Republicans have never liked Social Security, going all the way back to August 14, 1935, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. For decades, congressional Republicans, rigorously supported by Republican presidents, have been attempting to steal the trillions from the “lock-box” of the self-sustaining Social Security Trust Fund.
The principle message of Social Security’s opponents, perpetrated since Roosevelt’s signature was dry, is the blatant lie that the checks are handouts forced from unwilling taxpayers. In reality, these payments come from the workers’ own earnings with 6.2% of gross withheld and deposited in special mandated savings accounts authorized by the “Federal Insurance Contributions Act” (FICA).
Employers equally match those FICA withholdings. This FICA money is held in the “lock box” and dispensed monthly to contributors beginning at 62 until death. Surviving spouses and ex-spouses continue to receive those checks until their deaths.
The “lock box” (The Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Fund) consists of trust funds that provide for payment of Social Security (Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance) benefits administered by the United States Social Security Administration
Currently, the Trust Funds contain about $4 trillion. They are required by law to be invested in non-marketable securities issued and guaranteed by the “full faith and credit” of the federal government. These securities earn a market rate of interest.
Excess funds can be ”borrowed” by the government for non-Social Security purposes, creating the obligations to the Social Security Administration and thus program recipients. Trust Fund obligations are considered “intra-governmental” debt, a component of the “public” or “national” debt. The securities in the Trust Fund represent a legal obligation the government must honor.
$4 trillion is a lot of money, and Washington “Vultures” are dying to get their hands on it.
Thom Hartmann chimes in:
Billionaire-Funded Fascism Is Rising in America Oct 19, 2018 Truthdig
Quote: The billionaire fascists are coming for your Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. And they’re openly bragging about it.
Right after Trump’s election, back in December of 2016, Newt Gingrich openly bragged at the Heritage Foundation that the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress were going to “break out of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt model.” That “model,” of course, created what we today refer to as “the middle class.”
Bigger checks, lower retirement age
Social security needs to be expanded, not cut. It’s a great system for helping old folks afford their later years, but it’s a tiny amount of cash to live on.
Just tax people making over $128,400 for social security income (wages above that are exempt…).