Years ago, when I lived in Bozeman, Montana, something was going on at the federal level regarding Social Security that inspired me to organize a meeting, and to publicize that meeting on radio. I was quite the activist. It was nerve wracking, as I had no idea what the turnout would be. The subject of the meeting was the viability of the Social Security Trust Fund, and of Social Security itself. I was not receiving benefits, but since I was a wonk, I was steeped in numbers regarding the Trust Fund. I did not understand at that time that that Trust Fund was nothing more than a plot device crafted to create the illusion that benefits were threatened, and to convince young people that Social Security would not be there for them when they retired. Overall, the big picture was a movement behind corrupt senators like our then entrenched Baucus and Burns that Wall Street should be in charge of our retirements, and that the concept of “defined benefit” needed to be replaced by “defined contribution”. (If you do not understand either of those terms, now is the time to get up to speed. They are critical.)
The group I used was called “Wonderlust,” and the meeting was a huge success, even drawing a wonk from Washington to act as monitor and inspiring a huge turnout with older people asking and demanding answers to intelligent questions. What a relief! I feared a cricket fest. But to this day I regret my own lack of understanding of the nature of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and all of our “entitlements”.
I also now have a better understanding of the nature of not only how those programs are financed, but also how student loan debt is used to chain young people to undesirable jobs for no good reason. College education needs to be merit based – if a kid works hard, he or she should leave the institution and start a career without the baggage of “debt”. Kids aged 17 and 18 are making financial commitments that they’ve no idea about, as they are a decade away from possessing a fully formed cerebral cortex. They should not be allowed to undertake a long-term financial commitment. For the most part, their parents cannot pony up the money. The loan commitments are severe and last decades. There is no getting around them. Student loan debt is permanent. Not even bankruptcy can free them from the burden. That is an abusive and unnecessary policy.
Perceived necessity to finance entitlements like Social Security and Medicare by burdening young people, and further burdening young people with debt for something so basic as an education, are tools of enslavement. No, we cannot afford to do anything we want to do, and cannot lavish benefits on a society without the resources to pay for them. But the means of paying those benefits is not the tax and borrowing systems. These are mere devices to 1) keep inflation in check, and 2) chaining young people into burdensome and inescapable debt as they launch their careers. The means of paying is our economy, our productivity, our work ethic. We can easily afford Social Security and free college education for dedicated and hard-working students. Medicare and Medicaid are indeed a drain, as our health care system is so burdened by corruption that goes by the name private “insurance.” . (I might also add that the cost of college education is extremely burdened by institutional entitlement and lack of “teaching,” replaced by entrenched bureaucrats and professors who don’t do much more than what they used to call, in the railroad business, “featherbedding”.)
I awoke this morning with a head of steam, fed up with the corruption behind the thing called “Climate Change.” That got me going. However, I am also aware that corruption is all around us. I write plenty about CC, but have only rarely written about entitlements, as there is so little understanding out there about the true nature of our incredibly corrupt system of politics and supposed financial tools used to pay for the things we need. But I am not in essay mood, as readership, already strained, drops off at the mere mention of anything as complicated as how to finance retirement for our aging population.
I decided to write about it briefly, and let it go. Just understand that if you are young and wondering about your retirement, know that you must take care of yourself even as financial demands on your earnings are considerable. College debt, mortgages, car payments, medical insurance, and just paying for raising kids will strain the hell out of you. But if you wish it so, you can make Social Security real by simply demanding that corrupt politicians and Wall Street barons leave it alone. It is there for you for so long as you demand it to be so. You have that power. They have already hammered the system plenty, Bill Clinton the major tool used to reduce benefits. But the abuse of the system stops the moment you realize that the system is like Dorothy and her red slippers. A mere click of the heels makes it work.
Piece of Mindful 
“But if you wish it so, you can make Social Security real by simply demanding that corrupt politicians and Wall Street barons leave it alone. It is there for you for so long as you demand it to be so.”
The implication of what this says, I think, is that you, or I could actually live from the SS monthly amount. I’ll tell you why I no longer know what that scrap might be… the last time I looked at my potential retirement [date], I ultimately disregarded the SSA as it was insignificant as earnings go, and it was not even certain.
Maybe I was wrong… where, and under what conditions can you live off such an amount? Is the presumption that you already “own” your domicile and that nothing ever breaks? Point me to the error in my thinking please.
Back to your words: “simply demanding” – that is laughable. In what world do you live that ANY politician is beholden to actual people? No one elected those fux, and you think that they can just be replaced? Hah!
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The only reason that SS still exists is that it is so popular, the only defined benefit retirement plan left standing. As I found out with my Bozeman meeting, it is immensely popular, so much so that it is a third rail for politicians. By and large they do not touch it, as when the public is united behind something, they have to pay attention. Divide and conquer, the usual strategy, does not work with SS. That is why Clinton had to use a back door approach to reduce benefits. By my calculation, in 1993, he reduced my 2022 benefits by 13%. The man was very clever and devious.
As to living off it and it alone, that is not possible. Some must do so, and live in poverty. I certainly do not. But it is a nice supplement for me. SS keeps millions of people out of poverty, and also assists kids who lose a parent and disabled people. It is an important benefit, but not a substitute for individual savings, which, given the cost of college and health care, is very difficult for most. The idea that Wall Street could do a better job is cotton candy thinking.
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Basically it’s utterly sickening, SS should take care of our people right here at home. There should be no commercials begging for money from the American people to help our disabled vets who were hurt in their fucking “Wars”…And with the Billions and trillions of dollars this government sends to other countries. There should be more than enough left behind to take care of the tax payers of our own people… What ever happened to “THE FUCKING BUCK STOPS HERE” ? ? ?
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When you put aside the indoctrination you received from their public schools, you’ll see why they do what they do: it’s all about expanding their wealth and power at all costs and destroying their competition (middle & working class serfs, in this case). Taxation is one powerful tool they use to achieve this when all else fails.
That’s the true purpose of “government”: to extort and control the masses for the benefit of the ruling bloodline families. In fact, it’s in the very meaning of the term. Govern = control, rule, manage. And some say the “ment” part refers to “mind”, and put together it roughly translates to “mind control”, which is fitting since they are the masters of mind manipulation, and it starts at their brainwashing camps (schools). We are the sheep that is managed and fleeced by a group of wolves (politicians and bureaucrats) for the benefit of the pigs: the donor class. Socialism for the uber-rich, hardline capitalism for the commons.
This has been so since the dawn of time, but the ruling bloodlines became more clever and decided to hide behind the shadows and set-up pseudo-democracies in the west to fool their field slaves. State-sponsored “education” serves to ingrain in our minds those false ideals so we’ll be open to fleecing (taxes, fines, etc.) at every opportunity without realizing it. And so far, it’s working brilliantly for them.
The tax-funded benefits we get in return (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, etc.) are simply means to buy our compliance. And even those things are mired with fraud, corruption, and waste. As someone once said, “welfare is the ransom the rich pay to avoid revolution.” Not to mention they get a huge pie of that welfare for themselves as compensation.
Even when the U.S.A. started as a country we had corporate socialism, but without any of the “progressive” benefits that now come with it in our present paradigm. Remember the federal bailout of 1792? Not to mention that we were still paying taxes to Britain (just like today), so we never won that phony “War of Independence”, either.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1792#Crisis_management
Feudalism never ended, it simply changed masks.
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The whole nonsense involving so-called “higher education”, student loans, etc. would be simply obviated by following the advice of Thomas Jefferson, which today would be deemed highly politically incorrect. To read Mr. J’s simple advice, see https://www.BigEye.org/schoolin.htm
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There are a couple of ways to look at this: 1) Alan Greenspan said that the SSTF is a legal claim on resources, and that the resources are real, therefore the SSTF is real.
2) Modern Monetary Theory (MMT), which has basically been our hidden reality since the gold window was closed 50 years ago, says that since the US is a currency issuer, the government will always be able to pay any and all debts, and that deficits and the national debt are irrelevant, and that the economy needs to be managed to take care of necessities and to control inflation (which is the purpose of taxation). Therefore, the Trust Fund is an illusion and should be ignored.
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When everything in this country is for-profit, including our “public” sector, what do you expect? It’s all a massive racket to perpetuate a system designed to benefit the ruling class at the expense of the masses, but with the veneer of “democracy” to conceal our fascist reality. And speaking of Clinton, under his administration, there were plans to privatize Social Security and turn it to the corporate goons at Wall St., which says plenty of where his priorities laid at the time. Of course, they couldn’t afford to do so without facing massive opposition, certainly not openly. At least in Europe, they have better social systems despite the endemic waste and corruption there, too. That includes their higher education. Ironically, their populations enjoy better representation than we Americans do.
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With this in mind, that means the publicly-subsidized benefits we enjoy (food stamps, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, etc.) are simply there to buy our compliance, thereby making us dependant on and loyal to the system currently in place. Why do you think FDR’s “New Deal” plan enjoyed massive corporate backing, which made his legislative agenda a reality in the first place? Because they knew such programs would pose no significant threat to their power and wealth. Otherwise, it would’ve suffered the same fate as the “Green New Deal” and “Build Back Better” – it would’ve been tossed in the trash can before it even saw the halls of our federal bureaucracy.
You can read more about the program’s corporate sponsors at:
https://whorulesamerica.ucsc.edu/power/social_security.html
Ironically, the abovementioned corporate socialists, primarily on the right, would later attempt to cut or sack benefits for ordinary workers registered in the Social Security scheme. Essentially, it’s just another way to tax the peasants for more of their labor so their parasitic overlords could take more for themselves.
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In fact, they actually saw FDR’s “New Deal” policies as a huge opportunity (for them), because they realized they could pillage more tax revenues from the ever-expanding federal racket in D.C. And they were right. Look at what happened in WWII, for example, in which their kin in the defense industry got fabulously rich off federal spending.
Anthony Sutton goes into further detail about FDR’s legacy here:
Click to access Sutton_Wall_Street_and_FDR-3.pdf
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“This robber baron schema is also, under different labels, the socialist plan. The
difference between a corporate state monopoly and a socialist state monopoly is
essentially only the identity of the group controlling the power structure. The essence of socialism is monopoly control by the state using hired planners and academic sponges. On the other hand, Rockefeller, Morgan, and their corporate friends aimed to acquire and control their monopoly and to maximize its profits through influence in the state political apparatus; this … is a discreet and far more subtle process than outright state ownership under socialism. …. We call this phenomenon of corporate legal monopoly—market control acquired by using political influence—by the name of corporate socialism.“
“In brief, corporate socialism is intimately related to making society work for the few.“
Sound familiar with what’s happened in 2008 and 2020? Essentially, what we have today is economic neo-feudalism, ran today by the descendants of the royal bloodlines of feudal Europe.
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SS, like all “benefits” (crumbs), is part of a much bigger, global game. Without conditional (money) crumbs, transferred and accepted, the game is up. Let me repeat: This is a game.
Reforming the corrupt, predatory, parasitic, imperial mindset that invents the rules of the game is a failed strategy. The system is designed to fail all but the uber-rich and powerful. We are headed toward more, not less, gamification, more conditional cash incentives and more “nudging” the herd into global homogeneity/homeostasis (one-world order). Universal Basic Income (UBI) is already at our doorstep (unsolicited Covid Cash) and the oligarchs running the world have a vision of a totalitarian (corrupt top to bottom) machine running everything.
For those individuals who do not want to be swallowed whole (mind, body and soul) by the Global Brain (under construction), it’s time to study Malthusian origins of today’s cybernetic, world brain LIFE being planned for you (all) without your knowledge or consent.
Social Security is an example of “conditional cash transfer” — a totalitarian program/project — designed to keep power concentrated at the top, and keep you and me convinced they (oligarchs/blood families) do it for our/your own good. It’s the furthest thing from their sick, twisted, frightened minds.
For a more comprehensive look-see: https://wrenchinthegears.com/2022/05/01/conditional-cash-transfers-mexican-testbed-for-behavioral-scrip-impact-investing/
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That’s a grim assessment of a program that has lifted millions out of poverty and supported kids who have lost parents until age 18. It is also aimed at the disabled. Totalitarian? There are no strings attached to it, and retirees do not have to worry that their money will run out before they do. I think of it as a win for ordinary citizens. There have been attempts to means-test it, and there are those who hate it because it is da gubbmint, but it works.
I do suggest a trip to a MMT (Modern Monetary Theory) site to dispel the notion that it is wealth transfer, and talk to any retiree about the supposed totalitarian strings attached. There are none.
Medicare/Medicaid are different animals in that they are attached to our medical system, which is corrupt.
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“That’s a grim assessment of a program that has lifted millions out of poverty and supported kids who have lost parents until age 18. It is also aimed at the disabled.”
I don’t know how true those statements are. Considering the meager provisions the program offers people, especially after the 1990s, I doubt it helped as many people as is claimed. Social Security was first established in 1935, and the United States came out of the Great Depression when it entered WWII in response to the Pearl Harbor psyop six years later, so obviously the program itself wasn’t the main reason for the alleviation of massive poverty in 1930s-40s America. Otherwise, we would’ve already seen millions of people already out of poverty by the time we joined the Second World War in 1941.
If I’m wrong, I’d be more than happy to hear your counterargument. Perhaps the program has a lot more to offer than I assume.
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Right on Steve, it’s a sick twisted game that holds the vulnerable feet to the flame, Just enough to keep a grip of fear. With a little fear and a little force you can get sheep to do anything.
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Man this is depressing thread! You guys are the kings of dour. People are unable to save, or unwilling. I would say more unable than the latter. Private pensions are mostly gone, replaced by IRAs and the like, which except in the case of high-paid earners, are insecurity vehicles, people watching them drain before their eyes, fearing they will soon be destitute. That, originally, was Wall Street’s vision for gettiing rid of SS.
I retired at age 62, that is, I controlled my earnings and was able to stay within guidelines until my earnings cap was lifted at age 65. I have IRAs but only take out minimum withdrawals. I made some investments that have been very good to me, so far (natural gas is king right now). And, I receive Social Security every month. It is SS that allows me to minimize my IRA withdrawals.
Yes, I am in better shape than most, but for most, Social Security is lifeblood. It is a floor, maybe not enough to live on (certainly not in my case), but if you know that going in, plan on collecting it and supplementing it, hopefully with savings, hopefully not as a WalMart greeter.
Your comments reek of cynicism. Why do we have SS? Because Senior Citizen poverty was a national disgrace. Why do we have Medicare? Because health care costs were wiping out what savings senior citizens had accumulated. I am not seeing tyranny or evil in this. Nothing is perfect, but these two programs do immense good.
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MT,
My brother and I (along with our respective spouses) provide financial support to our father and his wife (both in their 70s, and my dad being disabled for many years). No doubt, we are extremely grateful for the monthly social security checks they both receive – as it helps somewhat to offset our monthly output, to keep them sustained comfortably. I see no evil agenda playing out in this regard. Just as their SS checks arrive with no obvious strings attached, the financial contributions we offer also come with no stipulations. Of course, we would do anything to help support our dad (and his wife), and we would never ask for anything in return.
That said, I do see evidence that there may be less overt contingencies related to social security benefits – albeit very “soft” (thus far, that is). One soft condition would be the exchange of data analytics/metrics (AKA Big Data) in return for the seemingly unconditional financial offering from our ostensibly “generous” government (as financial “caretaker”).
However, as the cybernetic machine takes more shape, I sense the “exchange” may become inherently conditional – first being conjured as incentive-based schemes, followed perhaps by increasingly more overt stipulations. I do not know what that would look like, but I imagine it will take on more hints of gamified objectives. I will provide some relevant links (see below) – only if you are interested in getting a sense of the flavor to come. I do not think it is a pretty picture; and yes, admittedly, I am cynical about the true aims of a decentralized, technocratic rule of government (which will be increasingly privatized/financialized/incentivized/gamified).
In this vein of cynicism, I recently read the following excerpt (it was behind a paywall), and I feel like it may be relevant (even though the article had nothing at all to do with social security/government compensation):
The real system of governance is not “democracy” or even “oligarchy”, it is this cybernetic management system. Full spectrum narrative steerage towards denouement, a resolution of tension which neuters the vitality of the mass man. It is dialectical, it is protocological, it is alchemical. There is no such thing as “rights,” “equity,” “equality,” “progress,” “happiness,” or “freedom”. These things are all sensations, elements of the theatrical sensorium, and have no content outside the context of metamorphosing trance states. (source: https://schwabstack.substack.com/p/theater-kid-occupied-government-tkog?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjo1MDE0MjQxNiwiXyI6IllBdVlPIiwiaWF0IjoxNjUyNzU0NjA4LCJleHAiOjE2NTI3NTgyMDgsImlzcyI6InB1Yi02MTI5MjAiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.MP4MVYo8wM-FtP3faYm6jeR-NcBV_w3U0yaIa9VTB74&s=r)
While government welfare/compensation programs may potentially have their roots in altruism, as we move forward with advanced cybernetic management (i.e. – social security on the blockchain), these programs will become evermore controlled (by AI) – and controlling (tokenized/gamified). Ultimately, I sense these programs have (and have always had) an alchemical purpose – even if dual-use (for both unspoken positive and negative aims).
For further exploration – again, only if interested (to evidence what may be coming in the future):
https://www.88finance.com/meet-asure-network-social-security-reimagined-596078.html
View at Medium.com
View at Medium.com
Click to access asure.network.whitepaper.en.pdf
https://www.asure.network
https://www.live-pr.com/en/meet-asure-network-social-security-reimagined-r1050725477.htm
http://www.echtnice.com (The developers of the Asure blockchain for “reimagining” global social security have turned to gaming – “Because at ECHTNICE we breathe games.”)
Click to access rep-vi.pdf
https://deliverypdf.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=552114115001089018012111112018090027046082018033091033077096120073112095107114089005034102023059043112038104081003104092090082053021092039027004084014001124108093004069013011125016087102085069099000081067025002023022088125106124095100076011070083121068&EXT=pdf&INDEX=TRUE
https://www.unrisd.org/en/library/blog-posts/conditional-cash-transfers-and-the-human-right-to-social-security
https://www.un.org/en/desa/remarks-world-social-security-summit (Spatolisano is also associated with the UN’s “AI for Good”: https://aiforgood.itu.int/speaker/maria-francesca-spatolisano/)
On a strange side note . . . The “father” of the U.S. Social Security program – John Gilbert Winant – was a curious fellow . . . (presumably, he was engaged in a sordid love affair with Winston Churchill’s daughter, and allegedly committed suicide) . . . Makes for some interesting reading, in my opinion (more so than my previous links above!) . . .
https://www.ssa.gov/history/winants2.html
https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/social-security/winant-john-g/
https://www.seacoastnh.com/us-wwii-ambassador-john-winant-gets-his-memorial-at-las/
https://www.nhmagazine.com/john-gilbert-winant-the-most-important-nh-man-you-never-knew/
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I do not understand block chain, or how it threatens me, especially via a program instituted in 1935 to alleviate poverty in the senior citizen class. It is all too deep and mysterious for me. If they are playing gotcha, well, they got us long ago. They got my Mom, Dad, and now me. How devious! How malevolent to assist us as they have! How my Mom, Dad, and your father and step mother have been taken! I just do not see the evil in this program that has helped so many millions, no strings attached. What am I missing?
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No strings attached? Having a large chunk of money taken away daily (money earned with sweat) over decades of my life, which in turn is invested by them, profited on by them, and also pocketed by them? What would my 5000 fictional dollars “paid in” from 1985, let’s say, be worth to me now with a little thoughtful management?
So they return a tiny bit of that to me, which helps of course, if money has otherwise dried up. Big win for them. They can appear as benevolent caretakers, using my money to aid me in my frail years, while all that time (decades) they have profited mightily off my sweat….multiply my contributions by millions of others.
A big time, well orchestrated scheme. Since 1935 (a great time for the rulers to re-imagine their ownership going forward), you say? Putting pretty curtains on the slave’s quarters.
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In order to sell the program back in 1935, they had to resort to mythology to placate the wealthy. At that time they created the myth that working class people would pay for their own benefits by means of a tax labeled “FICA.” Over time, FICA became the major tax on workers, in reality 14.2% of your income, and not the 7.65% seen on your W-2. Later a further myth would come into use, called the Social Security Trust Fund. The myths are useful 1) to tax the hell out of working people (FICA is not levied on most income that the wealthy rely on), and 2) to threaten us with the idea that Social Security is or will soon go broke.
I paid all my FICA tax and believed all the mythology well into my adult years. Now I understand better – all money is fiat money, but government has to regulate demand, and does so by means of taxation. The FICA tax does not fund Social Security or Medicare. It is just a tax, another income tax, a regulating device. Since the government is the issuer of the currency, it keeps close tabs on inflation, and taxes accordingly to keep a lid on things. Right now we are in an inflationary time, and fixes will soon be levied (higher taxes) to set the house in order again.
So there are no deficits that need concern us, and no national debt, but they use these myths to prevents spending on really useful things like a proper health care system, tuition for college kids, full employment,all the things that the wealthy oppose. Whenever these matters are discussed, we find we “cannot afford” them. However, when there is a war or they are running a fake pandemic, all bets are off. Spending goes crazy. Those things we can “afford.”
Note how Obama’s $780 billion stimulus in 2009 did not lead to rampant inflation, as so many Chicago and Austrian economists predicted. Instead, we had 12 years of record prosperity and no inflation to speak of. Economists do not understand economics well.
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MT,
I do not see the social security program as inherently evil. I agree that it has helped so many people. My primary concern is where it is headed – amidst the accelerating panopticon (with digital strings attached). But even then – tracing back to its roots (I mentioned John G. Winant, but there were other SS “fathers” including Wilbur Cohen, Abraham Epstein, Edwin Witte, and Arthur Altmeyer) – there does seem to be something more esoteric (alchemical) at its core. I can’t quite pinpoint it, but this article (https://www.developmentpathways.co.uk/blog/the-social-contract-and-the-role-of-social-security/) may hint at it – the concept of the social contract and building trust in the System (AKA the Machine):
In conclusion, trust in government is the basic building block of any successful nation-state. It needs to be at the very top of the list of government priorities since, once trust is undermined, the state itself can be threatened. History tells us that a key factor in building trust is the provision of universal public services, since they can be enjoyed by everyone on an equal and impartial basis. And, if trust is to be built quickly, the best means of doing so is through universal social security.
In a nutshell – I suppose I am an anarchist (and skeptic) at heart, and I do not trust the nation-state and its architects. I extend this lack of trust out to the global architects: https://socialprotection.org/partners and https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/socialprotectionandjobs/publication/protecting-all-risk-sharing-for-a-diverse-and-diversifying-world-of-work.
Nation-states do not perceive individuals as human beings, but, rather, human capital. While not an evil construct per se, this invariably sets up an unhealthy dynamic – and there is something energetically esoteric occurring with currency exchanges, in my opinion.
On alchemy and money (including mention of FDR’s New Deal): https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/sociopol_moneymisterymagick01.htm.
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That last link with reference to the use of the number 13 on the $1 bill is quite interesting. I have known for so long as I was aware of the use of 8, 121 and 33 that ’13’ had no special significance. People just assume it is Masonic.
The first link, about social contract and provision of services in Europe to support high taxes surely has some merit. I did some calculations with Canadian taxes at one time long ago and found that if you add our health care and education costs to our relatively low (income) tax, that Canadians were actually better off, which would explain why there are so many wealthy Canadian households. But an underlying point is that those countries used currencies that were not, like ours, fiat. So tax collection is actually done to pay for government services. We do not need to worry about that.
The rest of it, as I mentioned to Steve or TM or someone else … it is not the world I would choose to live in if I had a choice. I had to laugh as years ago right wingers were threatening to “Go Galt” on us – whenever someone threatened that, I took notice and said something snarky like “You’ll soon come crawling back.” Did I mention that I’ve been banned at many websites, not that they even exist anymore. But the point is that we cannot just walk away from society. I don’t know where the reset is taking us. I have managed to stay unvaccinated, and so far it has only cost me one thing: My membership in Audubon over in Evergreen. They made a policy that anyone unvaxxed cannot participate in their activities. So I quit.
But I do not know the future. I don’t fear the future. I just don’t know what is in store for us. My wife and I are in great shape, no debt at all of any kind. If they took that away from us, it would sting.
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@Mark.
The number 13 is very significant in the occult. This is why its widely used by Freemasons and the like. And lets not forget M is the 13th letter of the alphabet. M is a Masonic marker especially when it is a distinctive Masonic M like in the GMail or the Mtv logo.
For the uninitiated the GMail logo is an envelope with the M of Mail for the initiated an apron with the M of Mason, Mtv for the uninitiated is Music television, for the initiated its Masonic television. The headquarters of Mtv Canada are inside a Masonic Temple, not in the same building but inside the Temple itself. The address is 888 Yonge Street in Toronto. To build this Temple a Church standing on that location was torn down.
There is a Wikipedia entry about this Masonic Temple being predominantly used for rock concerts (at one time under the name the rock pile, referring to the great pyramid) and media broadcasts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masonic_Temple_(Toronto)
To find the numerological meaning of number 13, you need to reduce it to a root number. As with spook markers this is done with simple addition and subtraction sums. No complex calculations or shuffling around of digits are involved.
1 + 3 = 4
The meaning of 13 is very much like number 4, but it can also have elements of numbers 1 and 3 involved as well.
Like the numbers 1 and 4, 13 is associated with producing tangible outcomes in the material world.
According to numerology, people and situations that are heavy with the energy of 13 will involve pragmatism, independence, creativity and the ability to set firm foundations for future activity.
https://affinitynumerology.com/number-meanings/number-13-meaning.php
The ambition to bring about a tangible outcome in matter is seen in occult teachings as practiced within Freemasonry as rebellion against the creator God of the Bible. Here is an article about the Masonic use of thirteen as a number of rebellion.
https://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_illuminati_14.htm
Freemasons believe that the creator God of the Bible is a lesser God who imprisoned us in matter and Lucifer is the God who teaches us how to rebel against the creator to be free again.
One of Christianity’s functions is to to lure anyone who is interested in the collection of books supposedly inspired by this creator God into a religious institution to ultimately initiate them into Luciferianism /Illuminism/Gnosticism.
When reading the second linked article keep in mind that rituals on the world stage do not necessarily have to be real to produce the desired effect.
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This was my first response to your post about the number 13. I thought it didn’t get through moderation and I wrote a new and more nuanced response hoping my initial knee jerk response would not see the day of light…
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light of day…
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The first 13 states and the many thirteens on the dollar bill have to do with the mummerological properties of the number 13.
Like the numbers 1 and 4, 13 is associated with producing tangible outcomes in the material world. According to numerology, people and situations that are heavy with the energy of 13 will have the ability to set firm foundations for future activity.
By creating two global superpowers in the 17th century, first the British Empire and then the United States of America, the super-rich banking elite, which began with the Knights Templar, was able to mold large parts of the world to their totalitarian doctrine.
The number 13 is very significant in the occult. Therefore, it is widely used by Freemasons and the like who attribute great importance to numerology. That doesn’t necessarily make it a spook marker but it’s not without meaning.
To find the numerological meaning of the number 13, you need to reduce it to a root number. As with spook markers this is done with simple addition and subtraction sums: 13 = 1 + 3 = 4.
The meaning of 13 is very much like number 4, but it can also have elements of numbers 1 and 3 involved as well.
The ambition to to make your will a dominant force in this world is seen in occult teachings as practiced within Freemasonry as rebellion against the creator God. Freemasons believe that the creator is a lesser God who has imprisoned us in matter and Lucifer is the God who teaches us how to rebel against that creator by redesigning the material world and changing its laws and properties.
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The knights Templar… is that a connection to “The knights of Columbus ? I know that their some type of Catholic Fraternal organization.
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As far as I can tell, all knighthoods began with Catholicism.
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Or with the Anglican Church, but ultimately that’s more of the same.
Did you know the queen of England is head of the Anglican Church as well as a sky high ranking mason? She’s got the same evil personified kind of vibe as the pope.
Freemasonry is on the foreground were the Knights of Malta and the Jesuits are in the background. Jesuits control the Knights of Malta.
The Knights of Malta control banking, industry and military complexes of the world. They oversee Chase Manhattan Bank with branches in Moscow and New York.
They also rule the international Intelligence community, the KGB in the east and the CIA in the west.
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They also own most of the sports teams and are linked to what we know as the mafia.
http://www.voxfux.com/features/knights_of_malta_facts.html
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As a former member of the KofC, what I was told was that since, at that time, Catholics were not allowed to be Freemasons, KC was offered as an alternative. It was a group without secrecy, with an initiation that was kept secret on request just so new members would not know about it in advance. I figured that part out almost immediately. KCers were not allowed to place anything ahead of the Pope and were vowed to service, and were also charged with protection of Catholic priests. My brother, a Catholic priest, thought that was some weird shit. I stayed for a few months, ended up being treasurer, and then quit. My biggest drawdown from the Knights of Columbus was that they were centered not so much around the Pope or protection of priests, but around the bar. It was the center of KC life.
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XS I was slow on the button to release your comments (too many links sends it to moderation). Regarding the number 13, it sounds like I am wrong about it’s significance in Freemasonry. Happens a lot, so I officially walk that back.
I hope your piece here tomorrow generates lots of interest and responses.
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@ XS, I know a few people who were long time members of the KofC And I just found it a bit confusing that Knights Templar is “Both Christian and Catholic”…I read Somewhere that poor fellow soldiers of Christ, Temple of Solomon were Christians during the Medieval era, Yet Templars was Catholic Military Order. Seeing how you had dug into it, figured you might know more ? Just curious.
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Christianity began with Catholicism. The Knights Templar were stationed close to the Temple Mount where Solomon is said to have built a temple hence the name. “Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon” and “Order of Solomon’s Temple” are other names for the same Kights Templar.
These Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ were anything but poor but usurers who offered “protection” in return for payment. Nowadays you would call this mafia practice.
As far as I can tell, the KofC are more like the Shriners.
The Christ in the Bible taught his followers not to wage war but to keep the peace. In reality, Christianity has nothing to do with this Christ.
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XS, Thanks for the clarification. it just didn’t make sense to me that ‘Two Religions” would be on the same page. And now after reading Marks comment on his experience with the KofC. I now understand that the fellas I talked about who were involved with the KofC didn’t belong to some secret society…They just wanted to “Belly-up to the Bar”…To have an excuse to get away from their wives and girlfriends.
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Grim, it may be, but it is my (today’s) assessment. I didn’t always feel this way. At age 15, I concluded I’d never collect a penny after accounting for the “baby boom” population surge, and predicted lower birth rate in coming decades. I was wrong about that, but new information has moved me to where I now stand. Gandhi had one thing right, non-participation is a slave’s best defense against the colonial slave master. For most, work is a mandatory condition fundamental to collecting “benefits” in retirement. I’m totally over conditional anything from our imaginary government and its imaginary money. A lifetime of suspension of disbelief makes one weary. I’m for a new system, a totally new one.
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Be careful what you wish for. I was watching an MMT versus Austrian School debate yesterday, and was very surprised to hear that the MMT guy agreed with the Austrian guy that our financial system could be much better than it is. But he was a realist, and so works within that system. MMT is capsulized in the one-minute video below.
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Soooooh, We can all agree social security is needed. Our vets should be taking care of. They should stop these commercials begging the American people for money. The government should be able to cover all of that with their wasted expenses… And our so called government should “STOP” sending fucking money that doesn’t belong to them to other countries ? if that were to happen, there would be plenty to go around…and then some ! Maybe then we’d all be happy; But that would be too easy. Right ?
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I do wish that anyone would view the one-minute video below regarding MMT. Next you’ll be telling mr that we are saddling our grandchildren with unmanageable debt, along with your unsupported claim that we are sending billions to other countries.
The reason I am drawn to MMT is that I intuitively understood it before finding out it is now a formal economic theory. If we take our “national debt” and pay it off with a silver coin, nothing changes. Government deficits become private sector surpluses. Money is an illusion, as are political boundaries, but as long as we are all sharing the same illusion, it is reality. These past couple of years (along with 2008-2009) have shattered the mythology of Austrian and Chicago School economics, the idea that our government should be run like a household. I think it was 1986 or so that this was made clear to me by the president of a small bank in Billings, MT. I just did not know to incorporate his wisdom into the grand scheme, that money and debt are but illusions when the government in question makes its money out of whole cloth. Our economy has to be carefully managed, but we will never go broke, nor will our grandchildren.
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Yes, the US economy (whatever that is, really) has to be carefully managed, as it has been in Europe, and most of the rest of the world through a global, central banking system centered in the City of London and Basil, Switzerland. The idea that “…we will never go broke, nor will our grandchildren” is true only for some of the people living under conditions dictated (only a few really have any say in the matter) by the private-capital financial system that dominated every aspect of contemporary life.
For those who live in poverty and who watch helplessly as hedge funds, the IMF and World Bank rob/loot their traditional means of survival, this system is a direct cause of their colonial existence and what seems like perpetual poverty, created and maintained (“managed”) under the threat of violence and/or death. It is not that different here in Montana. Wealth extracted from Nature leaves on trains every day. The financial benefit leaves with the unprocessed natural resources headed to Asia and other points where it is processed with “cheap labor.”
MMT, Social Security, and every other theory, project and program that falls under the overarching imperial/colonial/extractive global slave system favors rich over poor. Global capital and its captives contributes next to nothing to reverse poverty rates or wealth inequality. We (commoners) have no say in the matter. We are conditioned from cradle to grave to accept/consent at every turn. I do not, I will not. What others do is their business and am here on this earth not to change anyone’s mind or choices they make. I only wish to make those ignorant of the system and its effects more aware of its origins and its realities, and its intent. I am, right now, imaging a better way to live for humans and Nature.
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I agree with most of that and cannot do anything about any of it. Just understand that most countries do not create their own currency, and so are subject to debt repayment – each of the 19 countries that fell under the Euro gave up their sovereignty. Greece is the poster child for this. Japan, Australia, the US and Great Britain manufacture their own currencies, and so still have some sovereignty. Switzerland, which did not join the Euro, still manages itself with some independence.
If I ruled the world, things would be different.
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if you ruled the world, I bet it would be different. You’d realize the paper currency that is “rapidly printed” isn’t worth nothing more than to wipe our ass with…And our pockets would be filled with “GOLD”.
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The gold standard became untenable, and Nixon closed the gold window because he had no other choice.
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Got that right, my friend. Seen that one coming a long time ago. When they first went off the gold standard, people weren’t falling for giving up their gold for a “Shit piece of paper”…So they had to guarantee, “PAY TO THE BEARER ON DEMAND”. and that was printed on “Every Bill”. The next step is to scrap the paper, save the trees; and flip it all into plastic. Just think how it will take all the crime element out of the almighty dollar ? “The Dollar is Gone”, how will people make shady deals with drugs and such ? ooh, let me transfer some money to your account; I don’t think so ! The government will be able to track your every move… And the beauty of it all is that the government won’t have to print anymore paper… They’ll just say, Put it on the ‘ol Tab.
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Not the world I would choose.
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“MMT, Social Security, and every other theory, project and program that falls under the overarching imperial/colonial/extractive global slave system favors rich over poor.”
“MMT” is a bit of a misnomer, or at least misleading. It purports to be purely descriptive. As such, there’s no use taking issue with it on any sort of moral or ethical grounds – it can only be criticized as a more or less accurate picture of how the economic infrastructure actually works, in practice. One can certainly reject the system it describes. But rejecting MMT would be like rejecting an anthropological study, because the tribe it describes makes shrunken heads out of its enemies.
It is true that MMT has attracted many ideologically driven supporters from the left, naturally, since it seems to promise a way to “pay for” their visions. And it may be a talking point for some technocrats, talking UBI etc. But in itself, it is not “for” what it describes.
MMT is enormously useful to anyone interested in “the Truth,” because (as best I can glean) it makes a genuine attempt to “lift the veil” on (at least some) of the reality of how Economics actually works. It is thus an answer to the 99.9% of academic economists, who attempt to place a veil over understanding how things work (or simply have no clue, having been indoctrinated themselves.)
It has disappointed me for a long time that so many otherwise perceptive researchers, knowledgeable about fakery everywhere, are still bought in on the myths of debt and deficit. (I heard Rand Paul on NPR this morning reinforcing it, saying we would have to borrow money from China to send money to Ukraine. It really is ridiculous! The topsy-turvy world they’ve got everyone living in mentally.) So, glad Mark is covering this beat.
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TIMR,
Thank you for refreshing my memory. It was my second blog entry here at POM (04/18/2017), and I tried to describe something that sounds a lot like MMT, but I don’t recall being a fan, or non-fan at that time. https://pieceofmindful.com/2017/04/18/there-is-no-tax-and-spend/#more-65988
My main criticism today is that if all of our discussions and assessments focus on particulars of the US financial system, we are not focusing on the global implications of the forward movement of history and technology through all the noise. What is noise and what is not? Many, many good, smart people in being left in the dust. I don’t want to become electro-magnetic pixie dust, a cybernetic avatar or a “human-plus” cyborg either.
If Elan Musk wants to buy Twitter, or so-called liberals want to pretend that MMT will bring an end to global imperialism, colonialism, racism, and all the other institutionalized idiocy, I will sip on a cold one and watch from the sidelines.
Big things are happening, and happening fast. I want to know about things we aren’t being told and those important policy decisions made behind closed doors that may change all lifeforms on the planet. That which remains secret seems vastly greater our current awareness. Just a curious sort, I guess.
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Then again I forgot, Once the government has “Your Money”…Possession is Nine Tenths of the Law. Like Mark Twain said, it’s easier to fool people. Ownership is easier to maintain if one has possession of something…But difficult to enforce if one does not.
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Money which they also have the power to print or coin, so you’re simply paying them back what they loaned you to keep our mixed economy going. The only way out is if we get together and create our own system.
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Creating our own system is an awesome idea Harry. Mark isn’t down with flipping it into plastic and neither am I, So what do you Suggest ? Can we count on putting you in charge of that ?
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We’ll see to that. If any idea comes up, I’ll let you know.
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Thanks Harry, We’ll work on it together…I got your back brother.
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I think I may have found a legal loophole,Harry. We should all denounce our American citizenship. You know how the government gives illegal immigrants “more freedom and money than their own people” (citizens) ? Well, we should all declare “Diplomatic immunity”… international law providing safe harbor and passage, not susceptible to criminal or Civil prosecution or any law suits. We won’t have to pay taxes anymore and we can get away with anything short of Murder.
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“You know how the government gives illegal immigrants “more freedom and money than their own people” (citizens) ?”
Don’t forget that they give 10x that to the ultra-rich, as the bailouts of 2008 and 2020 have shown. Not to mention that those same pampered parasites receive billions in tax subsidies, credits, and refunds, meanwhile paying next to nothing in taxes in many instances, all at the expense of the middle and working classes. And don’t forget lucrative contracts with federal agencies.
Regardless, though, I do agree that opting out of the system is the first step. We then have to create a system similar to what this video illustrates towards the end (skip to 8:33):
If you’re curious, I suggest you watch the above video in full. It’s very entertaining and insightful.
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That was good, Mr. Pretzel Mug. it shows how it’s nothing more than a house of cards, and they just keep on printing that money. it’s just a fucking treadmill of perpetual debt for most people, How Sad ! Bailout after bailout. And who ends up on the losing end ?
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The ones who face the brunt of the costs, particularly the middle and working classes with oppressive taxes to finance (or, if you believe in the MMT theory, legitimize) public spending.
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Being involved with a group called “Wonderlust” has surely shown your age and how you’ve grown over time…Picking up the pieces of my sweet shattered dream, I wonder how the “OLD FOLKS” are tonight ? Her name was Ann, and I’ll be damned if I recall her face…She left me not knowing what to do. Turning back the pages to the times I love best, I wonder if she’ll ever do the “same” ? Now the thing that I call living is just being satisfied…With knowing I got “No one left to blame”. Searching through the fragments of my dream shattered sleep, I wonder if the years have closed her mind? I guess it must be “WANDERLUST”or trying to get free…From the good old faithful feeling we once knew. Gorden Lightfoot.
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It was called “Wonder”lust, and it was indeed seniors – I was only in my fifties, but liked the idea.
We saw Gordon Lightfoot perform in San Jose. We were seated midsection and a woman approached a man next to us and asked if he was a GL fan, and he said “not really” and she said she had front row tickets and asked me if I liked him. Yes! She gave us the two front row tickets. The guy was OK, did not engage the audience in any way, just one song after another. Some entertainers, Ian Tyson, for instance, lack stage presence. They just stand there and sing.
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it’s called stage freight, being in the “spot light”…it’s scary sometimes. some people just do their thing and get the hell out of there. Stage presence = being prepared. some people just can’t handle it and “NEVER get used to it.
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Not surprising. Like so many others, My friend Van Morrison used to turn his “Back to the crowd”too, because it’s so overwhelming. Stage- fright can be a Mother-F…er.
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With fractional reserve banking banks create money when they make loans. Taxation and central banking activities may reduce money supply but the debt obligations on the banks’ books remain and must be repaid with interest, compounding. And that makes the monetary systems of this planet ponzi, or pyramid, schemes.
There was $trillions of activity in the repo market leading up to the announcement of a new fiat virus possibly signifying nervousness in certain circles with the stability of the system. Who knows.
One day the music will stop. Blockchains, carbon taxes and whatever else is being devised to build back better (for some) won’t help us plebs. We haven’t been allocated any chairs so will have nothing and be happy (or not).
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“Taxation and central banking activities may reduce money supply”
Taxation does, yes, but federal government spending increases money supply through fiat money creation. They call it “borrowing,” but I’ve seen the flow charts that show how they obfuscate where the money creation happens. Have you looked into MMT and don’t care for it, or you’re just sticking to your Austrian school or whatnot, assuming it says nothing worth hearing?
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$40 billion for Ukraine. How much will the new WHO takeover of American Health Care System cost? https://worldcouncilforhealth.org/campaigns/stop-the-who/2022/05/stopthewho-oppose-international-health-regulation-amendments/73799/?fbclid=IwAR3gDewHLYxW2mphqDDl0Ajrx4ar38k-4a0yT-tjBayCx9Kw-l-DOzF3RDY
We’ll find out after the fact, as usual. Global, global, global. What nation-state exists in reality anymore? Welcome to global, perpetual, medical martial law.
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Let’s “Build Back Better”.. Let’s send some more money to Ukraine. it seems things were a little better not so long ago….But let’s do some “NATION BUILDING”…That will build back better…Just not for the American people !
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Don’t forget our bloated military budget, which in a few years will surpass $1 trillion. $40 billion is a small token in comparison.
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If you look at the daily volume in the stock market you’ll see an enormous amount of money buying and selling digital shares of the current value of companies. We can also include all the commodity, etf, bonds etc. being traded. Just within the last 15 minutes of today, the amount of money i’m watching being traded would solve many of our problems, let alone the money volume for the entire day, week, year. Our money problems solved today, nope… Poof gone in 15 minutes!
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The so-called Social Security Fund is filled with Treasury Bonds/Bills aka IOUs. This is all disclosed by the government, but hardly anyone bothers to read the boring documents. There are no funds set aside for anyone. This is equivalent to someone writing a check to themselves for a billion dollars and placing it in a drawer, then claiming they have a “fund” for retirement.
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Essentially, it’s just another way for the rich to steal from the masses, meanwhile leaving them crumbs in return for their “tributes” (taxes). Corporate socialism at it’s finest.
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Instead of corporate Democrats taking the lead to “reform” Social Security, now their Republican colleagues are taking the lead behind closed doors, or at least that’s according to the article below. To quote an excerpt from the report:
“Of course, Republicans never acknowledge that they support slashing and even ending Social Security. Instead, they offer vague platitudes, professing their love for Social Security; they attack Democratic proposals; and they seek, as Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) proposes in his so-called TRUST Act, to create closed-door, smoke-filled rooms to do their dirty work without political accountability.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/republicans-want-to-reform-social-security-behind-closed-doors-beware/ar-AAYwj5d?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=e1fa9fe1d48b434f8a1b7704311bbea3
Here’s the abovementioned TRUST Act legislation, for those who want to read the bill itself:
https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/senate-bill/1295/text
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