January 13, 2012. That may sound harsh, but it’s just a fact. Ron Paul has been studying (and fighting) social security for 40 years or more and he consistently misstates the single most basic fact about the program. And people believe him and repeat his lie (but without knowing it’s a lie). Here’s an example. Q: Are you still in favor of abolishing Social Security?
A: Yes, … I’d like to get the young people out of it, just the younger generation, because there’s no money there, and they’re going to have to pay 50 years and they’re not going to get anything.(1)Ron Paul’s Full Answer: Yes, but not overnight. As a matter of fact, my program’s the only one that is going to be able to take care of the elderly. I’d like to get the young people out of it, just the younger generation, because there’s no money there, and they’re going to have to pay 50 years and they’re not going to get anything. I’d take care of all the elderly, all those who are dependent, but I would save the money from this wild spending overseas. — Source: 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida , Jan 24, 2008.
Social Security is now collecting about $750 billion a year in payroll tax.(2)If you have a regular job, look at your paycheck and find the FICA payment. This is mostly social security, and you employer contributes an equal amount. That’s been going on for 64 years and according to law it will continue. Since the country keeps getting richer, in 50 years Social Security will be collecting much more. And that money must be used, month-by-month, to pay Social Security benefits. So in 50 years Social Security will collect about $2 trillion/year in revenue and will pay out $2 trillion a year to retirees. That is not “no money there. they’re not going to get anything.” He’s just lying.
The actual problem, and it’s one that has been fixed many times in the passed, is that the benefits are scheduled to get ahead of the the revenue. So, if the tax revenue is not adjusted up,(3)(say by not exempting all income over $106,000 per year) then in 50 years, retired people would not get as much as they are now scheduled to get. But they would still get more than retired people get today. That’s not nothing. Ron Paul is just a liar. He’s an expert on Social Security and he knows what he’s up too.
“I have gradually and steadily grown weary of the Republican Party’s efforts to reduce the size of the federal government. Since then Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party have given us skyrocketing deficits, and astoundingly a doubled national debt. How is it that the party of balanced budgets, with control of the White House and Senate, accumulated red ink greater than all previous administrations put together?” —Ron Paul in the March-April 1987 issue of Libertarian Party News
References
| 1. | ↥ | Ron Paul’s Full Answer: Yes, but not overnight. As a matter of fact, my program’s the only one that is going to be able to take care of the elderly. I’d like to get the young people out of it, just the younger generation, because there’s no money there, and they’re going to have to pay 50 years and they’re not going to get anything. I’d take care of all the elderly, all those who are dependent, but I would save the money from this wild spending overseas. — Source: 2008 GOP debate in Boca Raton Florida , Jan 24, 2008. |
| 2. | ↥ | If you have a regular job, look at your paycheck and find the FICA payment. This is mostly social security, and you employer contributes an equal amount. |
| 3. | ↥ | (say by not exempting all income over $106,000 per year) |
