More Bad News That Isn’t Bush’s Fault
[Guest post by DRJ]
Michael Barone links and summarizes reports that show Social Security’s cash flow is in the red:
“Social Security tax receipts for the first half of 2010: $346.9 billion;
Social Security benefits payments for the same period: $347.3 billion.
Before this year, projections have always been that Social Security wouldn’t cross that line into negative cash flow for five years or so. Now it’s a reality. Congress has been spending Social Security’s positive cash flow for years. Now there’s no positive cash flow to spend.”
Compare that to last year:
“To see how the negative trend has accelerated, consider the same figures for the first half of 2009:
Social Security tax receipts were $366.0 billion and Social Security benefits payments were $334.3 billion.
A positive cash flow of $31.7 billion has disappeared in the course of just 12 months.”
More here, including a scary chart.
— DRJ
Hmm. Let me get this straight. Social Security depends on the monetary input of those who still make an economic contribution.
Congress spends the money on programs that don’t generate any cash except the ones that punish those who do make cash to contribute to the program and then they expect the contributors to continue to generate the cash despite the fact that they are punished for doing so.
If anyone here hasn’t read Laffer’s column in the WSJ this past week, now may be the time to do so.
But, heck, he’s probably just a crazy old righty with nothing to say.
Ag80 (1b8eea) — 6/12/2010 @ 10:15 pmAnd we let them do it because they know what’s best for us
Icy Texan (f48ae5) — 6/13/2010 @ 3:49 amhi DRJ scary chart link didn’t work
happyfeet (19c1da) — 6/13/2010 @ 6:36 amDRJ, if you think this won’t be blamed on Bush, you are lacking in imagination. I can see the headlines: “Job Losses From Bush Administration Lead To Social Security Shortfall”
Some chump (967a70) — 6/13/2010 @ 6:52 amThe American Prospect
—
Center for Economic and Policy Research
—
Bear in mind, the ‘trust fund’ is IOUs.
Partisanship on the left denied Bush this essential reform. I trust if he had pulled it off, it would be a huge feather in his opponent’s cap anyway, sorta like the budget surplus ‘projection’ of Clinton’s Administration.
——–
With great respect, DRJ, please consider linking A Roadmap For America’s Future. It’s easy to read and explains how the GOP, if it has the correct leadership, will fix this seemingly politically unsolvable problem.
I’ve been whining about this unsustainable path for a decade, knowing that the solutions I believe in are not politically realistic. Paul Ryan’s plans do not end the entitlements, but they have the advantage of being much more realistic. This is what’s been missing with the GOP for ages… politically pragmatic but effective leadership.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 6/13/2010 @ 7:15 amIt didn’t help when the HIRE Act was passed on March 18, 2010. Revenue will go down.
atxcowgirl (0a8111) — 6/13/2010 @ 7:32 amWe pulled the Railroad Retirement out of the general fund years ago. The general fund is a ponzi scheme even Madoff couldn’t have dreamed of. People contribute to the fund and each year the SSA is asked to project the fiscal needs for the next year’s budget. Of course they politically low-ball the projected needs and the government spends the excess collected instead of saving it.
When you are dealing with OPM (Other people’s money” our government’s idea of a budget is:
WE DON”T NEED NO STINKING BUDGET!
One of the obvious fixes to this problem is to allow tax deductions for SAVINGS accounts whether health, long-term care or retirement. In short, take the money away from government, define their constitutional requirements put them on a budget, hold them to it and save the rest as surplus to be needed when the economy realigns itself about every 10-12 years.
vet66 (9d1bb3) — 6/13/2010 @ 7:32 amvet66, you’re right. If I were to sell folks a retirement fund and mirror the way Social Security is set up, they would throw my ass in prison.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 6/13/2010 @ 7:39 amOdd that Bernie Madoff is now in prison for a Ponzi scheme that was no worse than Social Security. I guess few remember the beginnings of Social Security, where it was touted by the FDR administration that it was going to provide “security” for seniors.
But it was never intented to be drawn against like it is now. Retirement age was set at 65 although Congress, at the time, understood that the life expectancy for a white man then was 58, 60 for a white woman, and high 40’s for a black man. Basically, people were expected to die before their benefits kicked in.
Only a strange thing happened on the way to the undertaker. Our health care system, that Dems scream is so bad, started helping Americans live a lot longer. Twenty five years longer.
And let’s not forget, all that money that was paid into the SS system was just laying around not doing anything but collect dust waiting for people to start taking it out of the fund. But some genius had a brain freeze and said “Why let it just lay there. Let’s use it, put in an IOU and pay it back as needed.”
The system is now broke. In the red. Kaput. So what to do? Well, just because all those promises were made to Americans for the last 40 years is no reason to have to keep them. Raise the retirement age. If you retire at 60, and don’t work for the last two years before you take early SS, reduce the amount you will collect. Hell, just reduce benefits all the way around. Those are just the things that have already been done.
The sad part is that it was a national crisis (never let a good crisis go to waste) that allowed FDR to push through this Ponzi scheme. Americans, at the time, were too frightened about their future to be frightened by the first work in this scheme, SOCIAL.
retire05 (5a6bc4) — 6/13/2010 @ 7:46 amFDR’s policies kept the depression going a lot longer than it should have gone. So our educators simply blame Hoover. Same goes for Bush-Obama.
Arizona Bob (e8af2b) — 6/13/2010 @ 7:50 amHaiku fears money
ColonelHaiku (79bc23) — 6/13/2010 @ 8:42 amgone with wind in blink of eye
Purina® Cat Chow
That’s bad enough, but now President Smoker in Pants is asking congress for a 50 billion bailout for the public sector unions. These people are going to be the ruin of us all if we don’t wake up and demand changes.
Dmac (3d61d9) — 6/13/2010 @ 8:55 amSince we’re told that deficits don’t matter, then this should be a non-story and we shouldn’t worry about revenue. Additionally, why should we even bother paying taxes?
Horatio (55069c) — 6/13/2010 @ 9:08 ambarack obama
ColonelHaiku (79bc23) — 6/13/2010 @ 9:23 amseas will calm and earth will heal
hold on to wallet
Of course it’s George Bush’s fault, and it will remain George Bush’s fault, as will everything else until the day our 44th President leaves office.
We have a President who has claimed credit for “creating or saving” two million jobs, when we have two million fewer than when he took office, and seven million fewer than what he told us his Stimulus Plan would create, and his sycophants still
The realistic Dana (474dfc) — 6/13/2010 @ 9:28 amfellatebelieve him.ColonelHaiku:
I tried to hold on
The Haiku Avenger (474dfc) — 6/13/2010 @ 9:33 amTo wallet despite Teh One
It sure ain’t working
ChapStick® record sales
ColonelHaiku (79bc23) — 6/13/2010 @ 9:35 ammain stream media on knees
no happy ending
avenger hold tight
ColonelHaiku (79bc23) — 6/13/2010 @ 9:39 amnovember 2010 end
bummer in Summer
Of course, it’s his fault,
jdm (05b268) — 6/13/2010 @ 9:59 amEmmanuel Goldstein Bush,
He must be hated.
colonel haiku sad
ColonelHaiku (79bc23) — 6/13/2010 @ 10:03 amlead so many good posters
down this rabbit trail
I think that this might have been the link DRJ was trying for:Bruce Krasting.
htom (412a17) — 6/13/2010 @ 10:12 ami have my wallet
Specialist Haiku (fb8750) — 6/13/2010 @ 10:24 amEar Leader cannot touch it
too bad its empty
My wallet is sad,
Machinist (497786) — 6/13/2010 @ 10:34 amso few dollars left inside,
and they are shrinking.
haiku now sadder
ColonelHaiku (79bc23) — 6/13/2010 @ 10:44 ammachinist caught the fever
more haiku cowbell
The “more here” link is broken
sierra (121696) — 6/13/2010 @ 10:48 amhaiku cowbell chimes
TimesDisliker (5bd694) — 6/13/2010 @ 11:00 amfollow herd for S.S. check
but barn door is closed
Peace, ColonelHaiku,
Machinist (497786) — 6/13/2010 @ 11:06 amMac needs small excuse to feed,
his Haiku monkey.
Retirement age grows,
Machinist (497786) — 6/13/2010 @ 11:11 amlike dog track rabbit, it runs,
stays just out of reach.
FDR’s policies kept the depression going a lot longer than it should have gone. So our educators simply blame Hoover.
Actually, until I looked up the history of those 2 presidents, I didn’t realize just how bad both of them were. Herbert Hoover apparently was a very squishy Republican and allowed taxes to soar not long after the huge stock market crash of 1929. IOW, he added insult to injury.
Roosevelt, who was an out-and-out liberal, happily, proudly, gladly glommed onto Hoover’s left-leaning economic policies and made a bad situation even worse.
I’ve noted previously that almost every bone-headed decision made by Republicans since at least the 1930s can be traced to when their hearts went pitter-patter and they leaned left. That includes the behavior of Hoover, Nixon — whose infamously unethical gameplaying was intertwined with a lot of surprisingly oddly liberal sentiment — Ford, Reagan, Bush I and Bush II.
So a majority of brilliant American voters in 2008 decided to throw gasoline on a house fire by voting into office a certifiable 100% liberal along the lines of the current occupant of the White House.
We the public are geniuses, even more so since I myself not long ago bought into the BS that, as one example, Hoover had made the Great Depression truly miserable because his philosophy was that of a laisezz-faire, let-them-eat-cake politician. But since Hoover did haul out the liberal handbook in the early 1930s, he ironically — and when you come right down to it — can be perceived as a heartless, foolish SOB. Sort of similar to Barack Obama.
Mark (411533) — 6/13/2010 @ 11:12 amretirement plan set
Specialist Haiku (fb8750) — 6/13/2010 @ 11:18 ammy IRA will cover
almost six weeks time
401K plan,
Machinist (497786) — 6/13/2010 @ 11:22 amto petty cash fund in one,
“stimulated” year.
it sure seems to me
The Haiku Avenger (474dfc) — 6/13/2010 @ 11:23 amthat haiku is way to go
now that it is June
I wonder about all of these posters
The Limerick Avenger (474dfc) — 6/13/2010 @ 11:26 amWho can’t even afford to buy toasters
All that they do
Is write more haiku
And of their talent they’re boasters
President Smoker in Pants is asking congress for a 50 billion bailout for the public sector unions
Dmac, did you notice that they are all “teachers and firemen and policemen”? No fat ass DMV workers’ jobs will be saved, if you believe you-know-who.
Mike K (82f374) — 6/13/2010 @ 11:29 amlimericks, haiku
Specialist Haiku (fb8750) — 6/13/2010 @ 12:04 pmbattle of witty word play
in race to bottom
fat ass dmv
ColonelHaiku (79bc23) — 6/13/2010 @ 12:07 pmno oxymoron justly
conjure that image
fiat X19
ColonelHaiku (79bc23) — 6/13/2010 @ 12:13 pmbaffle all DMV clowns
speak ford pintoese
DMV morons
Specialist Haiku (fb8750) — 6/13/2010 @ 12:13 pmfrom sitting on brain all day
TSA the same
#26, #32, #35
Nope ! Not haiku !
Japan – vowel monophthong
Gomen nasai
(I know … the pedants are revolting !)
Alasdair (205079) — 6/13/2010 @ 2:00 pmI reject haiku without the traditional seasonal reference.
SPQR (26be8b) — 6/13/2010 @ 2:04 pmOf course he is. Stuff like that is only legal when the government does it. Like lotteries: it’s okay when the state runs them, but if private citizens try it, it’s a felony.
Some chump (967a70) — 6/13/2010 @ 2:10 pmhaiku rejection
ColonelHaiku (79bc23) — 6/13/2010 @ 2:14 pmlike pouring some garlic salt
on wounds of Summer
This is another reason why Barry and the boys from Chicago own the current economy. They could have focused on job creation during the last 17 months. Instead they focused on increasing unfunded entitlements. Barracky knows exactly what he is doing and why. Rhamn is flit boy.
highpockets (cf4a2b) — 6/13/2010 @ 3:19 pmSPQR wrote:
it is not haiku
The Haiku Avenger (474dfc) — 6/13/2010 @ 3:32 pmwithout seasonal ref’rence
call it senryū
is it Senryū
The Senryū Avenger (474dfc) — 6/13/2010 @ 3:36 pmif we mention Barry O?
that’s a cutting word
Finally, a respect for tradition around here.
SPQR (26be8b) — 6/13/2010 @ 3:40 pmrespect for tradition
Specialist Haiku (fb8750) — 6/13/2010 @ 4:04 pmnot allowed in brave new world
only for Obama
No fat ass DMV workers’ jobs will be saved, if you believe you-know-who.
Yeah, and I’m doubly assured that no SEIU goons will have their jobs saved, either.
Dmac (3d61d9) — 6/13/2010 @ 4:07 pmHow did you come to that conclusion?
Garry Tietz (c0997d) — 1/1/2011 @ 7:20 pmSo true. It really does matter, whether you like to think so or not.
Spencer Moulds (3ab2aa) — 3/2/2011 @ 12:55 amI’m not so sure I agree. Most pros will be able to spot the problem before it gets that severe.
Lynwood Fasenmyer (850f89) — 3/19/2011 @ 2:41 pm