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 I've written about many failed, expensive government programs, and described why huge programs cannot produce good results in "WHY government programs don't work" - Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4, but there is one program that is a disaster of monumental proportions, and that could easily break our nation's back... Social Security.
Established as a government program to promise security for the elderly, Social Security is the epitome of what is evil in government programs.
The government said... Give us some of your earnings and we'll take care of you when you retire.
That was a promise backed by nothing. They've been taking the money, but they didn't set it aside, they didn't invest it... they spent it, on everything under the sun. Congress after Congress has allowed this massive extortion to continue, passing the buck to the next Congress. Meanwhile, the problem has gotten continually more monstrous, and will soon "hit the fan" when the huge "baby-boomer" generation starts drawing their benefits.
Why hasn't this system been stopped, or modified? Why has it, in fact, been expanded, over and over? Why has it expanded to the point where our elderly are living better than our working people? Why is Congress now considering adding prescription drug benefits to make the cost balloon even more?
Votes, Votes, and more votes. As our life expectancies have lengthened, those receiving, or soon to receive Social Security benefits, have come to represent a constantly-growing voting bloc. The simple fact is that the Democrats and Republicans don't have anything close to the moral courage required to do anything about this disastrous problem, because they won't take the chance of losing those senior votes. The big batch of Democrat presidential candidates aren't even saying what they would do, for fear of losing votes.
The result is that U.S. politicians will continue to screw every other citizen except the elderly.
The simple and thoroughly disgusting fact is that if the money taken from us for Social Security had been invested, even at the lowest, safest earnings rates available, everybody would have been better off. Even if inept government investors had done that, it still would have been far superior. Instead, they spent it, year after year after bloody year.
They've also lied to us, and continue to lie to us, referring to the Social Security "trust fund". There is no trust fund... no money set aside, just promises, and those promises are not worth squat!
Our political "leaders", from FDR to this very day, have dug this nation into a massive hole... and they're still digging deeper every single day... with wars, more giveaway programs, more government pay raises, constantly expanding regulations and laws, and unbelievable waste.
It's the insane war between two major political parties. If you listen to the current rhetoric on Social Security, you'll hear Republicans insisting that action be taken to fix the problem, and you'll hear Democrats insisting that we keep the system intact to "protect" our senior citizens. Don't think for a minute that means that Republicans are any more apt to solve the problem than are Democrats. It's the "opposition game" both parties play for our benefit... facing off so that they can stalemate each other, avoid facing the problem, with each side claiming they tried.
Remember, our legislators have their own retirement program that will yield them far more than most of us even dream of, and they can get it from just a few years of work.
Meanwhile, we can work all our lives, pay ever-increasing amounts into Social Security, and then watch while it destroys the financial future of our own children and grandchildren.
Just in case you think I'm exagerrating... listen to the words of Social Security commissioner Jo Anne B. Barnhart:
Social Security is a pay-as-you-go system. The taxes people pay today pay
benefits for retirees today. It’s a system that has worked well. We have always had more workers to fund the program than retirees receiving benefits. But the ratio is dwindling, and income will eventually be less than what’s needed to fund full benefits. In 1960, we had five workers per retiree. Today we have 3.3 workers per retiree. In the not-too-distant future, the ratio will be two-to-one and eventually less than two-to-one. … And as ratios decline, so do the reserves in the trust fund. It’s simple mathematics.
Simple indeed. In 4 years, the first of the baby-boomers are going to retire and start drawing benefits. That's when the stuff really starts hitting the fan.
What can be done? There are solutions that can begin to reduce or postpone the problem, but there is no good long-term solution short of eliminating Social Security and it's affiliated programs, and returning to private, individual preparation for retirement. Getting there from within this deep hole is not going to be pretty, but knowing how is only part of the problem; finding the political will to do it is the giant hurdle to leap.
Join me tomorrow to find out what is required to leap that hurdle. | 
