| -Caveat Lector-
The following
article was originally published in March of 2001/ The only thing that has
changed is the amount of IOU's (bonds) in the "trust funds." This represents the
amount of social security taxes collected that the Congress has spent on
non-social security items. It is now close to $3 trillion.
MEDIUM RARE By Jim
Rarey March 25, 2001 STILL SCAMMING SOCIAL
SECURITY Amid much fanfare, the
report of the Old Age and Survivors’ Insurance and Disability Insurance Trustees
Report (OASDI) was issued recently. Headlines on wire service reports and news
articles in the “kept” media trumpeted the extension of the “solvency” of the
Social Security Trust Fund to the year 2038, one year later than previously
estimated. However, a summary of the
report (found at www.ssa.gov/OACT/TR01tr_IIA.html) reveals
this interpretation to be nothing but smoke and mirrors. The trustees considered
three possibilities (high cost, intermediate cost, and low cost). The version
released to the news media was the “intermediate cost” scenario. It projected
the “exhaustion” of the trust fund(s) in 2038. What is generally referred
to as the Social Security Trust Fund is actually a combination of two trust
funds, Old Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and Disability Insurance (DI)
trust funds. At the end of year 2000, the combined “assets” of the two funds
were $1.049 trillion. The “assets” are projected to grow to $3.088 trillion by
2010. The report does identify
those “assets” as special (non-marketable) interest bearing government bonds.
However, the reader is left on his own to realize that those bonds must be
redeemed either from the general fund, increased payroll taxes, lowered
benefits, or a combination of the three. The program actually runs
out of money to pay all benefits when tax collections are less than benefits
paid. At that point, bonds must be “redeemed” to pay the difference. That point
arrives much earlier than 2038 even under the optimistic “intermediate” version.
Annual costs would exceed tax revenue beginning in 2016 The report provides
estimates of the depletion of the trust funds under “high cost” assumptions.
These take into consideration possible changes in cost (benefit)
projections. However, it does not
deal with the very real possibility of lower tax collections due to economic
conditions. In this writer’s opinion,
the crisis will arrive around the year 2010 when a combination of higher
benefits and lower tax receipts will require additional money be pumped into the
programs. In the interim, between this
year and 2010, over two trillion dollars in excess payroll taxes will have been
spent on a combination of buying back bonds from the public and other government
programs. The day of reckoning is much
closer than they want us to believe. And the Medicare program is in even deeper
trouble. Permission is granted to reproduce this article in its entirety. The author is a free lance writer based in Romulus, Michigan. He is a former newspaper editor and investigative reporter, a retired customs administrator and accountant, and a student of history and the U.S. Constitution. If you would like to receive Medium Rare articles directly, please contact us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Although not necessary, we would appreciate an indication of the city and/or state or country (If outside the USA) in which you are located to give us an idea as to where our message is being received. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="">ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om |
