The Washington Post today criticized Vice President Joe Biden for making a “dumb” and “uncalled for” comment and Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney for his over-the-top response.
And yet, in the same editorial, the Post engages in the same kind of inane hyperbole as it pushed to fix a Social Security system that is not broken. The Post editorial board proclaimed that “Social Security is going broke,” and defended its statement this way:
Is “going broke” too strong? Well, let’s ask the experts — the trustees of the Social Security Trust Fund, who include President Obama’s Treasury, labor, and health and human services secretaries. In their annual report in April — delivered, as it happens, to Mr. Biden, in his capacity as Senate president — the trustees noted that the disability portion of the trust fund “becomes exhausted in 2016, so legislative action is needed as soon as possible.” The overall fund, combining retirement and disability, will “become exhausted and unable to pay scheduled benefits in full on a timely basis in 2033.” That leaves Congress with four choices, the trustees explained: raise the payroll tax, reduce benefits, devote other revenue to Social Security or some combination of the above.
There is no doubt that the program needs to be tweaked. But we are 21 years away from any potential failure to pay benefits — far from being broke.
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I am so damn sick of all the lies about SS. The SS trust fund is worth $2.7 trillion and it earns interest, so it is still taking in more than it gives out. Even if nothing is done, SS can pay full benefits through 2033. And even if nothing were done, SS could still pay 75% of benefits after 2033 which would still be better than the GOP plans for SS. Hopefully something sane will be done, hopefully the Democrats will not betray SS but that is not certain. The WaPO forgot to mention a 5th possible solution to the long term SS shortfall. Raise or eliminate the SS wage tax cap which is currently capped at $110,100. Just raise the SS wage tax cap to $250,000 and it could keep SS secure for many decades.
Social Security never really goes bust or bankrupt because it is always taking in the FICA or SS wage tax. Just raise the SS wage tax cap and SS will be good for another 75 years AFTER 2033. The trust fund is real, it's made up of special issue treasury bonds backed by the full faith and credit of the US government. I and millions of other Americans own US treasury bonds, one of the safest and most secure forms of investment.
In 1978, George Bush (junior) told the Texas Observer that SS would go bankrupt, bust in 10 years. He lied then and he lied in 2005 when he tried to privatize SS. The SS trust fund is not fake IOUs. The SS trust fund is made up of special issue treasury bonds that are just as valid, just as real as the treasury bonds owned by millions of Americans (moi) and by foreign governments such as China. They are just as real, just as valid as those pieces of paper called dollar bills. SS is not a Ponzi scheme because there is no Charles Ponzi in the SS administration siphoning off millions of dollars. The SS accounts are open to the public and transparent unlike a Ponzi scheme which is intentional fraud. SS is the most successful federal program that ever existed, it's books are in good shape, there is no crisis. SS has not missed a payemnt in over 70 years through wars and recessions unlike some Ponzi scheme. I really don't give a flying truck what the wacked out tin foil hatted libertarians have to say about SS. They are just gullible tools of greedy selfish capitalists like Steve Forbes and Pete Peterson.
Pete Peterson, a billionaire, who has enough wealth to live like a king for the next 1,000 years has had this jihad against Social Security for many decades. He has spent millions to propagandize against SS, to undermine it in the popular mind and to ultimately destroy a program that helps millions of ordinary retired working Americans. Why would someone so rich begrudge so many millions of seniors a $1,200, $1,400 or $1,900 monthly check (for example) while Peterson has more money than God? Not to mention, SS also supplies survivor benefits (which Paul Ryan benefited from) and disability insurance. Why is Peterson and people of his ilk such a hateful arrogant oligarch? Instead of spending hundreds of millions to destroy SS, why doesn't he use that money to set up health clinics for the poor?