When someone mentions "deficit reduction"....

[kentuck]

...do you think of Social Security??

I don't.

Social Security is not running a deficit and is not part of the present deficit problem.

The reason we have the present huge deficits is because the Republicans cut taxes by over a trillion dollars on the wealthiest people of this country and we no longer have that money going into our Treasury.

The reason we have the present huge deficit is because Bush and the Republicans, with the help of many so-called Democrats, pursued two wars for 10 years without paying a penny to fight them.

The reason we have the huge deficit is because Bush and the Republicans passed a Medicare prescription drug program that cost over $600 billion dollars and did not pay a penny for it.

It was not because we were spending so much on Social Security. Social Security was and is running a surplus. In fact, the deficits would have been much higher if they had not borrowed the Social Security surplus.

So, why are we talking about Social Security cuts as a way to reduce the deficits? Why are we not talking about those things that really caused the deficits? Why don't we appoint a commission to figure that out??

[dflprincess]

1. Good question

I'm sure the answer has something to do with play 3 dimensional chess and is something we mere mortals cannot understand.

[Hannah Bell]

2. no, i don't. i think of the bush tax cuts. personally, i don't see where

the cat food commission has any mandate to look at SS at all.

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. Remember right after 9/11 when jr wanted to smooth it over

by sending everybody $300.00 to forget that he was an incompetent little ass? He followed that largess up by giving millionaires hundreds of thousands.

[dkf]

4. Because we can't afford to pay back the surplus funds.

[kentuck]

5. They are bonds backed by the US Government.

They are no different from the bonds held by the Chinese and many others that hold America's debt. They borrowed it from us, the American people. We do not expect to stand in line behind these other borrowers. We are first in line.

[dkf]

7. Nope...they are bonds with interest paid in more bonds.

With no maturity date as far as I could tell. They are non negotiable meaning they can't be sold on the open market.

If you tried to sell me a bond with no maturity that paid interest in more bonds with no maturity I would be outta there so fast...

[kentuck]

8. Are you suggesting those bonds are not backed by the good faith...

of the US Government? And just how are they different from the bonds sold to the Chinese? What is the value difference??

[dkf]

9. The SS bonds are held in a binder in some government basement.

If you stole them they have no value because they are stamped non negotiable. Normally a bond will trade at a premium or discount based on the stated interest rate and current rates but the SS bonds aren't tradeable on the secondary market. The government will never sell these bonds to anyone to raise cash. They have no value to China or to Mom and Pop.

[kentuck]

10. Of course they have no value to China...

That money was put in a fund, by law, for the Social Security of the workers of this country. If that money is not there, then it has either been stolen, or it was borrowed on the promise that it would be paid back by the good faith of the United States. It didn't disappear into thin air. We don't believe in magic...

[dkf]

11. The money was spent.

[kentuck]

12. The borrowed money was spent.

As long as the United States will exist as a nation, they will stand behind that.

[dkf]

13. Stand behind what? If a bond never matures how do you get your money back?

When I comes down to it they will probably print more money causing inflation.

[kentuck]

14. Who says it has to mature ??

It is there as long as the United States stands as a nation. There is no maturity date. It is a Republican scheme to do away with the Social Security fund. Don't be deceived by such bulloney.

[texastoast]

6. Wall Street wants more of our money, and it is up to us to keep the fuckers away from it

I called my rep already and told Mr. Limprod to hold a real townhall meeting where people can discuss this openly, not some wimpass telephonic controlled Republican excuse for a townhall. Keeping a close eye on this. We all had better.

Not no but hell no to anything but removing or substantially raising the cap.

[Romulox]

15. I think of a blank check neverending war followed by no expense spared "reconstruction"

It's an old joke, but perhaps Mr. Bin Laden would like to hole up in Detroit for a bit? :shrug: