Moynihan on Social Security "Woes"

[Max Sawicky]

"What?  You meaning "putting money in the trust fund" has all been one
enormous fraud?  That's it's been used to milk extra taxes out of working
people in order to pay for huge tax cuts for the rich, once under Reagan
and now again under Bush?  Without doing *one goddam thing* to save Social
Security?  What pompous ranting fraud ever convinced the American public
this was a good idea?  Was it . . Daniel Patrick Moynihan?  And was it
because it because he was a complete ignoranums or a lying sack of shit? . .
. "

mbs:  Calm down Mikey.  The fund is not a fraud.
It's a record of contributions in excess of cost,
and this record has great political import, IMO.
What happens to the cash is on the Gov, not on Soc Sec.

Whether Moynihan screws us is not a foregone
conclusion.  I think there's a 50-50 chance
the Commission will block the Bushies. Not
great odds, to be sure.

The recent tax cut defeat has got me thinking
that perhaps a diversion of the Trust Fund surplus
into a single account that held private-sector
assets wouldn't be such a bad thing.  This would
not have to be limited to stocks, obviously. The
lack of tangible assets arguably makes use of
the surplus for lousy tax cuts more feasible.
It would be another matter for the Fund to sell
off actual financial assets to finance a tax
cut.