The FERS annuity supplement is commonly believed to be linked to the Social Security Administration (SSA), even to the point where some believe the benefit is actually administered by SSA rather than the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), but this is not the case.
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.
The deficit reduction commission made a number of proposals late last year, including some that would impact federal pay and benefits. President Obama has not endorsed the recommendations. That may be about to change. Here is a summary of proposals from this commission that would impact the federal workforce and retirement programs.
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.
How to fix Social Security is a topic that has been around ever since a demographer realized that the number of workers supporting an individual Social Security recipient was gradually dropping. The options are to cut benefits or raise more revenue.
