In Case You Missed It - Social Security Fun Facts

[FakeNoose]

Spread the word: Friends don't let friends vote Repuke!

[XanaDUer2]

1. This makes me so mad

[Biophilic]

3. Yup, me too, but I try not to think about too much.

I’m half afraid it will tip me over into looking and sounding like an idiot MAGA. Yup it makes me that angry. The only difference is we have a real reason to be angry.

[XanaDUer2]

7. We live on SS and a pension

We voted.

[Biophilic]

9. Already voted myself. I live on SS and a dwindling annuity.

Sometimes staying positive is difficult.

[Joinfortmill]

13. I hear you

[XanaDUer2]

14. It is

I just heard Joy Reid tell Nicholle say African-Americans are not coming out in droves to vote in Florida.

It's depressing

[paleotn]

39. It should. Republicans want to steal it.

[SheltieLover]

2. And they want to grift the rest!

[Martin Eden]

4. Republicans have been waging and winning CLASS WARFARE since Reagan

It hurts the magats as much as the rest of us, but they've been brainwashed.

[Deuxcents]

5. Me, too.

I think the public is misled about SS n Medicare n some elected purposely use this for trying to destroy these benefits. We need to better message

[XanaDUer2]

8. Yes we do

I'm in a purple swing state, heavy retiree area. Not one ad about SS. ads about abortion and over building, and cost of living

[calimary]

6. Good stuff! Thanks! I can use this.

[crickets]

10. K&R for visibility.

[Joinfortmill]

11. Spread the word

[TexasBushwhacker]

12. Eh ....

When there is a surplus, the extra is invested in the safest investment on the planet - US Treasury Securities - rather than stuffing that cash under some giant mattress. Those securities, which pay a small amount of interest, are then sold to investors, mutual funds, retirement programs, etc. This is the way it has always been.

[DENVERPOPS]

19. Precisely BP

They pulled the gasoline and inflation during the Carter years. This is just a massive replay......

[DENVERPOPS]

54. Actually BP

The Republicans screwing with elections got it's start just prior to the 1980 Presidential Election.........Seems the Repubs (HWBush & minions) went to work desperate to get Reagan into office. They did something much much more serious than RatFucking, like Nixon had done.......They did something called Treason, by communicating in secret, with one of our enemies, (Iran) to help the Repubs throw the election away from Carter and towards Reagan. AND they pulled it off and Reagan was more or less an "Installed" president.....(Does this sound familiar??Putin??????)

(I can tell you from my experience with past President Carter, that he is one of the finest human beings, ever. Period.
His wife is another incredibly spectacular human being.......)

The Republicans defrauded Carter of his second term, corruptly. And me and others here have been shouting our heads off, screaming at the top of our lungs for 40+ years about the shit the Republicans were doing.

The Republicans have escalated their attack every year since then. And corrupted even more Presidential elections in 2000 and 2004.

You had it right BP: "I knew that Repubs were crooks and dems were for the people"

[Ligyron]

61. I can remember back when the consensus was that we were running out of oil.

Hence the drive 55, etc. pfffft

Turns out we'll probably burn up the atmosphere before we ever run out of oil.

[The Unmitigated Gall]

16. Stupid fucking repug MAGATs.

[OldBaldy1701E]

17. I wouldn't know...

After two attempts and money spent that I don't have on lawyers who did little, all I know about Social Security is that I have a card with those words on it. That's it.

[love_katz]

18. Kicking, huge recommend and shared.

It's NOT entitlement. It's an insurance policy that we have paid into, for our entire working lives.

[phoenix75]

27. Exactly!

Perfectly stated.

[IronLionZion]

20. The GOP is built on BS

Kind of like how tax cuts will trickle down and wars help the economy. Wasn't oil supposed to be super cheap after invading Iraq?

And of course they like to call it "entitlements" so they can say that you are entitled to nothing you lazy bum. You just didn't work hard enough to be rich.

[republianmushroom]

21. This posting nails it.

[Dave says]

22. I've sai this a thousand times to the low-information voter

but it's like talking to a brick wall.

May things change - and quickly!!

[OnlinePoker]

23. Unfortunately, Medicare Part A is still expected to be insolvent in 2028

And that is only as long as the recovery stays strong. Teetering on the brink of a recession, that date could change for the worse.

[Doremus]

48. And it only needs a minor tweak, as it has several times in the past, to shore it up for years to

come. I'm sure rightwingers will use its pending "insolvency" to make the case for getting rid of it and stupid people will fall for it.

Another fun fact: SS was tax-free until friend-of-the-people Saint Ronny made it taxable. Another kick in the teeth we can thank them for!

[James48]

25. False.

Congress hasn’t “borrowed trillions (from Social Security) so they don’t have to pay it back”.

Congress doesn’t borrow from the Social Security dollars.

Facts matter.

[Doremus]

51. Help me remember what Al Gore's SS "lock box" was all about.

One of his major campaign promises was to put SS funds into a "lockbox." My memory is so bad I don't recall his reasoning.

[greblach]

62. Surplus

He was referring to the budget surplus under President Clinton

[ProfessorPlum]

65. No, he wasn't, he was talking about the pile of treasury bonds that social security owns

Gore was explicitly saying that the federal government needed to make sure they pay those bonds back to SS, instead of fantasizing about how great it would be to just not pay them back and leave SS recipients struggling.

The way they are doing now.

[ProfessorPlum]

63. Yes they have. What are you talking about?

SS sits on top of a stack of special government bonds that were bought using the extra money that Tip O'Neill and Reagan negotiated in the 1980s to raise payroll taxes in anticipation of the baby boomers hitting social security.

Like every treasury bond, these will need to be paid back by the federal government as they are slowly converted to payments over the next couple of decades.

Republicans would love for the government to default on these bonds, representing what would be a massive picking of the pockets of working people, never to be paid back.

[ProfessorPlum]

64. to be fair, you are right that most of Social Security is an insurance program where the money moves

directly from workers to recipients, as it was designed. It's only the boomers hitting retirement age that caused the need for SS to build up a war chest of treasury bonds in anticipation of it.

[Fla Dem]

26. WOW! These facts should be plastered all over the place.

I knew the government has used SS funds and the concern has always been whether or not it would ever be paid back.

I did not know it was so much. Seems to me the Rethugs want to cut off the hands that fund all THEIR exorbitant spending and corporate tax reductions.

[Evolve Dammit]

28. "They" want you subservient, in ragged clothing, owing your existence to their "benevolence." FU

I have never known hatred like I currently do.

[a kennedy]

29. Where has this info been all political season??? HELLO..... this should have been in ads

ALL YEAR. (Or however long political ads have started.). Damn, I know some of this info, but not all and it’s VERY, VERY important. 🤬 🤬 🤬

[progree]

30. Yes, SS surpluses have ALL been borrowed - per the SS Trustees, including Janet Yellen

Last edited Thu Nov 3, 2022, 07:48 PM - Edit history (2)

I agree with the OP except that "borrowed" should not be in quotes. And it isn't Congress that is borrowing the funds. It's the federal government by an automatic mechanism. (But Congress passed all the SS legislation that has been and is in effect, so maybe that's a technicality).

BY LAW, each year the surpluses are loaned to the federal government, and no, that didn't start with Reagan. Nor did it start with LBJ. It has been that way from the beginning.

The government in turn creates special issue treasury securities that are deposited in the Social Security and Medicare trust funds. These earn interest -- paid in the form of more special issue treasury securities. In a year when Social Security revenues fall short of benefits then trust fund securities are redeemed to make up the difference. This is already occurring:

"At the end of 2021, Social Security’s trust fund reserves were $2,852 billion, having decreased by $56 billion over the year." - Source: 2022 Trustees report, https://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/

Similarly the Medicare Trust fund.

BTW, anything you read about "pilfering" of the programs is literal fucking bullshit.

Social Security Trustees 2022 report -- https://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/

Edited to add, from the above link:

Federal law requires that the Trustees invest all excess funds in interest-bearing securities backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. The Department of the Treasury currently invests all program revenues in special non-marketable U.S. Government securities, which earn interest equal to rates on marketable securities with durations defined in law. The balances in the trust funds, which represent the accumulated value, including interest, of all prior program annual surpluses and deficits, provide automatic authority to pay benefits.

All emphasis in above by Progree.

(By the way, the 4 trustees are all high level Biden administratrion appointees. This isn't a report by right wing economists or the right wing media or such)

The report is signed by:
    Janet Yellen, Secretary of the Treasury, and Managing Trustee of the Trust Funds.
    Xavier Becerra, Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Trustee.
    Martin J. Walsh, Secretary of Labor, and Trustee.
    Kilolo Kijakazi, Acting Commissioner of Social Security, and Trustee.

(and if some idiot says, well what do you expect liberal Democrats to say? Well, the same language is in Trump era SS Trustees reports too, for example this snapshot from 2019: https://web.archive.org/web/20191125074043/https://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/ )

Actuarial Note #142 of January 1999 (how interest rate determined, the trust fund securities etc.) http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/NOTES/note142.html

On a related subject,
But isn't it "game over" when the SS Trust Fund runs out in about 2035? - Ans, NO
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1016&pid=328199

Edited to add - Its also not true that Medicare is paid for by a separate tax. Part A is (the hospital insurance part) -- its part of our FICA taxes just like SS is. But Part B and Part D are paid by general funds and premiums. That's in the Social Security Trustees report as well https://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/ .

[progree]

35. YW 👍 .

[bahboo]

40. this would be a great OP....

thx for posting...

[progree]

55. Thanks 😊 /nt

[FakeNoose]

49. OK thanks for the clarification

I didn't create this meme, I found it and wanted to share it on DU for obvious reasons.

I think the original creator was someone who wanted to keep the narrative simple and easy to remember. But skipping some of the important details might be confusing, especially when so many DUers are quite knowledgeable on these things.

Thanks for this, my friend!

[progree]

56. You're welcome. I'm glad you posted it 👍 /nt

[KPN]

59. ++++. Thanks for sharing this info. You obviously have a pretty good

handle on the facts and nuances. As I have always understood it, the basic problem is that retired people are living and drawing SS benefits longer than originally anticipated; that, on the whole, the payments by the people drawing benefits were insufficient to cover the actual benefits being drawn. Is that correct or is it more about how the surplus is being “invested”? Do you see reasonable fixes?

[MerryBlooms]

66. Thanks so much for posting this information.🤗

[KPN]

31. Is there a source for these "facts"? I'm inclined

to believe this, but … better to know the basis for these facts before using them.

[OnlinePoker]

33. From the 2022 Trustee Annual Report

The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund, which pays retirement and survivors benefits, will be able to pay scheduled benefits on a timely basis until 2034, one year later than reported last year. At that time, the fund's reserves will become depleted and continuing tax income will be sufficient to pay 77 percent of scheduled benefits.

The Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund, which pays disability benefits, is no longer projected to be depleted within the 75-year projection period. By comparison, last year's report projected that it would be able to pay scheduled benefits only until 2057.

The OASI and DI funds are separate entities under law. The report also presents information that combines the reserves of these two funds in order to illustrate the actuarial status of the Social Security program as a whole. The hypothetical combined OASI and DI funds would be able to pay scheduled benefits on a timely basis until 2035, one year later than reported last year. At that time, the combined funds' reserves will become depleted and continuing tax income will be sufficient to pay 80 percent of scheduled benefits.

The Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund, or Medicare Part A, which helps pay for services such as inpatient hospital care, will be able to pay scheduled benefits until 2028, two years later than reported last year. At that time, the fund's reserves will become depleted and continuing total program income will be sufficient to pay 90 percent of total scheduled benefits.

https://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/
--------------------------

So the only fund that is fiscally sound at the moment is Disability Insurance. Unless the Democrats retain the House and Senate AND pass legislation to shore up the other two funds, things are going to get ugly in a few years.

[Haggard Celine]

43. I wonder if we'll even make it that far.

It might be. But I think there's going to be a lot of unrest starting with the elections. All it would take would be some asshole lighting the fuse. And it's a short fuse. Ugly, indeed!

[Cha]

32. I live on my Social Security.. those

Fascist Zombie Fuckers better NOT take it away.

Millions could be out in the fucking street.

[paleotn]

36. Congress has "borrowed"????

I couldn't disagree more. This is such an egregious meme. SS funds were invested in the safest debt the planet has ever seen. US government securities. If the full faith and credit of the US government is in question, then we and everyone else on earth has much greater things to worry about.

The rest is quite accurate.

[pansypoo53219]

37. SS would have been fuixed better, but greenspan did't get inflation or greed.

[onecaliberal]

38. K&R

[wryter2000]

41. This x a million

This is what I scream here every day. Bookmark this. Never mind the "we paid into it" as if it's a fund, and now we get to draw from it. Payments come out of that box on your check stub, not out of general funds.

[ffr]

42. K&R

Get thee to the greatest page!

But why can't democrats just say that on television in response?

[Haru]

44. Social Security

I tell my kids if they vote Republican..... I am moving in !

[FakeNoose]

50. That's a good one, I hope it works

[Skittles]

45. yup

FACTS

[panader0]

46. Raise the cap. That'll put many millions more into the fund.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

47. The filthy rich and giant corporations fund the propaganda to get more cuts and de-regulation.

[FakeNoose]

52. "Believe them" - yes - and pull the rug out from under them

We have to do this, and the time is now.

We need a Blue Tsunami like never before.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

53. I wish those "fun facts" would go viral. Millions should see them.

[2naSalit]

57. That message needs to be seen far and wide!

Interestingly, a lot of Rs that I speak to know this already.

[DFW]

58. I finally applied for Social Security this summer

If and when I actually start getting payments, it's all going to either Democratic candidates running for office or organizations like Planned Parenthood.

[The Jungle 1]

60. Repukes want to give out more corporate welfare.

They need my money to do that.
It is my money. I paid it into the system and I want it back.

[Mr.Mystery]

67. Without Social Security, 38 percent of retirees would live in poverty . . . nt