Some Thoughts on "SoShacurity"
December 2006 (I think)
(How in the world are we ever going to deal with Social Security, when more than
half of the people in charge of fixing it can’t say it?)
There are a few things about Social Security that aren’t being said, or at least,
aren’t being said enough, and I am burning for the chance to say them. Well, this is
my opportunity!
Social Security is a ROTTEN DEAL!
Very few will ever draw out of Social Security as much as they pay in. Some people will
pay in all their lives and never draw a penny because they will die before reaching
"retirement age." Some will earn very little return on their
"investment" because they will die shortly after retiring. Others will live to a
ripe old age, but never draw out what they put in, much less the interest those sums could
have earned. And when they die, they will leave none of those funds to their survivors.
That same money, if actually invested (even in the most cautious and secure methods
possible) would pay them much, much more and when they die it will be passed on to their
survivors.
Your money is already GONE!
There is no trust fund. There is no "account" for you. There is no "lock
box." You have not "paid in" to Social Security for your retirement. The
money you pay today is spent today (more or less) to pay the benefits of all those who are
retired or receiving benefits now. When (and if) you retire you will get any benefits you
receive out of the paychecks of those who are working and paying then.
Social Security is a FRAUD!
Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, a giant pyramid investment scam! Every pyramid
collapses when there are no more "investors" (suckers) to join and furnish the
money that pays off the earlier investors. Just like those stupid chain letters where you
are urged to send $1 to the name at the top of the list, when there are no more fools
available to obediently mail their money away, the game is over. And those who didn’t
make it to the top are out of luck. The only reason Social Security has lasted this
long is that everyone is required by law to play! If I hatched such a plan on my
own I would be arrested and jailed as a crook. Franklin Delano Roosevelt hatched Social
Security, the federal government administers it, and demands that everybody pay. Oh,
did I say everyone? Our beloved leaders in Congress have thoughtfully excluded
themselves from participation. Instead, they set up for themselves a true retirement plan
where their money is invested, safeguarded and returned to them or their survivors.
Social Security is DOOMED!
It’s not just a crisis, it is a dead end. On the day that Social Security was
conceived, anyone with any sense could have predicted that it would one day die a
miserable and painful death, dragging the hopes and expectations of millions of Americans
down into its own bitter grave. A Ponzi scheme cannot continue forever. Sooner or
later, their will be no one left to pay those at the top of the list. Even though
participation is required by law, we can look down the road now and see that simple
demographics will soon exhaust our supply of suckers, and the great pyramid will come
crashing down. One or two workers cannot pay the benefits of one retiree. They simply
cannot be taxed enough to cover it! Those who talk of "reforming" Social
Security are just trying to avoid a panic while either (a) trying to actually recreate it
as something that will work, or (b) just putting the mess off for a few years so that
someone else will have to deal with it.
Social Security is a BAD IDEA!
Even if it wasn’t a giant pyramid scheme, Social Security is a bad idea for our
country. Americans should take care of themselves. The last thing we need is to turn our
financial security in old age over to the federal government to administer. This is a
sure-fire formula for disaster. For one thing, who ever got the idea that the federal
government was competent to handle money? For another, money is power and the government
doesn’t need any more. Look what happened in Egypt during the days of Joseph. In the
seven years of plenty the people were taxed and the surplus laid up for the coming bad
years. But in order to buy back their own food during the famine, the starving people were
forced to sell themselves into slavery! Give government enough control over your money,
and you will soon find that you have done the same thing.
Don’t reform it or try to fix it. Social Security should be DISMANTLED!
All of the old people out there are screaming right now, and gasping with relief that I
don’t have any influence over what happens. I am NOT saying that those who are
dependent on Social Security now should be cut off. They were suckered in, their money is
already stolen, and we cannot leave them destitute. Likewise, those who are close to
retirement age have laid their plans based on promises made to them by their government.
We must honor those promises.
The time has come, though, when we must look at Social Security with our eyes wide open
and recognize that this fool’s paradise cannot go on forever. We should pick an age
at which today’s workers must be able to plan and provide for their own future. They
must be told that they will get nothing from Social Security. From that age up benefits
should be phased in until those who are retiring today get 100% of what was promised them.
Everyone will have to pay in until the bills are paid off and Social Security itself can
be "retired." There are several ways we could speed up the termination of this
scam, but one way or another we should put Social Security out of business and return
responsibility for the American citizen’s welfare and retirement to the American
citizen himself.
