Social Security
One of the back room devious things all government entities do is to raise money for a specific purpose only to spend it on something completely different. This is practiced at every level by our supposedly honest and trustworthy elected officials. The biggest of these is of course the Washington establishment. Even when monies allocated are spent properly, something happens at payback time. Although adequate funds are available, the urge to appropriate monies not needed to pay against a given principal is often too great not to be used elsewhere. As a result most of the time the interest only is paid. Naturally, the debt stays on the books in perpetuity. Try paying the minimum on your charge cards and see what happens. There is no need to list examples; most of you are very familiar with the governments’ bait and switch tactics. However, I would like to mention one item very important to all Americans. It is our own Social Security Trust fund. From its very beginning it was nothing other than a giant Ponzi (pyramid) Scheme based on the assumption that there would always be many more payees than recipients. What happens when the “pyramid” is turned upside down? It simply cannot work that way! Add that to the comments I made at the beginning of this article regarding misdirecting funds and the problem is greatly magnified. Down through the years Congress has deliberately confiscated (stolen) trillions of dollars from the S.S. trust fund. These monies were then used to fund whatever pet project happened to be in vogue at the time. Of course they (Congress) sent over a slip of paper acknowledging the withdrawal and promising to pay it back with interest. Really? Don’t hold your breath! If those dollars are ever replaced, (which is highly doubtful) guess where the money will come from. You’re right again! You and I will be forced once more, to pay with interest, funds we had already placed in the system. And they wonder why we don’t trust our elected officials! There is no doubt Social Security has been a veritable lifesaver for untold millions of Americans. One can only hope it continues to do so. For thirty years or more many people acquainted with the detailed workings of this program have been convinced it requires major changes in order to survive. The original system signed into law by then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in August of 1935 was to pay retirement benefits only to workers who contributed to the fund. The amount paid was to be based on the recipients’ age and work record. This didn’t last long. During the ensuing years, a host of changes were made allowing for monies to be paid out to almost everyone for everything. Some were good ideas, some bad. These payouts were authorized for the most part before proper funding was in place to support them. Of course, over time, FICA taxes have been steadily increased to try to compensate. Unless we wish to pay at least 40% of our income in the future to S.S. some changes in the system absolutely must be made. G.W. has appointed a blue ribbon panel to present some possible alternatives. One of the key parts of this will be privatizing some of our contributions into stock funds, IRA’s, mutual funds or some savings plan under the control of each individual, not the government. The liberals in congress will not allow this to take place because (1) it would keep these funds out of their reach (2) they would lose a favorite campaign topic (3) they could no longer demonize conservatives on this subject. Future generations of Americans, your descendents and mine, depend on solving this problem at the earliest possible time. One only hopes our elected officials in Washington can keep their pants on long enough to do the right thing. Wait and see. Gene Mays 8/1/2001
