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Social Security Reform Thursday: Week Thirty-Seven -- The Crisis Is Now.

Thursdays are good days for reform, because they fall between Wednesdays and Fridays. And reform is a long-haul process, not a fleeting event. So we're going to keep plugging along with the case for reform, even as the issue goes off the political radar screen.

That's why WILLisms.com offers a chart or graph, every Thursday, pertinent to Social Security reform.

This week's topic:

No Social Security Reform Will Lead To Mammoth Deficits.

We all like to complain about huge federal budget deficits. They are just not sustainable ad infinitum. We can't go on borrowing forever.

But there's some good news. As GDP growth remains strong, the government is collecting record revenues to pay for all that record spending. It's not enough, however. And it will not be enough in the coming decades, as entitlement spending ramps upward drastically.

Here's a little-explored fact:

In 2000, when then-Governor Bush was running for President, Social Security cost the government 406 billion dollars. This year, Social Security cost the government 519 billion dollars. That's an increase of 113 billion dollars, or nearly 28%. So, when budget hawks (correctly) harp on out-of-control government spending, they need to understand what comprises that increased spending.

Are we really to believe that President Bush, his administration, and the GOP-controlled Congress, are all responsible for that ginormous increase in Social Security spending?

Come on.

Just look at the past ten years of spending on Social Security, as well as the projections of the next ten years:

In just 10 years from now, the U.S. government will spend nearly a trillion dollars per year, just on Social Security. That number does not include anything else.

The only mitigating factor preventing an exploding federal budget is that, until 2017, Social Security will be able to collect more than enough in payroll taxes to pay for the spending.

But think about all that money down the tubes in the meantime. Think about all those trillions of dollars that could be so much more productive, earning even a modest rate of compound interest in personal savings accounts. Instead of adding to the federal government's belly fat, those payroll taxes could be working on behalf of the American free enterprise system. Those dollars could fuel the greatest engine of commerce the world has ever known.

That market-driven growth could add trillions to our GDP, which would, in turn, maximize our competitiveness relative to a rapidly burgeoning China.

In the meantime, consider this increasingly ridiculous fact:

Congress is spending those temporary surplus "trust fund" dollars, willy nilly, on all sorts of projects and programs.

No reform make Will angry.

Obstruction of Social Security reform should make you angry, too.
Channel that anger. Let's elect more conservative Republicans, less weak-willed or "moderate" ones. And let's throw out all the bums who are so satisfied with the current broken Social Security system.

The clock is ticking. And this is an urgent situation. There is a crisis, and it is now.

UPDATE:
The Commies are declaring victory on Social Security.

Let me repeat that: THE COMMUNISTS are rejoicing their success in blocking reform.

Ugh.

Previous Reform Thursday graphics can be seen here:

-Week One (Costs Exceed Revenues).
-Week Two (Social Security Can't Pay Promised Benefits).
-Week Three (Americans Getting Older).
-Week Three, bonus (The Templeton Curve).
-Week Four (Fewer Workers, More Retirees).
-Week Five (History of Payroll Tax Base Increases).
-Week Six (Seniors Living Longer).
-Week Six, bonus (Less Workers, More Beneficiaries).
-Week Seven (History of Payroll Tax Increases).
-Week Seven, bonus (Personal Accounts Do Achieve Solvency).
-Week Eight (Forty Year Trend Of Increasing Mandatory Spending).
-Week Nine (Diminishing Benefits Sans Reform).
-Week Ten (Elderly Dependence On Social Security).
-Week Eleven (Entitlement Spending Eating The Budget).
-Week Twelve (Benefit Comparison, Bush's Plan versus No Plan).
-Week Thirteen (Younger Americans and Lifecycle Funds).
-Week Fourteen (The Thrift Savings Plan).
-Week Fifteen (Understanding Progressive Indexing).
-Week Sixteen (The Graying of America).
-Week Seventeen (Debunking Myths).
-Week Eighteen (Debunking Myths).
-Week Nineteen (Reform Needed Sooner Rather Than Later).
-Week Twenty (Global Success With Personal Accounts).
-Week Twenty-One (GROW Accounts: Stopping The Raid).
-Week Twenty-Two (Millions of Lockboxes).
-Week Twenty-Three (Support for Ryan-DeMint).
-Week Twenty-Four (KidSave Accounts).
-Week Twenty-Five (Latinos and Social Security).
-Week Twenty-Six (AmeriSave).
-Week Twenty-Seven (Cost Of Doing Nothing).
-Week Twenty-Eight (Chile).
-Week Twenty-Nine (Entitlement Spending Out Of Control).
-Week Thirty (Reform Better Deal Than Status Quo).
-Week Thirty-One (Social Security As A Labor Cost).
-Week Thirty-Two (Social Security And Dependence On Government).
-Week Thirty-Three (Social Security, Currently A Bad Deal For African-Americans).
-Week Thirty-Four (Longer Life Expectancies Straining Social Security).
-Week Thirty-Five (Howard Dean & Salami).
-Week Thirty-Six (Growing Numbers of Beneficiaries Draining Social Security).

Tune into WILLisms.com each Thursday for more important graphical data supporting Social Security reform.

Posted by Will Franklin · 20 October 2005 10:51 AM

Comments

Posted by: Zsa Zsa at October 20, 2005 12:12 PM

Posted by: Zsa Zsa at October 20, 2005 03:39 PM