The biggest example of "Social Security Fraud" is found in the present set of debates on the issue FROM BOTH SIDES.
The best way to expose a fraudulent operative is to note if he/she can retain the same position on a matter as the same issue is presented to them in a different form and/or a different political/ideological arrangement.
As an observer and analyst I fully accept that this duplicity is what POLITICS presents to us.
I am more concerned with political operatives who present themselves as 'Champions for the cause of Black people' when they are merely political operatives.
Social Security And "The Payroll Tax Cuts"
Is it logical for the Republican party operatives who were just a few months ago arguing about the insolvency of Social Security to now argue that a 2 month payroll tax cut (which funds the program) be defeated because they want a payroll tax cut for an entire year?
Of course not. They expose themselves by the fact that they can't get beyond the latest political TRANSACTION as they fight against their ideological and political opponents, forcing them to contort what credibility they have left, with the hopes that no one is looking at the big picture.
That "big picture" is the news that the year 2042 will be the "bewitching year" for Social Security. The year that the (fraudulent) "Lock Box" will be exhausted and the Social Security program will not be able to pay its liabilities without substantial infusion from the "general fund".
What they don't tell you is that in the years leading up to this point all of those "IOUs" that the federal government placed in the lock box as they took the "Payroll Tax" and used it on "current accounts" - for spending for that particular year will have had to be cashed by the Social Security fund for money from the current accounts to pay for the Social Security outlays to present recipients.
In truth 2042 was the year that the scheme gets exhausted. No longer able to stay one step ahead of the consumer's demand on the fund and the worker's inputs of money.
Funny Money
What they don't tell you is that the year 1942 was a number put out by the Congressional Budget Office before our present catastrophic situation transpired. The longer our unemployment rate remains high - the fewer workers we have putting money into the Social Security Trust Fund AND the closer that year 1942 gets moved toward our present time period.
If we had credible congress people who wanted to rise above their party gang war - they would request that the CBO run the numbers again and tell us the new bewitching year for Social Security. I assure you that it is no longer 1942.
The Payroll Tax Cut is akin to noting the loss of income for the SS treasury fund from the unemployed workers and then withdrawing the funds of ALL WORKERS on top of that.
In my personal finances I am on an accelerated mortgage program.
Yes me, a Black man who does NOT have a "Subprime Mortgage" has the consciousness of mind to participate in a program that effectively makes my "30 year mortgage" into a 22 year mortgage. I pay my mortgage bi-weekly instead of monthly. This puts more money against my principle balance AND nets in 13 payments per year rather than 12.
This little accounting gimmick can shave 6 to 8 years off of my mortgage agreement BECAUSE of how COMPOUND INTEREST works. With less of a principle balance to calculate their interest profit from I can pay back the bank sooner.
BUT WAIT. COMPOUND INTEREST works the same way when you are an investor but you receive the interest rather than the bank that is holding the liability.
The Payroll Tax Cut is reducing the "principle balance" that the Social Security Trust Fund has in the way of US Treasury Bonds that it can purchase and earn interest upon. (To be clear the Treasuries are the assets that the SSI holds. The interest paid by the Federal government against all outstanding bonds are the "profits" that SSI recognizes, allowing the fund to grow to meet the demands from the retirees)
The Functional Privatization Of Social Security Is Happening Now
Recall several years ago as the nation entertained the question of "Privatizing Social Security" by allowing individuals to take a small portion of the money that would have gone into the SS Trust Fund and instead invest it in stocks - similar to a 401K account. Recall that those who were opposed to this plan argued that these funds diverted into private accounts STARVED the SS Trust Fund of money needed to pay off its liabilities.
As you put on your "Intellectually Honest" helmet - can anyone tell me how the Payroll Tax Cut is not "starving the beast" as well? In fact it is a greater assault in terms of quantity of money even though it is positioned as temporary. We have 100% loss of employee contributions where as the "stock market" scheme only allowed some small portion of the employee's contributions to be diverted.
If we also use the arguments that a "Tax Cut On The Rich" is the denial of revenues to the government then it stands to reason that a "Payroll Tax Cut" - which allows private individuals to retain the money that they would have paid into Social Security in their own pockets.
Let me make a very important point of clarification. Social Security is defined as an "annuity". We pay into this "annuity fund" with the expectation that we will receive a "defined benefit" in the future. This is very different than our standard income tax that is used to operate government. Over times the fraud and funny money games in Washington DC has seen this pile of money fused into the general tangled web that is our federal government.
The less you pay into this 'annuity" the less capable it proves to be in its ability to make future payouts.
What we are seeing is our political leaders seeking to retain a CURRENT LIVING STANDARD for political purposes that will most assuredly lead to an eroded living standard in the future as the bill comes due and their fraud and hijinx no longer works.
Those who can't see beyond their present ideological and political loyalties - who blindly take up the talking points in the present political jousting match are going to one day see that they were full complicit operatives in the fiscal derailment that this nation is headed to.
Our $15,000,0000,000,000 debt looms but is not relevant in the lives of most Americans (and CERTAINLY not our politicians) because there has not yet been an upper boundary that has been enforced where our credibility has been lost as a nation. When the market forces pull the plug - mostly because other nations are now full competitors of equal standing (China and South America, for example) America is going to be left on its own with a $25 trillion debt with no one willing to fund her expansion. They have slowly built up their own "organic competencies" and no longer need the American, "credit card driven" consumer and government to fund their own expansion.
If all of this were happening AND the Black Community showed sufficient ORGANIC GROWTH - the fraud and wickedness that is so readily observable would be less disturbing.
To see perpetual failure of this entire system and then to see dogged operatives spewing spin and obfuscation and - oh yeah - telling us that we are still MORE damaged by Slavery than we have FAILED to receive SUBSTANTIVE UPLIFT from the program that they have our consciousness engaged in - this all shows that we are indeed fully integrated in America and have purchased into her eventual fiscal collapse when it does happen.
This is a "WHEN" and not an "IF" in its certainty.
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