Has the U.S. Congress really borrowed trillions from Social Security to use for government spending?
Yes. In 1983, The Greenspan Commission came up with a plan to save money to provide for the retirement of the Baby Boom Generation. President Reagan and the Democrat-controlled Congress agreed with the plan and raised Social Security withholding which immediately resulted in a large surplus in the Social Security Trust Fund.Unfortunately, Congress saw that surplus and decided to borrow and spend it. It was all very legal. In fact, the United States Treasury even created special bonds to to show how much money they owed to Social Security.Over the next thirty years, that surplus grew to almost $3 Trillion. And Congress continued borrowing it.Now, the Social Security Trust Fund sits empty — there isn’t enough money to pay the benefits that are owed this year. But there is a file cabinet in Parkersburg, West Virginia filled with those special bonds the Treasury issued to replace the money in the Social Security Trust FundIn Washington, the Democrats often accuse the Republicans of “raiding” the Social Security Trust Fund. And the Republicans accuse the Democrats of “raiding” the Social Security Trust Fund. Both are right. Neither party has been able to resist the urge to spend the money that doesn’t belong to them.For more information about the raid of our Social Security Trust Fund check out The Seniors Center’s website.
Did the federal government borrow from social security?
Yes. The Federal Government currently owes the Social Security Trust Fund $2.85 Trillion Dollars. That’s $2,850,000,000,000.While the Federal Government has borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund since it began, in 1983, President Ronald Reagan (a Republican) and Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill (a Democrat) came to an agreement to increase Payroll taxes allowing the Social Security Trust Fund to build a large surplus so they would have the funds to help pay the Social Security obligations to baby boomers when they retired.Sadly, politicians in Washington couldn’t keep their hands off the money in the Social Security Trust Fund. While both parties have been quick to blame the other one for the raid of the Social Security Trust Fund, both parties have been equally to blame. Every year, the total balance in the Social Security Trust Fund has been transferred to the Federal Treasury and replaced with non negotiable bonds which are stored in a filing cabinet at the Bureau of Public Debt in Parkersburg, West Virginia. The interest on these bonds is “paid” by the issue of even more bonds.The Federal Government will only have money to repay its obligations by raising taxes or radically cutting spending. In the words of Senator Mike Enzi “If the revenues are not there (and they will not be as long as the government continues to run budget deficits), then the federal government will have to raise taxes or cut other spending to finance promised Social Security benefits. This is gross financial mismanagement. We don’t have enough trust funds with money in them to satisfy the demands put on our government.”Please visit my Social Security Blog for more information about this issue.
Is Trump going to cut Social Security Disability (SSDI) & Medicare benefits?
Sorry to rain on the party here but the answer is an unequivocal YES and it’s already in the stages of movement. I won’t say here, in this forum, of how I know but it is presently in motion. I’ll leave you with this- Google the American Company “ATOS and London UK disability benefits” and you’ll get a first hand look at what’s about to happen.On the political side to those saying that “Trump said he wouldn’t cut SS and Medicare”, well, he’s already cut $500 Billiion out of medicare. It’s already done. Secondly, “Trump said…..” Really? Yeah, because Trump never lies right? In addition both Trump and Mulveny do not believe that SSDI is part of SS and when Mulveny was asked specifically ‘Will there be any cuts to SS Disability?” He’s response was “I hope so”.Finally, the bill was just sent to the congress on Friday during all the Supreme Court noise along with the Rosenstein issue. Snuck it right in. Here you go:GOP Quietly Sends Bill To Gut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid By $2 TrillionThe bill is on ‘FastTrack’. What’s going to happen is Mulveny will be contracting ATOS for those on SSDI and SSI to be assessed and, as in the UK, if you can move a finger you’ll have 0 points. Too bad, good luck and good bye. ATOS will be given specific “milestones” to reach and bonuses will be pain on reaching each tier so their incentive is to get as many off of SSDI/SSI is limitless. In the UK countless times have they discontinued benefits for the disabled only to see them pass away from said disability days and/or weeks later. You’ve got to understand, these cuts will be framed as “people that were not originally entitled to SSDI” or “They got better” or…. a thousand different reasons so the general public sees them as thieves.Finally, this is going to take place on Nov. 7th, the day after the mid-term elections. Why? They want to save as many of their seats as possible before the 6th. Because there’ll be so much noise about the elections no one will notice. Why wait until the 7th? Because it’s a win-win for the GOP. If they loose the majority in congress they have 8 weeks to get it through. They have nothing to lose and can go onto their next jobs that they’ve worked years for. If they hold the congress, well then, it’s a win-win again.And I’m not giving opnion here, this is happening. Sorry but there will be deep cuts to these plans.
Why Do People Like Ronald Reagan?
I wish so, too, but he's turned out to be a middle-of-the-road moderate in my book... I hate it when the Republicans claim that the reason Clinton left us with a surplus was because of the Republican congress. If that's so, why did Bush start running up the nation's credit card WAY BEFORE November 2006 when the Democrats won a super-majority in congress? I'm mad at both parties, because they are both thoroughly corrupt to the bone, and because they almost all voted for those 2 wars. Even though Afghanistan might have been necessary, Iraq wasn't.
What was the national deficit when regan left office?
I can't find the deficit, but here's a graph that shows the U.S. national debt as it was created over time. At the time Reagan left office, it was right around $4 trillion, or about twice what it was when he took office in 1980. http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/faq.ht...