EDITOR: Our pursuit of happiness has been hijacked by Congress.
Most people correctly believe that Social Security has been our
most successful social program.
EDITOR:
Our pursuit of happiness has been hijacked by Congress.
Most people correctly believe that Social Security has been our most successful social program. However, as the program has matured it faces many obstacles to its viability. High Social Security payroll taxes have contributed to yearly Trust Fund surpluses until the proclaimed total is now in excess of $1.4 trillion.
Unfortunately within the Treasury, the regressive Social Security taxes are co-mingled with general tax revenues which allow Congress to spend Trust Fund surpluses to fund other items within the budget. To cover up the Congressional embezzlement of Trust Fund money, the Department of Treasury has been forced to issue non-negotiable IOU bonds to the trust Fund which means that additional taxes must be imposed to fund the IOU bonds when they mature. IOU means you owe $1.4 trillion in taxes again.
The sad part about this embezzlement is that most low- and middle-income earners struggle to put something aside for retirement, yet the yearly surplus in the Trust Fund is hijacked by Congress without any remorse about their lack of spending constraints.
Young taxpayers must be allowed to purchase precious metals, natural resource stocks or short selected sectors using exchange-traded-funds within “Personal Retirement Accounts” (PRAs) funded with the yearly Trust Fund surplus. Yet Congress screams out a refusal claiming that only Wall Street will benefit,
Truthfully, the financial benefits for young people are enormous because of the Rule of 72. Investments that grow at 12 percent annually will double in value in six years or growth at 9 percent will double in eight years.
Congress has exploited the co-mingling flaw in the Trust fund to achieve a spending coup without having to terminate pork barrel programs. Hijacking of our Trust Fund illustrates the massive corruption in both parties in Congress. Commingling and expenditure of funds is against the law in the private sector, and it should be against the law for our government also.
Robert A. Dahlquist, Orange
