Can someone please explain why Social Security has to be fixed?

[BigBearJohn]

Hasn't the government been "borrowing" money from the trust
fund for years and years? Instead of refunding the "surplus"
why didn't they just pay off the money they stole from Social Security?

I don't understand why people say Social Security has to be fixed.

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Because the rich are not quite

rich enough yet.

[Raster]

2. It has to be "fixed" because they can't pay back the money

besides, there's all that lovely cash that the banking and investment industry would love to get their hands on.

[raysr]

3. It doesn't need

fixed, they're trying to kill it by making people think it's broken.

[medeak]

4. Bid Dawg had the best answer

make illegal aliens legal and they have to pay into social security..the numbers work

[I_Make_Mistakes]

5. Because the Repub's are in a deficit

OMG!! How to put the money back? Privatization, move it from 1 acct to another and (ENRON) it's, Viola fixed. They are so obvious, that their patrons won't even fall for it!

The heartless, un-Christian Repugs can't play this deal, and they are Morans to think they can!!

The polls showed the #'s before this attempt, but, how will they cover the #'s without this?

[skids]

6. Because it is like a big wad of toilet paper...

...that is preventing the BFEE from flushing those pesky citizens down the toilet, leaving nothing but a slave class.

[Greyhound]

15. Not slaves,serfs.Slaves are an asset with value and therefore,

when one dies it is a loss. Serfs are totally replaceable. :smoke:

[Yupster]

7. And they're supposed to wave a wand

and say pooof here's a couple trillion dollars.

There's about a $ 400 billiob defecit even without social security.

How in the world are they supposed to pay the "loaned" money back.

[BigBearJohn]

8. Why should the government be able to steal our money?

They stole it, they can pay it back.

[Yupster]

11. LOL -- I didn't say it was right

but it's done.

The money's gone. Pfffft. Like you said it's been stolen and it can't be paid back.

Even if you yell, stomp your feet and hold your breath, it won't make $ 2 trillion magically appear.

[craigolemiss]

17. Bush & Cheney prison wages

say they get 25 cents an hour making license plates---how long will it take to pay back the victims compensation fund (i.e. Social Security)?

[AngryAmish]

24. By printing it

[Yupster]

9. And another thing

Social Security has been "fixed" about once every generation since FDR started it.

If Social security had been left alone and never fixed, it would still carry a maximum tax rate of 1 %.

It would have no widows benefit or orphns benefit and there would be no disability benefit.

This doesn't mean we should make some major change like private accounts, but whenever I see someone write something to the effect of "FDR's program is our plan. We need to leave it alone." I just shake my head at the lack of knowledge of history in our nation.

[redacted]

10. so bushies buddies can make more money

the only reason anything happens in bushland

edit: typing with a bandaged finger = many typos

[tiptoe]

12. *bingo!*

== same reason the Medicare Prescription Drug Program was "fixed"

== same reason intelligence was "fixed" to the policy for "war" in Iraq

== same reason USDA Mad Cow testing program was "fixed" to NOT find Mad Cow

== same reason EPA was "fixed" to become the Environmental Pollution Agency

== same reason electronic voting machines were "fixed" by Diebold's Wally O'Dell

== same reason FDA was "fixed" to become the Food and Drug Abomination

== same reason capitalism was "fixed" to 'crony capitalism'

== same reason Bush's Brain is "fixed" by Rove, Cheney. Rumsfeld, Ledeen, Wayreuth, Norquist

[Hekate]

13. "People" don't say it: Neo-cons do

Neo-cons and ultra-fundy Christian Reconstructionist/Dominionists think the government has no business spending tax money on social programs, including public education.

Once I got that straight, I looked at the actions of this administration with a whole new lens. If a given policy's effects are destructive, I ask myself "who does it serve?"

Environmental programs that strip away protections serve industry.

Unfunded educational mandates (like No Child Left Behind) that states and school boards can't begin to pay for, and that tie up the energies of both teachers and students -- they serve the people who think educating children is the parents' sole responsibility. Poor children can be illiterate -- it's not the government's lookout. Middle-class parents can impoverish themselves paying for private schools -- or better yet, mommy can stay home from work and home-school the kids, because that's where she's supposed to be anyway. The wealthy will do what they've always done anyway. Sounds a bit like a Third World nation to me. Who does it serve to have schools fail?

Medicare and Social Security are programs that have worked well, and still work well today. But the proposals of the Bushites severely undercut both of them, and in time will lead to scrapping these programs as unworkable failures. Who does it serve to have these programs fail?

Go back and re-read my first sentence, then google for the terms I used. The religious part of the equation is truly nuts -- and truly influential at this point.

Hekate

[Princess Turandot]

14. Corporations must match the amount which is removed from an individual's

paycheck. I think they are hoping to transform SS into a program like corporate 401k's, where employers only match employee contributions up to a certain amount. After all, in an 'ownership' society, should not people only receive the amount of social security contribution matching from their employer that they are willing to put in themselves? Why should it be a social welfare net? /sarcasm

Under the current program, there is a tax which funds present beneficiaries' checks. There is not a dollar for dollar connection between what you contribute (and what your employer matches) and what you will eventually collect except that your contribution level on current salaries does impact the calculation of your ultimate retirement benefit.

So sooner or later they will pitch something that allows a younger worker to opt for a lower contribution altogether, since it's an ownership society & you'll get to keep the difference. If the current rate is 9%, they will let you contribute say 5%, and you can run out and spend the 4% to help grow the economy. Your employer gets to save that 4% as well. The fact that Americans have shown no ablity to save substantially on a voluntarily basis for retirement shouldn't impact any politicians' thoughts on this. Who wants the nanny state, after all? /sarcasm off again

There are clearly issues which exist with Social Security IOUs, but the reality is that the Republicans have always lusted for the end of this program altogether.

[Burried News]

22. Good observation. I think this is a big motivation that receives

very little discussion.

[wli]

16. they need a "last sucker" for the stock market before it crashes n/t

[eridani]

18. It doesn't

There is less wrong with Social Security than with any other part of our society. Peak oil is far more of a problem--when that takes us down, nothing will matter, including Social Security. Oldsters will just have to suffer along with everyone else.

[leftofthedial]

19. nope

no one can

[applegrove]

20. So that the poor will line up to serve so that grandma doesn't starve.

[Burried News]

21. So the Hedge Fund guys can cash in some of their paper profits

without crashing the market. An estimated 50% of market transactions are estimated to be by Hedge Funds.
Secondly failure to gain control of Iraqi oil has put the dollar in jeopardy. The oil was supposed to at least pay for the adventure. It has not.

[MercutioATC]

23. Too much WWII sex.

It's not a question of borrowing, it's a question of numbers.

There are too many people retiring over the next 15 years because too many people had sex in the 40's.

[SoCalDem]

25. They stole our money, and we're gonna ask for it soon

They don't have it, and there's not much time to steal some more:(

[BigBearJohn]

26. Thanks to all of your for your comments!

[Cleita]

27. My Repuke neighbor tells me it's because families should

take care of their elderly, not the government. So this is really what they are trying to fix, to force families to look after mom and dad, without any help, at a time when their medical care expenses will be the most costly and at a time that they might be trying to put their kids through college.

Of course my Repuke neighbor doesn't have to worry because she and her family are wealthy and will never have to worry about medical care and support for an elderly parent.