February 18, 1998
The purpose of Richard's Reflections is for me to post my own writings. I don't really intend to carry guest articles. On the other hand, how can I refuse a request from my own mother! Here then is an article she wrote which first appeared as a Letter to the Editor in the Daily News of Los Angeles on February 17, 1998. Hypertext links are my own addition.
Social Security was left almost defunct, which is what the reactionaries wanted to do ever since the Roosevelt administration created Social Security.
Instead of paying back these IOUs to Social Security, the Republicans still want to donate these funds to further tax breaks for the wealthy.
President Clinton has proposed in his budget that the so-called surplus we have be used to keep Social Security solvent. In truth, this money is owed and should be considered a payback.
Should anybody be surprised that most of the people in the country continue to think that the Clinton administration is doing a superior job?
Here is how Social Security used to work. You paid after-tax money into the Social Security Trust Fund. The fund invested its money (very conservatively). The fund and its interest were used to pay today's Social Security recipients. Since the money they paid in years ago was after-tax money, the money they received was not taxed. The Trust Fund was kept completely separate from all other money. Money from the general fund was not used to fund Social Security, and money from the Trust Fund was not diverted for other uses.
That was changed under the Reagan Administration. Now we tax Social Security benefits. This double taxation (since you already paid tax on your earnings when you made your Social Security contributions) serves to siphon money out of the Trust Fund and into the General Fund. It is no longer true that every dollar you pay into Social Security either goes into paying benefits or the program's administrative costs. Now a chunk of it goes into the big pot to pay for every other Federal program. This is not "borrowing" from the Fund. This is outright theft.
Richard M. Mathews
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