The paradox of what is styled “Social Security” is that it renders the victim insecure. How else to describe a person who has been serially mulcted for all of his working life such that his daily bread and the roof over his head are dependent upon a miserly dole?
Italicized to lay bare the unpleasant truth of the thing.
Well, one of them.
People are told by the government which forcibly compels them to give up 15 percent of every dollar they earn that they are contributing to Social Security. They are not given the choice to not “contribute.”
Government excels at definitional perversion. It uses a word to mean its opposite – in order to front-load any discussion of the subject with false premises, so as to sidetrack the debate over it into legalisms and irrelevances. The recent business regarding the possibility that the case law, Roe V. Wade may be overturned provides a fine example. The Supreme Court is not dealing with the question at issue. Instead, it is parsing legalisms having to do with the degree of federal oversight of over what is styled a woman’s “right to choose.”
But choose what, exactly?
O.J. exercised a choice, too.
Let’s not talk about what he chose. Instead, talk about . . . choice. You know, like the choice the same people who insist they have to destroy the life within them insist others do not have, with regard to being forced to risk their lives by submitting to injections of pharmaceutical cocktails.
Just so these “contributions,” as they are styled.
Using that word to mean what it doesn’t, the people who are forced to “contribute” are led to believe that the money they’ve been forced to part with is routed into a kind of annuity that will be “there for them” when they reach the arbitrary age threshold at which the government deigns to return some of it.
Which, of course, it does not.
Because SS is a dole – not an annuity. The money that goes in goes right back out – to provide the dole for those already receiving it, whose money was long ago spent on other things – including dole-checks for prior generations of dole-receivers. Some also goes to finance the various things the government decides are worthy of being financed.
But you’ve been mulcted.
This is a hard truth, difficult to swallow – especially for honest-minded people who do not want to think of themselves as victimized dole-receivers. Many of them despise the very idea – and good on them for it. But it does not alter the fact of the thing.
There is no “annuity” – and if SS were not run by the government, it would be subject to criminal prosecution for racketeering and fraud. It is the very definition of a Ponzi scheme – only worse because its victims were forced to participate. The person defrauded by a non-governmental Ponzi scheme has the cold comfort of knowing he fell for it. That he only has himself to blame.
Bernie Madoff never forced anyone to “contribute” a penny.
The victims of SS have the government to blame – if only they would. Instead, they hug its leg and are grateful for their dole, which they convince themselves to be their right rather than the double-theft it is, in fact. They were robbed during their working lives. And those who work now are robbed to maintain the intergenerational transfer of other people’s wealth.
Most would likely have been far better-off had they been allowed to keep their wealth. Both monetarily and morally.
Weigh and consider how much of your money might have accrued over 30 or 40 years had 15 percent of it not been forcibly extracted by threats of murderous violence, in order to maintain the intergenerational dole. If you had been in a position to save that money, yourself – or to invest it in some productive enterprise.
Would it have been easier – and faster – to pay down (and off) the mortgage on your home if that 15 percent hadn’t been extracted? If you had paid-off your home after 15 rather than 30 years, you’d not have had to make mortgage payments for the next 15. Instead, you’d have that money, too . . . to save and invest and put to other, productive purposes.
You might have been able to buy a car outright rather than make payments for 5-6 years (plus those payments to SS) during which time, the fact of having to make those payments constrains and restricts your options, financially – and otherwise. As for example, the degree of necessity to continue in the employ of your present employer, regardless of the situation – because you need the money. Having less of it to pay your bills.
Many “contributors”to SS would have had six figures in additional financial security to operate with – long before they reached government-decreed retirement age. Many could have retired at 45 or 50 rather than 65 or 70.
It boggles (and saddens) the mind to ponder what they might have done with their money.
Italics to emphasize another – important – point: It would be their money. Not a hat-in-hand dole supplicated for and parsed out by benevolent government, as it sees fit (and implicitly subject to whatever conditions the government sees fit). People would have a right to it – which the government has openly said they do not as regards the Social Security dole.
There is security in that.
Dignity, too.
Both the opposite of the dependence – and degradation – deliberately fostered by the Leftists who created the Social Security dole, so as to assure those rendered dependent and degraded would have to return to hug the legs of government, like Stalin’s chicken.
The plucked are no better off than those being plucked. But the tragedy is that many can only see the crumbs laid at their shivering feet by Stalin, to whom they are grateful for what they get.
. . .
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The single honest thing that Shrubco Bush said was when he posed next to a filing cabinet in West Virginia that held all of the “assets” in SS. Those are non-negotiable bonds that if ever exposed to the bond market would get their true value of a few percent above zero. I have paid both sides of SS for three decades with maximum payments for many more years. The SEP IRA has forced withdrawal at taxation more than double the levy on hedge fund assets.
Hi RG
Catherine Austin Fitts says the germ/hoax, now ww3, is to cover up a financial crime. around 1995 during globalization money was looted, went offshore, all the pension funds were looted, there is no money left.
Note: Dr. Marc Faber says all governments steal between 5% (honest governments) and 100% (crooked governments) of the money collected, borrowed.
in 1998 they knew the math didn’t work to fund pension plans, wouldn’t be able to pay the pensions.
ATTENTION: in 2003 they said between 2020 and 2025 there would be a huge drop in the population numbers. it is like managing cattle, if there isn’t enough resources to keep the animals, you cull the herd.
Then along came the magic virus, they can now say there is no money because of the magic virus problem. now ww3……
(this is easier than trying to explain where all the money went….that is the key right there.)
She thinks the elite nobility and the billionaires are tired of managing 7.5 billion people and want to cull the herd, injections, starvation, war, etc. they say 500 million is a better number.
the depopulation agenda (they say is necessary because of global warming):
history repeats…..the elderly were euthanized in Nazi Germany by POTASSIUM CHLORIDE INJECTIONS. The sad fact is, this was done for FINANCIAL reasons –
Hitler did not want funds diverted to take care of the sick and elderly.
You pay in when you need 5,000 to buy a car. They start giving it back when you need 50,000 to buy a car. Thanks Uncle Schlomo.
People often say “taxation is theft” and they’re wrong about that. Eric nailed it:
“They were robbed during their working lives.”
Theft is when somebody takes something that isn’t theirs. ROBBERY is when somebody puts a gun in your face and takes it from you. It’s robbery plain and simple and that is a hugely worse crime than theft. Theft is bad enough but is at least without violence.
TAXATION IS ROBBERY.
The SS program was the first to wreck the American family. It used to be that we kept granny and grandpaw at home. Everyone lived togeter. Shared stories, etc. Beginning in the 50’s in earnest, they threw granny out of the house and she lived in separate dwelling, maybe an apartment. The culture became youth focused. Centered around self centered young punks who sipped sodas at the fountain and drove Daddy’s big car to the prom. As grandpaw aged out, he ended up in the old age home with his SS check. Ship the g-parents off. Mom and daddy send their kid to college.. but that’s later.. In any case, I fucking hate that system that has robbed me of 15% of my earnings for 4 decades, created an artificial housing and property demand and contributed to decades of cultural degradation.
Great point…. This along with making it seem like a requirement that young wives work rather than raise children is probably a huge part contributing to the collapse of the family and ergo our society.
Hi David,
I agree with this – in re the economic demolition of the family via the pressure applied (which is also social) to get wives to work, so that government raises their kids and also has two to mulct now rather than one. It does not “take a village” to raise a kid. It takes present parents. But this is made very difficult via the conditioning and the culture. It is still possible to raise children traditionally, but it takes more commitment. One must reject careerism – and the acquisition of debt, as via the purchase of a too-expensive home in a too-expensive area that means both husband and wife having to work – endlessly – to pay for it.
I have arrived at the conclusion that, as of now, people who want to have kids should consider not only a more kid-family healthy paradigm (including home-schooling) but also off-the-books parenting, entirely. At home birth. No SS number. No government involvement, period.
Same, Swamp –
I once ran the numbahs and practically shat my pants – in that had 15 percent of almost every dollar I’ve earned not been taken from me, I’d not have to worry about money at this point in my life, years before I am old enough to qualify for the SS Dole. I’ve got many flaws, but I have always been very careful with money; I’ve lived prudently and modestly and for that reason, I can say I would not have spent that 15 percent along the way – as the defenders of SS often claim would be the case if the government didn’t force them to “contribute.” I would have saved it. Invested it. I’d now have the base sum plus the accrued additional from the investing.
SS is despicable on multiple levels – perhaps most of all in that it gulls responsible, well-meant people into believing it is a sound and even providential program. They do not appreciate, many of them, that they would have been far better off during their working lives and far better off in retirement had they not been forced to “contribute.”
It’s also an 87 y.o. condescending insult – that folks somehow don’t or won’t set aside money, in their working years, for when they can’t, nor will they procure disability insurance if something “happens”. Such “security” only happens because the “Gubmint” is involved. Folks who were desperate, in the depths of the Depression, bought FDR’s “snake oil”. It’s kinda interesting that although the Democrats had increased their already-considerable margin in both House and Senate to better than a 2/3 supermajority, necessary to past Amendments and/or override Presidential vetos (the latter not needed, as ol’ Delano was with them), they already had a breakaway faction known as the American Liberty League, that was concerned about Government overreach. The entire Social Security business was a political stunt, meant to silence opposition within the Democratic party itself!
Pension funs unfunded, money stolen…….
the great reset really is to bring back the slave trade, the most profitable business in history….after the great reset you will work for free and own nothing….this control group on the top are sneaky satanic bastards……they call it 6uild 6ack 6etter.
Catherine Austin Fitts says it is partly to cover up a financial crime. around 1995 during globalization money was looted, went offshore, all the pension funds were looted, there is no money left.
Then along came the magic virus, they can now say there is no money because of the magic virus problem.
(this is easier than trying to explain where all the money went….that is the key right there.)
in the 2009 financial crash and up until 2019, 20 trillion dollars was spent bailing out the financial sector including insurance companies. bailing out the elite nobility/billionaires
since march 2020 another 20 trillion dollars was spent bailing out the financial sector including insurance companies. bailing out the elite nobility/billionaires
as a result since the emergency started the billionaires with their huge corporations got 4 trillion dollars richer.
and the politicians and their helpers got rich over lockdown bribes.
She thinks the elite nobility and the billionaires are tired of managing 7.5 billion people and want to cull the herd, they say 500 million is a better number.
the depopulation agenda (they say is necessary because of global warming):
the new normal will be being on the wrong side of the lawn, they didn’t bother telling you that part. (talk about a hidden agenda) injection is the means.
after the cull when they get rid of all the useless eaters as they call us the planet will be the exclusive playground of the top .00001%, you have to be part of the club. the sheep get to enjoy being on the wrong side of the lawn. there are too many useless eaters, an invasive species that is what they call them. cull the herd. anyways they can use AI robots, they are cheaper.
Note: Dr. Marc Faber says all governments steal between 5% (honest governments) and 100% (crooked governments) of the money collected, borrowed.
in 1998 they knew the math didn’t work to fund pension plans, wouldn’t be able to pay the pensions. in 2003 they said between 2020 and 2025 there would be a huge drop in the population numbers. it is like managing cattle, if there isn’t enough resources to keep the animals, you cull the herd.
history repeats…..the elderly were euthanized in Nazi Germany by POTASSIUM CHLORIDE INJECTIONS. The sad fact is, this was done for FINANCIAL reasons –
Hitler did not want funds diverted to take care of the sick and elderly.
someone on a financial site sees this as a possibility:
trigger a stock market crash in the beginning of ‘his’ errr, Kamala’s presidency (possible trigger, mutated Cv19)
use this as an excuse to freeze ALL financial markets and only let people get $50/day out of an ATM (Jeroen Dijsselbloem called this “a template for Europe” when the EU did the same in Cyprus in 2012, remember? Jim Rickard’s referred to this as “Ice Nine.”)
do a debt jubilee, seize all pensions and 401K’s, ban cash, and roll out UBI, MMT and digital currency and a ccp style social credit system. danger watch out..buy gold and silver? bitcoin?
digital currency. they want to go to an all electronic digital currency, no cash, then they can bring in negative interest rates and you are trapped.
then this
nwo/ccp/un/.0001% planned future
for the few remaining useless eaters, after their 7 billion cull.
Fitts says the most profitable business is the slave trade, that is where we are going with the great reset, they will get you to work for free….
turning people into appliances plugged into an all-seeing internet, more transhuman robots than people, dutifully following orders but unable to produce anything beyond what is programmed into their quantum microchips, bereft of the sparks of inquiry, innovation and joy in a electric panopticon that’s sterile and joyless, you are better off dead.
they implant an operating system in you and connect you to the grid, they also connect an AI robot to the grid, this is so you can train the robot to do your job. you won’t be needed then = soylent green.
the elite nobility/nwo/ccp/who/.0001% always see themselves as altruistic, the reality is they are satanists, monsters. (they believe in slavery, eugenics, transhumanism, fake science). the elite nobility and the .0001% billionaires think they are genetically superior to the useless eaters on the bottom, they are going to cull the genetically inferior.
bankster/globalist/nwo/who cabal who is in it? the elite nobility, .0001% billionaires and their huge corporations, big tech, big pharma, big oil, big media (all the media, face book, google, twitter), big banks, etc, china was chosen to lead it. a satanic occult death cult
You’re dreaming if you think they’ll declare a “debt jubilee”.
Even after they wipe out every cent from every bank, they will continue enforcing debts, and they’ll continue collecting taxes on money they know doesn’t exist. You’ll simply have judgments and liens put on you, that you’ll have to work off doing whatever work they deem fit to offer you, such as building prison-guard drones. The debt will only continue to balloon and balloon no matter how hard you work, and then when the AI reckons that your debt is physically unserviceable based on your maximum physical output potential and caloric intake needs, you’ll be zapped by whatever drone you’re assembling at that exact moment.
They are going to terrorize us to death with lawfare, and the Big Bank Cyber-Wipe-Out is just an accelerant. Debt Jubilee! How quaint!
Then you just declare your own Jubilee. You become Sovereign. If the contract is violated it s void. I believe fraud vitiates contracts. Plus it was a contract I never signed.
You’re gonna die anyway Anonymous. Might as well do it standing, with your boots on.
Woops, guess I had been logged out.
Anyway, Norman, my only point was that the government would never let a good crisis go to waste by doing something so foolhardy as declaring a “debt jubilee” just when it’s got the masses where it wants ’em.
No. Much like the noble savage tribes of pre-colonial America, the present-day American government leaves no part of the crisis unused. Every scrap of every event will be judiciously exploited against the people… to skin ’em, dress ’em, pick their bones clean, and boil their carcass into a thin broth. As far as Uncle Sam is concerned at this point, he’s perfectly content if all the working white men commit suicide-by-SWAT as a symbolic protest against tyranny. He’s just lookin’ fer a reason to do just that. Sovereign Citizens going down in blazes of Rambolic glory here and there is a feature, not a bug, as far as Uncle Sam and his bad-boy gang of Bidenista Corn Pops are concerned. Every Self-Sovereign-Suicide-by-SWAT can be leveraged by the Media as grounds for more surveillance, more gun control, and more just general dehumanization of white men.
Is Suicide-by-SWAT better than going to the local Supermax? Sure! Is it the best option at any given moment? Well that very much depends on how miserable you’ve been made to be at the moment in question, and how close the hand of Death is anyway, under on the totality of your circumstances. So it’s a highly personal matter. It doesn’t jump out to me as first-resort-solution-type territory.
FP
If its all an algorithmic simulation it doesn’t matter in the end. I know I’m happy in the garden. or the mountains, or by the sea. My worst days in those places still make it better to die happy than in pain.
If I get old enough Im sure that will change. Pain becomes more a part of life than it should be, I’m moving toward I dgaf. Being made miserable, I find, is mostly my own fault. Still I find ways to make myself miserable.
As for the good crisis going to waste, you’re probably correct, The money power has us by the short hairs. Just moar hopium designed to thwart any push back. Enough people learn about the money power, in about a thousand years, we might make our own Jubilee.
Morning, Norman!
The Boomer and Gen X (that’s me) cohort have been fortunate almost beyond measure, to have arrived just in the proverbial nick of time. Though flawed in many ways (life is always that) the America of the post-war years through the early ’90s was a land of almost casual abundance and personal freedom undreamt of heretofore. If a person had any sense – and some gumption – there were myriad ways to carve out a lot of happiness for oneself. You could “get away” with all kinds of things inconceivable today. The food wasn’t – yet – poisoned with glyphosate, HFC and MSG (among myriad other things). Most people still had an instinctive MYOB attitude. Busybodies were kept in check by public opprobrium and ridicule.
The government took your money, certainly – as government always does. But it mostly left you alone in terms of your personal habits. I tell the youf to try to imagine a time when you didn’t have to “buckle up for safety” – or wear a helmet – and most didn’t. These may seem like small things to some but I submit they are big ones, as indices of personal latitude and restraint of government’s reach.
I am grateful for the memories – else I’d probably never believe it.
Morning Eric.
I as well am grateful to be Gen X. The things I saw and experienced were beyond compare by todays lame standards. Hell, I remember it being OK to have a rifle in the back window of your truck, at school, in the eighties.
The last 40 years have proved beyond a shadow that absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The great reset agenda, you will own nothing and be happy
the great reset really is to bring back the slave trade, the most profitable business in history….after the great reset you will work for free and own nothing
Catherine Austin Fitts says it is partly to cover up a financial crime. around 1995 during globalization money was looted, went offshore, all the pension funds were looted, there is no money left.
Note: Dr. Marc Faber says all governments steal between 5% (honest governments) and 100% (crooked governments) of the money collected, borrowed.
Then along came the magic virus, Lock everyone down, then do the reset…
in the 2009 financial crash and up until 2019, 20 trillion dollars was spent bailing out the financial sector including insurance companies. bailing out the elite nobility/billionaires
since march 2020 another 20 trillion dollars was spent bailing out the financial sector including insurance companies. bailing out the elite nobility/billionaires
as a result since the emergency started the billionaires with their huge corporations got 4 trillion dollars richer.
and the politicians and their helpers got rich over lockdown bribes.
the depopulation agenda (they lie, say it is necessary because of global warming as an excuse, real reason? no money left because they stole it):
in 1998 they knew the math didn’t work to fund pension plans, wouldn’t be able to pay the pensions. in 2003 they said between 2020 and 2025 there would be a huge drop in the population numbers. it is like managing cattle, if there isn’t enough resources to keep the animals, you cull the herd.
trigger a stock market crash
use this as an excuse to freeze ALL financial markets, seize all pensions and 401K’s, ban cash. Everything confiscated to pay off the huge debt (they say…..) there is huge unpayable debt.
and roll out UBI…you will own nothing and be happy…means they confiscate all your assets…..all gone….for the greater good…..
Then you will be herded into a soviet style 150 sq. ft. slum apartment and get a tiny handout if your social credit score is high enough,
you will own nothing and be happy
All the banks are bankrupt so they will bail them out again, write off the debt. Bailing out billionaires bad bets again.
The winners:
The billionaire owned big banks, get to write off their debt.
People who were buried in debt might like it, they get out of debt but as a trade off they will own nothing, that is how they will get the stupid in debt masked to go along with it, a trade off. So they got people in debt so they could control them…..a trap….
The losers:
People who owned anything, real estate, cash, stocks, cars or other assets, all gone, confiscated for the greater good, bailing out banks and billionaires again and the stupid buried in debt morons.
The people the satanist elites call the useless eaters (an invasive species) they cull. (90% of humans?)
The life of the new serf cull survivor:
turned into an appliance plugged into an all-seeing internet, more transhuman robots than people, dutifully following orders but unable to produce anything beyond what is programmed into their quantum microchips, bereft of the sparks of inquiry, innovation and joy in a electric panopticon that’s sterile and joyless, you are better off dead.
they implant an operating system in you and connect you to the grid, they also connect an AI robot to the grid, this is so you can train the robot to do your job. you won’t be needed then = soylent green.
Debt jubilee…..the banks are all bankrupt, there is enormous debt that can’t be paid, a jubilee benefits the banks…….
for the little people…..they created a debt trap, easy credit, bury yourself in debt, then they say they will write it off, if you give up all your rights, own nothing, you are totally big brother controlled, and unhappy, then you are dependent on the government for a tiny handout, a liability……they want a cull to solve the surplus useless eaters getting a handout, that will solve that problem…..
depopulation:
after the cull when they get rid of all the useless eaters as they call us the planet will be the exclusive playground of the top .001%, you have to be part of the club. you get to enjoy being on the wrong side of the lawn. there are too many useless eaters, that is what they call them. cull the herd. anyways they can use AI robots, they are cheaper.
Debt jubilee benefits some more than others. The Money Power did this to us, and to themselves. No way its ever being repaid. Not all of us little people used debt to by non assets, digital gee gaws, and extra cheese doodles. If I have debt on productive land, a home, a business, or something I purchased with debt that went up in value. Then having that wiped away, doesn’t look so bad to me. So your results may vary.
I get that after said jubilee, the scrip will become no more than common shit paper. Oh well, it happens to the best of civilizations. I’m even ok with reduction of useless eaters. If I happen to fall into that category, its nobodies fault but mine.
I have No doubt, if (((they))) get their way, they’ll have us slitting each others throats over the last chicken pot pie.
” O.J. exercised a choice, too”
Why you bringin’ up the Juice? This ain’t no Ford Bronco review. Plus, OJ never was convicted.
Finally, the Juice don’t need no social security. His NFL pension has proven to be totally immune to those pesky civil judgements. 🙂
SS, like all govt programs have one aim – to make you dependent.
SS is unsustainable, so I don’t count on it being there for me before I die. Plan accordingly.
I hope I go before I stop working
With SS and forced pension payments they steal money from you when it’s worth something and only give it you back when it’s worth feck all.
Social security was never a good idea in the first place. It should be abolished. I would like to see it abolished, or at least I would like to be given the option to opt out. I do not plan to collect it. But I do not expect that any of that will happen. Either it will go away when the revolution comes, or it will wither away into nothing, along with my retirement savings, so it won’t be worth collecting anyway.
Up front,,, I am against any kind of forced tax (is there any other kind?). I am drawing SS but have saved as well. I think SS should be optional and operated as a retirement account. That said…..
I find It is amazing how many articles I read condemning Social Security. These are people that actually ‘pay’ something into the system,,, forced or not! Many think they should not receive any benefits because they are dupes and dupes deserve nothing. Usually,,, Those same people calling others dupes are also paying into the system but somehow are not classified as… dupes.
Then,,, On the other hand almost no articles on regular Welfare recipients. Includes food stamps, Section 8 housing, Wick, etc which pays out more per year than SS. Heck,,, file taxes at years end,,, have the right numbers and correct number of children,,, you can pick up a cool 3-5 grand! (every year!) The recipients pay nothing, zero, goose egg into any system, Income tax or SS.
How the two can be comparable is beyond me.
Then we have the recent past ‘stimulus’ payouts. Not too many budget concerned Americans returned the money from what I gather… When I asked why, the answer was to get back some of the money they paid into the system. An answer that seems not an option for those drawing SS.
SS came up in the 1930s due to the depression wiping many Americans out. A depression like all depressions and recessions caused by the central bank,,, admitted to by Greenspan.
The thing with government SS is that ‘at least’ you will receive a minimum amount necessary for existing in that time period compensated for inflation caused by the central bank printing excess amounts of cash/credit.
Go ahead,,, Save that 15% in a bank. You may receive .01% interest. If you put it in cash you will pay taxes on it plus an average 12-18 pct (probably more) yearly inflation. Guess how much those dollars will be worth in 35-40 years?
If you choose the stock market,,, 401k,,, etc,,, well, good luck! Its already crashed three times in the last thirty years.
Of course if gov money goes digital all bets are off. There will be no savings which is what they want. Any type of savings tends to make one independent. Can’t have that!
With the options available in my opinion SS is the best bet when trying to hedge inflation, a monetary crash and/or stock crash.
Personally,,, if I was a young’un,,, The depraved insanity now and over the past three years is of far greater concern and a much higher priority. Hard to spend your savings or social security when everything is incinerated by nukes or we are locked up like the Chinese with our doors nailed shut, pets killed, forced kill shots that will make retirement planning obsolete and do away with SS, Medicaid and Medicare, as few will be around to collect.
2c
Good points Ken re: SS vs. welfare. I’m retired and collecting SS; hopefully I’ll live long enough to at least get back what was extracted from me the past 50+ years. I have no problem with people that are genuinely down on their luck getting a short term hand out to get by, but it shouldn’t be a permanent lifestyle. Too many people manage to game the system and live on the dole forever. Sad.
Mike+in+Boston Compassion for hard luck cases is what makes us human. The governement sticking its nose where it doesn’t belong short circuits our natural desire to help living things that are struggling, leaving the downtrodden feeling entitled and the taxpayer resentful. Meanwhile, the program that was sold on helping actually consumes 99% of the budget in bureaucracy. It only helps the people charged with helping, none of whom have taken a vow of poverty.
If “they” really cared about “us”:
-immediate end to the entire Social Security program; would give every worker/employer a 15% raise
– abolish federal tax on retirement savings;
Not much hope of that happening. In my opinion, the entire edifice of “retirement” is a myth and scam designed to transfer wealth.
The idea that ordinary average wage workers ever could save/invest enough money to quit working for a living by a certain age has always been a scam. Like home ownership, it only works within a very narrow set of parameters, parameters that hardly anyone can adhere to.
One example: inflation. Even at only an average of 2% per year, prices would quadruple from the year of your birth until 65 years later.
Anyway, retirement is a pipedream. It was sold to the masses as yet another easy way for bankers and government thieves to get more of your wealth, without them having to work too hard to convince you.
My cousin Andy paid into social “security” his whole working life (a good portion of it self employed). Worked very hard, too hard, in fact.
He passed away three days after his 65th birthday. Got not one penny back. Not one cent.
Another thing that sucks about SS. His daughters doesn’t get to inherit any of the money he paid into this system. When you die, the payments stop. When my grandpa died on the fourth of the month, SS wanted that months money back. Grandma had to pay it back, even your spouse gets nothing.
Should people save for retirement? Yes they should, but SS is a huge roadblock to that. Had Andy been able to save money for retirement instead of paying into SS, he would have left it to his daughters. Now you just leave it to Uncle Sam.
If a private person was running a scam like SS they would send you to prison.
Fire!
We’re from the fire department and we’re here to douse the fire. Words that make sense for once.
You don’t want a 75 year-old fireman rescuing you from a burning theater.
Gotta quit sometime.
Landed my first job at the age of 16 years. You work to make some money, doesn’t really matter what the work is, as long as it does no harm and pays, you slave away for 10 days until you finally receive payment for your dreaded drudgery, you gotta be on the job if you want to be paid.
The pay was 90 cents per hour, the Federal Insurance Corporation of America deducted 9.5 percent of my pay to fund Social Security. .095 times 90 equals .0855 cents per hour to pay the insurance premium, the employer paid half, so it cost a whole .0425 cents per hour to fund my social security account. You have a SS#, they know who you are.
Ain’t the governments money in the Social Security Trust Fund, no matter how little or how much, it ain’t theirs. If you steal it, you’re a thief. You can see it in the eyes of any politician, they think all of the money belongs to them.
All you gots to us belong. Ask any Russian Oligarch out there. A red flag if there ever was one. I digress, taxes can be levied rather heavily, if you know what I mean.
Done lots more since the flunky first job. I don’t file taxes anymore, the accountant does.
A little work never killed anybody. You have to do work of any kind, choose an occupation where you can contribute where it does count. I dunno, the world will find a place for you regardless, it just happens.
Found a source of income at 16 years of age, so after 49 years of life and working, physical labor, you’re gone, nobody wants you in the workforce anymore, get lost, go home, we don’t need you anymore, you’ve done enough.
Too old to work, too broke to quit when I get to the end of the line – Stonewall Jackson, Picket Sign
Still plenty to do, just doesn’t stop, must be the way it is.
Two things come to mind concerning Social Security. The first one, there is no S.S. Fund. All money taxed goes into the Treasury to beimmediately spent.
Secondly, the government is under no obligation to pay it out to anyone. The reason being was that after it was enacted under FDR, in was contested all the way to the Supreme Court. The plaintiffs argued that the Constitution did not give the Federal Government the authority to establish a national retirement system. The Solicitor General representing the administration did not defend it as a retirement program. Instead, he argued that it was a tax to be levied on all income. So under that argument, the court ruled it legal that it was under the government’s powers to tax income. Being the corrupt bastards that they are, the feds could immediately suspend S.S. Payments and keep the money and not a thing could legally be done about it.
Below are the two Supreme Court cases that lay out the reality of SS. it’s just another tax and there is no ‘fund”. Additionally, Congress can change the rules or abolish it at any time and you have no right to the money they took.
Title VIII, as we have said, lays two different types of tax, an “income tax on employees” and “an excise tax on employers.” …The proceeds of both taxes are to be paid into the Treasury like internal revenue taxes generally, and are not earmarked in any way. § 807(a)
Helvering v. Davis, 301 U.S. 619 (1937)
“Congress included in the original act, and has since retained, a claim expressly reserving to it the right to alter, amend, or repeal any provision of the act.”
Fleming v. Nestor, 603 US 610-11 (1960)
and Nestor settled the question of whether one is “owed” SS or bequeathed it.
What is often overlooked is how destructive SS has been to saving and investment. If there were no fake “safety net,” most people would be much more prudent about saving and investing, and would have more money available for it. Not only would this provide real retirement security for them; it would also make more capital available for entrepreneurs to produce things that would improve our standard of living.
When government sucks wealth out of the private economy (whether or not it promises to eventually give some of it back), it always makes the population as a whole poorer.
Roland we had a safety net all along. It was in churches, benevolent orginizations, guilds and unions, and extended families. And, yes even the mob if it came to that.
I agree completely, RK. What I find laughable is when people claim that Americans are an overwhelmingly generous people, therefore we should have welfare programs – because democracy.
But if 51 percent of Americans favor giving to the poor, then there will be more than enough of them to voluntarily help the few who can’t support themselves. On the other hand, if 51 percent oppose such giving, then government-forced “charity” goes against the will of the majority. So any way you slice the percentages, these programs are either unnecessary or undemocratic, and therefore should not exist, even by the democracy cult’s standards.
Is Social Security a rigged Ponzi scheme? Yes. Problem is, it’s ALL a rigged scheme. Put your money in the bank instead? You’ll get 1/10th of a percent interest, because the government rigged interest rates. Save it under a mattress? You’ll lose to inflation, because government keeps printing trillions. Put it in the stock market? That’s a rigged Ponzi scheme, too — artificially incentivized by low interest rates. It has collapsed three times in the past 21 years and government keeps re-inflating the bubble.
Pay cash for things? Any withdrawal or deposit over $10,000 has to be reported to the government. If you withdraw or deposit $9,999, you’ll get busted anyway for “evading.” Drive around with cash in your pocket to buy a truck or a house? The cops can and will seize it during a traffic stop under “civil forfeiture.”
Government has screwed us coming and going. We’re in a maze and come up in against a blind alley at every turn.
When you are out of moves, flip over the table. Cut the Gordian knot.
‘Many “contributors” to SS would have had six figures in additional financial security to operate with.’ — eric
In 1964, Merrill Lynch completed a study to determine the return produced by all listed stocks, starting in Dec 1925. Result: a compounded return of nine percent, much better than the three or four percent return bonds earned during that period.
Until then, a conservative investment policy (such as Social Security’s 1935 charter) meant holding nothing but high-grade bonds.
Half a century after the financial revolution of the 1960s, every pension fund, including the ones for federal employees, owns stocks or private equity, usually in a larger proportion than bonds.
Otherwise, they would be sacrificing return, meaning employees would have to contribute more for the same future benefit. That describes dinosaur Social Security today.
The US fedgov is frozen in catatonia. Social Security still motors along as if it were 1935. The federal helium reserve for WW I blimps continues today. Cannabis remains a Schedule I dangerous narcotic, despite three-fourths of states having ended that war. And so forth.
In an article yesterday at Consortium News (whose Paypal account just got suspended for heresy), Chris Hedges described the “bellicose frivolity of senile empires,” quoting historian Barbara Tuchman.
America’s senile empire is so brittle, one tap from a ball peen hammer would suffice to shatter it to bits. “Past the point of rescue,” as ol’ Hank Ketchum used to sing.
I think there would be a riot in the streets if the American people knew how much money was stolen from their Social Security “insurance” funds.
We all know how I love math so let’s use some pretty simple numbers to determine how much our government has stolen from each of us.
A person born in 1960 who began working at age 16 (1976) with an average income of $50k a year would have paid in $140400 from their payroll (based on annual SS rates between 4.95% to 6.2%) from 1976 to 2022. Their employer must match these percentages so this person should have contributions of $280800 over their 46 year career. Now let’s add in compounding interest of 4%, an inflation rate of 3%, and a tax rate of 15%. If this investment began with a contribution of $2475 x 2 (includes employer contribution) back in 1976 til 2022 $3100 per year contributed (employer contribution brings it up to $6200 per year) the investment would be…..
$578,000.
If the individual retires at 62 they would receive $1338 a month beginning in 2022 or $16056 a year. At this rate government wins if you die within the next 35 years.
Now the question we shall all be asking is….where the hell is the money?
Hi Raider Girl. Didn’t Catherine Austin Fitts have an article on where the money went? Spoiler Alert- they stole it.
Hi Landru,
I think I mentioned that in my first paragraph, but on what? If someone stole $578k from any of us I think most us would do a bit more then sit back and keep re-electing the thieves that keep looting our wallets. Instead, many sit back thankful that they get a $1400 check each month. Only the dumbest of the dumb would be grateful that the government is allowing them a return of a portion of their stolen funds.
If a thief stole $10000 from your bank account then gave you $5000 back….is that a good thing? They should have never taken it in the first place!
Hi Raider Girl. Sorry, I some how missed that. https://missingmoney.solari.com/ covers some of this.
Hi RG,
“ At this rate the government wins if you die within the next 35 years”. I think that was the plan from the beginning. When SS was first established most people did die around age 65; my grandfather died at 67 after working his whole life and I remember my parents paying some of my grandma’s expensive so she could stay in the house they owned. Now that people are living longer they’re moving the goalposts further for “full” benefits but it’s probably too little too late. As I mentioned above, hope i at least get back what was taken before I croak.
RG, there will be no riot if people wake up to the misappropriation of SS. There will only be riots if the benefits are cut.
Your point stands, but I have a few remarks on the math.
Firstly, the inflation rate has been way more than 3%. The CPI drastically understates inflation. Without venturing too far into the weeds, the nominal prices I pay now for common products and services have increased about 16-fold since 1970, and at least 12-fold since 1976. Not to mention the drop in objective quality of those goods since that time. An Apple grown on depleted soil and sold in the typical grocery store in 2022 can hardly compare in flavor and nutrition to those I recall from the 1960’s or even the 1970’s.
And there’s no way a 16-year old kid would be earning 50K/year (certainly not in 1976 dollars) at a typical “first job,” unless he had some VERY rare and unusual skill/ability to offer the world.
I recall a fast-food job (McDonald’s) paid $1.25/hour in 1965 and 1966- not long after the introduction of the cupronickel (“sandwich,” as MSM, notably National Geographic magazine bragged) clad “coinage.” As I understand, A T&T, the phone company had to alter its Payphones to accept the new base-metal slugs that we all use to this day. As I recall, this was a plum job that allowed a diligent teenager to purchase his own car and pay his way through college, if that’s what he desired, with no debt! Another way o
Your point stands, but I have a few remarks on the math.
Firstly, the inflation rate has been way more than 3%. The CPI
drastically understates inflation. Without venturing too far into
the weeds, the nominal prices I pay now for common products
and services have increased about 16-fold since 1970, and at
least 12-fold since 1976. Not to mention the drop in objective quality of those goods since that time. An Apple grown on
depleted soil and sold in the typical grocery store in 2022 can
hardly compare in flavor and nutrition to those I recall from the
1960’s or even the 1970’s.
And there’s no way a 16-year old kid would be earning 50K/year
(certainly not in 1976 dollars) at a typical “first job,” unless he
had some VERY unusual skill/ability.
I recall a fast-food job (MacDonald’s) that paid $1.25/hour (the federal minimum wage at the time) in 1965 and 1966. This was a plum job that allowed a diligent teenager to save for and purchase his very own car, or pay his own way through college with NO DEBT, if that’s what he desired!
Indeed, if he set aside some of his earnings to purchase MCD Stock, and he kept that stock, there’s NO WAY he would EVER need Social Security – his RETIREMENT would be set, and he sure wouldn’t need to try to sell a sheepskin to prospective employers, unless that’s what he wanted!
He would be INDEPENDENTLY WEALTHY, Social Security be damned! Any of his earnings filched by the Social Security scam would be unavailable for investment – the opportunity cost of having that capital so destroyed would be UNFATHOMABLE!
There is no social regime as consumately depressing as a Welfare State, which PUNISHES investment and honest labor.
This $1.25/hour wage was a princely sum at the time that enabled independence and the pride of making one’s own way.
This was during and shortly after the introduction of the new cupronickel “sandwich coins,” as the MSM styled them. Specifically, I recall National Geographic Magazine bragging about them at the time (I guess there’s a good reason why they’re based in the Imperial Capital).
This wage was FIVE silver (real) quarters an hour at the time!
I recall my Dad complaining about a 23 cent gas price at the time. At the time, I thought that was a real bargain, seeing that the energy inherent in that gallon of gas could push 2 tons of steel, rubber, and payload/passengers 15 MILES anywhere one wished to go. I kept my mouth shut!
The purchasing power of this wage was thus equivalent to what a junior engineer might make on his first job out of college decades later!
Coerced Collectivism/Counterfeit Community truly DESTROYS everything it touches!
RG, where is the money? That’s a very good question. Perhaps if you look at those who own the Federal Reserve (which is neither) and those who own BlackRock and Vanguard you will have your answer. This entire central banking cartel scam has been in process for well more than a century. G. Edward Giffin’s book The creature from jekyll island is a good place to start.
Also, Secrets of the Federal Reserve by Eustace Mullins is a good follow up. If you compare the two, you can see aspects each either over looked, or didn’t cover for other reasons.
Just be careful. Once you start researching this, its easy to end up in a very deep and dark rabbit hole, that leads one to some very ugly conclusions.
Social Security was in a separate government account until old Lindon Johnson made it part of the general treasury in the 60’s. Once they started spending SS, the government had to place IOU’s into the account. Well today it looks like the IOU’s the two dimwits wrote in the movie Dumb and Dumber where they spent the ransom money.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adr4y9E3Ejc
Interesting timing of the leak from the Supreme Court on their internal review of Roe V Wade? My take is this was done so that the Left would set their collective hair on fire and force the Bite-me administration to go forward with court staking before the midterms. They want power and they stop at nothing to get it and keep it.
The SCOTUS decided shortly after its imposition, that SS funds could NOT be separated into an independent account. That they must be included in general revenue. The US Psychopaths In Charge have long pretended those funds were excluded from general revenue, but the never have been. The so called “IOUs’ are a fiction. In fact back when SS was “solvent” the Clinton administration managed to balance the federal budget for a couple of years by spending those funds formerly pretended to be separate.
But they will say “I paid into it, it’s my money.” Sorry, it’s not. Your money was stolen by politicians YOU elected, who spent it on THEIR pet projects and wars. You might be a victim, but of your own insouciance. This does not, however, entitle you to the fruits of the labor of others to make you whole.
I’m known that SS is a Ponzi scheme for a long time, but when the game is rigged what choice do you have? Even if a politician had the balls to try to fix this mess his party would make sure he was primaried. When a caller called into the Rush Limbaugh show to say that he didn’t want, need or feel that the government should be giving out stimulus payments he was told by the guest host to take it as they were going to make him pay for it no matter if he took it or not, and look what happened. It’s been my belief for a long time that government programs exist for the benefit of government not the taxpayers. They incentivize corporations to move operations over seas and then sign free trade agreements to ensure corporations that did not already leave do, what madness is this?
PS- I saved for my own retirement.
Indeed Landru, “Even if a politician had the balls to try to fix this mess”
Which would be the one and only thing that could bring me to come out and vote. Any candidate who proposed to end SS, whether immediately or incrementally, would get my vote, even though I do draw funds from it. I would prefer to live in poverty than my progeny live in servitude.
I know, and have known a few people who received Social Security payments. You can take the payments early at age 62 at a reduced amount or wait till you are 65 or 66 for the full amount. It is very difficult to find out what people get paid from SSA but I found out that some people get up to $2,500 a month. This in addition to the savings that people have could be a comfortable life.
But there are a lot of people out there who have absolutely no savings. These people spent every dime that they made plus maxing out all their credit cards. If it wasn’t for SS they would be literally starving in their old age. A bad visual in a rich country like America. Yes Virginia there are people out there who cannot take care of themselves. Take a look at some of the large cities and all the homeless camp sites.
Myself, I do not quality for SS as I don’t have all the required credits. You need 40 credits of work and I have only 36. I have a separate pension plus savings and house is paid for so I am in no danger of being out in the street.
Some people in the past have asked me how was it possible to have one income and feed, house, cloth etc, a family of five. I told them that I had to stop five of my most destructive vices. Number one, stop gambling; two, stop smoking; three, stop drinking alcohol; four, stop using drugs; and lastly stop consorting with prostitutes. You would be amazed how much money can be saved.
Hi Euro,
In re: “These people spent every dime that they made plus maxing out all their credit cards. If it wasn’t for SS they would be literally starving in their old age.”
And so they should.
It infuriates me to think about this. I do save. I do live modestly. I do not “max out” any cards. I always pay whatever the (small) balance is, entirely, each month. I have never bought a new vehicle. I have never paid more for any vehicle than $8,000 – always in cash, in full. I wear my clothes until they have holes – and then I patch them. I do all I can to live below my means, because I regard that as being responsible – because I consider no one else responsible for myself.
Screw people who are irresponsible. Who earn plenty of money – but waste it. And end up as greedy geezers, with their paws out, demanding other people pay for their Depends and $3k per month “retirement living.”
The legitimate hard-luck cases? These could – and would be – taken care of by family/friends and charities, which would all have the means to do were it not the serial mulcting for the sake of the irresponsible.
Those who live above their means never have money. Those who live beneath their means always have money. Being raised by a father who was frugal to a fault, I’ve lived my life nearly so. I have never owned a credit card, but a debit card. I borrowed money to buy my property, and a couple of trucks for work purposes, and that’s it. I do not have a credit rating because I haven’t owed any payment for about 30 years. In fact, I’m so frugal that the $1400 a month I get from SS is a saving wage for me. Yes, I do take that payment, happily. Because every resource I can take from the Psychopaths In Charge weakens them. The faster they hit the wall the better for all of us, even if it does throw us into poverty for a while.
It is your money, John! They shouldn’t be sending you a check “allowing” you a return of some of your funds. We never should have allowed the bastards the privilege of taking what isn’t theirs.
Hard to disallow men with guns taking your money. Especially if your employer plays along with them.
It began about 80 years ago. We had no say in the matter. Which one might call taxation without representation, since we weren’t there to be represented. Just as the federal debt is. Our progeny were not represented, but are liable for the debt.
I have bad news for ya, Euro. My SS is just shy of 3 thousand a month, and my wife gets another 17 hundred on top of that. Yup, almost 60k a year between the two of us. I agree that SS should be eliminated, maybe phased out over time, as it is undoubtedly a Ponzi scheme. Do I feel guilty about taking it? Not on your life. First of all, a significant amount of what the government spends is funny money. Bonds, T bills, deficits, printing it out of thin air, it’s mostly bullshit that isn’t coming out of anyones pocket. Second, do you really think that if SS was somehow eliminated tomorrow that they would let you keep that 15%? You really think that if your employer didn’t have to kick in half that he would say “hey Euro, the fedgov just reduced my payroll tax, so now I’m gonna give it you instead” ?? You think the feds won’t find a way to keep collecting that “tax” anyway, even while giving you nothing in return? Dream on. I understand, and agree with, the moral principles and arguments against SS, but I’m not a fool. Whatever I (or “we” for that matter) do or don’t do isn’t going to make one bit of difference. The government is going to keep fucking you, hard. Might as well take whatever you can get out of the system, and hey, maybe guys like me who take something out of the Ponzi scheme are doing some good. I’m trying my best to collapse the system.
Yes, I wouldn’t feel guilty about it a bit of it. They rob us blind every year with inflation and taxes. And poor trade policy which led to the gutting of our manufacturing base. . I want something back. But, I probably won’t. I hope I die while working
Same here, Floriduh. My wife and I are getting about $1k per month from a couple of accounts that we’re forced to take distributions from, but even without that our checking account keeps ballooning because of the SS payments we receive. We never had this much money when we were both working.
On the other hand, because of some assets that we moved (again, because of the stinking government), we had to pay the bastards at the IRS about $12,000 in April, along with $4,000 to the state.
Ask me if I feel bad about taking the monthly loot.
Made all the worse by the “investments” the Social Security administration makes.
https://mises.org/library/fiction-social-security-bonds
Reminds me of a scene in one of the old Simpsons shows. Homer is hungry for a donut and remembers he has an emergency donut stashed away. But all he finds is a note reading “Dear Homer, i.o.u. one emergency doughnut. Signed, Homer.” Bastard! He’s always one step ahead.
The system issues itself a “bond,” which it promises to pay back to itself someday.
RK: I laughed out loud with the Homer scene you describe.
In 1960, Fleming v. Nestor established that the language of the Social Security Act as written meant that Congress didn’t have to pay out any benefits from the funds collected.
Earlier, in 1937, Helvering v. Davis established the constitutionality of the SS Act by classifying it a tax and spend program for general welfare.
At the time of both decisions, not a lot of thought was given to the implications of either since most voters still held Roosevelt as a savior of the country and not the old con artist that he was. Most believed (and still believe) that the Act established a trust, which would be unconstitutional, but The Court “clarified” the language.
Laurence Vance had a similar article on Lew Rockwell today. He had 6 reasons why you shouldn’t receive it and 6 reasons why you can’t rely on it.
For my part, I’ve known not to count on social security (‘sickle security’ for its commie roots?) for nearly 4 decades. Every campaign cycle we hear about the poor, poor, pitiful poor (an old Neal Boortz expression). The solution is to take more out of my thinning wallet or to confiscate my ‘contributions’ for redistribution. Nevermind my ‘contributions’ vaporize the moment they’re taken.
Over the years, I’ve made my own retirement arrangements. All of which are being wiped out by dementia joe’s worthless bidenbucks. I suspect I’ll have to work till the day I die. Retirement will only be for a few uber-rich and uber-poor in my Gen X world. The rest of us will still be going to work in our ‘golden years’.
So true. Well said. The ponzi scheme started in the 30s.
Too bad the ones responsible for this are not here to be held accountable.
The ones currently in charge don’t care unless the scheme collapses on their watch.
Best for general public would be to cancel SS and stop taking money from them. To ease the pain (and complaints) to those at SS collecting age would be to guarentee payments to those eligible with a prorated scale for those down to about 50yrs old.
It will not be perfect, but eventually the SS payments will end. People will have the opportunity to use their money for their benefit.
Yep – it may be “cheaper” to taper off the payments, even when no “funds come in.” After all, fedgov makes “funds” appear with a few keystrokes.
Meanwhile, the average person is weaned from this illegitimate expectation.