SOCIAL SECURITY CRFB LETS CAT OUT OF THE BAG, NO ONE NOTICES

Dale Coberly talking about reforming entitlements and the impact on Social Security . . .

CRFB, “The Committee For a Responsible Federal Budget”, is an organization dedicated to reducing the National Debt or federal budget deficit, so it says.  But it seems to spend most of its time calling for  “reforming entitlements,” meaning “cut Social Security” which has nothing to do with the Debt/Deficit. Social Security is paid for entirely by the workers who will get the benefits.  In the past it has lent money TO the government, and today the government is paying that money back, just like any ordinary business.  This was done so the larger Baby Boom generation could pay in advance for it’s own benefits just like any other generation and not leave the smaller following generation stuck with paying more than was fair by the normal pay as you go financing system. Today, however, CRFB decided to scare us by showing that by 2050 interest on the National Debt would cost more than the Defense budget.

But here they gave their game away. They published a chart showing the rising cost of interest on the Debt compared to the cost of Defense and other Budget items.  They included the cost of Social Security even though that is not a budget item. And that showed that between now and 2050 the cost of Social Security will rise from 5% of GDP to about 6% of GDP.  Imagine that!  A one percent increase in the cost of groceries for 25% of the population.  And that is paid for by those people themselves, and would be the cost however the money was found . . . whether government taxes, stock market profits, private charity, or from under the mattress. All SS does is ensure that the money will be there by arranging for the workers themselves to pay for it themselves by putting a small part of their paycheck in a financial institution that can guarantee it will be there when they need it, with enough interest to cover inflation and the normal expected rise in the standard of living.  The government oversees but DOES NOT PAY FOR Social Security. Meanwhile it does not seem to me to be a looming crisis that the cost of paying for the groceries of 25% of the population will increase by 1% of GDP over the next 30 years.  Or that paying 6% of GDP for the groceries of 25% of the population is unreasonable. Or that if the people are paying for it themselves…as they are . . . they should be forced to work an extra two or more years before they can collect their own money. Or that “the rich” should be forced to pay it for them. But no one noticed.

“Net Interest Will Total $10.5 Trillion Over the Next Decade,” Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (crfb.org)