SS won't destroy the budget, CsG, but maintenance of other debt easily can. Lemme see, here, if the Repubs stay in power, and the current situation continues, we'll have ~$15T in debt by 2018, twice the Republican induced total of today, and debt maintenance, at 5%, will cost us ~$750B annually... of course, as insolvency looms, we won't be getting over at 5%, more like 8%, putting maintenance cost alone over $1T per year... in today's dollars, of course. The price of the SS crossover into payback mode would be peanuts compared to that...
You've just articulated what I've considered to be the Repubs fallback position wrt the current looting spree. They will, of course, try to cop out on SS obligations before any other bondholder misses a payment- basically, America's financial elite will have used 35 years of SS surpluses to cut their own taxes, effecting the most incredible wealth transfer in history, and then they'll have the nerve to tell us they tried to "save" SS, but nobody would let them... that other financial obligations are more important, and, uhh, thanks, suckers... Now gimme, 'cause we own you.
I can appreciate that people who can see it coming, like you, want to join the copout, get on the other side of the deal with your private accounts, enjoy your pissant ideological taxcuts, see if you can come out on top. It won't happen- only those of extreme wealth will emerge unscathed from the fiscal crisis being prepared for us, and will actually come out on top. Neither of us will be in that company. Your restricted investment portfolio won't include the kind of hard asset securities that will allow value retention in a radical currency devaluation scenario. It's good for the govt's debt to be entirely in our own currency, very bad for small investors to be stuck in dollars under such circumstances...
And yeh, you've contradicted yourself yet again- first you said that govt securities might be riskier than private investments, then denied you claimed that govt finances were precarious, and now claim that SS will destroy the budget.... meanwhile repeating your favorite "can't have it both ways" routine...
Nice little dance, I think it's called the shuck and jive...
And, Mursilis, it's important to remember that America has a deep seated cultural aversion to risk wrt their retirements, something related to the events of 1929. If, and that's a rather calculated if, the electorate sees that the current Repub leadership's course risks the solvency of the govt itself and therefore SS along with it, then no amount of propagandizing will save the charlatans... It'll be a rather painful process cleaning up the fiscal mess left behind, so starting sooner, rather than later, will make it a lot easier on us.
You've just articulated what I've considered to be the Repubs fallback position wrt the current looting spree. They will, of course, try to cop out on SS obligations before any other bondholder misses a payment- basically, America's financial elite will have used 35 years of SS surpluses to cut their own taxes, effecting the most incredible wealth transfer in history, and then they'll have the nerve to tell us they tried to "save" SS, but nobody would let them... that other financial obligations are more important, and, uhh, thanks, suckers... Now gimme, 'cause we own you.
I can appreciate that people who can see it coming, like you, want to join the copout, get on the other side of the deal with your private accounts, enjoy your pissant ideological taxcuts, see if you can come out on top. It won't happen- only those of extreme wealth will emerge unscathed from the fiscal crisis being prepared for us, and will actually come out on top. Neither of us will be in that company. Your restricted investment portfolio won't include the kind of hard asset securities that will allow value retention in a radical currency devaluation scenario. It's good for the govt's debt to be entirely in our own currency, very bad for small investors to be stuck in dollars under such circumstances...
And yeh, you've contradicted yourself yet again- first you said that govt securities might be riskier than private investments, then denied you claimed that govt finances were precarious, and now claim that SS will destroy the budget.... meanwhile repeating your favorite "can't have it both ways" routine...
Nice little dance, I think it's called the shuck and jive...
And, Mursilis, it's important to remember that America has a deep seated cultural aversion to risk wrt their retirements, something related to the events of 1929. If, and that's a rather calculated if, the electorate sees that the current Repub leadership's course risks the solvency of the govt itself and therefore SS along with it, then no amount of propagandizing will save the charlatans... It'll be a rather painful process cleaning up the fiscal mess left behind, so starting sooner, rather than later, will make it a lot easier on us.
