To: All of Congress
From: Mitch Berg, Obstreporous Peasant with kids, grandkids
Re: Your (pl) Cowardice
Political Weasel Class (Democrat and GOP)
So I’ll start with the low-hanging rotten fruit: Eric Swalwell continues to pay dividends on China’s investment:
We’re headed toward a $50 Trillion debt. Already our debt service costs more than defense, and will soon start to suck money way from it. No matter – soon it will outstrip Social Security and Medicare.
No system can survive this. This is Venezuela-level irresonsibility.
And none of you Democrats, and precious few Republicans, are taking this seriously.
Swalwell is a cartoon – but no better than most of you, when you get right down to it.
Someone’s gotta be the first to tackle this thing, because it’s definitely going to tackle us.
That is all.
I don’t disagree with the premise or conclusions of this post. However, the probability that any one candidate, much less the number of candidates needed to form a majority in the two congressional bodies plus a president, can be elected after stating what needs to be done about the national debt is effectively zero.
For decades, more workers paid into the Social Security fund than drew out. The Social Security Fund has run a surplus while the General Fund has been short because Congress spent too much. To achieve a “balanced budget,” Congress made Social Security lend money to the General Fund and receive government-backed bonds in return. Government accountants therefore confidently assert the Social Security Fund is in no danger, plenty of assets to draw on, nothing to worry about.
Except when Boomers retire and stop paying in, the Social Security Fund will run short. The theory is they’ll simply cash those government bonds to be paid by the General Fund but the General Fund is also out of money because Congress still spends more than it takes in. So who’s going to pay those bonds? Puts me in mind of the scene at the end of “Dumb and Dumber” . . .
Lloyd: Listen, sir, about the briefcase, my friend Harry and I have every intention of fully reimbursing you.
Nicholas: Open it up. Open it up!
Lloyd: Go ahead, open it up. Do what he says. Hurry.
Nicholas: What is this? What is this? Where’s all the money?
Lloyd: That’s as good as money, sir. Those are I.O.U.’s. Go ahead and add it up, every cent’s accounted for. Look, see this? That’s a car. 275 thou. Might wanna hang onto that one.
***
And now we hear Swalwell telling me not to elect Trump to reform the system.
There’s no need because he and his colleagues in Congress have every intention of paying back the loans so that I can afford to live on Social Security.
Why am I not comforted?
Issues like this are why I recommend a slightly alternative investment strategy.
I also won’t touch government bonds. Those will get paid out in inflated dollars eventually, which isn’t a successful investment.
Nice try, Swallowell!
Why is China dumping U.S. treasuries like they are contaminated with WuFlu? Where do you idiots think you are going to get the money to make the SS fund whole again? Pro tip: stop paying illegals, that have never paid into SS, money from that fund!
By the way, other than being in congress at all, how much more did you and Dianne Feinstein sell out your country to the ChiComs?
My only major comment is “listen to the actuaries.” There is the official Social1st Insecurity trust fund balance, and then there is GAAP accounting, which shows a deficit into the tens of trillions of dollars. Medicare and Medicaid, move the decimal point over yet another place.
So more or less, the programs are going to be far different when I retire, and the sooner we admit this and make changes–I’d advocate “splitting the difference” between current and future recipients and reducing payments over the years–the less painful it will be.