This little fact rich piece is posted as a public service to a public about to be deluged with lies about the only life raft some people have left in the land of the free; Social Security.
There are many rich politicians and their wealthy sponsors who want to break the Social Security system upon which so many non-rich people rely. These well off people will be telling lies about the system to make feasible the cuts they want to enforce on those who will soon be nothing but serfs of the corporations.
Social Security is NOT going bankrupt, is NOT driving up the deficit and is NOT in crisis. I bet you’ve heard all of these recently and there will be a torrent of lies and misinformation pouring out of the Republican’s smear machines up to November. They are all for the purpose of scaring people on Social Security, who already have their little pensions taxed, into accepting benefit cuts pretty soon. And like all the Republican lies, their constant repetition is beginning to take effect. This is the Nazi system of the big lie told often, coupled with control of the public media.
Let’s look briefly at a few of these lies that you will hear soon and the actual facts that you are unlikely to hear.
First Lie: It has been repeated so often, that it is an assumption to many politicians who never check their facts or read their Acts, that Social Security is going broke. That, if the person saying it is not ignorant, is a lie. By 2023 Social Security will have a $4.6 TRILLION surplus. It can pay out all scheduled payments for the next twenty five years without changing at all. If the system isn’t changed at all it can still pay out 75% of scheduled benefits after 2037, if we make it that far. The Baby Boomer’s retirement effect was foreseen and handled decades ago. Be aware that anyone who insists that Social Security is broke is probably one of those who want to break it.
Second Lie: People are living longer now so we have to raise the retirement age. This is actually only a trick to have recipients agree to benefit cuts. Retirees are living about the same amount of time as they were when I was a kid in the 1930’s. The reason that the average life expectancy is going up is because fewer people die as children than they did in the 30’s. When a thousand dollar suit says something there are many people who will not check the arithmetic of the statement.
Third Lie: Benefit cuts are needed to fix the problems of Social Security. That’s a lie based on the back of the First Lie. Social Security doesn’t need to be fixed. The easiest way to strengthen it however would be one that the rich politicians are never going to suggest, have the very rich pay a fairer share.
Very rich people like the CEO’s who earn in the millions for making mistakes, outsourcing work to China and firing American workers, only pay Social Security taxes on the first $106,000 of their obscene incomes. That’s less than some rich people spend on flowers for a family wedding. Some hedge fund managers have earned in the billions, not millions, with their financial chicanery that has wrecked the financial status of many.
Raw justice suggests that they should help pay to remedy the turmoil their insane greed has produced. The conservatives insist that benefit cuts are the only way because they want to protect the super-rich from paying their fair share, because many of them and their sponsors are among the super rich.
Fourth Lie: And this one I was beginning to believe myself: The Social Security fund has been filled up with useless IOU’s by the politicians. But it isn’t full of IOU’s in one sense. It is full of U.S. Treasury Bonds. And these bonds are totally backed by the faith and credit of the United States. The federal government has never yet missed a payment of interest on its debts. Our previous criminal in the presidency tried hard to get Social Security funds put into the stock market. You can see what a disaster that would have been. The trillions of dollars in the Social Security fund are as safe as any fund can be in the present circumstances.
Fifth Lie: Social Security payments and procedures add to the deficit. Another lie told by lawyers who should know the law. Social Security funds are separate from the budget, and it must pay its own way. It doesn’t add one cent to the deficit. Maybe the billions of dollars, adding up to trillions, instantly available to the Pentagon for running its useless oil and opium wars may have something to do with the deficit, like EVERYTHING. But the more than 100 members of House and Senate who own shares in defense contractors are not going to focus on that.
Here are some sources to check, to verify or to inquire further:
1."To Deficit Hawks: We the People Know Best on Social Security," New Deal 2.0, June 14, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89703&id=22141-4519472-XdEVDSx&t=4
2. "The Straight Facts on Social Security," Economic Opportunity Institute, September 2009
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89704&id=22141-4519472-XdEVDSx&t=5
3. "Social Security and the Age of Retirement," Center for Economic and Policy Research, June 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89705&id=22141-4519472-XdEVDSx&t=6
4. "More on raising the retirement age," Washington Post, July 8, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89706&id=22141-4519472-XdEVDSx&t=7
5. "Social Security is sustainable," Economic and Policy Institute, May 27, 2010
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=89707&id=22141-4519472-XdEVDSx&t=8
6. "Maximum wage contribution and the amount for a credit in 2010," Social Security Administration, April 23, 2010
http://ssa-custhelp.ssa.gov/app/answers/detail/a_id/240
7. "Trust Fund FAQs," Social Security Administration, February 18, 2010
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/fundFAQ.html
