robbing us to pay them
Ranting again.
It seems President Bush and his Social Security reform pals have been less than transparent regarding the whole story behind the alleged shortfalls the SS trust fund is facing. Big surprise, right?
They tell us 2018 is the year it will all fall to crap. Others tell us we good until sometime between 2043 and 2052.
Here’s the rub. The year 2018 is the year when the loans come due. It’s when Guido and Vinny muscle us into the corner and tell us, “Pay up or we’ll break your legs.” It seems the SS trust fund is George Bush’s personal Thrifty Finance (see blog from 1/27, econ 101). To finance his deficit he and Congress have been borrowing from the trust fund and the paybacks are to begin in 2018.
Back in 1983, when the actor was president, Congress raised the payroll tax rate. This rate applies to an inflation-adjusted part of our income, which is currently capped at $87,900. Income above that level is not subjected to FICA payroll taxes. This created the “surplus”. But it’s not really a surplus because of all of the baby boomers entering their retirement years. Congress and the Gipper knew that in 1983.
Since then, Republican administrations have run up deficits by cutting income taxes for our wealthiest neighbors. They've paid for parts of those tax cuts and budget shortages by borrowing from the surplus created by increased payroll taxes on us middle class workers. The notes on these loans are due in 2018.
So it seems George and Dick and Donald and all their millionaire cohorts in Congress have tapped the kitty we’ve been paying into for years, the one many of us are counting on to make the last few payments on our 30 year mortgages, to provide tax relief for themselves and their friends who make several hundred thousand dollars a year. The same folks who benefit from the cap on payroll taxes are in essence double dippers.
It seems the fiscal conservative President who has the market cornered on moral values is running us into the poor house, spending the budget surplus the tax-and-spend philanderer President built up. Odd isn’t it? Give me a philanderer any day!
It seems President Bush and his Social Security reform pals have been less than transparent regarding the whole story behind the alleged shortfalls the SS trust fund is facing. Big surprise, right?
They tell us 2018 is the year it will all fall to crap. Others tell us we good until sometime between 2043 and 2052.
Here’s the rub. The year 2018 is the year when the loans come due. It’s when Guido and Vinny muscle us into the corner and tell us, “Pay up or we’ll break your legs.” It seems the SS trust fund is George Bush’s personal Thrifty Finance (see blog from 1/27, econ 101). To finance his deficit he and Congress have been borrowing from the trust fund and the paybacks are to begin in 2018.
Back in 1983, when the actor was president, Congress raised the payroll tax rate. This rate applies to an inflation-adjusted part of our income, which is currently capped at $87,900. Income above that level is not subjected to FICA payroll taxes. This created the “surplus”. But it’s not really a surplus because of all of the baby boomers entering their retirement years. Congress and the Gipper knew that in 1983.
Since then, Republican administrations have run up deficits by cutting income taxes for our wealthiest neighbors. They've paid for parts of those tax cuts and budget shortages by borrowing from the surplus created by increased payroll taxes on us middle class workers. The notes on these loans are due in 2018.
So it seems George and Dick and Donald and all their millionaire cohorts in Congress have tapped the kitty we’ve been paying into for years, the one many of us are counting on to make the last few payments on our 30 year mortgages, to provide tax relief for themselves and their friends who make several hundred thousand dollars a year. The same folks who benefit from the cap on payroll taxes are in essence double dippers.
It seems the fiscal conservative President who has the market cornered on moral values is running us into the poor house, spending the budget surplus the tax-and-spend philanderer President built up. Odd isn’t it? Give me a philanderer any day!
posted by steve | 10:56 AM
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