The Sage Observer

I Say Again

I begun this as a comment for Facebook but have changed my mind because of its size. I’m sure that, over time, I have said these things before; but, in light of comments I, from time to time, continue to hear from others, I say again.

You can say this either way. The Social Security Fund invested its surplus funds in the United States Government by buying government securities for which they receive interest; or, you can say, the government of the United States borrowed the Social Security surplus collections, securing them with interest bearing notes or securities. Either way, the government did not steal the Social Security fund's money. Their investments will receive interest and be repaid when due as is every other government security. Surely one would not expect the fund to invest in lesser secure investments. As bad off as we may seem, no other institution in the world has better credit than the United States of America. Ours is the reserve currency of the world. That very well may change; but, for now, that’s just the way it is.

You are absolutely right, Beth. The Social Security fund is not part of our national budget. Neither does it in any way affect our deficit or our debt unless you want to consider the fact that it is a creditor.Social Security is a stand-alone fund.

Last, but certainly not least, the Social Security fund is not going broke. Those who say different are mistaken. Yes, in a few years, the income to the fund will need to be adjusted as will all our budget plans as conditions change. We should have already done so except for those in Congress who lack the political courage to step up and take care of business where and when it is needed—their own personal interests taking precedent over those of our nation. Of course, other reasons are due to their political chess games—also not in the best interest of the nation.

Yes we have a huge national debt. It shouldn’t be. But it is; and you can blame almost all of it on the Republicans—their personal greed and their political games of chess. If they can bring us to the brink of bankruptcy, they can force us to get rid of Social Security, Health Care, and other safety net programs. Yes. They are coming after our Social Security. They have told us as much.

When Jimmy Carter left office, our national debt was less than one trillion dollars. That is as close to zero as any of us is going to see in our lifetimes. When George W left office, our national debt was around ten trillion dollars, an increase of 1,004%; and, on top of that, he left us on the edge of a global financial crisis and  one of the potentially deepest depressions in world history—that after inheriting a nice and comfortable budget surplus from our DINO president William Jefferson Clinton. You remember him. Think NAFTA. Think the repeal of Glass–Steagall which, among other causes, led to the financial crisis. Think etc. but I digress. The fact is, we wouldn’t have had most of the additional debt leading up to the eighteen trillion dollars we have now if Bush would have kept us on track with the spending level he inherited.

But I want to tell you something else. Our country isn’t broke either, unless we choose to continue in that direction. There is enough gross domestic product produced in this nation every year to pay off our debt over a reasonable period of time and still have the other programs we need for the welfare and security of our nation and our people. It will require that our people be paid fair and reasonable living wages and that everybody pays their fair share of taxes, including top wage earners and corporations, It would also help immensely if our Department of Defense and intelligence agencies were to implement auditable accounting systems with integrated data bases and fair pricing. Certainly, fair and more reliant pricing by our defense contractors would contribute. Cost overruns range from the sublime to the ridiculous. We can do this if we really want. If we want to continue as the leader of the free world, we must.

In the mean time, this is Ronald Miller, www.sageobserver.blogspot.com, signing off. Email me at mtss86@comcast.net.