and got widow's benefits which means I can pay my $5,000. to $7,000 a year medical costs. I certainly don't live high on the hog. I have a '96 mini van rusting out on me I can't replace. I do understand the concern that the generation working now might not see their SS when they get so old they can't work anymore and I don't think it's right. As a home care nurse I saw many people who were not born here, never worked here and can't even speak English collecting SS. How can that be? I saw people from the country south of us come to America so we could support their elderly and disabled. What in Heavens is going on? Yet we have illegal workers paying into the system they will never draw from. I am totally clueless how all this can be. My way of protecting the next generation is by investing heavily into life insurance so when I leave this world I will leave the next generation enough money for college education and pray they will make a good living and be able to save for retirement, the same way I did before I got my clock cleaned by a drug addict. But that was my mistake and I will pay for it until my time comes. So I do sacrifice for the next generation money I could be eating better on.So be it.
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Permalink Reply by Scott Baker on -
Actually, the SS problem is vastly overstated - mostly by those who have a vested interest in scaring us. According to AARP and others, all you need to do to fix SS so it stays solvent forever, is to remove the cap entirely. Then, you could actually cut the payroll tax slightly because you'd be pulling in so much money from the top 10% of wage earners or so. This would be progressive and it would fund SS forever.
Of course, it is true that government has been looting SS for years, but nothing can fix dishonest politicians except people voting them out of office.
Unfortunately, SS is the least of our problems when it comes to our debt-driven economy, where debt is literally 95% of the "money." See http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9050474362583451279 to see how money is really made. Hint: it isn't made at the mint.
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Permalink Reply by Jim on -
Steve
Have you ever had to live on SS or have parents who had to SUBSIST on it.
Yes I said subsist. Social security does not allow for trips to Paris, large swimming pools or parties.
Disability barely pays enough to live on from month to month and if you go over the poverty level - even by a few dollars - you lose some benefits - such as help with medicare payments, having to pay higher copay fees and so on.
Last year we. my wife and I - both on disability , were under the poverty level so had help and low copays so we could afford our meds and food.
This year due to COLI we earn more than the poverty level. Now I will have to pay about 150 for 2 meds and probably the total will be over 200 per month for both of us. That is over and above the almost 200 we have to pay for medicare. After we figure all of that we have to pay rent, utilities, buy food, pay off bills. Then of course there are unexpected things that we will have to pay and let something else wait. Not a comfortable position and one we don't like. If we could we would like to live in the country, have a garden and live as much as we could on what we grew. I would like to decline the COLI and get what we did last year so we could live on the little we get. The COLI will be gone in 3 months because we have to pay so much more for meds. Cost of Living Increase? HAH HAH HAH
If you can tell us how we can double dip I would like to know. We don't and won't and are frustrated with people who get welfare, free medicare, food stamps and so on. We are over the poverty level so aren't eligible. How is 400 more than the poverty level not poverty?
Mass has a government program for health care called Masshealth. You have to be under the poverty level to get it. If you aren't but work 40 hours a month you are eligible. If we worked 40 hours a month we wouldn't need it and could pay for medicare. This is government's backward thinking. If you can work you can get benefits.
I would like to see them try to get by on 1800/month.
By the way if we were counted singly we could get what we can't as a couple since singly the poverty level is a little more than a thousand per month but as a family it is only 1500/month. Someone tell me how that works!!! Makes one want to get a divorce so he/she could live.
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Permalink Reply by Steve at work on
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Goodby Everyone.
I give up. Lets just give up and give the country to the sick lame and lazy along with the dumb blind and crazy. Lets make sure the illegal aliens and criminals in general get their fair share also. And they get to figure out what is fair. No one is willing to sacrafice any of their own and mostly want to whine about how poor they are and have an ever increasing amount owed to them. It is always somebody elses fault and somebody elses responsibility to fix it for them.The answer is always the same. Lets tax the rich some more and it will all work out all right. nobody but the rich have to pay. If I ever heard about someone else being ready to sacrefice for the common good I might have some hope but I never do. Try being poor in Guatemala or Haite and then complain how bad you have it here. Lets continue to tax and borrow to spend spend spend and in a few years you will know what real poverty is.
Maybe our grandchildren will be able to figure it out.
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Permalink Reply by Kevin Espeseth on -
You have seen my posts right?
(example - last few posts on the "energy party" 'debate'..)
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