http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2009/08/rep-bachus-social-security-could-face.html Or worse ????
Over the years, how many times have we needed to "save Social Security" by raising SS and Medicare taxes?... only to have the FUCKING GOVERNMENT STEAL THE PROCEEDS? Now because of all they've stolen, Social Security needs to be "saved" yet again... LYING, THIEVING BASTARDS!
I've been saying this for years..................... In order to "save" social security, the following will be necessary. 1) Raise taxes (probably eliminate the income cap currently in place) 2) Reduce benefits (easiest way is to increase the age at which benefits start). 3) Means test. Very wealthy (hehe) will not receive ss benefits. Look for this basic outline in one form or the other with populist tweaks along the way. They might even enlist the Bozo from Nebraska to help lend a grandfatherly air to the whole affair.
................................................................. Man....what is it going to take to .... HIT THE RESET BUTTON ???? Sometime in the future ....there will be a new holiday.... "RESET DAY"..... The day that the two party lobbyist system was finally eliminated....and the US citizenry was rescued by a 10/5 C tax only....run by state mandate.... This can happen when advertising dollars are not an issue.....and voting is per the internet only ....
They never invested SSI in anything.. it's just money in and money out to somebody else... I was really surprised when GWB started working to invest the money and the Democrats really, really went ballistic.. privatized SSI has worked everywhere else, or maybe up until the present derivatives crisis but still. their arguments were that people aren't smart enough to do their own investing so it should not be invested at all!!! Hyperinflation is going to fix all this shit eventually, welfare, SSI, forget that stuff.. I get my first SSI check in about a week, I want to collect as much as I can and put the money to work before it all goes off the back edge of the world.. they stole 6% from me and 6% from all my employers for 45 years and never invested it... What does it take to convince people that Socialism is bullshit?? Spreading the pain out over more people and adding a layer of bureaucracy and politics.. forget it, let the pain fall wherever it falls... I promise to feel everybody's pain.. no really...
Probably the main reason it was never invested was that a) There are fraudulent practices and front-running all over wall street going unpunished by the SEC, and b) the Fed has ensured that the stock market is perpetually overvalued and at risk of a massive sell-off as debt in the system increases perpetually due to low interest rates. Saving money without investing SHOULD be a fine thing to do. Unfortunately, with low interest rates (due to money printing), the Fed has destroyed savings systematically. Now, you need to invest in the casino (stock market) to be able to have a decent savings... And if you're lucky you can come out of the market without losing your pants.
The US Fed /econ response will be a 50/50 cross.... Japan/Argentina.... It will be a hybrid FAIL.... Downward slant LT "L".....
Blah, blah, frigging blah blah.... bed wetter scared of the big bad investment houses are you? The 5-5-5 plan for retirement is: put away 5% of your income at age 25 for 5 years... and stop... keep it in stocks that pay dividends.. and wait... at retirement age you have millions... if I could have not had that 12% confiscated it would have been the 12-45-5 plan and I'd have a boatload of great stocks paying dividends right now... I have the equivalent income of about $750,000 paying a few percent annually, I could be selling covered calls and making in a week what I make in a year off SSI... and for decades all one had to do to get SSI disability was go say "my back hurts", no doctor was needed at all, lots of people sucked it dry... and the leadership transferred it to the general fund when they had a surplus too.. they not only didn't invest it, they didn't even save it...