Dennis Kucinich "It's A Fake Crisis, Social Security Did NOT Create The Deficit! It Will Be Able To Pay 100% Of Benefits Through 2037!" (Video)
Congressional Video - July 12, 2011
Full transcript inside. Runs 1 minute. Outstanding clip from the House floor. After the jump, there are three 1-minute clips - all from Kucinich this week on Social Security.
Transcript:
Social Security didn't create the deficit, but America's seniors are being presented with a fake Social Security crisis to try to trick them into accepting reduced benefits. Social Security will be able to pay 100% of its benefits through 2037 without any changes whatsoever.
So, why the panic today? If seniors accept cuts to Social Security benefits today, a surplus cash flow will build in the Social Security trust fund. According to the Congressional Research Service, "Social Security's cash surpluses are borrowed by the U.S. Treasury and can be used for tax cuts, spending or repaying debt."
Social Security benefit cuts are increasing taxes paid to Social Security or extending retirement age will give more money for tax cuts spending or repaying the debt. Except for one thing: Social Security money belongs to those who have paid into the fund, it's not the government's money to use it; it shouldn't be the government's money to play with.
Senior citizens should not have to accept a reduced standard of living to finance tax cuts for the rich. We must take a stand for senior citizens and protect Social Security and protect future generations from this raid on Social Security's funds.
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July 13, 2011
Transcript:
Three months ago 276 experts on Social Security, the federal budget or the economy wrote to President Obama "to correct a commonly held misconception -- that Social Security somehow contributes to the federal government's deficit."
Despite the fact that Social Security has a $2.6 trillion dollar surplus and can pay 100% of its benefits through 2037 without any cuts or tax increases, President Obama declared yesterday that Social Security checks may not go out after August 2, presumably unless there is a deal on the federal deficit - - which has nothing to do with Social Security.
According to today's Washington Post, fifteen years ago Congress passed laws which stated Social Security did not count against the debt limit and gave Treasury clear authority to use Social Security trust funds to pay benefits and administration expenses in the event a debt ceiling is reached.
A fake Social Security crisis will do nothing to solve a real debt crisis, will undermine the public's faith in government and will create unnecessary anxiety among our elderly.
Stop playing political games with Social Security.
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July 15, 2011
Aug 7, 2011 at 4:15 PM
Reader Comments (37)
http://www.boingboing.net/2011/07/08/half-of-us-social-pr.html
http://dailybail.com/home/joh...
Stealing from any kind of life savings plan is wrong, yet today is morally justified by many with the bailouts to banks to reward the selling of fraudulently rated securities to all the funds, or this threat to seniors.
Banks 1, American people 0...
It has now been revealed that the IOUs are worthless, and that the government can not pay back the DEBT it owes to those that were FORCED to contribute to OASDI. In short, Social Security, is (to slap the SSA with its own words) an inter-generational scam of proportions that makes Bernie Madoff look like a small time street-corner con-artist.
More important is the fact that anyone studying the history of the abuses of OASDI would have realized that it is a scam a long time ago when the SSA announced that there was no obligation on its part to pay benefits despite contributions made by individuals. (While the fact that the person being denied benefits was a traitor, the fact remains that there was a BINDING and LEGAL CONTRACT between the Federal Government and that Individual. Any court that had been ruling from an honest impartial perspective (unlike the SCOTUS) would have found that there was in fact a CONTRACT and that SSA was in VIOLATION of that Contract.)
Then there is the fact that LBJ (A democrat (no surprise)) decided to raid the trust fund to pay for items that had no business coming out of it because of his stupidity, incompetence and general malfeasance. These programs, his "Great (Socialist) Society" have further contributed to the current problems facing the Republic, and if some claims are to believed have destroyed the moral fiber of a great many people, and the nation in whole.
But back to the point at hand. To argue that there is any hypocrisy in someone that was FORCED (possibly against their will) to contribute to Social Security demanding that they be given the benefits that they were promised is the height of inane insipidness and only demonstrates what a great many Americans already know. Democrats are RETARDED, IMMORAL, and SELF-CONCEITED. (That sounds remarkably like Obama...)
First, self-conceited is a redundancy.
Second, you seem trapped in the left-right false dichotomy being presented by the media. This isn't about "democrats" being "retarded". Using the latter term, by the way, suggests you don't have a *real* criticism at hand. Grade-school attacks like that aren't doing your argument any good.
Lastly, plenty of people calling themselves all kinds of things, "Socialist", "Republican", "Tea Party" included, are just as bad, if not worse, than people labeling themselves with a D. My question these days is "where is their allegiance?" The actions of the politician in question usually make this abundantly clear that it is not with the constituents, nor even is it unabashed self-interest, but in further promoting the oligarchy (the corporate masters). DB points out who is "not owned" pretty regularly and it includes people from both "parties".
Jack Lohman
http://MoneyedPoliticians.net
The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that;
"When you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount."
However, in your administration, much more advanced strategies have been employed:
1. Buying a stronger whip.
2. Changing riders.
3. Appointing a committee to study the horse.
4. Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride dead horses.
5. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included.
6. Reclassifying the dead horse as living-impaired.
7. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.
8. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.
9. Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse's performance.
10. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance.
11. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.
12. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses.
And of course...
13. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.
You crack me up..It will be a very long time before anyone can come up with a better list of how the govermwnt works, and thAre brain cells "Inter-Ack-Tiv-It-Ty"............
Good thing I dident just take a Swig of Beer......?
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-07-15/obama-eliminates-warren-as-consumer-head.html?om_rid=NQ-S6t&om_mid=_BOIZhcB8cX6VsT
GovDelivery, Inc. (800-439-1420) sending on behalf of the United States Department of Labor · Frances Perkins Building · 200 Constitution Avenue NW · Washington DC 20210
The Social Security Administration (SSA) has announced 12 new Compassionate Allowances conditions (http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pressoffice/pr/compassionate-allowances100conditions-pr.htm) involving severe heart diseases, bringing the total number of conditions in the expedited disability process to 100. Compassionate Allowances are a way to quickly identify diseases and other medical conditions that, by definition, meet SSA’s standards for disability benefits.
For more information visit https://www.disability.gov/benefits/news_%26_events.
#2
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/07/15/compromise-isn-t-dirty-word?utm_source=email121&utm_medium=graphic&utm_campaign=compromise
Your argument is to illogical to respond to.
Think about this number; $177 trillion in unfunded liberalities.
SS donations were always kept in interest bearing accounts until Congress decided to steal them and that's exactly what it is, theft. If a person, Company, etc did this they would go to prison.
Nobody even questioned the "Teleprompter In Chief" when he made his assinine statement. This is how dumbed down or corrupted, take your pick, we have become.
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The securities are called intra-governmental IOUs...and they are treasuries...not sure what you mean by 'paying twice'...these IOUs are a means of keeping track of how much Congress takes annually from excess funds meant for SS...
http://patriotpost.us/opinion/terence-jeffrey/2011/06/22/the-dirty-little-secret-of-the-debt-limit/print/
http://townhall.com/columnists/terryjeffrey/2011/06/22/the_dirty_little_secret_of_the_debt_limit/page/2
intra-governmental IOUs = another name for something completely worhtless in any market. What they, the SS Admin., should have received was Treasury Paper from the beginning which could have been taken to the Bond Market without any help from Treasury. IOU says it all, and you don't even recognize it. LOL!
"Dont Ya Just Love it when this happens.........?
Prostitution? Drugs? Staffer plugs ears, suggests 'dealers' call it 'babysitting'
Read more: Shock video: Medicaid caught encouraging fraud http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=323521#ixzz1Samr0RvJ
http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=323521
UNTIL we get the campaign bribes out of the system, with public funding of campaigns, live with it. We have a corrupt political system and until our corrupt politicians bite the bullet and clean it up, it is what it is.
Jack Lohman
http://MoneyedPoliticians.net
i'm not disagreeing with you...i was just stating all excess funds are borrowed and spent...and when SS needs the funds, treasury must pay them back...i shouldn't have called the IOUs treasuries...i admit my error in that regard...
i was just unsure what you meant by 'pay twice'...now i understand what you're saying...
Total Holdings of US Treasuries: $2.67 trillion
Percent of US Debt that they own: 19%
The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Funds invest exclusively in special issue bonds that are only available to the Social Security trust fund. These are not publicly traded securities, but they still constitute a huge amount of debt.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/who-owns-us-debt-2011-7?op=1#ixzz1SgFh2nlV
So they are treasuries...at least according to the SS administration...and they do pay interest...
What the hell is wrong here?
Remember, not only did you contribute to Social Security but your employer did too. It totaled 15% of your income before taxes. If you averaged only 30K over your working life, that’s close to $220,500. If you calculate the future value of $4,500 per year (yours & your employer’s contribution) at a simple 5% (less than what the govt. pays on the money that it borrows), after 49 years of working (me) you’d have $892,919.98 If you took out only 3% per year, you receive $26,787.60 per year and it would last better than 30 years, and that’s with no interest paid on that final amount on deposit! If you bought an annuity and it paid 4% per year, you’d have a lifetime income of $2,976.40 per month. The folks in Washington have pulled off a bigger Ponzi scheme than Bernie Madoff ever had.
Entitlement my foot, I paid cash for my social security insurance!!!! Just because they borrowed the money, doesn't make my benefits some kind of charity or handout! Congressional benefits, aka. free health care, outrageous retirement packages, 67 paid holidays, three weeks paid vacation, unlimited paid sick days, now that's welfare, and they have the nerve to call my retirement entitlements.
I'm glad I was able to clear up any misunderstanding of my point TDB. The SS Administration should have received Treasury Paper to begin with so that there would be no put back required when the actual funds were/are needed. The SS Admin. would simply sell their Treasury Paper into the Bond Market as needed to fund the system. They did not do this, and they are now stuck with Intra-Governmental IOU garbage which has no value in the Bond Market as it is a non-marketable security. What happens when the Treausry Market blows up is anyone's guess, but if Treasury Paper becomes a problem, what will these IOUs be? By the way, your site rocks with great info every single day!
At this point our senior citizens are completely screwed. The thieves of DC have rigged the CPI so that it shows no inflation because the govt. can't afford the COLA increases every year, so the seniors get jack, while any accumulated wealth during their lifetime is earning diddly squat at the bank. They are being squeezed at both ends relentlessly.
It will of course all blow sky high at some point, as any Ponzi Scheme must when revenue can no longer keep up with payments out the door. We are now running deficits for both SS and Medicare. This is happening many years before the thieves of DC's projections. A chimp could do a better job by throwing darts.
I suspect, though, if we had public funding of campaigns the politicians would shift their allegiance to the taxpayers and they'd make the right decisions. I do favor a public option bank, and pay-for-performance politicians. But who is going to write the rules? The politicians themselves?