How many people saw the SSA Actuary’s response to a hypothetical scenario posed by @VanHollenForMD @SenSanders @RonWyden & @SenSchumer? As a disabled person, this alarming tweet increased my anxiety level https://twitter.com/ssworks/status/1298011514142588929?s=21 so I decided to do some digging https://twitter.com/hollyblomberg/status/1298251966485630976

How many people understand that the Social Security Administration is a CREDITOR of the US Treasury? https://www.thebalance.com/who-owns-the-u-s-national-debt-3306124 That’s right, the Social Security Trust fund was originally that — something held IN TRUST (not a cookie jar to be raided at will by the Treasury Dept)

Then came Ronald Reagan.

“With the help of Alan Greenspan, Reagan pulled off one of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated against the American people.” Their fraud on the public began on April 20, 1983 https://www.fedsmith.com/2013/10/11/ronald-reagan-and-the-great-social-security-heist/

“The Social Security Amendments of 1983 laid the foundation for 30-years of federal embezzlement of Social Security money in order to use the money to pay for wars, tax cuts and other government programs.” WHY DID THIS HAPPEN?

“Reagan and the government had big financial problems. Supply-side economics was not working like Reagan had promised. Instead of the lower tax rates generating more revenue as the supply-siders claimed would happen, there was a dramatic drop in revenue.”

“Something had to be done, so Ronald Reagan set for himself a new mission. He would have to figure out a way to get the additional revenue he needed from another source.” THE SOCIAL SECURITY TRUST FUND

Thanks to Ronald Reagan & Ayn Rand disciple Alan Greenspan, the government transferred $2.7 TRILLION from Social Security to the general fund over a 30 year period. “Greenspan played a key role in convincing Congress and the public to support a hike in the payroll tax.”

“at the time Reagan [via Greenspan] informed Congressional leaders that Social Security was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, the actual condition of Social Security funding was fairly sound for the next two decades.”

“Reagan’s scare tactics worked. Congress passed the Social Security Amendments of 1983, which included a hefty increase in the payroll tax rate.

The tax increase was designed to generate large Social Security surpluses for the next 30 years.”

“The public was led to believe that the surplus money would be saved and invested in marketable U.S. Treasury Bonds, which could later be resold to raise cash with which to pay benefits to the boomers. But that didn’t happen.”

“The money was all deposited directly into the general fund and used for non-Social Security purposes. Reagan spent every dime of the surplus Social Security revenue, which came in during his presidency, on general government operations.”

“His successor, George H.W. Bush, used the surplus money as a giant slush fund, and both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush looted and spent all of the Social Security surplus revenue that flowed in during their presidencies.”

“The $2.7 trillion, which is alleged to be in the trust fund, was all spent for wars, tax cuts for the rich, and other government programs. If the money is repaid at some point in the future, we could say is was just ‘borrowed.’”

“But no arrangements have been made to repay the money, and nobody in government is suggesting that the money should be repaid. So, if it is never repaid, the money will definitely have been stolen.”

“This would not be such a serious problem if Social Security was still running annual surpluses. But Social Security ran it last annual surplus in 2009, and began running permanent annual deficits in 2010.”

“The cost of paying full Social Security benefits for 2010 exceeded Social Security’s total tax revenue by $49 billion.” Beginning in 2010 (BECAUSE THE TRUST FUND HAD BEEN LOOTED) the US borrowed money to pay Social Security benefits.

“If the trust fund had not been looted, there would be $2.7 trillion of marketable U.S. Treasury bonds in the fund that could be sold in the open market for cash. But the trust fund doesn’t hold a dime’s worth of marketable real assets of any kind.”

“That’s why President Obama warned during the debt-ceiling crisis of 2011 that Social Security checks could not go out on time unless the dispute was settled, because ‘there might not be enough money in the coffers.’”

“There is nothing broken about Social Security. If the government had not stolen $2.7 trillion from Social Security, or, if the government would make arrangements to repay the stolen money, Social Security would be able to pay full benefits for at least 20 more years”

Bottom line: From 1983 onward, the US government embezzled the Social Security Trust Fund. The current shortfalls in Social Security & the constant borrowing required to prop them up would not be necessary except for this almost 40 years worth of WAGE THEFT