18 August 2010

Answering Republican Lies About Social Security

Please allow me to burden you with some facts regarding Social Security.

Did you know that with the current cap on contributions set at $106,800 billionaires such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and George Soros contribute no more to the trust fund than do their middle managers?

Republicans, knee-jerk conservatives, tea-baggers, Blue Dog Democrats and others who attempt to link Social Security to the deficit are not merely misrepresenting the facts, they are lying to you!  Social Security is in the very strictest sense an insurance program protecting from poverty; retirees, disabled workers, widows and orphans and is funded by contributions from working Americans and their employers...its payouts come from a trust fund supported by those contributions not from the general treasury!

When you hear Sarah Palin, John Boehner, Alan Simpson and others of their ilk whimpering about IOUs and future generations you need to understand this---Congress has borrowed against the trust fund and now doesn't want to repay the loan...in effect they want to default on a "car title' loan and let the repo man come out and then claim they've "cleaned up an entitlement debt".  Don't let them con you, they know this to be true and are engaging in name-calling, generational warfare, and outright lies to distract you from the truth.

They would have you believe that Social Security and "entitlements" are the cause of the deficit. This is more of their lies and fear-mongering.  According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), most of the currently projected budget deficit over the next ten years results from Bush's tax cuts for the rich, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq fought on the national credit card, spiraling health care costs, and the effects of the worst recession since the Great Depression.

The simple truth is this, Social Security has not contributed to the deficit and has a $2.5-trillion surplus that would see it to about 2040 with absolutely no revisions!

If anyone tries to tell you differently, they are lying to you!

COMING TOMORROW: Practical Ways to Preserve, Protect and Pass Along Social Security.

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