Social Security promise not kept at cost of $1.8 trillion

[SnohoDem]

Buried on page 9 of today's Seattle Times:

A historical element was forgotten in the rush of news surrounding Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan's opinion voiced last week that Social Security benefits are going to have to be cut.

It dates back 21 years to events that catapulted Greenspan into national prominence and led to his becoming Fed chairman.

Since 1983, American workers have been paying more into Social Security than it has paid out in benefits, about $1.8 trillion more, so far. This year Americans will pay about 50 percent more in Social Security taxes than the government will pay out in benefits.

Those higher taxes were imposed at the urging of Greenspan, who was chairman of a bipartisan commission that in 1983 said that one way to make sure Social Security remains solvent once the baby boomers reached retirement age was to tax them in advance.

(more)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001867864_lockbox29.html

[cosmicdot]

1. reading this: "Congress did not lock away the Social Security surplus"...

I couldn't help but recall the 2000 election's winner, Al Gore, talking about the need for a lock box.

[Another Bill C.]

2. The government's debt to Social Security

I posted this before but the thread is long out of sight. The debt is too large for the government to pay back and that's the reason behind the "crisis."

This is an e-mail I received from the Treasury Department, Office of Public Debt:

"As of Jan 31, 2004 the Social Security Trust Funds, consisting of the Federal Old Age and Survivors, Federal Disability Insurance (FDI), Federal Hospital Insurance and Federal Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Funds owned $ 1, 830,638,603,000 in federal debt securities. Included in the total is $ 30,250,000 in a marketable Treasury Bond held by FDI, the balance is in non marketable public debt securities.

"The Monthly Statement of the Public Debt shows the individual holdings (except for the marketable security). See page 8 ftp://ftp.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdm012004.pdf Also for more detail of holdings for all trust funds invested in public debt securities see http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/dfi/dfiholdingsreports.htm.

"Hope this helps
OPDA"

http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/bpd/bpdhome.htm

[indepat]

3. This, IMHO, makes Greenspan out to be the biggest piece of s**t

ever.

[rfkrocks]

4. The media in the us is also a threat to our country

I used to look with pride on national coverage but the last 10 years have seen the media focus on "show" not news. Can anyone think of a more destabilizing thing than this? We are becoming prerevolutionary France. Bush to the world "apres moi-le deluge"

[mediaman007]

5. How come I have to pay FICA on 100% of my pay,

when those who are getting the massive tax cuts quit paying their FICA at about $85,000?

Doesn't it just seem like our Social Security taxes go in one door, then are sent back out to America's wealthiest.

Raise the maximum FICA to $1,000,000. Yes, I think that athletes, actors and CEO's should all pay. We wouldn't be thinking of a bankrupt system if the big buck workers paid their fair share.

[Vitruvius]

6. Complete article (twice as long) in NY Times "Week in Review" at

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/29/weekinreview/29john.html

And the $1.8 trillion does not count the interest earned to date. The total surplus in the SS Trust Fund will peak at $6 trillion -- including interest. Which is more-than-enough to avoid any "crisis". IF the SS Trust fund -- your FICA taxes -- were used for Social Security instead of paying for for Rethug tax cuts for the rich.

By-the-way, Greenspan supported the Reagan tax cuts for the rich in the 1980s, which immediately blew $1 billion of the Social Security surplus. Now he's supporting the Bu$h tax cuts for the rich -- to blow the rest of OUR retirement money.

If the working class ever takes over, I'd love to see Greenspan sentenced to live on dogfood for the rest of his life. The same dogfood he thinks the rest of us should eat in our old age.

[SnohoDem]

7. Thanks for posting that link.

It's nice to see the rest of the article.