The Great American Lie
It’s raining. What is it about a good rain storm that makes one think about scams. Especially here in San Diego where rain is such a rare commodity, at least for me, my mind doesn’t drift to scams that often. Maybe rain makes only me think about scams but for whatever reason, today my mind is on scams.
Maybe it’s the slogan ‘War on Terrorism’ and then the leaving of our southern border (San Diego and Mexico) totally wide open that has me thinking scam. Maybe it’s the Democratic controlled California State government who tells us buy small death trap cars that are great for the environment and good for using less gas then say we have to tax you now by the mile you use your car so we can save the environment…scam. Maybe it’s the new Mafia…the Dons of American business aka CEO’s and their shameful annual income for performance they would fire their employees for that has me thinking ….scam. No matter….it’s in my head and it’s called Social Security Insurance (aka SSI) which you know only as Social Security or retirement.
President Roosevelt was adamant that Social Security was an insurance program to provide “basic needs” in retirement. Today we talk about social security like it is our actual retirement program. I have personal experience with this lie, scam, sham. My father paid into SSI all his life probably to the tune of 10’s of thousands of dollars. At 59, he became terminally ill and couldn’t work any longer. He applied for “his” SSI and received $667 per month (about 18K) for two years and then he died. My mother had died in a car accident when she was 49 years old so never did see nor any surviving spouse see a dime of “her” social security insurance money the government stoled ..er..taxed month after month.
Dad’s 700 bucks wasn’t much of a “Retirement”. Seven hundred bucks. He ended up living with me and my wife and even then the 700 bucks barely got him by in Hawaii. Roosevelt called it “Insurance” which meant money added to what YOU saved for your OWN retirement. Today, many Americans don’t save and think Social Security IS their retirement. News Flash: Wrong! It ain’t there. Government has been stealing your money since 1940. Don’t believe me? Then ask this: Look at your check. How much SSI are you paying a month? How many Americans are paying a month? Now take all the money per month and times it since 1934 or so and ask yourself….if this money has been put in a locked box drawing interest, how could we possibly be talking about Social Security going broke? How could those words be in the same sentence?
The answer is obvious. They, the Government (Democrats AND Republicans), stoled your money. Pure and simple. They scammed you. Oh they got a nice social security plan…all Federal employees do. But not you. Nope. Too dangerous your told. Too reckless they spew forth on talking head shows. Too this…too that. I say….to hell with you!!
But like I said in a below blog, today we have a President (love him or hate him, it doesn’t matter) who believes in action rather than rhetoric and he has taken on the third rail. He has put forth the unimaginable. Let US take back part of the money the government has been stealing and let US invest it in mutual funds over the course of 20-30 years for part of OUR retirement plan. Any one who understands economics 101 knows that you cannot go wrong despite the predicted doom and gloom of the politicians (who have their plan). Hell, this is the only real partisan issue in Washington…steal the American public’’S money!!! They know that if the sheeple of America found out that over the course of 20 to 30 years they would get a rate of return approximately 6 percent vice the 1 to 2 percent from Social Security, then there goes their American pie!! Wasn’t there a song written about that?
Don’t believe me, right? Jennings, the Canuck…Williams the Broker wanna be…Dan Blather the Liar….all have told you that what Bush wants to do is bad, bad, bad. So…go ahead and believe them. After all, you have believed their lies for many, many years.
But here is real truth. It has already been done but those talking heads that you have believed all these years didn’t tell you this.
by The Honorable
Ray Holbrook - Former Galveston County Judge
In the late 1970's it was becoming clear that Social Security was in financial trouble and that Congress was not dealing with it. What was less known was that local governments had an option to withdraw from Social Security and set up their own retirement programs. The Social Security Administration did require, however, a two-year notification prior to withdrawal. Galveston County submitted notification in 1979 using the ensuing two years to develop an alternative that would cover all county employees.
The Commissioners Court wanted a plan that had the exact, or better, benefits as Social Security at the same cost to the county and the employees. The Alternate Plan developed comprised a life insurance element for employees which would protect families of deceased employees, a disability insurance element as good as Social Security, and a retirement element with annuities purchased from major life insurance companies.
A calculated decision was made not to invest in the stock market, even though retirement income would have been higher if that had been done, probably twice as much. Nevertheless, retirement income for employees with 20 to 40 years of service is calculated to be two to five times the retirement income of Social Security. Disability insurance pays 60% of salary up to $5,000 per month and life insurance is three times annual salary up to $50,000 per year, i.e., a total of $150,000.
There was, of course, no guarantee this plan would be as successful as designed; and there was considerable opposition from labor unions, minorities and other traditional supporters, including many elected officials. Social Security representatives debated the plan in the employee meetings. By then a majority of the Commissioners Court were strongly supportive of the Alternate Plan. An election for all county employees was scheduled. The election carried by about three to one in favor of the Alternate Plan and the Commissioners Court voted four to one to implement it on Jan. 1, 1981.
The Alternate Plan has been successful for the past 18 years with a return on retirement investments of about 6-1/2%. That is at least three times the return on a like investment in Social Security right now. Even though the return from a stock market investment would have significantly increased the actual return, there was much less risk potential in buying annuities with guaranteed returns. Furthermore, the investments in life insurance annuities are the same for all employees and are handled by an outside company that was chosen through a bid process. There is no need for each employee to be an expert in investments and there is no chance one employee will lose everything and others will make a mint.
Those who criticize Social Security privatization because of the stock market ups and downs or the lack of investment knowledge of many employees have not done their homework or they would be aware of what has been done in Galveston County. Each employee has an individual retirement account which is available upon retirement or is owned by their families if the county employee/retiree dies. In addition the families also receive life insurance.
So there you have it, the truth. A fact. A tangible plan that privitized social security and worked. Not the hype, not the knee-jerking, not lies, not the partisan bullshit. The plain truth and the plain truth is the Government is stealing your money every month and spending it on social programs and finally someone wants to fix it and what do we get? Politicians screaming foul!! Hell, I heard Julian Bond of NAACP say that this idea is bad for blacks because they die younger than whites. WHAT??? Then blacks certainly won’t see a dime of their stolen money either (just like when my mother died) so how in the hell is this plan worst for blacks?! You should be wondering why all these people are screaming NO. What is it they are hiding? What is it they will lose? The answer is obvious. Follow the money!!
Maybe it’s the slogan ‘War on Terrorism’ and then the leaving of our southern border (San Diego and Mexico) totally wide open that has me thinking scam. Maybe it’s the Democratic controlled California State government who tells us buy small death trap cars that are great for the environment and good for using less gas then say we have to tax you now by the mile you use your car so we can save the environment…scam. Maybe it’s the new Mafia…the Dons of American business aka CEO’s and their shameful annual income for performance they would fire their employees for that has me thinking ….scam. No matter….it’s in my head and it’s called Social Security Insurance (aka SSI) which you know only as Social Security or retirement.
President Roosevelt was adamant that Social Security was an insurance program to provide “basic needs” in retirement. Today we talk about social security like it is our actual retirement program. I have personal experience with this lie, scam, sham. My father paid into SSI all his life probably to the tune of 10’s of thousands of dollars. At 59, he became terminally ill and couldn’t work any longer. He applied for “his” SSI and received $667 per month (about 18K) for two years and then he died. My mother had died in a car accident when she was 49 years old so never did see nor any surviving spouse see a dime of “her” social security insurance money the government stoled ..er..taxed month after month.
Dad’s 700 bucks wasn’t much of a “Retirement”. Seven hundred bucks. He ended up living with me and my wife and even then the 700 bucks barely got him by in Hawaii. Roosevelt called it “Insurance” which meant money added to what YOU saved for your OWN retirement. Today, many Americans don’t save and think Social Security IS their retirement. News Flash: Wrong! It ain’t there. Government has been stealing your money since 1940. Don’t believe me? Then ask this: Look at your check. How much SSI are you paying a month? How many Americans are paying a month? Now take all the money per month and times it since 1934 or so and ask yourself….if this money has been put in a locked box drawing interest, how could we possibly be talking about Social Security going broke? How could those words be in the same sentence?
The answer is obvious. They, the Government (Democrats AND Republicans), stoled your money. Pure and simple. They scammed you. Oh they got a nice social security plan…all Federal employees do. But not you. Nope. Too dangerous your told. Too reckless they spew forth on talking head shows. Too this…too that. I say….to hell with you!!
But like I said in a below blog, today we have a President (love him or hate him, it doesn’t matter) who believes in action rather than rhetoric and he has taken on the third rail. He has put forth the unimaginable. Let US take back part of the money the government has been stealing and let US invest it in mutual funds over the course of 20-30 years for part of OUR retirement plan. Any one who understands economics 101 knows that you cannot go wrong despite the predicted doom and gloom of the politicians (who have their plan). Hell, this is the only real partisan issue in Washington…steal the American public’’S money!!! They know that if the sheeple of America found out that over the course of 20 to 30 years they would get a rate of return approximately 6 percent vice the 1 to 2 percent from Social Security, then there goes their American pie!! Wasn’t there a song written about that?
Don’t believe me, right? Jennings, the Canuck…Williams the Broker wanna be…Dan Blather the Liar….all have told you that what Bush wants to do is bad, bad, bad. So…go ahead and believe them. After all, you have believed their lies for many, many years.
But here is real truth. It has already been done but those talking heads that you have believed all these years didn’t tell you this.
by The Honorable
Ray Holbrook - Former Galveston County Judge
In the late 1970's it was becoming clear that Social Security was in financial trouble and that Congress was not dealing with it. What was less known was that local governments had an option to withdraw from Social Security and set up their own retirement programs. The Social Security Administration did require, however, a two-year notification prior to withdrawal. Galveston County submitted notification in 1979 using the ensuing two years to develop an alternative that would cover all county employees.
The Commissioners Court wanted a plan that had the exact, or better, benefits as Social Security at the same cost to the county and the employees. The Alternate Plan developed comprised a life insurance element for employees which would protect families of deceased employees, a disability insurance element as good as Social Security, and a retirement element with annuities purchased from major life insurance companies.
A calculated decision was made not to invest in the stock market, even though retirement income would have been higher if that had been done, probably twice as much. Nevertheless, retirement income for employees with 20 to 40 years of service is calculated to be two to five times the retirement income of Social Security. Disability insurance pays 60% of salary up to $5,000 per month and life insurance is three times annual salary up to $50,000 per year, i.e., a total of $150,000.
There was, of course, no guarantee this plan would be as successful as designed; and there was considerable opposition from labor unions, minorities and other traditional supporters, including many elected officials. Social Security representatives debated the plan in the employee meetings. By then a majority of the Commissioners Court were strongly supportive of the Alternate Plan. An election for all county employees was scheduled. The election carried by about three to one in favor of the Alternate Plan and the Commissioners Court voted four to one to implement it on Jan. 1, 1981.
The Alternate Plan has been successful for the past 18 years with a return on retirement investments of about 6-1/2%. That is at least three times the return on a like investment in Social Security right now. Even though the return from a stock market investment would have significantly increased the actual return, there was much less risk potential in buying annuities with guaranteed returns. Furthermore, the investments in life insurance annuities are the same for all employees and are handled by an outside company that was chosen through a bid process. There is no need for each employee to be an expert in investments and there is no chance one employee will lose everything and others will make a mint.
Those who criticize Social Security privatization because of the stock market ups and downs or the lack of investment knowledge of many employees have not done their homework or they would be aware of what has been done in Galveston County. Each employee has an individual retirement account which is available upon retirement or is owned by their families if the county employee/retiree dies. In addition the families also receive life insurance.
So there you have it, the truth. A fact. A tangible plan that privitized social security and worked. Not the hype, not the knee-jerking, not lies, not the partisan bullshit. The plain truth and the plain truth is the Government is stealing your money every month and spending it on social programs and finally someone wants to fix it and what do we get? Politicians screaming foul!! Hell, I heard Julian Bond of NAACP say that this idea is bad for blacks because they die younger than whites. WHAT??? Then blacks certainly won’t see a dime of their stolen money either (just like when my mother died) so how in the hell is this plan worst for blacks?! You should be wondering why all these people are screaming NO. What is it they are hiding? What is it they will lose? The answer is obvious. Follow the money!!