Originally Posted by
FighterHayabusa
Where it comes from is irrelevant. Are you claiming that what I said it is now is wrong? You pay in, a portion goes into a government bond trust fund for the time when people paying can't meet the pay out obligations, and the rest goes to old people. Where is the government covering this up and playing a shell game? There is no promise to give it back, or provide you a return or even give you Social Security payments in the future.
If you gave someone the option of not paying for Social Security, you'd have to tax them the same amount to pay for those currently receiving it.
As far as whether it's a charity or not is a tangent. I'm proving the point that it's different than Madoff because it's wide open for anyone to see.
This is exactly why you should review the history of how the program was handled. How money paid in was used for many other purposes over decades and why the "fund" is nothing more than a debt and money going out is very soon if not now just the same or less than money going in, there is however a large stack of IOUs, which may or may not be worth anything. It started with the promise to never take more than 3%, but is now, with additions near 14.7% of pay. Again with no firm promise of any return EVER.
What you are seeing, and what exactly is on the books are two entirely different matters, and there has been a willful effort to hide this from the public along with the spending of much of SS funding on other pork.
Many people were given the option not to join and as a whole they have done much better at funding their own retirement as a smaller and more carefully directed group.
You have not proven anything other than mismanagement, a complete disregard for the public's funds, zero performance guarantee, and an attempt at defense of one of the most poorly managed and bloated examples of organized public fraud. A fraud where the rules of payout vary by whim and many of us are likely to be left holding an empty bag.
Speaking of empty bags and criminal misconduct:
Fannie Mae seeks $10.7 billion in new US aid after posting $15.2 billion second-quarter loss
By Alan Zibel, AP Real Estate Writer
On Thursday August 6, 2009, 7:25 pm EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Fannie Mae plans to tap $11 billion in new government aid after posting another massive quarterly loss as the taxpayer bill from the housing market bust keeps growing.
The mounting price tag for the rescue of Fannie and its goverment-sponsored sibling, Freddie Mac, is surpassed only by insurer American International Group Inc., which has received $182.5 billion in financial support from the government so far.
Fannie Mae's new request for $10.7 billion from the Treasury Department will bring the total for Fannie and Freddie to nearly $96 billion. Freddie is expected to report its quarterly results on Friday.
The government has pledged up to $400 billion in aid for the two companies, which play a vital role in the mortgage market by purchasing loans from banks and selling them to investors. They have been under government control since last September, when their near-collapse helped set off the financial crisis.
Together, Washington-based Fannie and McLean, Va.-based Freddie own or guarantee almost 31 million home loans worth about $5.4 trillion. That's about half of all U.S home mortgages.
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So, I think anyone can see the track record of government sponsored entities leaves a great deal to be desired. And it is far from over.