Thursday, February 03, 2005

Basic Economics I

‘I try to get out, but they just keep draggin’ me back in.’
I just can’t get away from the issue of Social Security. Today on the Michael Medved radio show, Mr. Medved was taking calls from the left on what they hated about the State of the Union speech last night. Guess what...they hate the privatization of Social Security. Can you believe it? Me neither. But, none the less, he received several call on this issue.
Several hilarious, yet at the same time, disturbing calls. The main talking point, of course, was that there is no crisis. However, they all agreed that the benefits payed out would exceed the money coming into the program by 2018. But this is where the agreement ended. And right where my enjoyment began.
Because it is at this point that the treasury bonds are to be sold back to the government.

In 2018 (approximately), payroll taxes will no longer be enough to cover Social Security payments. To make up the difference, treasury bonds from Social Security's trust fund will be sold back to the government, and in order to pay for those bonds income taxes will have to be raised.’
WashingtonMonthly.com

And this is also the point where the liberal mind stops operating on logic. One after another the callers insisted that there will be no crisis at this point because the bonds will just be paid back. ‘The Federal Government will then pay back the bonds’......did you catch that. In order for the program to stay solvent the Federal Government will have to pay back the bonds. Let’s see, is that the same Federal Government that took out those bonds in the first place in order to pay for other programs and pork laden projects? And the very same Federal Government who has NO MONEY. Yes, it’s true, the same Federal Government that even after 200+ years still hasn’t found a job. You are it’s income. Only you. It has not put your Social Security payments away in some bank in Fort Knox. It has spent that money, and when these bonds come due, the Federal Government will then come looking to you to pay them. So what does that mean? It means you will be paying higher premiums for Social Security and higher taxes to pay for the bonds. Now that is funny!