Download or read book The Looting of Social Security written by Allen William Smith and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2004 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides an analysis of George W. Bush's handling of the Social Security Trust Fund, tracing the history of Social Security from 1935 to the present and offering a case for the Bush administration's fiscal mismanagement and deception in using retirement m

Download or read book Ronald Reagan the Great Social Security Heist written by Allen W. Smith Ph. D. and published by Ironwood Publications (FL). This book was released on 2013-12 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The money's gone! Social Security doesn't have $2.7 trillion stashed away for paying benefits, as so many people believe. It cannot pay benefits for another 20 years, as is often claimed. In fact, Social Security does not have enough money to pay full benefits, even for 2014, without borrowing money from China or another of our creditors. How can this be? Wasn't Social Security fixed by the Social Security Amendments of 1983, which included a large increase in payroll taxes? That's what we were told at the time. President Reagan signed that legislation into law with great fanfare on April 20, 1983. With his comments at the signing ceremony, Reagan gave the impression that it was a proud day for America. But, instead of being a proud day for America, as Reagan implied, the day the new legislation was signed into law, turned out to be a day of shame for the United States. The Social Security Amendments of 1983 laid the foundation for 30 years of government embezzlement of Social Security funds. The money was used to pay for wars, tax cuts for the rich, and other government programs. The payroll tax hike of 1983 generated a total of $2.7 trillion in surplus Social Security revenue. This surplus revenue was supposed to be saved and invested in marketable U.S. Treasury bonds, which would be held in the trust fund until the baby boomers began to retire in about 2010. But not one dime of that money ever made its way to the Social Security trust fund. The 1983 legislation was sold to the public, and to Congress, as a long-term fix for Social Security. With the help of Alan Greenspan, Reagan was a super salesman, who could have sold almost anything to the public-even a scam. And that's exactly what he was selling. Reagan intended to use the surplus Social Security revenue to replace revenue lost because of his unaffordable income tax cuts. Instead of being set aside for the retirement of the baby boomers, as was the intent of the legislation, the extra Social Security revenue was deposited directly into the general fund just like income tax revenue. From the very beginning, Reagan and his advisors had no intention of saving and investing the new revenue for the retirement of the baby boomers. They needed additional general tax revenue, and an increase in the payroll tax would be much easier to enact than higher income taxes. Also, the potential to get vast amounts of revenue was much greater with a payroll tax increase than from an income tax increase. The baby boomers, the largest generation of Americans who ever lived, were already making large contributions to the Social Security fund. Like all previous generations, prior to 1983, the boomers were being required to pay the full cost of benefits paid to the previous generation. But, the proposed new legislation would hit the boomers with a double whammy. In addition to paying for their parents' benefits, the new law would require the baby boomers to also pay enough additional taxes to prepay the cost of their own benefits. This would generate a potential gold mine of surplus revenue that could be tapped and used for other purposes. But none of the $2.7 trillion in additional Social Security revenue was ever saved or invested in anything. The actual surplus money was replaced with nonmarketable government IOUs, which cannot be converted into cash or used to pay Social Security benefits. It would have been bad enough if only Reagan had looted Social Security money. But George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush all followed in Reagan's footsteps and spent all of the Social Security surplus revenue for non-Social Security purposes, just like Reagan. This book is a must read for all who care about the future of Social Security and the integrity of their government.

Download or read book Raiding the Trust Fund written by Allen W. Smith and published by Ironwood Publications (FL). This book was released on 2015-09-29 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The money's gone! Social Security doesn't have $2.7 trillion stashed away for paying benefits, as so many people believe. It cannot pay benefits for another 20 years, as is often claimed. In fact, Social Security does not have enough money to pay full benefits, even for 2014, without borrowing money from China or another of our creditors. How can this be? Wasn't Social Security fixed by the Social Security Amendments of 1983, which included a large increase in payroll taxes? That's what we were told at the time. President Reagan signed that legislation into law with great fanfare on April 20, 1983. With his comments at the signing ceremony, Reagan gave the impression that it was a proud day for America. But, instead of being a proud day for America, as Reagan implied, the day the new legislation was signed into law, turned out to be a day of shame for the United States. The Social Security Amendments of 1983 laid the foundation for 30 years of government embezzlement of Social Security funds. The money was used to pay for wars, tax cuts for the rich, and other government programs. The payroll tax hike of 1983 generated a total of $2.7 trillion in surplus Social Security revenue. This surplus revenue was supposed to be saved and invested in marketable U.S. Treasury bonds, which would be held in the trust fund until the baby boomers began to retire in about 2010. But not one dime of that money ever made its way to the Social Security trust fund. The 1983 legislation was sold to the public, and to Congress, as a long-term fix for Social Security. With the help of Alan Greenspan, Reagan was a super salesman, who could have sold almost anything to the public-even a scam. And that's exactly what he was selling. Reagan intended to use the surplus Social Security revenue to replace revenue lost because of his unaffordable income tax cuts. Instead of being set aside for the retirement of the baby boomers, as was the intent of the legislation, the extra Social Security revenue was deposited directly into the general fund just like income tax revenue. From the very beginning, Reagan and his advisors had no intention of saving and investing the new revenue for the retirement of the baby boomers. They needed additional general tax revenue, and an increase in the payroll tax would be much easier to enact than higher income taxes. Also, the potential to get vast amounts of revenue was much greater with a payroll tax increase than from an income tax increase. The baby boomers, the largest generation of Americans who ever lived, were already making large contributions to the Social Security fund. Like all previous generations, prior to 1983, the boomers were being required to pay the full cost of benefits paid to the previous generation. But, the proposed new legislation would hit the boomers with a double whammy. In addition to paying for their parents' benefits, the new law would require the baby boomers to also pay enough additional taxes to prepay the cost of their own benefits. This would generate a potential gold mine of surplus revenue that could be tapped and used for other purposes. But none of the $2.7 trillion in additional Social Security revenue was ever saved or invested in anything. The actual surplus money was replaced with nonmarketable government IOUs, which cannot be converted into cash or used to pay Social Security benefits. It would have been bad enough if only Reagan had looted Social Security money. But George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush all followed in Reagan's footsteps and spent all of the Social Security surplus revenue for non-Social Security purposes, just like Reagan. This book is a must read for all who care about the future of Social Security and the integrity of their government.

Download or read book The Real Deal written by Sylvester J.. Schieber and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1999-01-01 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work puts debates about Social Security reform into historical perspective, considers various reform ideas, and elaborates a proposal to ensure that the system can continue to meet the claims of the retired and the disabled. It sets out a plan to change the way Social Security is financed.

Download or read book The Battle for Social Security written by Nancy J. Altman and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2012-06-29 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book illuminates the politics and policy of the current struggle over Social Security in light of the program's compelling history and ingenious structure. After a brief introduction describing the dramatic response of the Social Security Administration to the 9/11 terrorist attack, the book recounts Social Securityâ??s lively history. Although President Bush has tried to convince Americans that Social Security is designed for the last century and unworkable for an aging population, readers will see that the President's assault is just another battle in a longstanding ideological war. Prescott Bush, the current Presidentâ??s grandfather, remarked of FDR, "The only man I truly hated lies buried in Hyde Park." The book traces the continuous thread leading from Prescott Bush and his contemporaries to George W. Bush and others who want to undo Social Security. The book concludes with policy recommendations which eliminate Social Security's deficit in a manner consistent with the program's philosophy and structure.

Download or read book Expand Social Security Now written by Steven Hill and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 2016-05-10 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why Social Security is not only sustainable but should be substantially expanded Social Security is bankrupting us. It’s outdated. It’s a Ponzi scheme. It’s stealing from young people. These are some of the biggest myths and lies about one of the most successful programs in our nation’s history. Three-quarters of Americans depend heavily on Social Security in their elderly years and nearly half would be living in poverty without it. But as important and popular as it is, Social Security has become a political football. A well-financed campaign—supported by conservatives, special interest groups, and even leading Democrats—has lobbied for cuts and significant “entitlement reform,” falsely proclaiming that Social Security is going broke. Policy expert Steven Hill argues that Social Security should not only be defended, it should be substantially expanded. Here he proposes how we can double the monthly benefit and how to pay for it by closing many of the tax loopholes and deductions that disproportionately favor the wealthy few.

Download or read book The Looting of Social Security written by Allen W. Smith, Ph.D. and published by Ironwood Publications (FL). This book was released on 2010-01-01 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Every cent generated by the 1983 Social Security tax increase-money ostensibly earmarked for the retirement of the baby-boom generation-is gone, spent by our government. But most Americans are ignorant of the crime. The emptying of the Social Security Trust Fund is one of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated on the American public by their government...Smith explains the history of Social Security from its inception in 1935 to the present, including the 1983 Social Security fix. Then, step by appalling step, he details how the government's promise to the American people-a pledge to never spend the Social Security funds-was broken by every succeeding administration.

Download or read book Is Social Security Broke written by Barbara R. Bergmann and published by University of Michigan Press. This book was released on 2010-04-23 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A funny, smart, and engaging book on Social Security? You bet! Let Bill and Betty Boomer, their parents Ed and Ethel Elderly, and the young married Steve and Sue Sprout take you through the thickets of this thorny issue. You will come to understand why people are so worried about Social Security, how it operates, how we can keep it going, the problems we would face under a privatized system, and why Americans have always chosen to shore up this important program. You will learn about the system and the current debates surrounding it--and find yourself enjoying it at the same time. Barbara R. Bergmann is Professor Emerita, University of Maryland and The American University. Jim Bush is the editorial cartoonist for the Providence Journal.

Download or read book The Social Security Fraud written by Abraham Ellis and published by . This book was released on 1971 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Social Security and Its Discontents written by Michael D. Tanner and published by Cato Institute. This book was released on 2004-02-25 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social Security is the largest government program in the world. But it is also a deeply troubled one, on the verge of financial collapse. Within 15 years Social Security will begin running a deficit. Overall, the program is more than $26 trillion in debt. Without fundamental reform it will not be able to pay the benefits it has promised to our children and grandchildren. That has prompted the most far-reaching discussion of the purpose and structure of Social Security since the program was enacted in 1935. Not so very long ago, Social Security was rightly regarded as the “third rail” of American politics—touch it and your career dies. But no longer. Polls today show that the vast majority of Americans support proposals that would allow younger workers to privately invest at least part of their Social Security taxes through individual accounts. For more than 25 years the Cato Institute has led the debate for Social Security reform, arguing that the program is fundamentally flawed and calling for greater freedom and choice for working Americans. Social Security and Its Discontents represents the best of Cato’s publications on the issue. It includes essays by the nation’s top economists and Social Security experts, discussing Social Security’s finances; the urgent need for reform; how the program treats women, minorities, and low-income workers; and the options for reform. Edited by Michael D. Tanner, this collection is essential reading for anyone who cares about what kind of country we will leave to our children and grandchildren.

Download or read book Social Security Works For Everyone written by Nancy J. Altman and published by The New Press. This book was released on 2021-04-13 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Social Security expansion is back on the agenda, at a time when Americans need it more than ever—here’s what it should look like (and why it matters to everyday people all over the country) “Altman and Kingson cut through the fog of calculated confusion and outright lies about Social Security.”—David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist and author The COVID-19 crisis has pulled the curtain back on America’s looming retirement income crisis, a fraying of the national community, and ever-worsening income inequality. Never before have so many people’s livelihoods and futures been thrown into flux. Now more than ever, expanding Social Security is essential to addressing these challenges. Social Security Works for Everyone!, an evolution of the argument Nancy J. Altman and Eric R. Kingson made in their acclaimed first book, Social Security Works!, presents the case for expanding Social Security, explaining why monthly benefits need to be increased; why Americans need national paid family leave, sick leave, and long term care protections; and how we can pay for it all. Don’t believe the nearly four-decade, billionaire-funded campaign to convince us that the program is destined to collapse. It isn’t. At a time when growing numbers of Americans are seeing beyond the false choice between financial security for working people and financial security for the federal government, this book eloquently makes the case that universal programs that benefit all Americans (yes, even the rich) make our country stronger and our lives more secure. Social Security works because it embodies the best of American values—the ones that will allow Americans to obtain financial security and weather the next crisis.

Download or read book Countdown to Reform written by Henry J. Aaron and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this revised and updated edition of their influential book, two of the nation's most widely respected economists argue that calls for scrapping Social Security in favor of a privatized plan are misguided and that the claims that the system faces bankruptcy are not only exaggerated, they are just plain wrong. The authors analyze the economic assumptions underlying current reform efforts, closely scrutinizing proposals to reform Social Security. They also provide the historical background of the economic circumstances that different generations have faced and show how changes in Social Security have affected life in America.

Download or read book The Social Security Act written by Richard Worth and published by Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC. This book was released on 2011-01-15 with total page 130 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book tells the story of how workers in America came to be financially protected by government funds in the event of retirement or disability and the conflicts that have arisen in the years since that legislation first passed.

Download or read book Pension Puzzles written by Melissa Hardy and published by Russell Sage Foundation. This book was released on 2010-02-18 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The rancorous debate over the future of Social Security reached a fever pitch in 2005 when President Bush unsuccessfully proposed a plan for private retirement accounts. Although efforts to reform Social Security seem to have reached an impasse, the long-term problem—the projected Social Security deficit—remains. In Pension Puzzles, sociologists Melissa Hardy and Lawrence Hazelrigg explain for a general audience the fiscal challenges facing Social Security and explore the larger political context of the Social Security debate. Pension Puzzles cuts through the sloganeering of politicians in both parties, presenting Social Security's technical problems evenhandedly and showing how the Social Security debate is one piece of a larger political struggle. Hardy and Hazelrigg strip away the ideological baggage to explicate the basic terms and concepts needed to understand the predicament of Social Security. They compare the cases for privatizing Social Security and for preserving the program in its current form with adjustments to taxes and benefits, and they examine the different economic projections assumed by proponents of each approach. In pursuit of its privatization agenda, Hardy and Hazelrigg argue, the Bush administration has misled the public on an issue that was already widely misunderstood. The authors show how privatization proponents have relied on dubious assumptions about future rates of return to stock market investments and about the average citizen's ability to make informed investment decisions. In addition, the administration has painted the real but manageable shortfalls in Social Security revenue as a fiscal crisis. Projections of Social Security revenues and benefits by the Social Security Administration have treated revenues as fixed, when in fact they are determined by choices made by Congress. Ultimately, as Hardy and Hazelrigg point out, the clash over Social Security is about more than technical fiscal issues: it is part of the larger culture wars and the ideological struggle over what kind of social responsibilities and rights American citizens should have. This rancorous partisan wrangling, the alarmist talk about a "crisis" in Social Security, and the outright deception employed in this debate have all undermined the trust between citizens and government that is needed to restore the solvency of Social Security for future generations of retirees. Drawing together economic analyses, public opinion data, and historical narratives, Pension Puzzles is a lucid and engaging guide to the major proposals for Social Security reform. It is also an insightful exploration of what that debate reveals about American political culture in the twenty-first century. A Volume in the American Sociological Association's Rose Series in Sociology

Download or read book The Social Security Primer written by Wallace C. Peterson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 1999 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This text offers an understanding of what the US Social Security programme has accomplished in the past, the challenges it faces, and possibilities for the future. Contemporary issues, policies, benefits, and proposed reforms are outlined.

Download or read book Inside Job written by Stephen Pizzo and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2015-09-29 with total page 628 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times Bestseller: A history of the S&L scandal that caused a financial disaster for American taxpayers: “Hard to put down” (Library Journal). For most of the 20th century, savings and loans were an invaluable thread of the American economy. But in the 1970s, Congress passed sweeping financial deregulation at the insistence of industry insiders that allowed these once quaint and useful institutions to spread their taxpayer-insured assets into new and risky investments. The looser regulations and reduced federal oversight also opened the industry to an army of shady characters, white-collar criminals, and organized crime groups. Less than 10 years later, half the nation’s savings and loans were insolvent, leaving the American taxpayer on the hook for a large hunk of the nearly half a trillion dollars that had gone missing. The authors of Inside Job saw signs of danger long before the scandal hit nationwide. Decades after the savings and loan collapse, Inside Job remains a thrilling read and a sobering reminder that our financial institutions are more fragile than they appear.

Download or read book In Defense of Looting written by Vicky Osterweil and published by Bold Type Books. This book was released on 2020-08-25 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fresh argument for rioting and looting as our most powerful tools for dismantling white supremacy. Looting -- a crowd of people publicly, openly, and directly seizing goods -- is one of the more extreme actions that can take place in the midst of social unrest. Even self-identified radicals distance themselves from looters, fearing that violent tactics reflect badly on the broader movement. But Vicky Osterweil argues that stealing goods and destroying property are direct, pragmatic strategies of wealth redistribution and improving life for the working class -- not to mention the brazen messages these methods send to the police and the state. All our beliefs about the innate righteousness of property and ownership, Osterweil explains, are built on the history of anti-Black, anti-Indigenous oppression. From slave revolts to labor strikes to the modern-day movements for climate change, Black lives, and police abolition, Osterweil makes a convincing case for rioting and looting as weapons that bludgeon the status quo while uplifting the poor and marginalized. In Defense of Looting is a history of violent protest sparking social change, a compelling reframing of revolutionary activism, and a practical vision for a dramatically restructured society.