Big Dogs House

Rob Peter To Pay Paul

Nov 27, 2011 Political

Congress does not know how to manage money. That is a plain simple fact of life that simply cannot be rationalized away no matter how hard one tries (and Congress critters try). They have shown it time and again by spending more than we pay in taxes and then raising taxes to cover their inability to manage money. They continue to raise taxes and spend more until someone comes along and manages to get taxes lowered.

Then revenues increase and what happens? The Congress spends even MORE!

Social Security is another example of their inability to manage money. They extorted money from our paychecks because we are too stupid to save for our own futures. Then they supposedly put that money away to actually pay us when we retire. The problem is, Congress saw trillions of dollars sitting there gathering dust while waiting to be paid to retirees and decided to add it to the general fund and, you guessed it, spend it. The so called Social Security trust fund holds nothing more than nearly three trillion dollars in IOUs that are worthless.

Sure, they are backed by the full faith and credit of the US Government but there is little faith in our government because we borrow 40% of every dollar we spend.

We now have another example of the inability of Congress to manage money. Congress has raided the money that is supposed to pay for Obamacare. Millions of dollars have been taken from the Obamacare funds in order to pay other bills or to spend on one pet project or another.

I think Obamacare will be ruled unconstitutional but if it is not what happens when it comes time to pay for it? What happens to this magical law that is supposed to pay for itself? What happens to that cost curve?

Congress will claim there is not enough money and that taxes need to be raised or services cut or both.

All because Congress cannot properly manage money.

We need radical change in DC and we can start by replacing all those members of Congress who have been there more than one term.

Source:
Washington Times

Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.

Tags: lies, malfeasance, obamacare, social security, spending, taxes

Obama Shows Need To Privatize Social Security

Jul 13, 2011 Political

Social Security was supposed to be the safety net that allowed people to have a little money coming in when they retired. This is a program that was designed to assist those incapable of saving for their own futures and it has morphed into an albatross that includes all kinds of things like disability payments to people who are allegedly unable to work.

The money that is taken in each month is sent to the Treasury and the Treasury issues a worthless piece of paper indicating that the money is there if it should be needed. All Social Security has to do is ask and they can get the money they need to make payments. Nice idea except the money confiscated goes into the general fund and politicians spend it on everything under the sun. When Social Security asks for the money to make payments our country has to borrow it from another country (usually one that is not a friend) and then pay interest on the money borrowed. The process costs us a hell of a lot more than it should. If they had left the money alone there would be no problem.

This leads us to the current debt ceiling “crisis” and the statement by Barack Obama that he could not guarantee that Social Security checks will go out on August 3^rd if the debt ceiling is not raised. This is a blatant lie because Social Security is required to be paid and that means other programs will be cut so that Social Security recipients get their money. Besides, there is still plenty of money coming in to service the debt and pay Social Security. Other programs will have to be cut. Look at it this way, either the Congress makes serious cuts now or they will happen automatically in August.

The whole issue shows why privatizing Social Security is an important and necessary measure. People work to put their money into the system and then government takes that money and spends it on things for which it was never intended. When trouble hits, Obama (using scare tactics) says he can’t guarantee people will get the money they paid in. In fact, the Supreme Court has ruled that people have no right to receive Social Security and government can end it at any time (they would have to change the law).

The federal government had its chance and it terribly mismanaged the funds. If any private business took money for one thing and spent it on another and then could not meet the original obligation the people in charge would end up in jail. Ironically, the people in Congress who gave us the Social Security mess would be leading that charge.

It is time to privatize Social Security and allow people to put money in accounts that they own and that they have control over. It is time they owned it all and were able to pass it on to their heirs. This would have an added benefit of allowing people to retire when they felt they could rather than having to hit a government mandated age before they could draw the money. People would be better off and they would not be dependent on government (which is why politicians don’t want you in control).

I know the tired arguments about market crashes and all that. There are funds that start out with risk and get less risky as the worker gets older. There is a certain amount of risk in anything but it is unlikely that people will go completely bankrupt. The simple truth is they can be no worse off than they are right now with all the money they “contributed” squandered on wasteful government programs and Obama telling them they might not get a check in August (and for who knows how long). If they controlled their own money this would not be an issue because they would be in control of their own assets.

The government in general has mismanaged the program by wasting the money. They now have to borrow to make payroll, so to speak. Obama as much as admitted that the program would be better off if we privatized it when he admitted he can’t guarantee that people will get their checks.

It is time to move Social Security away from government control and put it back in the hands of the people who actually earn the money. It will take a while and we still have obligations to those currently drawing Social Security. We could afford to do that if we open a lot of off shore oil leases and allow American businesses to drill for oil. We will create jobs, will produce our own oil and gas and a portion of the revenue can be earmarked specifically for Social Security to pay those currently in the system (with no possibility of the money being used for anything else).

Let the younger generation start setting aside money for their own retirement and let them have a prosperous old age free of dependence on government.

You know they can’t sustain it. You know they can’t run it effectively. You know they can’t keep their hands out of the till. You know that they cannot guarantee you will receive your money. And they know it too.

So let us do the right thing, the smart thing, and push for privatizing Social Security.

We certainly cannot possibly do any worse than the government has.

And in all likeliness we will do much better.

Cave Canem!
Never surrender, never submit.

Tags: default, lies, Obama, privatize, social security, trust fund

Then Why Should The Rich Pay Social Security?

Dec 1, 2010 Political

Social Security is a bad program that has gotten worse over the years. It is designed to keep people enslaved to the government by taking money from them while they earn and then giving them a small retirement when they end their working careers. This deprives them of the opportunity to save and invest the money on their own, a step that would actually allow them to earn much more money and allow them to say what is done with it.

The Supreme Court has ruled that no one has a legal right to Social Security benefits. This is a bad decision but it looks like it will play out that way in the long run. Social Security is broke and there is no reasonable way to fix it. There will be no money left for those who are paying today.

A Democrat Policy Group is recommending that Social Security be fixed by denying payments to those who are wealthy when they retire. If you have the brains to put money away and save for retirement and happen to do well then you might not get the benefit that you paid into for all of your working career.

In what world is this fair?

Why should the rich pay into Social Security (or a person who is not particularly wealthy during his working career but saves a lot) only to be denied the money when they retire? What rule allows for the confiscation of a person’s money and then the redistribution of that money to others?

Why should the rich pay into Social Security? To top it off, the plan calls for higher Social Security taxes and raising the income level (the cap) on which it is collected. Why would people pay into this knowing full well that they would not get anything when they retire?

Most Democrats oppose this plan while some Republicans favor it or some variation of it. Who the hell do these people think they are?

As for me, I don’t need them to pay me Social Security. All I want is for them to send me a check for the money I have paid in (and I don’t even need any interest on it) and for them to stop taking Social Security out of my check. I will be more than happy to invest the money myself and I will live quite well in retirement. I am also sure the people who are actually rich (and even those considered rich by the government) would be happy to do the same.

I am not rich by any stretch of the imagination. I just work hard for my money and I save some of it for the future.

Others would do well to follow that example.

The members of Congress would do well to learn from that as well.

Class warfare is here and they are stoking the fire. Keep it up and things will get ugly as the rich find other things to do with their money.

Cave Canem!
Never surrender, never submit.

Tags: benefits, Congress, lies, rich, social security, supreme court

When Government Owns You

Nov 10, 2010 Political

The Social Security Act brought a new era of Socialism to America by allowing the government to confiscate some of our money and then dole it out to us when we retire. The amount of benefits is more than some paid in and less than others did. Along the way, Social Security expanded to cover things that it was never intended to take care of. It is a terrible system that does not allow us to decide what to do with our money. When we die (especially if we die before we retire) our money is just part of the pot and goes to someone else. We cannot pass it on to our heirs.

Social Security is also broke. Instead of putting the money aside so it could be used for retirement, the government issued worthless pieces of paper for the money and then spent it. Since there is no money, the people who currently work are paying for those who currently draw Social Security.

Social Security ensures that the elderly are slaves to the government. They depend on a monthly income that is subject to the whims of the people in Congress. Benefits can be cut and seniors have no say. Politicians use Social Security as a weapon to threaten the elderly and gain compliance.

When government holds your sustenance in its hands you will do what it wants.

Obama’s deficit panel has a draft of its recommendations and one of those is to cut Social Security benefits. The elderly will take it on the chin because, through no fault of theirs, the government is broke. If these folks had been able to invest their own money they would be better off and not held hostage by a government that uses them as pawns. It won’t be long before they use means testing to decide if we get Social Security. You can pay in but if you are successful you won’t get anything back. You will be paying for someone else’s retirement. It really is Socialism Security.

Combine the cuts with Obamacare and its rationing of care and the elderly are truly screwed.

We are responsible for our own future and it is not up to government to take our money and then dole it out to us, if it deems us worthy, when we retire.

Another thing the panel recommends is to remove the deduction for home mortgage interest. If the elderly still make house payments they will be in a bad way.

And so much for not raising taxes on the middle class.

At least the younger people have time to recover. The elderly are not so fortunate.

Your government should fear you. It should work for you and it should not be your master.

Cave Canem!
Never surrender, never submit.

Tags: deficit panel, elderly, government intrusion, lies, mortgage interest, social security

Lesson: Don’t Depend On Government For Retirement

Oct 15, 2010 Political

Social Security was never supposed to be a complete retirement plan. It was a plan that provided insurance to those who retired so that they would have some income after their working years ended. There have been revisions along the years and they have expanded the scope of Social Security to something it was never intended to be. One of the provisions enacted was to index cost of living allowances (COLA) to inflation. When there is inflation the COLA goes up and when there is no inflation there is no COLA.

The government has announced that, for the second year in a row, there will be no COLA because there is supposedly no inflation. Prices are rising but there is not yet a measured inflation.

One would think that since there are rules in place that they would be followed. This is a pipe dream when it comes to Washington DC. Last year the politicians passed a law to give Social Security recipients a $250 check to make up for not getting a COLA. If the mechanism in place determined that there should be no COLA then why did they circumvent that mechanism and pay the money anyway?

When I originally wrote about this recent COLA news I indicated that it would not be long before Congress worked to send another check to people who did not get a COLA. Keep in mind that they did not get a COLA because of the law that Congress passed, but that makes no difference.

After all, it is an election year.

As I predicted, the Congress is working to pay another $250 to offset something to which Social Security recipients are not entitled (in accordance with the law).

Representative Earl Pomeroy (Democrat, North Dakota), who introduced the legislation, had this to say:

“Seniors who rely on their modest Social Security payments need these cost-of-living adjustments for their day-to-day survival,” Pomeroy said. “Passing this bill will ensure that the lack of cost-of-living adjustment will not jeopardize seniors’ ability to survive on their benefits.” My Way News

The message here is that Seniors are DEPENDENT on government. Seniors, according to Pomeroy, rely on the payments from government which means that they are at the mercy of the government when it comes to the amount of money they will receive. He also is saying that the laws the Congress passed dealing with COLA jeopardize senior’s ability to survive.

In other words, seniors depend on government to survive. This is not a place anyone should EVER desire to be.

By any measure, money paid to Social Security would have returned much better profits than government if invested in the market. The claim that seniors would have been wiped out is wrong. First of all, the most recent legislation would have exempted people over a certain age so they would have been unaffected. Those who are younger would have had plenty of time to recoup the loss. Second of all, if the money had been invested the return would have been higher so the amount lost would not have been as devastating.

In addition, had the system been set up that way decades ago, people would be much better off and not waiting for government to hand them a few more scraps. If those accounts belonged to the people (it IS their money) they would control it, it would not be taken by the government to spend on worthless endeavors and the money could be passed to heirs thus ensuring growth of wealth in this country.

But government can’t have people being wealthy and independent in their senior years.

How else will government control the people if they are not at its mercy?

The lesson is to save as much as you can. The old saying about paying yourself first is great advice. Decide how much you can save and then invest it in a vehicle that pays good interest. A balance between interest and risk is a good idea.

If people fail to save they will be at the mercy of government, which is just where they want you.

They need that to pander for votes.

And to control the population…

Cave Canem!
Never surrender, never submit.

Tags: bankrupt, bondage, control, lies, social security