Social Security Is Not 'Insurance'

by Ron Paul



Congressman Ron Paul

 Perhaps the biggest media story of 2010 was the influence of Tea Party voters on the congressional landscape. The new congress comes to Capitol Hill with a mandate to end profligate spending and restore fiscal sanity, we are told. But when the House and Senate convene in January, the newly elected members will face tremendous pressure to maintain spending levels for entitlement programs. Even the most modest proposals to trim Social Security or Medicare spending will be met with howls of indignation and threats of voter revolt. Legislators who propose any kind of means testing or increased retirement ages can expect angry visits from senior citizen lobbyists ready to fund a candidate back home who supports the status quo.


But millions of Americans now realize that the status quo is an illusion that will not last even another 10 or 20 years. The federal government cannot continue to spend a trillion dollars more than it collects in revenue each year, because we are running out of creditors. Fiscal reality is setting in, and the consequences may be grim even if Congress finds the courage to take decisive action now.


Courage begins with a commitment to see things as they are, rather than how we wish they were. When it comes to Social Security, we must understand that the system does not represent an old age pension, an “insurance” program, or even a forced savings program. It simply represents an enormous transfer payment, with younger workers paying taxes to fund benefits. There is no Social Security trust fund, and you don’t have an “account.” Whether you win or lose the Social Security lottery is a function of when you happened to be born and how long you live to collect benefits. Of course young people today have every reason to believe they will never collect those benefits.

Sunday - Voices of Libertarian Prophets

"The Social Security system did not begin as an attempt to sabotage people's ability to plan for retirement, but it has worked out that way. The politicians who originally planned the system probably had no idea how it would turn out. But today's politicians know the system is rotted, and yet they refuse to make the changes necessary to free the American people from it. Instead, they make it worse. "

Ed Clark 1980 LP presidential candidate, A New Beginning

Ed Clark's statement ring truer today as we watch a Social Security System closer to it's death bell. Medicare programs where businesses are refusing to accept it and government trying to force them to accept it.

It is time we as American demand this program be eliminated. We wish to opt out and choose how we wish to invest all of our retirement, not a bureaucrat in Washington.

Funny Money

"While the feds … leave Social Security off their books, the government's obligation to make benefit payments to current and near-term Social Security recipients is certainly no less real than its obligation to pay interest on its Treasury bonds. "

Laurence K. Kotlikoff, Harvard Business Review, "From Deficit Delusion to Generational Accounting", May-June, 1993

The Full Faith & Credit of the United States Government

..... Ummm Ok.

That is what is guaranteeing every American's Social Security benefits. It is simply a piece of paper in an old filing cabinet in Parkersburg, West "By God" Virginia that promise you will recieve your Social Security check every month and that Medicare will cover your medical needs. That is what passes for a bond these days. No collateral for the money they take out of your paycheck before you even see it.

There is a problem, a big one. Medicare paid out more in benefits than it took in last year and will continue to do so. The fund will be depleted by 2017. Social Security will start paying out more in benefits than it will collect in taxes by 2016. The fund will be empty by 2037.

Thue current political parties in charge only no have two ideas: raise taxes (big surprise) and raise the retirement age.

Here is the Libertarian Party's response to this madness.

Social Security

Securing Your Retirement

Politicians in Washington are stealing your future.

Every year, they take 12.4% of your income to prop up their failed Social Security system - a system that is heading toward bankruptcy.

If you are an American earning the median income of $31,695 per year, and were given the option of investing that same amount of money in a stock mutual fund, you would retire a millionaire - without winning the lottery or a TV game show.

That million dollars would provide you with a retirement income of over $100,000 per year - about five times what you could expect from Social Security.

Even a very conservative investment strategy would yield three times the benefits promised by Social Security.

Libertarians believe you should be able to opt out of Social Security and invest your money in your own personal retirement account. An account that you own and control - one that politicians can't get their hands on. Click Here to Read More