OK, this is going to be a borderline rant. Grab on and hold on to something, it may be a wild ride.
I see that Calgary Ted Cruz has revived the old right-wing favorite of privatizing Social Security. Fellas and gals, this is the big one, the real agenda that drives right-wing politics and led the Koch brothers to underwrite the phony Tea Party. Wall Street sees all those funds going from working Americans to elderly and disabled Americans and wants a piece of that pie. Its a HUGE pie. In 2012 the OASI (old age and survivors) and DI (disability) trust funds had an income of about $846 Billion. Wall Street eyes that with the an eye similar to the way a band of pirates eyes a large and slow moving merchant ship, and with the same intent.
The Wall Street gang isn't worried about whether the trust funds will be invested at a profit or a loss (see the housing bubble crash of 2008), as long as the money goes through their hands they can rake in a fortune.
The fact is that the Social Security system does it's job. When Social Security was established in 1935, old age and poverty were synonyms. Once an elderly worker, particularly an unskilled or low skilled worker, reached the age that their body began to wear down from decades of hard labor, they would be cast aside by corporate America and left to the care of their family or the mercy of the streets. Social Security has changed all that. Most elderly Americans have at least a basic income that enables them to survive. The last 30 years of decimation of labor unions (primarily with the goal of looting and pillaging pension funds) has taken a toll, but still, old age is not necessarily a grim time for most as it was 80 years ago. There are income flow problems, but those can be resolved entirely by just doing away with the earnings cap. There is no crisis in Social Security, that many believe there is, is a tribute to a campaign of deliberate misinformation.
When these Wall Street buccaneers board the good ship Social Security they won't care who gets hurt. Look at what's happened in Detroit. 90 year old retired policemen and firefighters are seeing their pensions slashed so that Wall Street won't lose money. This band of thieves won't care if your elderly grandma is tossed out on the streets of Pittsburgh in January as long as they get their money.
What to do? First of all, don't vote Republican unless you're a suicidal idiot. Second, be aware of Democrats whose ties to Wall Street are too close (yes, Hillary, I'm talking about you). Finally, educate yourself and make noise. If you're 20 or 30, read some real stuff on what's happening with Social Security (i.e., turn off Fox News) and study the issue. The fact is, if the system is managed properly your retirement in 35 or 40 years is going to be fine. Punish politicians who talk about privatization. Challenge them to come up with a solitary instance of privatization saving money or making a program run better (e.g., wars fought by mercenary armies in Iraq and Afghanistan, private prisons that push long prison sentences for non-violent crimes because those prisoners are easy to control and make decent slave labor). Scream bloody murder when they try to steal your money.
Finally, a vison of our present and our future, quoting Kurt Vonnegut in his wonderful science fiction novel, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater:
“Thus did a handful of rapacious citizens come to control all that was worth controlling in America. Thus was the savage and stupid and entirely inappropriate and unnecessary and humorless American class system created. Honest, industrious, peaceful citizens were classed as bloodsuckers, if they asked to be paid a living wage. And they saw that praise was reserved henceforth for those who devised means of getting paid enormously for committing crimes against which no laws had been passed. Thus the American dream turned belly up, turned green, bobbed to the scummy surface of cupidity unlimited, filled with gas, went bang in the noonday sun.”
