Oh so many emotions surrounding the Social Security debate! But what has become increasingly clear to me is that George W. Bush has actually stolen the Social Security trust fund and Big Al Greenspan conviently confirmed that for me with his statements this morning:
The 2004 federal deficit was $412.5 billion, and “would have been $564 billion,” if Social Security revenue hadn’t been included in the budget, Greenspan said.
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During the 2000 presidential campaign, when the federal budget was in surplus, current President George W. Bush and then- Vice President Al Gore both endorsed the idea of “locking up” Social Security revenue to ensure the retirement fund’s surplus, which in 2004 totaled $115.9 billion, couldn’t be used for other national expenses.
Let’s see, that $564 billion dollars minus $412.5 billion dollars…that equals….$151.5 billion dollars!
What was that 2004 SS surplus? $115.9 billion. Gone. Stolen.
So with if GWB actually accomplishes Social Security deformation, he will have achieved two goals:
*Destroyed the Democrats’ keynote legislation
*Covered up the greatest theft of taxpayer dollars in the history of the world!
Social Security reform is nothing more than an elaborate ruse to hide the theft of taxpayer dollars and load the equities markets with taxpayer dollars when the baby boomers start making withdrawals from those markets so they can freaking afford health insurance when they retire. If those equities markets don’t get a fresh infusion of cash somehow, then corporations who rely on that cash to fund operations will be forced to reduce profit taking or succumb to events.
“In addressing Social Security’s imbalances, we need to ensure that measures taken now to finance future benefit commitments represent real additions to national saving,” Greenspan told the Senate Committee on Aging today. “We need, in effect, to make the phantom `lock-boxes’ around the trust fund real.”
That “national savings” Al’s referring to, that’s tax money siphoned off from Social Security to prop up equities. They will steal money from you and me to accomplish their goal and hide their previous crime. And they are goddamned determined to do it. Don’t find any security in polls that show public opinion dead set against piratization. The corporations who have bought and sold our federal government are determined to make it happen, by hook or by crook.
We need to start selling t-shirts that say George Bush Stole the Social Security Trust Fund and All I Got Was This Lousy Federal Deficit!
if he covered up the biggest theft of tax dollars in American history. I mean, I noticed. 😉
That’s one of the things that I find hardest to accept about the current state of our country. The public debate has focussed on the value of private accounts when it should be focussed on “What the fuck happened to all that tax money!!!!!!??????”
some of it exploded in Iraq, but most of it went to defense contractors, or into the pockets of people who earned it, but who might think twice about supporting policies that, if they refuse to pay for it, will mortgage our future.
I hope to highlight these issues by growing this community.
I had noticed too, suspected it anyway. Just got off road trip during which I heard Greedspan insisting that the whole economy will tank if we don’t fix this problem of SS right away! Panic! Hurry up! Panic.
I’m going to go do my cussing and flinging outside now.
Thanks for the confirmation of the theft. Move along now….
Just one more reason we need to expose and thoroughly discredit the fraud that is Alan Greenspan, and keep repeating the message until the MSM stops repeating his lies.
Nice quote, Senator Reid, but keep repeating it until everyone associates the name “Greenspan” with the definition “biggest hack in Washington”. And don’t let your guard down on Social Security, it’s obvious the anti-Social Security loonies won’t let up until the whole system has been demolished.
(and I wear it so well) but I thought that the idea of a lock box for social security was just that, an idea. Does the government borrow from SS, giving IOU’s in return or was there a real surplus that was untouchable?
My understanding is this: the government’s IOU’s were considered to be as good as cash, since they were backed with the full faith and credit of the US government. So the value represented by those IOU’s were as good as if not better than cash. But now the noises that Greenspan/Bush et al are making indicates to me they don’t have an intention to repay those IOU’s, thus my allegation of theft of the trust fund.
I see what you are saying now, and amazed at how that suits the neocon purpose now. Bastards.
From L.A.Times today. The Wall Street suits don’t want to get burned either! They must’ve done the Real Math.
Tue Mar 15, 7:55 AM ET
Top Stories – Los Angeles Times
By Peter Wallsten Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — Signaling more troubles ahead for President Bush ‘s campaign to overhaul Social Security ), a group representing the nation’s biggest financial companies said Monday that it had decided not to renew its membership in a business coalition raising millions of dollars to back the effort.
The Financial Services Forum, which represents chief executives from such corporate heavyweights as American Express, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs, was a co-founder of the Coalition for the Modernization and Protection of America’s Social Security, or Compass. But it left the coalition last month after its members failed to agree on Bush’s plan to let workers divert some of their payroll tax into individual investment accounts.
“We never really came to a consensus on things like personal accounts and endorsing any specific plan,” said Ken Trepeta, the forum’s vice president. “I couldn’t in good conscience sign our guys up for this.”
The move by the group, headed by former Rep. Rick Lazio (R-N.Y.), is the latest indication of the conflicting pressures facing corporate executives — on one side, a White House eager for their backing on Bush’s top domestic priority and on the other, corporate shareholders wary of endangering profits by entering a politically charged battle that could alienate customers and some investors.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=2026&e=2&u=/latimests/20050315/ts_latime
s/groupleavessocialsecurityoverhaulbloc
I’d like to say in my oh so ladylike la-de-da whitebread way that I hope this these big fascist backers leaving bush in the dust means that he’s just going to finally get royally fucked over on this and all that cocksucking supposed capitol he had a mandate to spend just went down the goddam toilet………and the public finally wakes up and realizes he’s foul smelling bag of shit…if you get my drift.
circling the shithole…where he belongs.