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This comes in from Pravda:

There is a consensus among the Wall Street and Beltway establishment on Social Security. Most CEOs, pundits, and elected officials favor cutting and / or privatizing it, claiming that doing so will reduce the deficit. That claim is a lie, since Social Security is fully funded through 2037, pays for itself 100%, and doesn’t add one dime to the deficit.

We can’t expect these CEOs, Republicans, pundits and Blue Dogs to stop propagating their lies about Social Security. Instead, if we are going to stop this establishment alliance from cutting Social Security, the first thing we must do is promise ourselves we won’t ever buy into their lies.

That’s why at Daily Kos we’re asking you to sign a pledge, to yourself, promising you will never support cutting or privatizing Social Security. Click here to sign the pledge.

With the establishment consensus in place, the only reason Social Security hasn’t been cut or privatized already is because the public is overwhelmingly opposed. If, for whatever reason, a significant number of progressives start supporting Social Security cuts, then the establishment will have the cover it needs and the battle will be lost.

You are the first and last line of defense for Social Security. No matter what happens in the coming weeks and months, and no matter who ends up supporting cuts in Social Security, we must stand united in our opposition.

It is imperative that you promise yourself to never support cutting or privatizing Social Security. Take the pledge now.

Solidarity,
Chris Bowers
Campaign Director, Daily Kos

Go ahead, take the pledge. It only says “cutting” or privatizing. I support totally eliminating it. And don’t we just love this part brother: “and doesn’t add one dime to the deficit.” I don’t care about the deficit, I care about spending.  Here’s a fun idea. Let’s form a gang and incorporate (that way we can issue debt securities). Then let’s go around exchanging $20 bills from the wallet of each brother at the Kos, for a $20 claim to the future income of the gang (put a $20 bond in there) and then remind the editors of Pravda that it does nothing to their personal deficit.

I guess I am a lying liar. Funny, in my last statement from the SSA, it told me that “even when the funds run out in 2037, social security taxes will be enough to cover nearly 75% of the benefits you will have accrued.” So yes it is true that Social Security is fully “funded” until 2037 (it already is spending more than it takes in from taxes, so this is when the accumulated trust fund surplus that we are now dipping into will run out). Is it true that it is 100% funded? Only if you argue that payments to recipients today are equal to taxes plus what is coming out of the trust fund. And what of this deficit nonsense? In the world as it exists, since current benefits are being paid from a trust fund (in part) that has zero dollars in it (the US government spends every dollar in it and then puts in an IOU in the form of a Treasury Bond), it literally has to be true that every dollar of social security spending puts pressure on the deficit. In other words, those funds are fungible. However, here is a fun question. Do you think this is even relevant? If the social security tax were doubled, the system would surely “pay for itself” so does that make sense to continue it on those grounds? For the brothers at Pravda the answer is yes. But that’s only because they believe 100% of our income should be confiscated and sprinkled around by the brotherhood as they wish.

So go ahead folks, take that pledge.

HT to Chris M.

5 Responses to “Go Ahead, Take the Pledge”

  1. Harry says:

    If you are committed to destroying capitalism, and if you think you are winning, then taking a portion of your social security taxes and investing it in Vanguard 500 is a lousy idea.

    One of my crackpot ideas is that every elected and unelected government official would be required to be fully invested in dollar-denominated stocks or bonds, making a 5% exception for the gold coins jingling in Gordon Liddy’s pocket. Then they would have a strong incentive to preserve the liberty that makes us prosperous.

    Evidently the boys at the Daily Kos believe in the lockbox

  2. Harry says:

    I meant every government official above a certain level, not the GS-15’s, but definitely including Carol Browner.

  3. Harry says:

    And speaking about crackpot ideas, how stupid do the Daily Kos think their readers are, asking them to take a pledge to be faithful to a stupid proposition regardless of what anyone might say? A dog would not agree to be trained that way.

  4. BS says:

    Well when you sugarcoat the proposition with, do it for your “spouse and dependant children” and try to make your cause come off as a noble cause that will save your family from ruin, I guess you can convince some people giving up any future change of mind is okay. Are those that sign it stupid or just easily manipulated?

  5. Harry says:

    Good point, BS.

    What puzzles me is how anybody can wish for socialism for their children.

Leave a Reply to Harry