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Perry told a voter that Social Security was a "ponzi scheme for these young people. The idea that they're working and paying into Social Security today, that the current program is going to be there for them, is a lie," he said. "It is a monstrous lie on this generation, and we can't do that to them." Texas Governor Rick Perry | ||
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The monstrous lie is ignoring all of the data and financial analysis provided by the Social Security Trustees and the Congressional Budget Office detailing Social Security's fiscal health in favor of a well-documented intergenerational warfare strategy designed to convince young people to give up their claim to Social Security. The truth is, Social Security is fully funded until at least 2036 and will pay 77% of benefits after that, even if nothing is done, and no one believes that will happen. | ||
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"There's not going to be a Social Security and Medicare program...So we have to have an adult conversation with this country. We have to talk about how are we going to transfer over. How are we going to make the transformation." Texas Governor Rick Perry | ||
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The 2010 Social Security Trustees Report shows retirees will receive 100% of benefits until 2037, and 78% of promised benefits after that, paid out of incoming payroll taxes. There are no actuarial forecasts which show zero benefits for future generations. While the challenges facing Medicare are more serious, passage of healthcare reform added years of solvency to the program and Medicare 's costs are projected to be 25 percent lower over the next 75 years. Continued reforms in the healthcare system nationwide are needed. There is no factual basis for claims that there will be no Social Security and Medicare for future generations, unless the American people elect representatives determined to end these programs. | ||
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"I don't think our founding fathers when they were putting the term 'general welfare' in there were thinking about a federally operated program of pensions nor a federally operated program of health care...What they clearly said was that those were issues that the states need to address. Not the federal government." Texas Governor and Presidential candidate, Rick Perry , describes why he believes Social Security is unconstitutional. | ||
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There's no grey area here. Social Security was declared constitutional nearly 75 years ago. The set of Supreme Court decisions describing Social Security constitutionality were issued in May 1937. The text of those decisions, with dissents, is provided on the Social Security Administration website. | ||
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"I haven't seen a proposal by anybody that hurts anyone receiving Social Security or Medicare." Rep. Mo Brooks (R_-AL) | ||
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Actually, the GOP/Ryan Budget (which Congressman Brooks supported) would double the cost of health coverage for millions of seniors and replaces Medicare with a privatized voucher program. Millions of American seniors certainly consider that harmful. Here are just a few other proposals that would clearly hurt America's seniors (Rep. Brooks has already voted in support of some of these): the Balanced Budget Act , Cap and Cut legislation and replacing the COLA with a new formal (CCPI) designed to cut benefits accumulating over time. After being retired 10 years, benefits will be almost 3.0 percent lower with the CCPI. After 20 years the loss will be near 6 percent, and after 30 years the reduction in benefits will be close to 9 percent. This is a serious loss of income for seniors, the vast majority of whom rely on Social Security for most of their income. | ||
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"What is it the Washington Democrats don't understand? Medicare is the leading contributor to our nation's debt and any attempt to confront this crisis in a meaningful way must include this broken entitlement program." Sen. Orrin Hatch | ||
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What Senator Hatch apparently doesn't understand is the fact that skyrocketing healthcare costs system wide are the true drain on our economy. As a healthcare program, Medicare suffers from the same skyrocketing healthcare costs we see throughout our nation's broken healthcare system. Without further healthcare reforms (which Senator Hatch did not support in the first place) our economy will continue to suffer. Slashing Medicare to the bone certainly won't resolve our economic problems, but it will kill a program many conservatives just don't like. Medicare didn't cause this economic crisis; however, it's a convenient target for those who refuse to support true healthcare reforms in favor of gutting Medicare for current and future retirees. | ||
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"The president's plan for senior citizens is Obamacare. We all think for our senior citizens that somehow Medicare is going to go on. And I think very likely -- and I'm speculating -- I think very likely what the president intends is that Medicare will go broke, and then ultimately that answer will be Obamacare for senior citizens ." U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn " So, what you have to do, is keep faith with the people that are already in the system, that don't have any other options, we have to keep faith with them. But basically what we have to do is wean everybody else off," said Bachmann. "And wean everybody off because we have to take those unfunded net liabilities off our bank sheet, or we can't do it. " U.S. Rep and Presidential Candidate Michele Bachmann (R-MN) |
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Speculation is never a good idea and this quote shows us why. The Minneapolis Star Tribune has a nice breakdown of why this theory is so flawed. However, Rep. Bachmann's plan for Medicare's future on the other hand is very clear as demonstrated in her vote for the Ryan Budget plan and statement that we need to "wean" seniors off Medicare and Social Security. Destroying Medicare and replacing it with CouponCare is certainly a way to reduce coverage for seniors by taking expenses "off the bank sheet" but it also leaves millions of Americans facing even greater financial insecurity . |
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"Social Security is going bankrupt." Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-TX) | ||
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Social Security is NOT going bankrupt. As long as American workers continue to contribute via payroll tax deductions, Social Security will be funded. The Social Security Trust Fund currently holds a $2.6 trillion surplus, contributed by American workers and invested, sensibly, in one of the world's safest investment vehicles-U.S. Treasury notes. However, fiscal conservatives don't want to honor that debt so they pretend it's worthless or non-existent. The Trust Fund will be spent (as planned) to cover the large baby boomer generation and will be depleted in about 25 years. Then, revenues will cover about 78% of needed benefits. Congress will need to find long-term solvency solutions to avoid benefit cuts in those out-years. However, by no definition is Social Security going bankrupt. 2011 Trustees Report Analysis, NCPSSM | ||
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"Social Security is a 'Ponzi scheme', not a retirement program" - Alan Simpson | ||
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Social Security is not a Ponzi scheme by any definition; it is a pay-as-you-go program which is self-funded by American workers not the federal government. Social Security is and always has been either a "pay-as-you-go" system or one that was partially advance-funded. Its structure, logic, and mode of operation have nothing in common with Ponzi schemes or chain letters or pyramid schemes. The first modern social insurance program began in Germany in 1889 and has been in continuous operation for more than 100 years. The American Social Security system has been in continuous successful operation since 1935. Charles Ponzi's scheme lasted barely 200 days. Social Security Administration | ||
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"The statistics right now show a totally unsustainable program that cannot possibly function when 10,000 a day are coming into the Social Security system at 65. Was that ever planned [for]? That 10,000 a day would suddenly be coming into the system? - Alan Simpson | ||
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The baby boom generation isn't a surprise and its retirement was planned for. The Social Security Administration tracks births every year and knew by 1947 that 1946 had been a boom year. When the system was reformed in 1983 by the Greenspan Commission, the Baby Boom was specifically taken into account. "The fundamental ratio of beneficiaries to workers was fully taken into account in the 1983 financing provisions and, as a matter of fact, was known and taken into account well before that," Social Security's actuaries noted in 1994 . The explanation for the shortfall -- the program will only be able to pay roughly four-fifths of scheduled benefits after 2037 -- is much simpler: Social Security's actuaries didn't see the wild swing in income inequality that came about since 1983. Income has been largely flat for the middle class while rising for the wealthy. Social Security taxes apply only to the first $106,000, so increases for the rich don't contribute to the trust fund. And compensation increases that come in the form of more expensive health care benefits are also not subject to Social Security taxes. | ||
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"Many many doctors - 57 percent of doctors don't want new Medicare patients. Because the system we have right now is broken, it's unsustainable." Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) | ||
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Medicare isn't broken, our healthcare system nationwide is. Medicare suffers from the same problems impacting our entire system, not just seniors in Medicare. Rapidly rising health care costs are eroding family resources, undermining our ability to compete in the global economy and creating fiscal burdens that crowd out other important investments of social capital. That's not a Medicare problem, that's a healthcare problem. Yet, many Republicans in Congress, including Sen. Barrasso want to repeal the only attempt to reform our system in a generation in favor of "reforms" that shift the burden to seniors rather than address the real issues of cost-containment. Rep. Barrasso also incorrectly claims 57% of doctors don't want Medicare patients. Try 17%. The reason some doctors restrict their Medicare patients is because they're threatened each year with double-digit reimbursement cuts thanks to a flawed formula created by the GOP Congress in 2002. The AMA has asked Congress to permanently fix that formula. Those efforts were defeated by GOP members of Congress during the healthcare reform debate. Improving Practitioner Reimbursement Under Medicare, NCPSSM | ||
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"And the promise was we were going to go off indefinitely and provide these sound, if you will, secure-sounding programs - social safety nets. But what's happened is they've become a safety net -- not just for the people that need them -- but for people who don't. So, we've got to go fix that." "We are in a situation where we got a safety net in place in this country for people who frankly don't need one. We got to focus on making sure we got a safety net for those who actually need it." Eric Cantor, (R-VA) |
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Actually Congressman, the promise (it's actually a legal obligation) is that Washington will pay back the billions of dollars contributed by Americans throughout their working lifetimes and borrowed from the Social Security Trust Fund over the past decade by Congress. The full faith and credit of the United States government has been sound and secure enough for generations; however, some in Congress now hope to break that promise, renege on the federal government's obligation to pay back the Trust Fund while funding more tax cuts for the wealthy. Claiming that many Americans don't really need a social safety net is just more divide and conquer politics designed to make Social Security and Medicare sound like welfare. It also ignores the fiscal reality that 1 in 3 American retirees currently live below the poverty line . "Not So Golden Years", Center for American Progress. | ||
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"Social Security may face a funding crisis in five to seven years and could "fall off a cliff after that." Sen. Richard Burr, R-N.C "In 2037, as we know it, Social Security falls off a cliff" Sen. Dick Durbin D-IL |
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The Social Security Media Watch Project reports: According to the 2010 Annual Social Security Trustees' report, Social Security remains fully solvent for the next 26 years. There is no funding crisis expected in five to seven years: the Trust Fund, built up to fund the retirement of the baby boomers, has a surplus of $2.6 trillion, which is projected to increase to $4.2 trillion by 2025 before gradually declining and becoming exhausted in 2036.After 2036, the system does face a projected shortfall, but it will still have revenues generated by the taxes paid by current workers and their employers. These revenues are expected to be sufficient to pay 75 to 78 percent of current law benefits, even if no changes to the system are made. While many Americans cannot afford a 22 to 25 percent reduction in their Social Security income, this reduction hardly counts as "falling off a cliff." Social Security Media Watch Project | ||
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"Let's remember again the main drivers of this national debt are three large entitlement programs, programs that have been of great comfort and assistance to my parents and grandparents but they're morphing into cruel ponzi schemes for my 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-olds. Unfortunately, the President ignores the reality, he doesn't really give the facts to the American people and they will go bankrupt where we will save and secure these programs for future generations." Rep. Jeb Hensarling, (R-TX) | ||
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Social Security is not a driver of our debt. The Social Security Trust Fund holds a $2.6 trillion surplus, and by law, cannot contribute to the deficit . Social Security is not a Ponzi scheme by any definition; it is a pay-as-you-go program which has been self-funded by American workers not the federal government . CBPP, Understanding the Trust Funds . Despite Hensarling's claim the GOP will "save and secure" these programs, Paul Ryan's budget actually ends Medicare by privatizing it and turning Medicare into a voucher program. | ||
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"Most young people acknowledge that it's (Social Security) broken - it's broken so badly that the only way we fix it and the only way it can continue is we have to look at the eligibility," Paul said. "But so many people have said, 'Oh, we can't talk about entitlement; you'll be unelected; you'll be unelectable if you talk entitlement reform." Sen. Rand Paul, (R-KY) | ||
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The fact that scare tactics used since Social Security's creation has left many Americans worried about it's future says more about the effectiveness of political propaganda than the true conditions of Social Security's finances. As Franklin Delano Roosevelt famously said: "Repetition does not transform a lie into truth"; however, it certainly can misinform. Contrary to Senator Rand's assertion, Social Security is NOT broke or broken and young people do not support cutting the program's benefits. In fact, the Recession Generation understands all too well the need for the stable and reliable income Social Security provides for millions of Americans who've contributed to the system. | ||
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"So we've got to protect today's seniors. But for the rest of us? For - you know, listen. We're going to have to come to grips with the fact that these programs cannot exist if we want America to be what we want America to be." Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) | ||
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Eliminating Social Security might create the kind of America Rep. Cantor dreams of but it's certainly not the kind of nation working Americans want to bequeath to their children and grandchildren. Every industrial nation in the world provides some form of retirement security for their citizens. Suggesting America can't succeed if Social Security exists , ignores 76 years of history which proves just the opposite. America succeeds because Social Security exists. We do not want to turn back the clock to an America requiring poorhouses for our elderly and 50% of the nation's seniors living in poverty. Our Congressional leaders shouldn't want that kind of America either. | ||
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"... last year, for the first time since Social Security began in 1935, the program paid out more in benefits than it received in payroll taxes. Social Security is now at the tipping point, the first step of a long, slow march to insolvency if we don't do something about it," Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) | ||
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Wrong. Benefits exceeded payroll tax contributions in 1958, 1959, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982 and 1983. Social Security is set up to handle these fluctuations and it has for decades. To suggest this is something frighteningly new and a harbinger of doom is a political scare tactic used to convince Americans that Social Security is in "crisis" when in truth it's performing exactly as it should. Social Security has never missed delivering a check even in times of recession, natural disasters, and war. It has, once again, proven to be the only reliable income source many could count on during these troubled economic times. Facing a shortfall more than two decades from now is not a "tipping point". "There They Go Again", Reuters | ||
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"I don't think anyone has a desire to cut Medicare, but there are ways of streamlining it to be more efficient. There is an awful lot of waste, an awful lot of fraud, an awful lot of over-prescribing and over-providing. Sooner or later, we've got to get to all those things. I think you could find billions and billions of dollars." Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) | ||
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It's ironic that for some in Congress, improving Medicare efficiency in 2009 was then called "cuts" but improving efficiency in 2010 is now called "streamlining". The truth is health care reform did not cut a single dollar from benefits paid to seniors; however, it did improve efficiencies and trim wasteful overpayments to private insurance companies. A decade was added to Medicare's solvency because of savings found in healthcare reform. However, that reform is opposed by many who fought to keep wasteful subsidies to insurance companies but now claim they can find "billions and billions" more in Medicare "streamlining" without hurting seniors. Cutting Medicare without addressing the causes of skyrocketing healthcare costs system-wide won't solve our healthcare crisis, just penalize the millions of beneficiaries who depend on Medicare for their healthcare. Healthcare Reform & Seniors, NCPSSM | ||
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People in Washington assume that Americans understand how big the problem is, but most Americans don't have a clue." - Speaker, John Boehner | ||
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While House leaders claims the American people elected them to solve the nation's economic crisis, they now say voters "don't have a clue" because they don't support GOP efforts to cut Social Security. The truth is, the American people do want economic recovery but they also know Social Security isn't to blame for this economic crisis and should not be used to pay down the debt. Truth is - the American people do have a "clue"- they just don't support tax cuts for the wealthy and benefit cuts for working Americans. Wall Street Journal/NBC Poll, March 2011 | ||
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"...certainly that conversation about raising the retirement age is something we can have. I had somebody at a town hall meeting sorta go after me about that. And I stopped the guy and I said, look, I'm 42. I'll be 106 when these recommendations, if we adopted them right now, would actually come into place. I'm gonna be okay. We're going to have to reset the paradigm for people here in America as to what the purpose of social security really is." Rep. Bill Huzeinga (R-MI) | ||
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We're glad Rep. Huzeinga is going to be OK but the same can't be said for future generations who largely won't have pensions like his but will be hit with these proposed retirement age hikes. The "Recession Generation" by most accounts, will depend on Social Security just as much and potentially even more than current retirees. It's estimated this generation will earn an average of $100,000 less during their lifetimes. The National Bureau of Economic Research and others report this economic collapse will have financial repercussions for younger generations for decades to come. Raising the retirement age is a benefit cut. "Resetting the paradigm" so that reduced incomes in their working years plus a benefit cut in retirement is not the future we should bequeath our children. Raising the Retirement Age - EntitledtoKnow |
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There's a number of things you can do that are pretty simple and are pretty gradual to keep the system from going bankrupt which basically it already is, because we've already spent the money that's in the Social Security trust fund. It's a Ponzi scheme that Bernie Madoff would be proud of . Sen. John McCain | ||
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Social Security is not bankrupt. The Social Security Trust Fund holds a $2.6 trillion surplus, contributed by American workers and invested, sensibly, in one of the world's safest investment vehicles–U.S. Treasury notes. However, fiscal conservatives don't want to honor that debt so they pretend it's worthless or non-existent. That $2.6 trillion was real money when Americans paid it in payroll taxes and real money when the federal government borrowed it. It's also real money when Washington needs to pay it back.
Social Security is not a Ponzi scheme by any definition; it is a pay-as-you-go program which has been self-funded by American workers not the federal government . CBPP, Understanding the Trust Funds |
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"The Social Security retirement age was set at 65 by President Roosevelt when life expectancy was 64. Life expectancy now is about 80. The math here is irrefutable." Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), February 17, 2011 | ||
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Actually, that math is completely refutable. The current age for receiving full benefits is actually 66 and rising to age 67 for people born after 1962 due to reforms passed to 1983. That age hike was a benefit cut for retirees. The effect of further increasing the retirement age to 70, as one example, would lead to an additional 13 to 15 percent reduction in benefits at 62 (which is when most people file for Social Security, often for health or employment reasons). When added to the previously enacted benefit reductions for early retirement outlined above, the total reduction for a person who retires at age 62 could be as much as 43 to 45 percent. Further, life expectancy is not 80 for most Americans. The SSA reports since 1977, the life expectancy of male workers retiring at age 65 has risen 6 years in the top half of the income distribution, but only 1.3 years in the bottom half. http://www.ncpssm.org/news/archive /raising_retirement_age/ |
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"It's very significant that in the next 10 years Social Security will add a half-trillion dollars to the deficit. Social Security would be a good place to start when dealing with these mandatory entitlement programs that are 57 percent of our budget." Senator Lamar Alexander | ||
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Fiscal hawks like to describe the government's responsibility to pay back the Social Security Trust Fund as irresponsible Federal government borrowing. However, Social Security is working just as it's supposed to by redeeming its Treasury notes to pay benefits promised to millions of retirees and pre-funded by generations of American workers (not the government). The Social Security Trust Fund holds a $2.6 trillion surplus, contributed by American workers and invested, sensibly, in one of the world's safest investment vehicles - U.S. Treasury notes. The economic collapse and high unemployment has the SSTF now redeeming some of those notes to pay out benefits, earlier than anticipated. Fiscal hawks don't want to honor those notes now that it's time to pay that money back. CBPP, Understanding the Trust Funds | ||
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"We've got a serious fiscal train wreck coming for this country if we don't deal with these entitlements - so entitlements are something that we need to begin to work on." Eric Cantor, January 2011 | ||
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Social Security did not cause our current fiscal crisis - the economic recession was caused by the burst of the housing bubble and a Wall Street meltdown. Decades of borrow and spend policies have also led to rising debt. Social Security has not contributed one dime to our national debt. The Wrong Crisis-CEPR, February, 2011 | ||
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"They're not going to receive anything or if they do, very little." Citing his sons -- who he said "want their money now" -- he asserted: "There's no proof that they will get much, if anything." Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), Feb 7, 2011 | ||
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Actually, there's plenty of proof the Senator's adult sons will receive Social Security - and his grandchildren too. The 2010 Social Security Trustees Report shows retirees will receive 100% of benefits until 2037, and 78% of promised benefits after that, paid out of incoming payroll taxes. There are no actuarial forecasts which show zero benefits for future generations . NCPSSM 2010 Trustees Report | ||
~ Social Security: Learn More ~
Viewpoint: Extending the Payroll Tax Cut is a Bad Deal for Social Security and for America
Viewpoint: Women's Social Security Benefits
Analysis: 2011 Social Security Trustees' Report
Viewpoint: Budget Enforcement Mechanisms Threaten Today's and Tomorrow's Retirees
Position Paper: The Ryan Roadmap and Social Security
Analysis of Commission's Proposal
Seniors Brace for Another Year with a Zero Cost-of-Living-Adjustment (COLA)
Social Security Disability and the Debate over Raising the Retirement Age
Analysis: 2010 Social Security Trustees' Report
Position Paper: Raising the Social Security Tax Cap
Position Paper: Price Indexing Would Cut Social Security Benefits
Position Paper: Means-Testing Social Security - Breaking Faith with American Workers
Position Paper: Impact of Reductions in Social Security COLA
Position Paper: Raising the Retirement Age
~ Medicare: Learn More ~
Analysis: 2011 Medicare Trustees' Report
Viewpoint: Budget Enforcement Mechanisms Threaten Today's and Tomorrow's Retirees
Position Paper: The House Republican Budget Plan Destroys Medicare
Position Paper: Congressman Ryan's Medicaid Reductions Threaten Seniors
Letter to Congress: Don't Threaten Medicare by Repealing Healthcare Reform
Health Care Provisions in the Report of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform
Improvements for Medicare Beneficiaries in the Health Care Reform Law
The New Health Care Law: $250 Rebate for Medicare Part D Beneficiaries
Analysis of The Report of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform
