Why the Economy Cannot Heal Itself
The author says that the financial meltdown in 2008 mirrored the stock market crash of 1929 and could have been avoided if the Glass-Steagall Act had not been repealed.
The author says that the financial meltdown in 2008 mirrored the stock market crash of 1929 and could have been avoided if the Glass-Steagall Act had not been repealed.
The author says that he was surprised to find that members of Congress and the media have been mostly silent on sharing information about what he refers to as “the looting of Social Security.”
The Social Security Amendments of 1983 included a hefty payroll tax hike that was designed to generate large Social Security surpluses for about 30 years. These surpluses were supposed to be saved and invested in marketable U.S. Treasury bonds, which could later be resold to finance benefits for the baby boomers. The author says this has not happened and points to some examples.
On April 20, 1983, one of the most significant developments in the history of Social Security legislation took place with great fanfare. It was the signing ceremony for the Social Security Amendments of 1983, which President Ronald Reagan called landmark legislation. The author says it laid the foundation for what was to become one of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated against Americans by the government.
The author says that there is nothing wrong with Social Security per se, but the money in the trust fund has been spent by politicians on both sides, rendering the program insolvent.
There would be no Social Security funding problem for at least the next 25 years, if the government had not raided the trust fund. If the trust fund held the $2.5 trillion of surplus Social Security revenue, in the form of real marketable bonds, as it should, it could continue to pay full Social Security benefits until at least 2037.
Some people just assume that, since the Social Security surplus was “borrowed” or “stolen,” during the period when it was not needed to pay Social Security benefits, the government will automatically repay the looted money when it is needed. It is not at all certain that this will happen.
There is much debate today about how solvent Social Security is, but most of the debate is over when the trust fund will run out of money, not about whether or not the trust fund actually holds real assets.