Yesterday I posted the following open thread comment;
Bill Clinton ... (1+ / 0-)
Recommended by:ca democrat
balanced the budget and paid the debts incurred by Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush I by diverting FICA payments to balance the budget. He sarcastically called a file cabinet in which the IOUs were placed 'The Lock Box' ... the file cabinet had a lock. What a joke. Only working people are required to pay FICA witholding as there is a ceiling above which no FICA is collected. So rich people pay a pittance and wealthy investment class people pay proportionately little or nothing of their gross income.
If a democrat wins the presidency in 2008 you can count on the Social Security fund being raided to pay for Bush II deficit spending. We in essence have a one party system as there is no labor party in the USA. Only Conservatives and Liberals.
Bend over ... this won't hurt a bit ...
LIVE FREE OR DIE
Interestingly another DKos participant told me "This is not correct"
I then provided the following supporting information;
And what use is being made of this phony surplus? Well, $6 billion was already taken from the lock box to bail out the International Monetary Fund (IMF)--independent bankers who screwed up on loans to unreliable third-world nations. Another $7 to $13 billion is estimated to get us through the war in Kosovo. Senator Fritz Hollings (D-SC) says: "We're paying for the war in Kosovo with Social Security money."
source - ttp:/sonic.net~doretk/Issues/99-09%20FALL/thebiglie.html
Its important to remember some history on Social Security. Don't forget that Reagan and Greenspan raised FICA taxes dramatically to build up the SS Trust Fund for the boomers' retirement. So, workers were forced to pay dramatically higher FICA taxes with the (empty) promise that the "extra" contributions would be used to make the Social Security Fund solvent for later generations.
Yet, from virtually the day the FICA tax rates were raised, that extra money was not used just to secure future SS benefits, but instead was repeatedly diverted to pay for politicians' favorite pet projects. This practice was a direct theft from the workers then, and it remains a theft today. These "diversions" are the reason the Social Security Trust Fund remains insolvent today.
source - http://www.democraticunderground.com/...
Towards the end of the Clinton Administration, though, the federal budget went into surplus for the first time in years. But well before the entire budget went into surplus, there was an excess of FICA tax collections over Social Security payments. This excess was used to pay other government expenses. The fund was, in today's parlance, 'raided' year after year."
source -
http://www.newsmax.com/...
FICA (Federal Insurance Contributions Act) is being used as a tax on WORKING PEOPLE. The 2006 income ceiling is $94,200.00. This means that 12.4% of a persons income up to $94,200 is witheld as FICA which is intended to fund social security. So in essence this is an additional tax paid predominately by WORKING CLASS people. That both parties manipulate these funds should be of deep concern to anyone who is trying to raise and educate a family in the USA.
source - http://www.mi-seniors.org/...