Social Security Lies
Lately we have heard a lot of talk about how the Social Security system is in crisis and needs to be “reformed.” The people attacking Social Security tell us that the program is too expensive and will make the federal deficit worse in the future unless something is done now. But these are lies.
First, Social Security doesn’t add one penny to the federal deficit. The only money that Social Security pays out in benefits is the money that comes out of workers’ paychecks.
Second, if Social Security does become short on money in the future this is because politicians stole it from us. In the last 20 years, politicians have taken more than $2.5 trillion out of the Social Security trust fund to pay for wars and make up for billions they gave to the super wealthy through tax breaks. This money has not been paid back.
The idea that Social Security is in crisis and needs to be cut is an invention of millionaires and billionaires. And some of them are putting in millions of dollars to try and fool us. One former hedge-fund manager named Peter Peterson Is putting more than $1 billion of his own money into an anti-Social Security campaign. Peterson has set up his own special newspaper devoted to bashing Social Security and has even created a curriculum for high school kids that teaches them that the government is too poor to fund Social Security.
The lies we hear about Social Security are just an attempt to prevent us from seeing who should pay for the crisis: the rich!
Tax Cuts for the Rich Extended
In 2001 and again in 2003 Congress approved massive tax cuts for the rich, nearly one trillion dollars in tax breaks for the upper income brackets. These tax breaks are set to expire this year, but the Obama administration has recently come out in support of extending the tax cuts.
They claim this is the only way to maintain the tax cuts to working families. This is nonsense. Those most in need receive little or no relief from these tax cuts. People with incomes of $21,000 or less save only five dollars due to the tax cuts, while the rich are getting to keep billions. Extending the tax cuts only keeps the majority of the wealth in the hands of those who already have it. The top one percent of US households have 42.7 percent of all financial wealth. The bottom 80 percent only have seven percent of the wealth.
Some might say that Obama has to give in to the Republicans in Congress, but in fact the Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility recommends extending tax cuts to the top income bracket by another third! These tax cuts show the real priority of this government – to serve the rich and wealthy corporations.
Benefits Cut Off in A Time of Need
This past week Congress voted not to extend unemployment to those whose unemployment benefits are running out. Starting November 30th two million people will be cut off from their benefits, just in time for the holidays. This is outrageous! Unemployment – officially at 9.6 percent is an attack on all working people. It is unacceptable that in this time of crisis, the government would make such an attack on workers.
Unemployment Making Us Crazy
According to a recent study, unemployment is literally making people crazy. One in five Americans, or 45 million people suffered mental breakdowns due to job insecurity in the last year, a major increase from last year. Do we need any more proof that their system is crazy and we need to change it?
