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"If the Bush regime is successful at privatizing any portion of the
Social Security system
pressure will quickly increase to complete the process. If the Securities and
Investment firms gain control of the people's Social Security trust fund, current retirees will
see their benefits cut drastically to cover the new fees and administrative
costs."
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The Big Bush Social Security Lie
Posted February 1, 2005 thepeoplesvoice.org
By: The editor
He wages wars based on lies about nonexistent "Weapons of
Mass Destruction", he guts thirty years of environmental regulations in his
"Clear Skies" plan, and now he is going to "Privatize"-loot the American people’s Social Security system. This is an act so unpopular and criminal in nature that it could only be
accomplished with the present corrupt republican majorities in the House and Senate.
On November 5th 2004, the Wall Street Journal announced on their front page that the
"Dow Industrials had surged 177.71 points, boosted by hopes for more tax cuts
(for corporations and the rich) and a shift of Social Security money into the stock market in Bush's second
term". The insurance companies, the banking industry, and the investment firms
have been salivating at the prospect of privatizing the American peoples Social Security trust
fund ever since the second sham election, and with the help of the most infamous
administration in American history they just might get what they want.
Suddenly now after seventy years of trouble free operation from a system which
has provided an indispensable service to the American people, and set a world standard
for the fair treatment of people everywhere, there is a
"big problem", according to Bush and he is going to fix it.
Bush says, "Fact is, the dramatic stance I made on Social Security, pushing for these private accounts, is what got me elected. It was the key thing. People saw me as dealing with one of the real big problems, figuring it
out." So
Bush actually believes that he was elected, and he thinks we elected him so that he could loot our
Social Security system. And of course he hasn't "figured it out", how privatizing
the Social
Security trust fund and transferring trillions of dollars from the fund into private investment accounts
could possibly make Social Security more stable.
Aside from Bush’s corporate media lie babble, projections in a recent report by the
bipartisan Congressional Budget Office said that the Social Security
trust fund is financially sound until at least 2052, even if absolutely no adjustments
are made to maintain it. As to the so-called “crisis” or “big problem” that we keep hearing about in the media, there isn’t one, its all a big lie. The Social Security system can’t simply go
"bankrupt", and even if the Social Security
trust fund could be drained down to zero, just the revenues alone would cover 81 percent of the benefits.
The report also says that extending the life of the trust fund into the 22nd century, with no change in
benefits would require additional revenues equal to 0.54 percent of GDP, which is less than 3 percent of federal spending and much less than we're spending on the occupation of Iraq. It’s one-quarter of the revenue lost each year because of President Bush's tax cuts, and
it equals the tax cuts that go to people with incomes of more than $500,000 a year.
The real reason for this gigantic theft and destruction of the American peoples Social Security system
lies in the greed of a very rich and powerful few. In a speech
given by US Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan at a Federal Reserve conference held in the mountain resort of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, on August
27, he warned that Social Security and Medicare will face "abrupt and painful"
curtailment, unless the government begins cutting benefits now!
Greenspan and the other thieves who stand behind him refuse to curtail Bush's
ever increasing tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy and have chosen instead to launch an attack against the
American people's Social Security trust fund. Their intent is to remove trillions of additional dollars from the fund
to pay for huge permanent tax cuts, and a 'never-ending war' of terror.
Ultimately the Social Security trust fund is to be divided up
among the insurance companies and the banking industry. The Securities and Investment firm's
paid political cronies are pushing hard to immediately privatize one-sixth
of the Social Security system,
funneling at least $80 billion a year into privately held accounts, investing in stocks,
bonds, mutual funds and money-market accounts. Of the $80 billion, some 5 percent - $4
billion, would immediately be used for investment management fees. The financial-services
companies and investment houses alone would receive $1 billion each year,
and their are other exorbitant costs which far exceed that of our present Social
Security system. In a forty year period with a private retirement account, up to 60% of
the account can be spent on consultancy fees and the cost of maintenance!
If the Bush regime is successful at privatizing any portion of the Social
Security system pressure will quickly increase to complete the process. If the Securities and
Investment firms gain control of the people's Social Security trust fund, current retirees will
see their benefits cut drastically to cover the new fees and administrative costs.
Privatization bills introduced in Congress raise the retirement age to seventy, cut guaranteed
benefits, and reduce cost-of-living increases.
Allowing the privatization of the present Social Security system will
drastically reduce the quality of life for most Americans. This scheme will
force Americans to continue to work long into their elderly years or accept
retirement in poverty, something Social Security was created to
eliminate.
If this monstrous theft of the American people's Social Security trust fund is successfully
orchestrated by the Bush gang it will soon be up to all Americans, old people, retired people, widows with children, and the disabled to "take personal responsibility", for themselves as Bush says,
and survive in any way they can.
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© Copyright 2/1/05 by
thepeoplesvoice.org.
Permission is granted for reprint in print, email, blog, or web media if this
credit is attached and the title remains unchanged.
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