2ND District WV

For information or to volunteer:
Contact the Campaign

Tell the Truth

We need to stop spending the money that still comes in as Social Security surplus, invest it in public-issued government bonds, and pay back the $2.5 trillion owed to the American people for their Social Security. We can start by telling the truth!

 

 

Social Security
and the Federal Budget

Protect Social Security

This efficiently run government program, which returns 99 cents on each dollar collected, will give full benefits until 2043. Social Security is a safety net that more than 52 million Americans depend on. It does not add to the deficit and cannot be subjected to the whims of the market through privatization.

 

 

What Happened to Social Security and Where Do We Go from Here?
Social Security was created as a compact between the government and the people as a way to protect Americans from poverty in their retirement. FICA taxes paid by American workers were intended as an investment in their financial security. Social Security was to be administered by the government on the people’s behalf. That was the plan!

 

 

But Social Security has been plundered. What happened starting in the Reagan-Bush administrations is a violation of federal law. The people’s money was not invested; it became part of the government’s overall operational budget. Contributions poured into Social Security every day and were spent every day. This is the cause of the dilemma we are in now.

 

 

How Did this Happen?  In 1983, the 15% increase in the FICA tax was meant to provide for the upcoming baby boom generation. It was implemented to assure coverage through 2040 when the Social Security Trust Fund was to be re-examined and adjusted if necessary. The amount of money that poured into the coffers of Social Security created a surplus, leaving plenty left over each month to invest.

 

 

Instead, the $500,000,000 each day that comes in for Social Security is added to overall government spending. This use of the Social Security surplus as a way to hide deficit spending started under President Reagan and continued under President George H.W. Bush.

 

 

Under Clinton—A Budget Surplus  President Clinton continued the practice during his first term in office, but in his second term, the government stopped using surplus Social Security funds and there was a concerted effort to protect them. During the last two years of the Clinton administration, Social Security was not violated and, with the help of other financial policies, a genuine surplus of the government’s operational costs existed.

 

 

Clinton’s courageous economic plan reversed 12 years of supply-side economics and led to fiscal responsibility, eventually erasing the deficit and creating a surplus that totaled $86.4 billion in 2000. The prosperity we enjoyed during the Clinton years was a return to sound economic principles.

 

 

It should be noted that under President Clinton, the Budget Reconciliation Act passed the Congress in 1993 without a single Republican vote!

 

 

Under Bush—A Return to Fiscal Irresponsibility  When George W. Bush came into office, he was determined to return to the trickle-down economics of Reagan/Bush. The 2001 and 2003 tax cuts enacted by the Republican congressional majority and the Bush administration are responsible for the financial crisis we are in now— helped along by Congress’s earlier repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, which allowed commercial banks to merge with investment banks, opening the door to the financial meltdown.

 

 

George W. Bush spent $1.37 trillion of Social Security surplus revenue during his eight years as president. In his last year alone he spent $526 million of our Social Security money each day.