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April 21st, 2006President reappoints two trustees
April 21st 10:00:05 AM
The reason that the recent trustee's report was delayed was because two of the public representatives -- John L. Palmer, former dean of the Maxwell School at Syracuse University, and Thomas R. Saving, an economist at Texas A&M -- were not confirmed by Congress since their nomination last year.
During the recent Congressional recess President Bush appointed them as recess appointments.
At least that means we should be seeing the new trustees' report soon.
Posted by Jeremy Tunnell| Comments (1)
April 18th, 2006Rob Portman to head up OMB
April 18th 03:15:35 PM
By now it is pretty obvious that there is some sort of "shakeup" happening at the White House. First, Josh Bolten gets moved to Chief of Staff and now Rob Portman goes to OMB.
Before any other appointments are made to ruin my prescience, let me make an observation.
What do each of these men have in common? Social Security reform.
Some have said that moving Bolten to COS is a signal that the President wants to tackle domestic issues again, and the appointment of Portman (who is in favor of Personal Accounts) only underscores that prediction. It also doesn't hurt that Portman is well-liked on both sides of the isle.
We're going to have another shot at Social Security reform soon.
Posted by Jeremy Tunnell| Comments (5)
April 17th, 2006Tim Penny speaks at Northwestern!
April 17th 04:11:26 PM
A note from our event organizer at Northwestern, James D'Angelo:
| Tim Penny, the former Democratic Congressman from Minnesota, came to speak at Northwestern on Wednesday about Social Security reform and the benefits of personal accounts.He opened up his discussion with a brief introduction of who he was and why he should be trusted on the topic of Social Security. He then moved straight into different topics including the current problems the system is facing, along with different ways people can invest money. |
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The students in the audience were especially intrigued by the information about investing, and asked a number of questions about different ways to invest money. Mr. Penny was extremely knowledgeable about the current system, and was able to answer all of the questions asked by the audience.
Questions regarding the benefits about the reform were quite prevalent, and Mr. Penny gave a satisfactory response to almost all of them. The audience thanked him for his time after he was finished with a hearty applause that I’m sure he enjoyed.
The former congressman stuck around for a while and answered a few more specific questions in a more informal setting with a few of the audience members. All of the people that I was able to talk to after the event agreed that the presentation was very helpful and a few even told me they were convinced into agreeing that personal accounts were the way to go.
The event definitely went very well, and I think that a lot of great points were discussed that really emphasized the need for PRAs.
Posted by Jeremy Tunnell| Comments (0)
April 13th, 2006A loss of sanity...
April 13th 01:37:53 PM
In today's Washington Post, David Broder has an op-ed entitled "Red Ink Run Amok" about Congress' runaway spending. Now I know what you're thinking -- more of the same. Well, I have been working on the issue of Social Security for almost a year now, and I very rarely see an op-ed that hits home like this one. I just finished reading it and i'm all worked up.
Take this quote from the article:
Whereas the budget deficit for fiscal 2005 was officially given as $319 billion, "the government's accrual-based net operating cost . . . was $760 billion in 2005."
That $760 billion is the real difference between the money the government received and the obligations it added in the past year -- in other words, the unfunded costs being passed on to our children and grandchildren.
For years, the federal budget has been stated in cash terms, not the accrual accounting method, which Cooper said has been in use for five centuries and is now mandated for all private corporations. The difference, as he explained it, is this:
If you go to Target and buy an item for cash, it's felt in your wallet immediately. If you buy the same item on a credit card, unless you are using accrual accounting, it is disguised until the bill arrives.
The U.S. government has been running up bills -- notably the promises of pensions and health-care benefits for military veterans and millions of other retirees -- without putting the obligations on the books.
That is what is really scary about the financial report. It contains page after page of graphs showing the probable future course of income and expenditures for Social Security and Medicare. In each chart, the dotted line for spending climbs far faster than the solid line for revenue. Beginning a decade from now, the shortfalls explode in what Cooper calls "a perfect storm" of fiscal ruin.
Let me say this in a different way: Congress is stealing from future generations in order to pay for their out-of-control spending today...and then they are hiding it with creative accounting practices that are not even legal in the private sector.
Quoted in the article, David Walker of the GAO says, "amounts to $156,000 of debt for every man, woman and child in America. For a family, it's like having a $750,000 mortgage -- and no house."
What is a good example of this practice? The Social Security "Trust Fund". Because the IOU's in the "Trust Fund" are counted as assets instead of liabilities, Congress can spend all of the surplus and then pretend like it's still there! It is simply amazing that Congress can spend over $1 Trillion to date, because they have always used the cash accounting method, and still say with a straight face that they are protecting the Social Security "Trust Fund".
Something must be done.
Posted by Jeremy Tunnell| Comments (4)
April 12th, 2006Published Again!
April 12th 03:36:55 PM
Our Activism Director, Evan Dent, got another letter to the editor published today! This time, she reminded Oregonian readers that it is time to stop the raid.
Read the full letter here.
Posted by Nicola Moore| Comments (0)
It's the most wonderful time of the year...
April 12th 08:22:44 AM
If you, too, have been struggling to understand your W2, you are well aware that everyone's favorite time in April, TAX DAY, is rapidly approaching. While Tax Day serves as a reminder about the money we've paid, the money we owe, or (perhaps) the money we can get back, S4 Advisory Board member, the Honorable Tim Penny, reminds us about the one major tax that often goes unnoticed in April: Social Security taxes. As Penny points out:
"On April 15 our government expects a detailed accounting of our finances and how much we owe in taxes. It’s about time that the government gives us a better accounting regarding our payroll taxes and the future of Social Security. After all, it’s our money, and we need to know if it will be there for us when we retire."
Read the full article here.
Posted by Nicola Moore| Comments (0)
April 11th, 2006Social Security loses BILLIONS to errors
April 11th 12:23:41 PM
According to an Associated Press article today (Available Here), the Social Security program loses Billions of dollars every year by paying benefits to ineligible recipients or overpaying.
There were also estimated annual benefits of $9.1 billion made to ineligible beneficiaries, of which $7 billion was stopped by normal processes but $2.1 billion was not detected.
Grassley noted that the $5.3 billion in improper payments that may or may not ever be recovered equaled 4.8 percent of total Social Security Disability Insurance benefits paid in fiscal 2004.
Folks, this is what happens to our retirement when we turn the management over to the government. Personal Accounts would eliminate this problem by giving you ownership and control and preventing the government from doling out your hard-earned benefits to "ineligible" recipients.
And just think about how much we would save in "administrative" overhead to fight this fraud and abuse.
Posted by Jeremy Tunnell| Comments (1)
April 10th, 2006What's the most harmful government program ever??????
April 10th 08:48:35 AM
If you guessed Social Security, you agree with 38 of the nation's foremost policy experts recently surveyed by Human Events.
The reasons Social Security is more harmful than any other government program are all too familiar: it replaces the family and values inherent in an ownership society with big government bureaucracy, not to mention the fact that it is financially unhealthy.
Find out the rest of the Ten Most Harmful Government Programs and why Social Security is the worst of all by reading the full article here.
Posted by Nicola Moore| Comments (1)
April 07th, 2006Reminding Oregon to Stop the Raid!
April 07th 04:21:04 PM
Taking time from a long journey via ostrich from Oregon to Seattle, our Activism Director, Evan Dent, published a great op-ed in the Keizer Times about the recent vote on the DeMint/Crapo Amendment. Read it here: http://www.keizertimes.com/news/story.cfm?story_no=7012
Posted by Nicola Moore| Comments (3)
Ostrich in WASHINGTON
April 07th 03:31:57 PM
Last weekend, the Ostrich and I travelled north to the beautiful state of Washington - We stopped at University of Washington, Seattle University and the Washington College Republican state convention.
A major goal for S4 is to build up our membership- get as many people on board with us; people who agree that the current system is MESSED up and that having the choice for PRA's would be a GOOD ONE. So, visiting schools is a great way to get one on one interactions with people from our generation. I love getting the conversation on Social Security reform going by asking all the gawkers (trust me- when you look as obnoxious as i do in an ostrich suit- there are always LOTS of people staring!!) if they know why i'm riding an ostrich. Many say, "umm, NO." But some people try to think of responses. My favorite, "Because you have a problem getting to class on time and the ostrich can run real fast" I couldn't help but BUST up laughing, then agree, "YES- thats exactly right!" Then I dashed right off in the opposite direction, sprinting to class via the ostrich.
Ok Ok- i didn't actually go to class because I still needed to talk to students. But when people say, "NO, I don't know why you're riding an ostrich" I say, "Well, the ostrich and I are looking for other people who agree that Congress needs to get its HEAD out of the SAND and FIX Social Security" And BAM there we have it...they start talking about Social Security reform with a random girl riding a random ostrich. LOVE IT.
All in all, the Ostrich was well recieved in Washington...check out this last pic- no one can hate on an ostrich in favor of Social Security reform, in fact, many want to KISS HIM!!
Posted by Evan Dent| Comments (0)
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