STOP THE LYING!

[mqbush]

Almost all politicians and financial "experts" speak gloomily about the huge slice Social Security and Medicare take out of the budget pie. But SS and Medicare taxes are billed separately from general tax revenue, they're never a part of the general budget pie. The military isn't deprived of a single Cruise missile because of SS and Medicare accounts. No congressperson loses even a scrap of pork because of SS and Medicare accounts. They're separate budgets. Anyone who talks as though the treasury will be unable to pay our armies, or repair our bridges, or help out our schools if we don't slash SS and Medicare is LYING, LYING, LYING! Since the general revenue pie and SS/Medicare are separate, slashing SS/Medicare would have NO effect on the general budget. If SS/Medicare payouts get to the point where they will soon outstrip SS/Medicare taxes, then just raise those taxes by the one percent os so necessary to assure solvency. It would not be the end of the world to pay a hair more taxes, but it could be the end of the world for some if we let the maniac right do away with these public aids.

[sandnsea]

1. Not quite

Boomers have paid their retirement, in full. It has been spent. There may not be enough to cover the costs of boomers' medicare and ss. In order to cover those expenses, it may be necessary to use general tax funds to repay what boomers already paid. If that happens, then there will be less money in the general fund to pay for education or bombs or whatever.

[mqbush]

2. That's why I say, if we need to raise SS/Medicare withholding,

then do so, don't pull from the general tax funds. It's the notion that it's impossible to raise withholding that makes a FAKE crisis out of this.

[sandnsea]

6. Raising the cap would be okay

If you raise the percentage on working folks, then you're taxing people who have already paid their share. The money went to the wealthy with the Bush tax cuts, go get it back from them.

[mkultra]

3. well, thats not true

Although the receipt is shown differently, the money goes into the general budget for use. We are in surplus with SS though.

[mqbush]

4. But it was taxed with a set purpose for its use.

When pols moan about how big a slice of the pie SS/Medicare take, that's more than deceptive, it's basically lying.

[mkultra]

5. well, Your right and wrong

depends on context. If someone is trying to say that it is a huge system, then it does matter. If they are trying to say that it threatens other funding, then they are lying. Context matters in cases of honesty.


The SS/medicare are the single biggest piece of the budget handled by our government. Even bigger then military spending. But this past year saw a surplus of 90 billion in receipts for these areas. This surplus has occured every year since inception but it has started to grow smaller every year. I must wonder how much of that surplus the general has taken from ss\medicare. This is why Gore talked about a lockbox.