Dear Editor:
Should I loan my government money for decades and not expect interest in return? I think not. Once Americans bought U.S. bonds out of patriotism and received interest on their loan. Now millions of Americans say they despise their government. They say they and everyone else must carry guns to protect themselves from their government. We are the government but maybe we need to be protected from ourselves?
Working Americans loan their government money through Social Security and Medicare taxes. Tax returns document the transaction. Upon retirement or disability this money comes back with interest. Are you getting back more than you paid in? If you bought $50,000 in U.S. bonds you would get back your principal plus interest.
Conservatives have long played with numbers to discredit government social insurance. Conservatives lied about union automotive worker's salaries by adding all potential benefits and claiming that union workers were receiving bloated salaries. No union jobs in the economy were not rated this way. A similar monetary hocus-pocus was used to force the U.S. Postal Service to set aside funds today for every potential retirement of employees for the next 75 years. No other business entity in America has to do this. This ridiculous requirement puts great strain on the world's best postal service.
Ron Paul, former Oklahoma Sen. Coburn, former Sen. Alan Simpson and so forth have long alleged Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. At the beginning of Social Security in 1936 Republican presidential candidate Alf Landon (Kansas) attacked SSA because it would be funded from a payroll tax. Greatest tax heist in history, Landon alleged.
Recently a Tribune letter May 15 from Centertown alleged Social Security and Medicare were destroying our economy because our government budget paid out 38.6 percent for these services. You can't be more silly when you allege citizens getting back their own contributions from these programs is a drag on the economy. Social Security and Medicare are not adding to U.S. debt. That would be a lie. Program administration is small. The monies buy bonds and both sides (citizens and government) benefit.
The view from Centertown is always grim. Alarmists and anarchists say our government is ripping us off. In reality SSA and Medicare are core government programs which most Americans cherish. Most Americans could not imagine what life in America would be like without these programs. Libertarian anarchists want to steal our money and rights!
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