How Your Social Security Money Was Stolen – Where Did the $2.5 Trillion Surplus Go?

[Donnachaidh]

http://ampedstatus.org/how-your-social-security-money-was-stolen-where-did-the-2-5-trillion-surplus-go/

:snip:

As I’ve been reporting for quite some time now, trillions of our tax dollars have been looted by Wall Street, wars, global corporations and the richest one-tenth of one percent of the population. The economic crisis has made this blatant fact much more evident to the average person. Now that these elaborate schemes are coming undone and major cuts to vital social programs are beginning to be implemented, the American public is going to get a harsh wake up call.

With cuts to Social Security on the way, and Obama’s recent comments saying that he cannot guarantee that Social Security checks will go out if the debt ceiling doesn’t get raised, it’s time to take a closer look at why politicians are pushing to cut this vital program.

The Social Security Trust Fund should currently have $2.5 trillion in surplus. So how is it that these checks could stop being issued if the debt ceiling isn’t raised? Economics professor Dr. Allen Smith, author of The Looting of Social Security: How The Government is Draining America’s Retirement Account, has been reporting on the theft of Social Security funds for years. As he sums it up:

“The government’s $2.5 trillion debt to Social Security is the real reason that so many politicians want to cut benefits. They are trying to find a way to avoid having to repay the looted money…. Given the fact that much of the surplus revenue from the 1983 payroll tax hike ended up in the pockets of the super rich in the form of income tax cuts, I propose a special tax on this group of taxpayers to recoup the missing Social Security money. The government used revenue from the Social Security payroll tax hike to fund tax cuts for the rich because that was where the money was. I think the government should recover the ‘embezzled’ money by taxing the rich.”

More at the link --

[tabasco]

1. Goddamn right.

Time to take our country back and OUR GODDAMNED MONEY! :nuke:

[TBMASE]

2. I thought income taxes and payroll taxes were 2 seperate and distinct things

how can a tax cut that has nothing to do with payroll taxes end up in the hands of the super rich?

The government has been looting the "trust fund" for decades and spending it, that's why the talk of a "trust fund" has and always will be ludicrous

[eridani]

3. SocSec money is invested in Tbills

If the government refuses to redeem them, we're fucked. I'd say fuck the Chinese first, myself.

[markpkessinger]

7. You might want to take a look at the ACTUAL percentage of the national debt held by the Chinese...

...it's a whole lot less than you might think.

[eridani]

9. So is SocSec n/t

[Kaleva]

10. It's a little over 900 billion.

[KansDem]

4. It's beyond "torches and pitchforks" (graphic)

There has always been, and there is now, a profound conflict of interest between the people and the government of the United States. — Howard Zinn

Those in power must spend a lot of their time laughing at us. — Alice Walker

[KoKo]

5. Wall Street and Deregulation over years of both Repugs and Dems CAUSED IT!

It's where we are and Obama has to clean it up.

[Ignis]

6. K&R

:kick:

[customerserviceguy]

8. People here wonder why I'm so negative on the prospect

that Social Security benefits will be paid out as expected, Dr. Smith's writings are the major reason why.

Thank you for citing him.

[cyberpj]

11. kick it up. nt