Robbing Social Security - The CONS Big Scam! ©

By Dan Reed - American Citizen

In 1983, Americas Baby Boomers began paying extra FICA taxes to assure Social Security would remain solvent when they retired! Meanwhile, Corporations and wealthy Americans enjoyed 27 years of huge tax cut windfalls! This raises two basic questions:

1. What happened to the extra FICA taxes collected from Boomers the past 27 years? 

2. Would the 1981, 1986, and 2001 Reagan and Bush tax cuts been possible without the trillions of FICA tax revenue surpluses collected from Baby Boomers in the name of Social Security solvency?  

Social Security is not an Entitlement it's a Debt Obligation

Some Americans call Social Security an entitlement program because people are entitled to receive social security at the age of 62. However, for people who don’t understand or agree with social security, the term entitlement suggests welfare. These people ask how much should entitlements for old people displace other national needs for: defense, education, research, transportation, or jobs? The answer is; Social Security is not welfare! Social Security is fully paid for by individual contributions from each employee and their employer. Social Security is a debt obligation that old people have prepaid their entire working lives!

Conservatives generally disagree with the concept of Social Security, and repeatedly claim that Social Security is becoming insolvent. This is false! The social security trust fund is owed trillions of dollars, which were borrowed to pay for the huge tax cuts passed in 1981, 1986, 2001, and 2010! Conservatives claim Social Security needs to be fixed in order to preserve it for future generations. Again, this is false! These conservative claims are examples of why Social Security insolvency represents the "STINK BOMB" of America’s aging population!

We Fixed Social Security in 1983! 

In 1983, Ronald Regan and Congress agreed to increase FICA taxes on workers and employers; by deducting significantly more than what was needed to support Social Security in the near term (Public Laws: 98-118, 369,168, and 364). Since 1984, Boomers have paid extra FICA taxes to assure Social Security remained solvent for their retirement years! The 1983 deal worked, and rolled up twenty-seven consecutive years of surpluses in the Social Security Trust Fund! In 2007 alone, Social Security raised $175 billion more than the program paid out! The accumulated sum of all the FICA surpluses since 1984, plus interest – is projected to keep Social Security solvent through 2037!   

The following link provides video of Ronald Reagan's speech during his signing of the  Social Security Amendments Act on April 20,1983:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-91W5LS0E8&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

So What's the Problem? 

Over the past thirty years, the Reagan, Bush Sr., Bush Jr., and Obama administrations have combined to accumulate a $14 trillion national debt! A large portion of the national debt is owed to the Social Security Trust Fund! Four major contributors to the $14 trillion national debt include:

1. The 1981 Reagan tax cuts for corporations and wealthy people - Public Law 97-34,

2. The 1986 Reagan tax cuts for corporations and wealthy people - Public Law 99-514,

3. The 2001 Bush Jr. tax cuts for corporations and wealthy people - Public Law 107-16,
4. The 2010 Obama, two-year extension of 2001 Public Law 107-16! 

Since 1983, our political leaders became accustomed to the extra FICA tax collections that provided the U.S. Treasury with trillions of surplus FICA-Social Security revenues! As Boomers retire, the FICA tax surpluses will end! “Instead of FICA taxes subsidizing the U.S. Treasury,” current law will force the U.S. Treasury to redeem the Social Security-Treasury Bonds!” Conservatives know this, and have correctly calculated that when Boomers begin retiring, the revenue flow will reverse, and two things will happen:

1. Without the hidden surpluses from extra Boomer FICA taxes, the true size of our federal deficits will become clear! This is why conservatives are suddenly so focused on the debt!

2. It's Payback Time! Because of our $14 trillion national debt, taxes will have too be increased to Honor Social Security Debt Obligations, which Boomers prepaid during their entire working lives!

Robbing Social Security - The CONS Big Scam! 

Today, as Boomers begin to retire, CONservative leaders never mention the 1983 deal, and pretend the FICA surpluses never existed!  

President Bush’s failed plan to Privatize Social Security was the first attempt to get out of the 1983 deal! Conservatives will continue trying to get out the 1983 deal by pitching their fairytale about Social Security being a 75-year pay as you go Ponzi-Scheme. Conservatives simply want to kill Social Security by privatizing it, or significantly cutting prepaid Social Security benefits:

Privatizing Social Security – conservatives hate the idea of paying back those excessive tax cuts, so they scheme to privatize Social Security, to avoid raising the taxes required to Honor Social Security Obligations! Conservatives have calculated that by privatizing Social Security, the private sector will kill Social Security in the same manner they eliminated private pension programs. CONservatives know that killing Social Security would provide an immediate 6.2% payroll tax cut for every private sector business in America!

Cutting Social Security Benefits – conservatives hate the idea of increasing taxes, so they scheme to increase the Social Security eligibility age to 70 for people born in the 1960’s or later. Cutting Social Security benefits works well for these CONservatives because it slowly and incrementally continues ROBBING the FICA surpluses, prepaid by Boomers from 1983 to the present!

So let's summarize the CONservatives Big Scam: First, label Social Security an Entitlement program and Ponzi Scheme. Second, use the FICA surplus tax revenues to fund 27-years of excessive tax cuts for corporations and wealthy Americans. Third, pretend the FICA tax surpluses never existed. Fourth, privatize Social Security, and give the private sector a 6.2% payroll tax cut when they kill Social Security. Fifth, significantly cut Social Security benefits to slowly shrink the overall amount of Obligations owed to Boomers!

©This document is property of Dan Reed. Use of this document, titled: Robbing Social Security - The CONS Big Sam, dated 6-7-2011, requires prior approval of the author. Approval may be attained through a request to dancar@en.com.