From The Ramparts
by Junious Ricardo Stanton ~
"Social Security's expenditures exceeded non-interest income in 2010 and 2011, the first such occurrences since 1983, and the Trustees estimate that these expenditures will remain greater than non-interest income throughout the 75-year projection period. The deficit of non-interest income relative to expenditures was about $49 billion in 2010 and $45 billion in 2011, and the Trustees project that it will average about $66 billion between 2012 and 2018 before rising steeply as the economy slows after the recovery is complete and the number of beneficiaries continues to grow at a substantially faster rate than the number of covered workers. Redemption of trust fund assets from the General Fund of the Treasury will provide the resources needed to offset the annual cash-flow deficits. Since these redemptions will be less than interest earnings through 2020, nominal trust fund balances will continue to grow. The trust fund ratio, which indicates the number of years of program cost that could be financed solely with current trust fund reserves, peaked in 2008, declined through 2011, and is expected to decline further in future years. After 2020, Treasury will redeem trust fund assets in amounts that exceed interest earnings until exhaustion of trust fund reserves in 2033, three years earlier than projected last year. Thereafter, tax income would be sufficient to pay only about three-quarters of scheduled benefits through 2086." A SUMMARY OF THE 2012 ANNUAL REPORTS Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TRSUM/index.html
The Kleptocrats want to gut the social safety nets and reduce us to grovelling serfs and peons as they turn the US into a neo-feudal third world banana republic under the guise of restoring fiscal sanity. In 2004 George W Bu$h fresh off another theft of the presidential election called for privatizing Social Security. Remember that? But even the mass media mind control apparatus couldn't help him sell that one and the push back was loud and swift. By then most people were getting tired of Bu$h's lies, the good ol boy cronyism and hubris. Imagine what Social Security would be like today if Bu$h had gotten his way and turned it over to Wall Street? Can you say, Bernie Madoff?
Sensing they could not win that one, the fascists in the board rooms who run this country tried another tactic; starve Social Security of funds to hasten its demise. So under the guise of a "payroll tax holiday" Obama and the Congress critters reduced the amount of money they take out of your pay check that goes to Social Security. This way they kept the Bu$h era tax cuts in place (the very cuts that led to fiscal insolvency in the first place) and they stealthfully undermined Social Security in the guise of giving usmore money to spend. "In 2010, Congress passed a payroll tax holiday which reduced the amount of Social Security tax paid by employees by 2%. As a worker, you are aware that you have taxes withheld from your paycheck. A portion of those taxes are for federal, state and local income taxes (depending on where you live, you may not have all of these), but a large portion of your tax withholding is for Social Security and Medicare, also called FICA. FICA taxes are paid by both employees and employers. In 2010, the amount was 6.2% for Social Security (on income up to $106,800) and 1.45% for Medicare, for a total of 7.65% each. At the end of 2010, the amount of Social Security tax for 2011 was reduced 2% to 4.2% for employees only. No changes were made to Medicare or to federal, state or local income taxes. This 2% payroll tax reduction was created to help boost the economy and was intended to be for 2011 only. However, since the economy has grown slower than expected in 2011, President Obama is calling for the tax cut to be extended into 2012." Congress Expected to Extend Payroll Tax Holiday into 2012 by Kristine on December 5, 2011 http://www.socialsecurityretirementincome.com/social-security/payroll-tax-holiday/
By now we should have learned Reaganomics doesn't work, its a sham and trick. The only way cutting taxes works is if you simultaneously cut spending. Neither Reagan, the Bu$hes nor Obama cut spending,they always seem to have money for wars and killing. Even if the legislation was well intended, and I have my doubts it was, the affect reduced the funds flowing in the the Social Security Trust Fund coffers on two levels. First the 2% tax reduction was an obvious and predicable loss in revenue. No discussion is needed on that one. Second the economy remains depressed. It has not turned around and I don't think they thought this so called tax holiday would make that much difference in the overall economy. They just wanted the Bu$h tax cuts to remain in effect and they punked Obama into going along with it. As more companies go belly up, as more workers are laid off or get reduced hours the various governments: local, state and federal take in less tax revenues due to the failing economy. We are in a depression but Obama, Congress and the media are not telling us the real deal.
However in its' latest report the Social Security Board of Trustees shares why their revenue stream is down significantly. "A temporary reduction in the Social Security payroll tax rate reduced payroll tax revenues by $103 billion in 2011 and by a projected $112 billion in 2012. The legislation establishing the payroll tax reduction also provided for transfers of revenues from the general fund to the trust funds in order to 'replicate to the extent possible' payments that would have occurred if the payroll tax reduction had not been enacted. Those general fund reimbursements comprise about 15 percent of the program's non-interest income in 2011 and 2012." A SUMMARY OF THE 2012 ANNUAL REPORTS Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TRSUM/index.html
What they are saying is the "tax holiday" legislation caused a major drop in revenue and is forcing the federal government to appropriate the funds to cover the revenue shortfalls. The fascists are cunning, they needed a pretext to gut Social Security and by it now being a drain on the US Treasury this is their excuse. They knew this was going to happen. So look for Obama to push for "Social Security reform" as a way to further gut the program. The real reason the Social Security Trust Fund is broke is because every president since Lyndon B. Johnson has raided it, used the money to pay bills and create the illusion of a lower deficit. They took the moneyand left worthless IOU's as accounting tools to let folks know just how much money they took.
It's a scam, the trust Fund money still has to be paid back. The IOU's in the account are not interest bearing T Bills so there is no government backed money that Social Security can draw on to replace the money the federal government took from the Fund!! The money is coming directly from the US Treasury which is already way in the red. The federal government is broke! This gives the Kleptocrats the ammunition they need to undermine Social Security which was the goal all along.
The Social Security Trustees have this recommendation "Lawmakers should address the financial challenges facing Social Security and Medicare as soon as possible. Taking action sooner rather than later will leave more options and more time available to phase in changes so that the public has adequate time to prepare." http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TRSUM/index.html What they mean is so we can prepare to get shafted because there is no way the US government/Treasury can pay back all the money it has "borrowed" from the Social Security Trust Fund over the past forty-five years.
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