Shortly after the ceiling on federal debt was raised on October 17, 2013, the conservative Heritage Foundation notified its readers that the outstanding debt of the United States had “rocketed past $17 trillion,” and that “entitlement spending—the key driver of spending and debt—remains unaddressed.” The three assumptions in that statement—that the true measure of our debt is $17 trillion, that the cause of the buildup of debt is entitlement spending, and that therefore the appropriate policy to “address” this problem is to cut Social Security benefits and other “entitlements”—are endorsed by many politicians and policy pundits in Washington. But they’re all wrong as economic analysis and disastrous as policy recommendations.
Seventeen trillion dollars certainly sounds like a big, scary number, especially when national debt clocks tell us that this translates into more than $53,000 for every person in the United States. But we shouldn’t be focusing on that number.
The $17 trillion figure is a measure of “gross debt,” which means that it includes debt owed by the U.S. Treasury to more than 230 other U.S. government agencies and trust funds. On the consolidated financial statements of the federal government, this intragovernmental debt is, in effect, canceled out. Basically, this is money the government owes itself. What is left is termed “debt held by the public.” It is this measure of debt that is relevant to a possible increase in interest rates due to competition for funding between the private and public sectors. It is also the category of government debt used by the Congressional Budget Office and other analysts. (Of course, the full economic significance of any debt measure needs to be considered in context, in relationship to the income available to service the debt.) The total debt held by the public is $12 trillion.
The Social Security Trust Fund owns $2.7 trillion of the $5 trillion of Treasury securities held in intragovernmental accounts. In fact, Social Security is the largest single owner of Treasury securities in the world, surpassing even China’s significant holdings of $1.3 trillion.
Social Security accumulated all these Treasury securities because of the way that its finances are organized. Social Security benefits to retirees (and to the disabled) are paid for by a payroll tax of 12.4 % on workers’ wages (with 6.2% paid by the worker and 6.2% paid by the employer), up to a limit, currently $113,700. If, in any year, Social Security revenue is greater than what is needed to pay current retiree benefits, the surplus must, by law, be invested in Treasury securities (most of which are “special obligation bonds” issued only to the Social Security Trust Fund).
This is a hardcore big government statist article. It also makes assumptions only a liberal would believe. It does not factor in unfunded liabilities.
Social Security is NOT an entitlement!!! People for years have had a gun held to their head and have been made to contribute to Social Security and they want to call it an entitlement! What has happened is that they have spent all the monies and now they want to cut out what every American has contributed to for retirement! They have stolen the funds and want to call it broke!!!
SS is a tax. period. and all gov't taxes go into the same pot that gets emptied every single year. no part of gov't has any sort of surplus. every penny, and then some more, is spent every…single…year.
There is $2.7 Trillion in the SS Trust fund. The vast majority of people are completely comfortable knowing that the money is there waiting for them. This article confirms their comfort. What they can’t, or don’t understand, is that all of that money has been lent to an institution that won't be able to pay it back, except in devalued money (devalued money? what's that?).
“had benefits been cut by 13% beginning in 1996, total reductions would have totaled $1.2 trillion by 2012.” Almost no one understands that this actually happened, only in a different way. The Clinton administration (and others) changed how inflation is calculated, of course making it appear lower. SS payment increases are tied to inflation. Lower inflation = lower SS payment increases. Voila! Your SS check is now about half of what it would have been.
Adolf Hitler was right – “How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don't think.”
And our Own SC Jim DeMint now leads the Heritage Foundation and apparently, he is lumping all the freebies that are being given in record numbers to anyone who wants them, if they meet the racial profile for Obama's goodies, From free food, medical care, SNAP cards, and medication is being lumped in with SS. What Mr. DeMint forgets is to deduct all those receiving these services at no cost to them at all. Many, take those SNAP cards and sell them for a lesser value and take the cash. Why, because they really don't need them.
Most Social Security Recipients paid their entire working lives into this fund and now they want to do away with hit? Why not take those who claim to be disabled and get a doctor who is not just feeding his own coffers and passing them with very little verification they are really disabled.
Several years ago, I had some very serious health issues that I should have claimed a disability as I cannot work full time because of these issues.. But, I didn't because I was not taught to "ride on the government's train". Now most everyone who does not work wants a ride on that train too.
Mr. DeMint, please do a better job with the Heritage Foundation, but then, this may be on their agenda. I'm disgusted with all the people (including Obama) who want to do away with seniors by cutting their healthcare options and allowing them to die much younger than they might have otherwise. If Obamacare does not have a death panel, then I'm going to twitch my nose and be 20 years younger.
With the things that are occurring in Washington now, there may be a more people dying as it is apparent Obama has a higher agenda to destroy America's way of life. Please stop helping him, as he is doing a pretty good job of destroying our country along with the rest of his liberal type democracy, which then becomes a country under a dictator.
You're all blind if you don't see that and try to stop it.
To the author: Who are you and what have you done with Gary North?
There is no way Gary North the above article.
Is it me, or are more and more of the articles at this site not written by Gary anymore?
To the author: Who are you and what have you done with Gary North?
There is no way Gary North wrote the above article.
Is it me, or are more and more of the articles at this site not written by Gary anymore?
Read more at http://teapartyeconomist.com/2014/01/17/15490/#T3…
Creative accounting, that's how the federal government does what they want and gets what they want without having to answer to anyone. They're all a bunch of crooks and need replaced. Don't vote for any incumbents no matter how essential they seem to you. That just means you're buying into their lies.
There are thousands of federal "appointees" that got their jobs by sucking up to the feds. Anyone they can't buy or intimidate into giving them what they want they just replace them with someone that will. What a bunch of crooks!
Unfortunately Mike,S.S.was only originated as a retirement insurance plan. It was implemented as an entitlement plan. Since then the Congress found it was a great place to borrow funds and has rgularly robbed the funds to pay for their "PORK" projects. There is no connection betweeen what an individual pays into the S.S. system and the payments that are made to the individual.
As originally envisioned By Frnklin Delan Rooseveldt, S. S. was to be an insurance plan operated by The Prudential Life Ins. Co, Bankers Life Ins. Co., New York Life Ins. Co., and Metropolitan Life Ins. Co. The preiums were to be paid by a tax on wages up to a set limit. The companies agreed to this and thought that they had a deal with the government. Then the law was changed to give full control to the Congress, because if the Ins. Cos. could make a pofit on this idea, so could the governent. (You can Stop laughing, now) And the law was implemenmted as an entitlement with full control in the hands of the Congress and no real guarantees to the tax payers.
If the system had been instituted as a true retirement plan with owner contol and with the funds investe at least 50% into Mutual Funds to prevent loss of all funds with one company going bankrupt, we would all be in much better shape now as well as our country being much closer to solvency.
The 'trust fund' is just an accounting placeholder for all the SS surpluses diverted to the general fund over the years (multiplied by an arbitrary rate of interest).
It only holds a special type of Treasury security with no market value.
If in the current year SS expenses exceed SS receipts, then the deficit must be made up by either raising taxes or by selling regular Treasury securities, adding to the debt (IIRC, this first happened in 2008)
So in practice SS now operates like any other federal welfare program, paid for out of the general fund.