No Such Thing As An Opinion!

July 12, 2011

Obama: Americans might not receive Social Security checks! Wait...didn't I predict this?


On Tuesday, CNN reported the latest developments surrounding the debt ceiling "crisis":

"Partisan warfare over the looming debt ceiling crisis escalated Tuesday as GOP leaders once again refused to consider any tax hikes and President Barack Obama warned that, absent a deal, he can't guarantee older Americans will continue receiving Social Security checks next month.


'There may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it,' Obama said, according to excerpts of a CBS News interview scheduled to air Tuesday night."



For regular readers of mine, such talk about Social Security shouldn't be surprising.  After all, on January 23, 2011, my sister site published the following
article (it has since been published on the current site):

"Theft from the middle class. Will Social Security theft be next?"


I will list some excerpts from my article.  If you want to get to my main points quickly, you may wish to skip points 1 to 5 below. 


While reading the excerpts, keep in mind the points made in today's CNN article:


a) Obama's comment that
Social Security might not be paid to seniors

b) The debt is the
excuse for the potential lack of Social Security payments

c) The wealthy are the ones who would
benefit, since they pay more of the Social Security taxes.  The middle and lower classes are the ones who would be harmed most, because Social Security comprises a larger portion of their income.  More context:  The reason a debt ceiling agreement might not occur in the first place is because the GOP doesn't want to raise taxes!

Here are some excerpts from my original article:



"I had an "a-ha" moment the other day!  I suddenly realized why the government might be allowing the debt to skyrocket. But I will get to that soon.  First...

It's becoming more well known that elements of the US government and US big business have been involved in stealing large amounts of money from the American middle class.  Before I begin writing about Social Security, left me outline theft from the middle class."

"Lately, I had been thinking that there are few remaining areas from which the criminal elites could plunder middle class wealth.  I believe that the middle class (and in some cases the upper and lower classes) have had money directly stolen from them in the following areas:"

"1) Gasoline: You could argue that there's been enormous theft resulting from criminals illegally raising the price of oil (which leads to higher gasoline prices). There is substantial evidence of this; however, I will analyze this in a future article."

"2) Higher retail prices: Although I haven't extensively investigated this, I think it's reasonable to assume that big business has probably been charging higher prices for their products since the 2007-2009 recession. One report did suggest that 2010 prices have been rising quicker than inflation..."

"3) Home Prices:  There is no doubt that home prices were artificially and criminally high as a result of loans given to people who weren't actually qualified.  Because there were more people buying homes than there should've been, more people bid for homes and bid prices up.

Now, it is true that wealthy criminals also suffered from the housing downturn, and in fact they initially probably lost a greater dollar value than the middle class did, in absolute terms.  However, in respect of the housing related criminal actions, I believe it's likely that the wealthy criminals will still end up having benefited in the long term."

"4) The stock market:  Widespread theft from the investments of the middle class has been well documented, I don't need to investigate it here.  Needless to say, Deep Capture provides numerous articles confirming the theft; here's a good article of theirs outlining the massive amount of theft resulting from sales of counterfeit shares.

5)
  Free trade agreements:  If free trade agreements have led to greater ability of big business to fire American workers and replace them with lower paid foreign workers, that Americans have been hurt (and big businesses have benefited, in the short term at least, by having lower costs and greater profits)."

"So, I've outlined direct and indirect theft from the middle class having occurred in the areas of gasoline, higher overall retail prices, home mortgages and the stock market.

Where else can criminals find money to steal?  How many other potential areas are there?  Aren't there fewer assets remaining to steal? Yes, there are fewer. Criminals may need to start looking in other areas.


Which brings me to my next topic.



IS THEFT OF SOCIAL SECURITY COMING?


Social Security is an asset that Americans are supposed to be guaranteed to receive upon retirement. 
Is it possible that wealthy criminals and elements of the US government have been plotting to attempt to steal at least a portion of Social Security funds from Americans?

After having my recent "a-ha" moment, this is a big worry of mine.  I do believe it's plausible that the government will attempt to enact laws that will result in future Social Security payments being lowered.


Why?  Because the deficit and debt are out of control, and the government might need to lower costs (which can be achieved by lowering Social Security payments) in order to pay down government debt and avoid default.


Now, if the government does do this, it doesn't necessarily mean that the action is
theft from the American people.  I would argue that it's only theft if some people have plotted this course intentionally, as a means to eventually unfairly take money from Americans."

"It's possible that elites have been plotting to raise the debt for a very long time, with the specific intent of using the debt as an excuse to pass legislation that reduces Social Security payments in order to pay down the debt."

"Are there any other reasons that suggest that elites may be plotting to run up the debt as an excuse to taken money from Social Security?

Well, how about this: the fact that the debt has been massive for years, yet Congress is unwilling to pass legislation that will reduce government spending!  What does Congress expect the eventual outcome of the debt increase to be? 
Eventually there may be a breaking point, a point when the currency may inflate rapidly, dropping the value of the US dollar, a point where the government may default on their debt, a point where lenders stop lending to the US, a point where the US can't even make the interest payments!

Now, perhaps Congress actually intends to default on their debt." 

"WHY WOULD THE WEALTHY BENEFIT FROM SOCIAL SECURITY REDUCTIONS?

Because it means that they don't have to pay as much towards the debt themselves!
  (After all, in 2008 the top 10% of income earners paid 69.94% of all income taxes paid! If the time comes that a serious effort is made to pay down the debt, the only place the money can come from is the wealthy and the corporations!  Nobody else has enough money to make as significant a dent in the debt!  In 2008, the top 25% of income earners paid 86.34% of the total income taxes paid!"


Conclusion

I was correct in predicting that talk of debt problems would eventually lead to a member of the government claiming that Social Security payments might be reduced.

The question now becomes:

Is Obama making his threat with the genuine intention of raising the debt ceiling and saving Social Security payments?  

Or is he setting the scene to provide an excuse to eliminate Social Security payments?


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