Social Insecurity

Just about everything you have been told about Social Security is an obfuscation. That is a big word for convoluted truth or lie.

In a recently published obscure government document by the presidential Social Security commission there are two pages that expose the truth. Neither Democrats nor Republicans want you to read this. Shining the light of truth on the weirdness of politicians seldom makes them happy; however, you owe to yourself to know the truth.

When they take out from your paycheck for FICA - that's the SS deduction - the money is sent to the Social Security Trust Fund. Your money is held in the fund for some future date when it is returned to you upon retirement. During that time it is gaining interest at about 2%. Pretty shabby, but better than nothing. This is all well and good as long as the money is really there, but it isn't. What?

Now follow me with this beautiful bit of political sleight of hand. The money is invested in U.S. Treasury bills. Good, sound and safe as it gets. Right? Wait. Let's understand what has happened here. The Federal government has issued pieces of paper called Treasury bills which they have created out of thin air and replaced your real money. The Fed has borrowed your money in the "trust fund" and given you a promissory note in the form of a Treasury Bill. That money has now been transferred to the General Fund where our honest politicians spend it on whatever piece of pork they want. That does include necessities such the Army, Navy and Marines, welfare recipients and government employees like Senators and Congressmen.

Let's jump ahead to your retirement date maybe 20 or 30 years from now. You and thousands like you have been putting in billions for all these years and Uncle has been printing T-Bills. Now you want your money back. Shucks, anyone knows you just cash in the T-Bills. Where does the money come from for the T-bill? From the government that created it. That means those funds must come back out of the General Fund, which is composed of taxes. But they already spent it. It's gone. Something is wrong here.

The Fed took your money and put a piece of paper in its place as a promise to pay when the time came, but they did not back it up with anything except a promise to pay. All returns to SS retirees comes back out of payments by others now paying into SS. But what if there is less money being deducted for FICA at that time? It is called a shortfall. What the Fed has created is a giant Ponzie scheme where the first people who invested in it get paid, but those who came in later get less, little or maybe nothing.

As long as there is a Federal surplus or a balanced budget you are OK, but when that disappears it means taxes on everyone must be raised to pay for the SS benefits. Smoke and mirrors.

Politicians don't want you to be able to invest any of your own money because it means they will have less to spend and could care less what happens 10, 20 or 30 years from now as they will be long gone.

That is the truth about your Social Security "Trust Fund". There isn't any and never has been.

Perhaps we were asking the wrong questions this past election.

Our Senators/Congressmen do not pay into Social Security, and therefore they do not collect from it. Social Security benefits were not suitable for them.

They felt they should have a special plan. Many years ago they voted in their benefit plan. In more recent years, no congressperson has felt the need to change it. After all, it is a great plan. For all practical purposes, their plan works like this:

When they retire, no matter how long they have been in office, they continue to draw their same pay until they die, except that it may be increased from time to time by the cost-of-living adjustments. For example, former Senator Bill Bradley (New Jersey) and his wife may be expected to draw $7,900,000 over an average life span, with Mrs. Bradley drawing $275,000.00 during the last year of her life. Their cost for this excellent plan is zero, nada, zilch.This little perk they voted in for themselves is free to them.

You and I pick up the tab for this plan. Our tax dollars at work! From Social Security, which you and I pay into every payday for our own retirement, with an equal amount paid in by our employer, we can expect to receive an averageof $1,000 per month. We would have to collect our benefits for 68 years and 1month to equal the Bradley's benefits.

Imagine for a moment that you could structure a retirement plan so desirable, that worked so well, that Railroad Employees, Postal Workers,and others who were not in the plan would clamor to be included. This is how good Social Security could be, if only one small change were made.

That change would be to jerk the Golden Fleece Retirement Plan out from under the Congressmen & Senators. Put them into the Social Security plan with the rest of us. Watch how fast they fix it!

If enough people receive this message, maybe a seed will be planted and maybe good changes will evolve.

Our girl Hillary Rodham Clinton now comes under this Congressional Retirement Plan. Sspeaking of the Clinton's, it's common knowledge that in order for her to establish NY State residency, they purchased a $million-plus house in upscale Chappaqua, NY. Makes sense.

Now, they are entitled to Secret Service protection for life. Still makes sense. Here is where it becomes interesting. A residence had to be built in order to house the Secret Service agents. The Clintons now charge the Secret Service rent for the use of said residence and that rent is just about equal to their mortgage payment, meaning that we, the tax payers, are paying the Clinton's mortgage.

And it's all perfectly legal.

Al Thomas' book, "If It Doesn't Go Up, Don't Buy It!" has helped thousands of people make money and keep their profits with his simple 2-step method. Read the first chapter at http://www.mutualfundmagic.com and discover why he's the man that Wall Street does not want you to know.

Copyright 2005

apartment cleaning near Wilmette ...
In The News:

A fake Claude AI download scam uses Google ads and Bing redirects to trick Mac users into pasting a hidden malicious command in their Terminal.
Ahold Delhaize's cybersecurity incident knocked online ordering and digital coupons offline at Stop & Shop, Food Lion, Hannaford and Giant Food stores.
The Fox News AI Newsletter covers the latest artificial intelligence technology advancements, including the challenges and opportunities AI presents now and for the future.
Amazon's About You feature includes personality details from your shopping history, and some shoppers are finding hilariously awkward results.
Identity theft recovery starts with securing bank accounts, freezing credit and enabling two-factor authentication within the first 24 hours.
Apple's $299 HomeView smart display uses facial recognition to personalize screens for up to six household members and show live security camera feeds.
Domonique DuBose spotted red flags when a man on Hinge with 85,000 followers and a blue checkmark claimed to be a San Francisco 49ers player.
Your phone's location data can expose visits to doctors, pharmacies and places of worship. The FTC took action against data brokers selling this data.
Hackers targeted Danfoss refrigerator controls across French supermarkets, forcing chains like Carrefour and Monoprix to discard massive food stocks.
iOS 27 finally lets iPhone Shared Albums store photos and videos at full resolution in iCloud, but new items count toward the owner's storage.
A fake Facebook Marketplace text scam uses your real name as the seller to trick you into replying, and Malwarebytes warns even one response helps.
The Pentagon data breach exposed 2.76 million Social Security numbers and military records, raising long-term identity theft concerns for veterans.
Kodiak AI plans to haul IKEA freight on Texas highways with no one in the cab, raising urgent cybersecurity and safety questions for drivers.
Apple Intelligence in iOS 27 adds Extend and Reframe tools to Photos, letting iPhones generate new background areas beyond your original borders.
Microsoft's X account was hijacked to promote a crypto pump-and-dump scheme, exposing its more than 13 million followers to a scam campaign.
Scammers can combine your name, phone number and address with data breach details to attempt SIM swaps, phishing and even identity theft schemes.
ChatGPT Work, Meta Muse and Gemini Spark can monitor flight prices, sort your email inbox and track important deadlines, but savvy users start small.
iPhone, Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel each hide a built-in tool that turns a video frame into a separate photo without any screenshot needed.
Operation KillSwitch dismantled KillSec's ransomware infrastructure, but investigators say a 16-year-old allegedly ran the entire cybercrime operation.
The Fox News Artificial Intelligence newsletter covers where voters will decide on AI data center ballot measures and Jeff Bezos' tech vision.
Apple's Impersonation Risk Detection in iOS 27 can flag suspicious activity inside apps, but the setting is off by default and must be enabled.
Federal Election Commission records can expose your name, address, employer and donation history once contributions exceed the $200 threshold.
Cybersecurity expert Morgan Wright says human skepticism remains the strongest defense against AI-driven phishing scams and voice cloning fraud schemes.
iPhone, Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy each handle security updates differently, and one screen saying "up to date" may not tell the whole story.
Deborah Del Mastro heard what sounded like her daughter's terrified voice on the phone, launching a five-hour virtual kidnapping scam ordeal.

Investment Discipline

One of the great "secrets" of successful people is discipline... Read More

A Stock Market Investment Plan that Never Lets You Down

The bulls and bears of the stock market are both... Read More

Psychology ? How to Reduce Negative Thoughts Relating to Trading?

The thinking process of the brain relating to the... Read More

Stock Market Investing Odds

The greatest stock market myth is the idea that investing... Read More

Is The Bear In The Cage?

For the last few weeks we have seen the stock... Read More

Bollinger Bands Strategies

The Bollinger Band theory is designed to depict the volatility... Read More

Rebalance And Diversify

The stock market has not been very kind to your... Read More

Roller Coaster

I love roller coasters. The steeper the better. High and... Read More

A Personal Stock Market Investment Philosophy

∙ Make every investment in the stock market a long-term... Read More

Stock Market Diversification

In one of my previous articles (Investing in the stock... Read More

Robert Rodriguez Weathers the Stock Market

Robert Rodriguez likes to buy stocks at their lows. When... Read More

Starbucks Stock is Up

Starbucks earnings are up again and so is their stock... Read More

Stock Insurance

You have a lock on your house. You have a... Read More

Economists

In today's volatile and confusing stock markets everyone is searching... Read More

Historical Briefing: Stocks, Finance and Money

The World Bank claims that some two billion of the... Read More

Its Better

Question: How does it get better when it gets worse?Last... Read More

Stock Chart Reading

As an investor you will want to check out any... Read More

What is a Mutual Fund?

Ever wondered what is a mutual fund? A mutual fund... Read More

Forecasting the Stock Market

Every day I see in the financial section of newspapers... Read More

Dont Buy Worldcom! A Guide to Wise Bottom Fishing

Over the past few months, several investment professionals have brought... Read More

Getting Even

I know there are a lot of you out there... Read More

Invest In The Stock Market For The RIGHT Reason, Using The RIGHT Choices

Invest in the stock market for the RIGHT reason, using... Read More

My Neighbor Got A New Car

I don't know what kind it is, but I saw... Read More

Inertia Syndrome

When it comes to buying a stock or mutual fund... Read More

Pamplona, the Wild Investment Bulls

You remember (they show it on TV every year) the... Read More

deep house cleaning Wilmette ...