Social Security

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Monday February 23, 2009 · 9:04 AM PST

2009/02/23 · 09:04

I am yet again hearing about plans to fix social security. There is nothing wrong with social security that needs fixing. There is plenty wrong with the budget, Medicare, Medicaid, the VA, . . ., but nothing wrong with social security.

Up until Reagan became president social security was a pay as you go system. People who received social security were paid by people who paid social security taxes. There was no trust fund.

There were two problems social security was faced with. One was due to inflation because social security was not paid on income above a certain amount. This could have been easy to fix by taxing all income. Unfortunately, this problem was never fixed and is still a problem today.

The second problem was the baby boomer bulge, where a large number of people would start receiving social security as the baby boomers retired. Either their social security would have to be reversed or they would need to build a trust fund from which they could draw. A trust fund was built and the baby boomers have paid into the trust fund over the past 28 years. There is more than enough money in the trust fund to cover all the boomers benefits.

So what is the problem. The problem is Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II used all the trust fund and much more with deficit spending. They put the country in deep debt or to put the problem another way, their budgets were full of shit.

So what is the solution. First of all the country needs to understand that Presidents Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II spent the trust fund money while also dramatically increasing the national debt. Recognizing this the US needs to place a debt reduction tax on all income that is not taxed by social security. This tax should be twice as large as the social security tax rate, ensuring that the money is provided for social security.

Next we need to move to a single payer medical system and get rid of the insurance companies with all the overhead they provide. Medical care for all should be provided period, with adjustments for where people live. This will get rid of the Medicare/Medicaid problems and in addition solve most of the medical problems of our country.

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