(6/23/2005) If your a younger worker and you think that private accounts for Social Security are a good idea you need to read this article.

Yesterday (6/22/2005), a group of Republican congressman held a press conference to announce their new idea for fixing Social Security. Their new idea is only a slightly modified versions of their old idea, Bush's plan, and they are trying to sell it with the same phony rhetoric and fear tactics. Their new plan creates private accounts from Social Security surpluses called "GROW" accounts, but instead of allowing workers to invest this money in the stock market the new plan keeps that money in treasury bills.

The new plan does remove some of the risk inherent in the old plan by removing the stock market element, but it does nothing to extend the solvency of the Social Security system and it still forces the government to borrow trillions of dollars to set up, manage, and finance these new accounts.

The GOP is up to their same old tricks, taking from the poor, stealing from the government, and giving to the rich. This new plan for Social Security is just more of their Robin Hood in reverse. Their "GROW" accounts should really be called is "Retire in Poverty" (RIP) accounts, or "Young Suckers" accounts, or "Bait and Switch" accounts, or "Robbing Peter to Pay Paul" accounts, or "Inherit A Cardboard Box Under A Bridge" accounts.

This new GOP Social Security scam is designed to trick people into believing a number of things that are not true. First, that Social Security can be saved and improved with a system of private accounts for younger workers. Second, that Social Security is a system for retirement savings. Third, that private accounts will increase retirement benefits for younger workers. Fourth, that restricting the use of Social Security surpluses is somehow helpful and honorable because it will force fiscal discipline on Congress. Fifth, that there is nothing in the Social Security trust fund but worthless IOU's. Sixth, that Social Security is going bankrupt.

I will talk about each of these GOP lies and scare tactics later, but first lets look at some common sense realities.

First, if the GOP really cared about saving the Social Security system they would stop giving huge tax cuts to their rich friends, the people who fund their political campaigns and who don't need that money, and instead use that money to pay down the federal debt and shore up the Social Security trust fund. If we took back 1/3 of Bush's first tax cut the system would be solvent for another 100 years.

Second, if the GOP really cared about saving the Social Security system they would raise the cap that limits the amount of income subjects to Social Security taxes from $90K to a much higher income amount, or just remove the cap. Bush's rich friends don't want that to happen.

Third, if the GOP really cared about saving the Social Security system they would not limit their solutions to one bad idea, Bush's private accounts idea. Bush's plan does not solve anything, and in fact reduces the solvency of the system.

Fourth, if the GOP really cared about saving the Social Security system they would stop lying about the cuts in benefits, additional cost, and additional debt these private accounts would cause. Bush is counting on voters loyalty, gullibility, and short memories to sell all this backwards legislation. 

Fifth, if the GOP really cared about saving the Social Security system they would stop using propaganda to scare younger workers into accepting their solution that would ruin this wonderful social safety net program that is currently helping over 45 million Americans. The Bush administration uses lies and distraction strategies to mislead and manipulate the American public.

Now lets look at some facts about Social Security.

First, the Social Security system is an insurance program and not a retirement savings program. It provides a small income to people who fail to save for their own retirement, or who become disabled, or who lose a parent or spouse. The government already has several other tax free savings options for retirement savings, like IRA's, 401k's, pensions, and company sponsored savings plans. The GOP wants to transform Social Security into another retirement savings program because their ideology does not believe the government should help its citizens.

Second, the Social Security system is not in any immediate danger. It is projected to be fully funded until 2041. At that time the money being paid out will start to exceed the money paid in plus the surplus amounts. However, at that time revenues will still be able to pay 81% of expenditures and there are a number of minor modifications that could be made between now and then that would extend that date another 50 to 100 years with very little change in benefits or taxes. For example, you could extend the projected solvency by means testing beneficiaries, changing the retirement age, increasing the income cap, increasing the withholding tax, or changing the benefits formula. The GOP is falsely claiming it needs to be fixed right now when the truth is that the Medicare system is in much more urgent need of fixing. However, based on the GOP's recent history of backwards reforms we shouldn't let them touch either one of these highly beneficial social programs.

Third, the Social Security system is currently generating very large surpluses, over $150 billion each year. That money is being used by the GOP to pay for huge tax cuts that have gone primarily to the very wealthy, and to pay for Bush's bloody phony war on terror in Iraq, which is a evil scam worthy of its own article. In five years the GOP has also taken the federal budget from very large budget surpluses and turned them into historically large deficits. They did this with reckless tax cuts for the rich and huge increase in spending. All that new debt belongs to the American people, you and me, and all that money looted from the Social Security trust fund was also our money.

In summary, the GOP is running up our government's credit cards and they are spending all of our Social Security insurance nest egg, and now they are saying that there is a big problem and they have the solution. That is like taking you car to a service station for an oil change and the mechanic pours a bunch of sand in your engine and tells you there is a problem and he can help you for a couple of thousand dollars. The law calls this a felony fraud and the criminals are arrested and put in jail.

The GOP's private "GROW" account scam will increase overhead cost from the current cost of less then 1% to over 4%. This increase is intended to benefit their rich cronies in government and in banking, and not the American people. It is also a way to quicken the insolvency of the federal government by forcing our government to borrow trillions of dollars in additional debt to make up for the Social Security surpluses that would no longer be available. Finally, is it a way to bleed the system dry and leave the American people with nothing for their retirement but a cardboard box under a bridge.

The GOP and their wealthy friends are trying to play us like we are all a bunch of ignorant punk ass bitches. And not just on Social Security but on just about everything else they have done, and want to do. For example:

• The GOP's bloody (1,700+ U.S. soldiers) and costly ($400+ billion) war on terror in Iraq. This war was started based on a lie, it is being fought based on lies, and now they refuse to end it.

• The GOP's new paperless voting computers. These new computers make it impossible to audit the election results to prove who really won, or to recount the votes. And they are built by companies that support the Republican Party.

• The GOP's huge tax cuts for the very rich. These tax cuts are disguised as economic stimulus, and have already added trillions of dollars to the federal debt and spent every penny of the Social Security surplus.

• The GOP's relentless quest to repeal of the estate tax. They claim they are doing it for the benefit of small businesses and farmers when it is really for the benefit of the children of billionaires. This tax cut for the very rich will cost our government tens of trillions of dollars in lost revenues, and possibly our democracy.

• The GOP's Medicare reform legislation. This legislation, that Bush signed, limits our rights to buy drugs from Canada and prevents our government from using its purchasing power to reduce cost. It is also a huge $200 billion giveaway to the highly profitable drug and insurance companies.

• The GOP's extreme right-wing fascist court nominees. The Bush administration insisted these terrible nominees get approved or they would use a un-constitutional "nuclear option" to force their will upon the senate.

• And there are dozens of more examples of the GOP's corrupt lying fascist rip-off legislation and actions designed to concentrate wealth, bankrupt our government, and undermine our democracy.

The Bush administrations and the Republicans in Congress attempts to mislead the American people and destroy our Social Security program are just the tip of the iceberg designed to rob our government, undermine our democracy, and impoverish the American people.

The Republicans in Congress are the wolves in sheep's clothing that Jesus warned would come to mislead, steal, murder, and destroy. They are the greedy capitalist that President Lincoln warned us would seek to concentrate our country's wealth and destroy our republic.

We should treat these right-wing con-men just like we would treat a thief that broke into our home in the middle of the night. They are the enemy of 99.9% of the American people and we must not let them trick us into believing otherwise. The GOP is the enemy, and the enemy of my enemy is my friend.