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JayBerg

Wow, I haven't heard the words "lock box" in years. No, Johnson did not put the SS Trust Fund into the General Fund. You have access to the internet and can find out the facts. Here are a few places to get you started:

The National Academy of Social Insurance, a non-profit research group that analyzes the findings of the Annual Social Security Trustees report. There you will find section on Social Security and Quick Answers to Common Questions.

"The myth of the Social Security system's financial shortfall", Michael Hiltzik, Chicago Tribune.

"No, the Social Security Trust Fund Isn't a Fiction", Kevin Drum.

It's maddening to hear these groups like Fix The Debt, the Business Roundtable and Simpson-Bowles saying we must "reform" Social Security, Medicare, etc. Fix The Debt and Business Roundtable are made up of very wealthy CEO's who will never have to worry about any social insurance in their senior years or health care costs or their home. Neither will Simpson and Bowles who get $40,000 a speaking engagement to say they are so worried about debt/deficits, there must be large cuts to SS/Medicare. The Business Roundtable CEO's are also quite concerned about SS/Medicare, they want the eligibility age increased to 70. Bless their hearts.

These groups and the major news media keep talking about deficits/debt and cutting SS/Medicare/Medicaid, etc in the same breath but we sure don't hear them talk much about the sweet entitlements the wealthy and corporations enjoy, paying very low taxes or increasingly more common, no taxes at all, stashed money overseas to cheat our government, low capital gains taxes, no financial speculation taxes on Wall Street and on and on. Europe is moving on plans to impose a financial speculation tax. The Joint Tax Committee has estimated that a modest tax on financial speculation here could raise $40 million a year. A study by CRS found that changes in tax law that reduced the federal tax rate on capital gains (in 1996 and again as part of the Bush tax cuts) is "by far the largest contributor" to rising income inequality. This study is similar to a CRS 2011 study which found that while income grew 25% from 1996 to 2006 for all Americans, it grew 74% for the top 1% and 96% for the top 0.1%.

"Where are we going to get the money for all this spending?" Hmm, thinking, thinking. Gee, I'm stumped. Oh that's right, Republicans are standing firm that none of that money come from the 1%, corporate or wall street moochers. So of course, we must pay....again.

btw, The Budget Control Act of 2011 with the sequester thingie that I mentioned above which you evidently didn't read was voted for by 218 Republicans and NO Democrats. I have to say I was surprised to see that Chip Cravaack also voted no.

Obama kept offering cuts and Republicans kept turning them down. You can find this out this stuff easily enough with the google machine.

From: Fix the sequester

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