Rant begins…
I don’t normally mention politics here on the blog but since this gripe is aimed at both parties and the president I guess I felt I wasn’t really taking sides in writing this as much as pointing out a problem that should have been fixed a long, long time ago.
As you well know employees pay into social security and medicare every paycheck. This has been going on since 1937. Since that year 13.8 trillion dollars have been collected for social security payments. A total of $11.3 trillion has been paid out. That means we should have a surplus of 2.5 trillion dollars in the system. Instead, we can’t even pay for one month of social security next week unless we borrow it from someone else. In fact, the US government borrows 40 cents of every dollar they spend. That is a travesty.
When politicians talk about cutting $2 trillion over 10 years (half of which is the wind down of Iraq and Afghanistan) you are talking about cutting 200 billion a year. At that rate, if we didn’t borrow another dime, we could pay off our 14 trillion dollar national debt in 70 years. Actually, it would take a lot longer than that because that debt has interest that makes it take longer to pay off because even if you don’t add to the debt (remember, we currently borrow 40% of our spending!) the interest still makes it grow.
Next, we are coming out of a recession and the recovery has a lot to do with the government propping up the economy via spending and cutting interest rates. If we are going to balance our budget…actually even more…pay off our debt not only do we have to cut our spending, we have to stop borrowing 40% of our spending AND pay back the money we owe. See the problem? The spending cuts are required but their consequences could have a ripple effect in the market/economy and really hurt our progress.
So what do the politicians do? Do they try to fix it or just posture? They have known this was coming for years and yet they allow it to hit crisis mode. The advantage of crisis mode is something has to happen that might not happen normally and so agendas get in the mix that could have been more easily weeded out if they had months to work through it. Now they won’t even have time to read whatever bill comes down the line and will just have to blindly vote on it. Ugh.
Needless to say, we are in a mess as a nation. But if we don’t tackle it now and make the hard decisions it will just get worse. We have to tackle the root problem here and not just symptoms. We also need to put politics and re-election concerns aside and do what is right for the nation here and for those who were forced to send their money to Washington with the promise that it would be there for them when they needed it. Last, they are talking about raising the retirement age to 70. Life expectancy is 79. So pay in your whole life for 9 years worth of what? I am tired of watching these guys act like they had no idea this was coming. If you acted like this in your job you would get fired but somehow these guys run the nation…rant done.
0 Responses
Wurd
Social Security as it is is a dead end. Many more dollars will go out in the next few years than will come in. The system was doomed to failure in the beginning. In the beginning it was not indented as a sole retirement plan, it was intended to be additional retirement income. But, the nature of people is that they will usually take the course of least effort. So now, millions rely solely on SS for their living.
A person retiring in 1983 would draw out all he or she had paid into the system in only 3 and 1/2 years! Where does the money come from to pay that person the other 20 or more years until he or she dies? SS is like a pyramid scheme. Those who got in early made out like bandits and those getting in late will be big losers. The system must be overhauled, probably making the eligibility age about 70 to start receiving a check and or having part of the money available to the market.
Had I invested half of what I paid into SSI over my prime working years, (paid the max many years), I would have quite a nest egg today just on that money. People should be given the option to at least partially opt out. One thing is sure, it can’t continue very long as it is.
I don’t know what the solution is but I am sure that when the government is no longer able to write SSC checks, the politicians running the government will still be able to write their own paychecks.
Grace and Peace,
Rex
Please don’t let me get started ranting about the Washington mess!
Part of the problem is the way they “score” a bill. When a new budget comes out, it always adds a percentage to the previous budget. Any spending done in the previous year has money added to it (including supposedly one-time expenditures like the 2009 “stimulus” and the TARP bailouts). Then any reduction in the increase is called a “cut.” It is those “cuts” to increases that get some of the libs all out of whack saying someone wants children to starve and Granny to eat cat food so she can buy her medicine!
What a crock! If a company were run this way, the CEO, CFO, and all the directors would be in jail. (Think ENRON!) Yet, these people call themselves “public servants.” Jesus talked about this – politicians who call themselves “Benefactors.”
I’d better close before I get so heated up I can’t sleep tonight!
Your policy to not comment on political issues was very wise.
I love the humor in that 🙂