Forget the politicians. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have freedom of choice. You don't. You have no choice. You have owners. They own you. They own everything…
How does the blackmail work? Well, let's start by asking what the monied interests want. Let's consult with George again—
The owners spend billions of dollars lobbying … to get what they want. Well, we know what they want. They want more for themselves and less for everybody else… They want obedient workers … people who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork, and just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, the reduced benefits, the end of overtime, and the vanishing pension which disappears the minute you go to collect it, and now, they're coming for your Social Security money, they want your fucking retirement money, they want it back, so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street. And you know something? They'll get it. They'll get it all from you sooner or later, cause they own this place.
OK, now we know what the owners want. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand what sociopaths want.
Doesn't it strike you as odd, as exceedingly strange indeed, with all the extraordinary problems the United States has, that the hysterical political squabble which has rendered all those other problems invisible is all about entitlements debt and achieving a balanced budget? Stay focused, people. The economy is falling apart, but you are constantly asked to remain obsessed with entitlement debt. They want your Social Security money. They'll get it from you sooner or later because they own this place.
That's the blackmail. If you don't let the Republicans cut your retirement (or health care) money, they will cut off the government's ability to borrow, resulting in a default on its various payout obligations. The details are complicated, but ultimately don't matter. For example, bondholders will still get paid, but those receiving Social Security checks or food stamps may not get paid. For example, Obama could avoid a default, but chooses to let the threat ride because he believes playing out the debt ceiling charade will attract money to his 2012 campaign. He has already offered deep entitlement cuts which the Republicans rejected. Otherwise, he would have already called the Republican bluff. Remember, we're talking about payout obligations the government has already approved.
There are a few confusing aspects to this which require clarification. Let's focus on the solvency of Social Security. Consider the public debt as of this morning. All numbers are trillions of course!
◦Debt held by the public: $9,753,190,109,078
◦Intragovernmental holdings: $4,589,675,776,227
◦Total government debt: $14,342,865,885,306
What are "intragovernmental holdings"? That is money the government has "borrowed" from the Social Security Trust Fund (and other funds) over the years, money it owes to itself. More to the point, the Trust Fund doesn't exist per se. As this post from The Downward Spiral explains in excruciating detail, a large part of that $4.6 trillion represents IOUs from the Treasury to the Social Security Trust Fund, which was required by law to buy T-bills. If Social Security has a shortfall, there are only two choices: increase payroll taxes to make up the difference, or create more debt to cover it.
In other words, the government has already spent your retirement money. And guess what?
(CNSNews.com) – The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reports that Social Security will effectively run a $45-billion deficit in 2011 and continue to run deficits totaling $547 billion over the coming decade.
The admission comes in the CBO’s semi-annual economic review that projects federal spending, debt, and economic growth. In the report, the CBO also examines the impact of projected economic performance on the trust fund that nominally funds Social Security.
“Excluding interest, surpluses for Social Security become deficits of $45 billion in 2011 and $547 billion over the 2012–2021 period,” the CBO reported.
[My note: "excluding interest" means over and above the interest revenue the Trust Fund will receive on its Treasury holdings.]
This means that in order to pay benefits Social Security will need $45 billion more than it will collect in payroll taxes this year, and $547 billion more over the next decade.
The “interest” the CBO mentions is the interest that the federal government owes to the Social Security trust fund because the trust fund is legally obligated to take Treasury bonds – federal government debt – in exchange for the cash revenues raised by Social Security payroll taxes.
The CBO uses the interest payments on the bonds to account for the difference between what Social Security collects in taxes and what it pays out in benefits, if benefit payments exceed tax receipts.
Normally, payroll taxes are used to pay current Social Security benefits, with any excess revenues being exchanged for Treasury bonds. Because the Social Security trust fund is populated with these bonds, the federal government essentially owes interest on those bonds to itself, providing the CBO with another apparent source of revenue for the funds.
However, the fund is not taking in enough money to pay out its obligations, nor will it for the foreseeable future, according to the CBO. Adding the interest owed by one government account – the general fund of the U.S. Treasury – to another – the Social Security trust fund – is merely an exercise in moving money from one part of the federal budget to another. It does not mean that there is extra money available to pay Social Security benefits.
Adding in the transfer payments makes Social Security and other federal entitlements appear to be fiscally sound…
We can thus see that George Carlin was wrong, or at least wrong in his timing, when he said "they want your retirement money," for the politicians had already stolen it when he said that, or were in the process of stealing it. And what did they spend your retirement money on? God only knows, but a fair share of it went to padding revenues in the Defense industry, paying for our Imperial ambitions, spying on the public in the name of Homeland Security, keeping the foreign oil flowing, or padding revenues in the Health Care and Pharmaceuticals industries. A lot of the money found its way to Wall Street through one indirect subsidy or another.
When the phony American economy finally hit the wall, and yields on T-bills dropped because Treasuries are considered the safest bet in a world of financial chaos, it became obvious what the deal with Social Security was. There will be $45-billion deficit this year and there will be deficits totaling $547 billion over the coming decade. Even this latter number is very likely based on overly optimistic estimates of how the economy will fare.
Let us return to the question of the day. Have you had enough yet? Are you ready to turn your back on these political swindlers? Are you ready to tell Paul Krugman and George Will to back off? To tell House Speaker Boner and President Hopey-Changey to kiss your ...? That's your only choice. That's always been your only choice. You just didn't know it.
