After the social security surplus disappears, the extra funds needed to pay out full benefits

[dkf]

Becomes part of the budget.

The social security administration can pay out using funds coming in through the SS tax or the bonds that represent the SS surplus. After those funds run out they will need to ask congress to appropriate it every year for the amount that is short.

[msongs]

1. mission accomplished - year to year funding that will be denied to feed the military nt

[dkf]

2. Or budget fights til the end of December or even retroactive...every year.

All the misery over the tax cuts and the unemployment extension replayed over and over.

[Marr]

23. Yep-- that bit of theater we just watched with unemployment insurance is

the new standard, I believe. Now our corporate lapdog leadership can "compromise" without advancing the agenda of the working class even one inch. All the basic, bare minimums are turning into items that must be renewed regularly, with huge new concessions given to the wealthiest 1% every time.

[OHdem10]

3. Not good!

[TBF]

4. Well you finally got something right. And that is when they will choose to cut it.

Go USA! Go USA!

[dkf]

5. That doesn't preclude the congress from cutting benefits prior to that time.

If they did that, they could re-create a surplus and use it's regressive taxes to fund the Government.

I am finally seeing the bigger picture about how social security is used to manipulate tax rates.

[customerserviceguy]

6. The so-called bonds

that represent the purported Social Security trust funds will need to be funded out of surpluses, which we haven't had since the Clinton Administration.

Your scenario becomes true even earlier than you speculate.

[dkf]

11. The difference is that the SS admin can lay it's claim to the treasury without budgeting

Through congress as long as the surpluses exist.

Then again, social security benefits are based on current legislation anyway, so they approve it by not changing it.

[customerserviceguy]

22. But will they lay that claim?

The only three ways it gets paid are:

1) Run a budget surplus that allows the specialized Treasury securities to get redeemed, or

2) Borrow more money to pay them off, or

3) Print money to pay them off, with nothing behind it, leading to inflation of the currency.

[dkf]

27. Congress gets the final say.

They can go any way they want...reduce benefits, raise SS taxes, raise federal income taxes, etc.

[customerserviceguy]

28. I have the distinct feeling

that the first of the alternatives you mention will be the fix.

I'm shoving as much money as I can into my 401K. I have few illusions that Social Security will be there for me when I'm ready to retire. And I'm 55.

[dkf]

30. Unless they means test you should get something back.

You aren't that far off. But why rely on the idiosyncracies of our congress? Better to have options.

[customerserviceguy]

33. Means testing will surely be part of the 'solution'

and if they don't build in inflation-adjusted numbers, then in a dozen years, just about anybody who's saved a bit for retirement will be means tested out.

You're right, I'm going to make my own option. When it comes down to it, the only one I can depend on for my security is myself.

[sabrina 1]

7. The surplus is not going to disappear. It is going to double by

2023 and will be over 4 trillion dollars by then.

Also, SS does not depend only on the SS taxes. It has two other sources of income, one of them being the interest on the Treasury Bonds.

You are so misinformed, I do not know where to begin. But even in a bad economic year like this one, despite the SS taxes not being enough to cover the benefits because of high enemployment, there WAS STILL A SURPLUS.

You need to start all over again studying how this program works and stop spreading misinformation with nothing to back it up.

The SS Trustees issued their annual report this year as always. And there is NO CRISIS even when times are bad, like now.

SS is good to meet 100% of its obligations until at least 2037 or longer according the Congressional Budget office, and beyond that, without doing anything, it can meet 75% of its obligations for well into the future, probably until everyone posting on this board is dead.

To ensure that after 2037 SS can meet 100% of its obligations, all they need to do is to lift the cap on SS taxes.

And, these numbers are based on the economy as it is now. If and when the economy improves, those numbers will change for the better.

I don't know where people are getting these false claims from, but they are not going to help this administration to cut benefits. Most Americans DO know the facts and anyone who doesn't, can easily find them.

Creating jobs is the best way to ensure that SS remains solvent for the next century.

Ending the Bush tax cuts would have helped to do that.

Extending them has added an additional 700 billion to the deficit. That should not have been allowed to happen. Corporations would have to create jobs in order to get tax breaks if we did not just hand them a freebie.

The Bush Tax Cuts did not create jobs, because Corps didn't have to do anything to get those breaks.

We need leadership that cares more about the people than Corps. When we get that we will not have to worry about SS, one of the most fiscally successful programs ever.

[defendandprotect]

9. Yahoo is also pushing this story today .... "as babyboombers turn 65, SS low on funds"... etal!!

[sabrina 1]

15. Unbelievable. But they must be getting the memo from somewhere.

The baby boomers already paid for their retirement. They were the first generation to pay for their parents AND their own retirement.

It can't be said often enough. THERE IS NO CRISIS in SS. But the increase in volume promoting the lie that there is, is not a good sign.

People need to get on the phone to their Reps and let them know we do not believe the lies and if they do not stand up and fight for the people, NO EXCUSES will be accepted.

I wonder who is behind these lies?

[defendandprotect]

25. Coming from Dave Carpenter, AP Finance writer via Boettner Center/Univ of PA .....

At least, this particular bit of anti-Social Security propaganda ...

Baby boomers near 65 with retirements in jeopardy

By DAVE CARPENTER, AP Personal Finance Writer Dave Carpenter, Ap Personal Finance Writer – 44 mins ago


"The situation is extremely serious because baby boomers have not saved very effectively for retirement and are still retiring too early," says Olivia Mitchell, director of the Boettner Center for Pensions and Retirement Research at the University of Pennsylvania.

There are several reasons to be concerned:

• The traditional pension plan is disappearing. In 1980, some 39 percent of private-sector workers had a pension that guaranteed a steady payout during retirement. Today that number stands closer to 15 percent, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute in Washington, D.C.

• Reliance on stocks in retirement plans is greater than ever; 42 percent of those workers now have 401(k)s. But the past decade has been a lost one for stocks, with the Standard & Poor's 500 index posting total returns of just 4 percent since the beginning of 2000.

• Many retirees banked on their homes as their retirement fund. But the crash in housing prices has slashed almost a third of a typical home's value. Now 22 percent of homeowners, or nearly 11 million people, owe more on their mortgage than their home is worth. Many are boomers.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101228/ap_on_bi_ge/us_retirement_crisis


----------------------------------

New right wing propaganda seems to rest on citizens retiring "early" --

though, of course it costs Social Security less when that happens ... !!

Ironically, what the article really does it make clear what a disaster capitalism is to our

futures!!

* Companies no longer offering pension benefits to young workers --

* Young people with 401K's have often seen their investment dwindle --

and those who invested in stocks have seen "crashes" due to deregulation

which stole their investments

* Housing bubble has now taken one-third of owners investment in their homes ...

and we still have 2.6 million homes under threat of foreclosure which will further

negatively impact home resales



:nuke:

[sabrina 1]

38. What a load of garbage. But why are we seeing stuff like this on a

democratic board?

The Baby Boomers's retirement is more than paid for. This is such a rightwing lie, pure Limbaugh/Hannity/O'Reilly propaganda meant for audiences who they know will never bother to check facts on their own. No wonder people say that Fox makes people stupid.

[defendandprotect]

45. We're still seeing it because right wing propaganda confuses even some DU'ers ....

When I think of all history, right wing propaganda and right wing violence

can be identified as having turned the world upside down -- imo -- !!

Look at the racist legacy left from Bibical teachings which empowered the

slave movement -- Civil War -- and still exists like a landmine in our societies?


Right wing propaganda creates myths of "inferiority" --

by gender, sexual orientation, color, creed -- teaching hatred and intolerance

for some to make them exploitable by the few.



. . . imo . . . !! :)

[Fumesucker]

13. Most Americans believe whatever the bubbleheaded bleachblonde on the Teevee tells 'em..

That is if they even bother to watch a N00Z program at all.

Oh wait... American Idol is on, gotta run and vote, this is important..

[dkf]

16. We stopped having a surplus of worker contributions vs retiree payouts this year.

Where are you getting your surplus numbers?

And I am talking about 2037 or whenever the surplus runs out.

Ahhh I see. You are counting the interest that the general fund owes to the SS system. Does that add to our regular budget deficit then? From one pocket to the other and we consider everything a ok.

[sabrina 1]

24. I explained it to you. We didn't 'stop having a surplus of worker contributions

vs retiree payouts this year'. We had a year, one of many over the history of SS, although the first since the early '80s, when worker contributions fell short because of the high unemployment rate. But from its other sources of income, SS had no problem covering its obligations and still had a surplus.

The information comes from the SS Trustees Annual Report. A sharp upturn in the economy will change the projections, and that can only happen if jobs become a #1 priority. Otoh, now that the wealthy got their Bush Tax Cuts extended, that will slow down job creation.

All these numbers change every year depending on the economy.

To protect SS, create jobs, lift the cap on SS taxes and end the Bush Tax Cuts. It's too late for the last one, but anyone really serious about keeping SS solvent, will not be talking about cutting benefits. Raising benefits would help the economy as a matter of fact and should be considered.

[dkf]

29. The wondrous source of income is the same entity bleeding red ink.

Aka the federal budget.

Which goes to the fact that there is significant crowding out of priorities that will have to be addressed as Social Security requires more and more reimbursement from the Federal budget

[defendandprotect]

34. Social Security requires NO money from government ... and adds NOTHING to the debt ....

Our problems are with corrupt government -- not Social Security --

We have elected officials pre-owned and pre-bribed by corporate elites --

that's the problem.

[sabrina 1]

39. Thank you. That is such a basic fact about SS, I cannot believe

people still fall for the Fox lies that SS is a 'welfare' program.

[defendandprotect]

35. Two wars are bankrupting the Treasury .. Bush wars which Obama/Dems have been refunding ....

year after year since '06 --

when Pelosi told us ... on video ...

"Democrats were elected to end the war!"

[sabrina 1]

37. Stop spreading these distortions. The SS fund is

a completely separate fund from the Federal Budget and is not in any trouble right now. The Fed. Budget is in trouble, that has NOTHING to do with SS. And SS does not need and never should need, anything from the Fed Budget, other than payment on the debt.

How the Federal Govt. pays that debt is the only thing that should concern anyone. It must be paid.

They could start by slashing the Military Budget. That would take care of not only SS, but free healthcare for all for the next century.

Lift the cap on the SS tax.

Create Jobs which might have happened had they let the Bush tax cuts expire.

Just those three things would solve the problem of the Fed. Govt. paying its debt to SS.

But the vultures who have always wanted to privatize SS are hovering around as always, and this time there doesn't seem to be a real fight going on to fend them off.

[defendandprotect]

40. Is $1 BILLION a day in interest on the debt "bleeding" government by any chance...????

-- but America can't afford MEDICARE FOR ALL ---

Again, Social Security requires NO reimbursement from the government --

rather the government is trying to hold onto the Social Security surplus as

a slush fund for elites!

Social Security costs the government ZIP --

It will take a very corrupt administration to default on the interest payments

on its Treasury notes --

[woo me with science]

26. Thank you. nt

[defendandprotect]

36. Amazing how effective right wing propaganda is ....even confuses DU'ers ... !!

Think you better plan on doing an OP on Social Security at least once a week

to keep DU'ers heads on straight!!


:)

[defendandprotect]

8. Also consider ....

If US wants to begin NOT paying their creditors ...

Erin Brockovitch and a LAWSUIT by those who have paid into Social Security

including the employers who should also be interested in the money they

contributed for employees not having become part of a slush fund for the rich!!

[WinkyDink]

10. The difference between "can pay out" and "will pay out" is pretty dang obvious.

[defendandprotect]

20. "Enron-izing" the Treasury .... to steal from Social Security ... and

would that be a good move for the US government?


:nuke:

[johnaries]

12. A part of the Simpson-Bowles report that didn't make it into the

final Commission report was to completely separate SS funds from the General Budget - if I interpreted it correctly.

We need to do this. SS funding should be separate. Congress needs to stop raiding SS funds in order to "balance the budget".

[dflprincess]

14. Social Seucity has been seperate from the General Revenue

Obama just changed that with his "compromise" that opened SS up to depending on funds from the general revenue.

[dkf]

17. I wonder if Obama's compromise actually budgets the payout from the General Treasury instead

Of from the SS fund. I am still not clear how that works.

[BzaDem]

19. Obama's compromise causes a 120 billion dollar check to be written from the general treasury to the

trust fund.

[dkf]

32. Should I be laughing at that thought?

Ye gads, then why doesn't the general treasury just write a $500 gazillion check to the Social Security fund. Then it's set for life!

Hey I've solved social security!

[hollowdweller]

18. Only need to raise SS payroll tax by 3%

To fund it for the next 75 years or more right??

I never hear anybody mention that option.

I don't see the big deal. For a the cost of a couple pizzas per month I'd be glad to insure that the program is there for the people younger than me.

I think most people would agree if the dems would lay that fact out for them.

[defendandprotect]

21. It's no where near that amount ... and it's something that has been done regularly ....

last I heard, if they raised it something like .0139% it would be soluable

thru 2075 --

PLUS we need to raise the cap on the earnings -- think it's only around $106,000 now???

We need to keep raising that cap -- perhaps eliminate it --

[defendandprotect]

31. There are NO problems with Social Security - solvent thru 2037 and beyond ....

our problems are with corrupt government and right wing lies --

right wing propaganda campaign has been going on for three decades now --

and has failed -- but, Oops! ....

We now have the Democratic president we sent to Washington to "change" things

attacking Social Security ... having sent the most vicious of Republicans

in to destroy it via his "Cat Food Commission."

Obama is the same guy we were counting on for universal health care for our nation

and citizens which so desperately need it -- rather we saw a trampling of it in

back room deals with Big Pharma and private H/C industry!!




:nuke:

[Major Hogwash]

44. Zuzu's petals!

Yipee! I'm not crazy, after all!!

[Hannah Bell]

41. pure delusional bullshit. did you pull this "fact" out of your ass, or what?

[sabrina 1]

42. Looks that way! n/t

[Major Hogwash]

43. But what about the pink cotton candy shortage?

Isn't anyone aware of that yet?