Monday, December 21, 2015

There is No Social Security Santa Claus

Richard Ebeling emails:

Dear Bob,

I have a new article on the “EpicTimes” news and commentary website on, “There is No Social Security Santa Claus.”

It may be Grinch-like to challenge the Santa myth during this holiday time, but there is no fat, bearded man in a red suit who brings us goodies for free. Nor is that a magical Social Security system that assures everyone a retirement pension, complements of Uncle Sam.

A new report by the Congressional Budget Office on the long-term status of Social Security warns that in 2010, the Social Security Trust Fund started paying out more than it was collecting in taxes. And by 2029, annual taxes and interest income from U.S. securities in the infamous “lockbox” will no longer be enough to cover all retirees, survivors and disability insurance recipients under current tax law and beneficiary eligibility.

In 2030, payments to people covered by Social Security, under current law, will have to be reduced by almost 30 percent. And it will only get worse from thereon in. So what is to be done?

I propose selling off the nearly 28 percent of the all land owned by the Federal government in the United States over, say, a five-year period, and proceed to pay back as much as possible of the money that living generations have been plundered by the system, starting with the oldest age categories.

Not everyone, no doubt, will be compensated for what had been compulsorily taken from him or her over the years. But at the end of this payback, the Social Security Administration would be abolished, Social Security taxes would no longer be collected, and vast portions of the U.S. will have been sold off to the productive and efficient hands of private entrepreneurs.

The result will be rising standards of living, increased income out of which people will be able to better care for their own later years and that of their loved ones, and generate the wealth from which proper benevolence may be voluntarily shown to those less well-off than others.

http://www.epictimes.com/richardebeling/2015/12/yes-virginia-there-is-no-social-security-santa-claus/

Happy Holidays, Bob!

2 comments:

  1. After selling off all federal lands the US govt could sell off all federal buildings, get rid of Amtrak (sell?), sell off the National helium reserve, sell off the strategic petroleum reserve, close all foreign military bases, sell off all navy vessels for scrap metal, end foreign aid, etc. etc... The govt could get a whole bunch of money to pay off folks who really are dependent on SS, and then end the program once and for all.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It seems like they always find ways to keep it going. Of course it's fully invested in Treasury bonds, so the real question is how long can the Fed keep buying the debt?

    ReplyDelete