On Tue, 26 Jan 2016 13:00:34 -0500, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 1/26/2016 12:48 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 26 Jan 2016 11:35:50 -0600, amdx wrote:

FICA payments are for a disability and retirement program and not
considered a tax for my test.

That might have been true before 1968 when LBJ put SS "on budget" but
now SS is just another "entitlement" program and your FICA money gets
dumped into the general fund. That was great when there was a surplus
and they could use it to hide the cost of the Vietnam war but now it
is just demonstrating what a ponzi scam SS is.
The politicians who say SS is not adding a dime to the debt are just
stupid or lying.
When the number of young voters exceeds the number of older voters, I
expect to see a big change in SS but kids just don't vote.
(at least not so far)



I thought it was still allowed that only "surplus" SS funds can be
transferred to the general fund. Has that changed?


That is a distinction without a difference. It is all "on budget".
The real flaw in the whole plan is the government can't "save money"
(as in stow it away for a rainy day). The only way they can save money
is by not spending it and if they take money out of circulation
without spending it, that is simply reducing the money supply.
If the government was really "saving" the trust fund money it would
have had to be invested in the private sector or in gold. (something
with more of an intrinsic value than simply government paper)

The IOUs in the "trust fund" are simply borrowed money from our kids
and they are paying us now because SS/MC is upside down. Too bad they
have this debt on their backs and got little to show for it.
Every man woman and child in the US owes SS/MC over $20,000 each right
now and their slice of the total US debt is more like $73,000.
They have lower wages and the prospect of higher taxes for the rest of
their lives.
The boomers certainly did not leave them a world better than the one
we got from our parents.