Bernie Sanders: “What the Koch Brothers want to do is destroy Social Security because Social Security is a Federal government program that has been enormously successful.
The Koch Brothers are funding think tanks and other organizations which are spreading an enormous amount of disinformation about Social Security.
Raising the age of retirement, if they have people who are banging nails, or waitresses, or so many blue-collared jobs out there, that you gotta keep working until your seventy (70) years of age, that is just really unfair.
Second of all, we want to give the younger generation an opportunity to get out into the work force.
The Koch Brothers fund organizations. You have economists and political scientists working there. And they are very, very good in getting on television.
Andrew Biggs, Cato Institute: “raising the retirement age….”
Veronique de Rugy, Heritage Foundation: “I would increase the retirement age….”
Jose Pinera, Cato Institute: “we will probably have to increase the retirement age….”
David Johns, Heritage Foundation: “We’re probably going to have to raise the retirement age….”
And people will not know that they represent an organization which is heavily funded by corporate interests. They are very effective in getting their positions out into the media.
Lawrence Kudlow, the Kudlow Report: “Should Congress raise the retirement age?”
Britt Hume, Special Report, Fox News: “If you raise the retirement age….”
Guest on Hannity: “Raise the retirement age….”
Blonde on Fox Business: “Let’s consider the options. Let’s raise the age….”
Another blonde on Fox Business: “…raising the retirement age to 69.”
At the same time, the Koch Brothers are putting huge amounts of money into campaign contributions.
Paul Ryan: “…very modest increases in the retirement age….”
John Boehner: “…and eventually getting the retirement age to seventy (70) is a step that needs to be taken….”
Rand Paul: “…and the age on Social Security will have to go up….”
So you have an echo chamber which starts repeating a lot of misinformation.
The Koch Brothers are funding study after study which suggests to people that Social Security is going bankrupt. Social Security is not going broke. Social Security has a $2.6 trillion surplus.
Dan Mitchell, Cato Institute: “The program is actuarily bankrupt….”
Alison Fraser, Heritage Foundation: “Social Security and medicare….They are going to go broke….”
David Boaz, Cato Institute: “the real risk is social security running out of money….”
Neil Cavuto, Your World: “Social Security going bankrupt….”
Gretchen Carlson, Fox & Friends: “Social Security already bankrupt….”
Lawrence Kudlow, The Kudlow Report: “Social Security is going bankrupt….”
George Bush: “The system will be bankrupt.”
Texas Governor Rick Perry: “Bankrupt Federal programs like Social Security….”
Congressman Paul Ryan: “Social Security is going bankrupt.”
Michele Bachmann: “Social Security is already operating in the red….”
The Koch Brothers want to privatize Social Security to invest your retirement funds on Wall Street. And you may lose all of your retirement savings when you get old.
Dan Mitchell, Cato Institute: “Real security is based on personal accounts with real assets.”
Lawrence Kudlow, The Kudlow Report: “I like the idea of personal accounts.”
Congressman Paul Ryan: “The option of investing one-third of their social security payroll taxes into personal retirement accounts….”
Bernie Sanders: “The Koch Brothers job is to do everything they can to dismember government in general. And if you have destroyed Social Security, you have gone a long way forward in that effort.”
Transcribed by the Barefoot Accountant of Accountants CPA Hartford, Connecticut, LLC
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I want to know what the Koch Brothers want to dismantle govenment? Is it to abolish regulations and taxes? Is that the only reason? How can there be surplus in Social Security…is it not part of thee national deficit/debt?
Perhaps this passage from an article in the New Yorker written by Jane Mayer addresses the motives of the Koch Brothers’ contributions:
Social Security has a $2.6 trillion surplus: since its inception in 1933 the Social Security Administration has collected more Social Security taxes than it has paid out in Social Security benefits to retirees.
Of course, the US government has also “borrowed” those pension funds, as it has borrowed trillions of dollars from China, investment portfolios, et al. Although certain politicians would never welch on our debt to China and others, they wish to do so with your retirement funds that you are legally “entitled” to. That’s why Social Security is called an entitlement: it’s not a free handout; taxpayers have been contributing 6.2% of their salaries to their retirement fund to be invested by the US government. The US Government borrowed those monies to pay for other programs and operations. The US Government owes the Social Security Administration, a trust fund of our retirement funds, $2.6 trillion dollars. It is typically not included in the amount of our nation’s national debt because the government owes it to a federal entity, and not to a non-federal entity.
An easy fix to Social Security is to uncap its present limit on wages of less than $106,800: tax ALL wages, including the millions that the rich earn. I would also tax investment income of individuals who taxable income consists primarily of dividends and capital gains on the premise that they are investors and such constitute self-employment earnings. Of course, the rich would burn me at the stake on that one.
Needless to say, Congress would never go for that solution because members need campaign contributions from the rich.
The Barefoot Accountant