Opening the Lock Box

How old are you? Do you plan to retire? Just how socially secure do you feel? Well I'm in my 50s and I don't really have any retirement plans and never expect to see Social Security. I believe that many of the thinking people in this country feel the same way. I have an IRA and a separate retirement plan, but I fear that the Federal Government will soon confiscate these and put those funds into the Social Security Fund to cover their lack of being able to control spending.

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The financial crisis in this country continues. For years there have been many who have been warning of Social Security and the threat it poses to our country. There have been those within the beltway that say that there is no problem and that the Social Security Trust Fund has enough money to last for years. The main problem that I see with this statement would be the true structure of that “trust” fund. I don’t believe there is or may have ever been such a think as a Social Security Trust Fund. A few years ago the American people were promised by Al Gore that he was going to protect Social Security by putting the money collected by the government in a lock box. I truly believe that Mr. Gore is a fool, an idiot, evil, or all of these in one package. There can not be a Social Security lock box.

For many years we have been told that Social Security was well financed and that each year it collected more money then it was paying out. We were told that it could one day run out of money so we had to make adjustments to “keep it solvent.” The one part that really never caught my attention—until the other day—was that every time there is talk of cutting government spending politicians run to the nearest microphone to decry cuts hurting the retired. I always seem to think that this was services.

I had heard for years things said that never hit me until the other day. I heard a report on cutting spending. The report was talking about discretionary and non-discretionary spending. The report said that the majority of the budget consisted of non-discretionary spending, which could not be touched. The lion share is Medicare, Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Social Security. That is when I stopped what I was doing and thought wait a minute: Why is Social Security part of the budget? If there really is a Social Security Trust Fund: Then why are the payments made from the US Treasury? The only answer I could think of would be that the whole thing has been a scam.

From The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: Policy Basics: Where Do Our Federal Tax Dollars Go? “20 percent of the budget, or $708 billion, will pay for Social Security, which provided retirement benefits averaging $1,117 per month to 36 million retired workers (and their eligible dependents) in December 2009. Social Security also provided survivors’ benefits to 6.4 million surviving children and spouses of deceased workers and disability benefits to 9.7 million disabled workers and their eligible dependents in December 2009.”

The way we were lead to believe that this occurred was that the taxes were collected, Social Security payments were made, and all excess funds were “invested in Treasury Bonds.” If this were true then those payments would not be part of the Federal Budget. They would be part of the budget of the Social Security Administration. The fact that the Treasury pays and the Congress allocates the funds means that we were mislead.

Year after year Social Security Taxes have been collected and put into the general fund. These taxes have been used to cover deficit spending for 100 years. Under the name of retirement insurance our money has been collected to supplement Congressional spending.

It has been purposed that the government should confiscate all 401Ks, IRAs, and private retirement funds and use them for the Social Security Trust Fund. The justification would be that since all of that money was exempt from taxes, the government has the right to take 100% of it to “save” Social Security. They say that all of those funds will be credited to your “account.” Which as I see it, will only be put into the general fund to be spent for whatever Congress wants to spend it on.

So it is clear that there is no Social Security Lock Box or Trust Fund. There is nothing but lies and a government spending out of control. Soon this whole scheme will fall apart and those depending on the government to keep promises will find that there is no money to fulfill them.

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These lies make the situation even worse than simply that there is not enough money to cover Social Security payments. It also means that since the government has co-mingled these taxes and become addicted to it, with the current financial situation and the retiring “Baby Boomers” the situation is even worst then what we are told. With chronic low employment and a exploding retired population, budget deficits will continue to increase unless we gain the courage to sever Social Security from Congressional control, cut other entitlements, and cut spending.

So yes Mr. Gore must have been lying when he said that he was going to put the excess proceeds from Social Security into a lock box. As a former Congressman he knew the truth and that to do such a thing would require a real trust fund and not a false tale with ledger entries instead of actual investments.

The idea of privatizing the system has been demonized by politicians for years. There are problems with the old system and any attempt to save it or change it. But we must understand that the addiction to spending is deep in Washington and politicians are not going to give up the income from the SSI tax. But we must have a grown up discussion about the future of this country and the abuses of the past that have created the corruption. Our futures depend on us making the hard decisions and act in the best interest of our children and the country, not just our own selfish wants.

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©2011 Pedro Sykes - Some Rights Reserved

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Monday’s Memos 3/14/11

Crossing the line:
I must say that I am not against Labor Unions. There have been situations where people have been abused, living in intolerable working conditions, and situations close to slavery. The only way in which they could break free was through organizing and demanding better pay and working conditions. I understand why many people are loyal to labor unions and willing to go to extremes to protect what they see as hard fought concessions. But as labor unions grew and became more powerful their mission seems to have changed. The political power and socialist agenda of the leaders of the large unions are not in sync with the foundational ideas that allowed for the growth of human freedom as never known on this planet.

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I believe that one of the greatest dangers that our nation faces is the possibility that our public sector workers loyalties are split between serving the community and the union. Those who work for the state governments are our employees and first loyalty must be the people. When they are willing to follow labor leaders and protest or possibly strike due to situations created outside of their own working conditions they are violating our trust. Looking back to the work slowdown in New York this winter it is easy to see how labor unions are willing to endanger the public to protest. Such actions make public sector unions a danger to society. I fully support the actions of Gov. Walker of Wisconsin. The unions and the media are saying this is about taking away union rights. This has nothing to do with unions and everything to do with the public sector. We are being played for fools if we believe that public workers are being mistreated. It is time for these workers to join the rest of the nation in reality.

The Union bosses appear to be scared. Well they must be. Look at the money or should I say the amount of member’s money they’ve spending to protest nationwide. The rise of the TEA Party and last November’s elections awoke the public unions that their world was becoming endangered. The failure of the Progressive Socialist to maintain their hold on power allowed such leaders as Gov. Walker to actually bring sanity into the public sector. I see no difference in Bell, California and the abuse of the city government and the incestuous relationship between the Democrat party and the unions. It is time to clip the wings of these out of control union leaders.

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35% of Americans
It was reported last week that over one third of Americans are currently unable to provide for their own needs. When this many citizens of this country are dependent on the government to provide their basic needs the fate of the nation is in danger. How can anyone really say that the recession is over with this many people dependent upon hand outs, welfare, Social Security, and unemployment? Is this really the hope and change that Obama’s supporters were expecting?


Debt ceiling and Cowboys:
It is once again clear that the Democrat Party Leaders are determined to continue to blindly spend this nation’s future away. They seem to be blind to reality. With the disaster in Japan it should be clear that we must not commit national suicide through endless spending. They truly believe that government spending creates jobs and prosperity. But after two years of record spending that went to pay off Democrat supporter, including the labor unions, and used as a slush fund the nation has nothing but an empty treasury to show for it. The idea that Sen. Reid would defend federal funding for a Cowboy Poetry Festival when the national debt is approaching the GDP is insane. The Democrat Party is out of control. If the people who call themselves Democrats don’t see the folly in these policies then the nation is in much more trouble then I thought.

Act of War?
Is it not an act of war for one nation to arm rebels in another country? It was reported last week that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearm has been allowing guns to be sold to gunrunners. It seems that while politicians and various anti-gun individuals and groups have been complaining about gun sells in states on the border with Mexico and with calls to restrict the freedoms of Americans, the ATF was responsible. It seems that at least 1700 guns sold in this country and smuggled into the sovereign nation of Mexico.

After the death of an ICE agent, shot by a gun sold by the ATF, an agent decided to go public. For that he should be praised, but I really have to wonder how far up this went up the chain of command. Such a stunt is not only an act of war against Mexico; it is an attack on the Constitutional Rights of all Americans. Such operations cause more Americans to doubt their government as a whole. Once again it appears that our unelected government has attempted to take freedoms and undermine our republic. Once again we see the administrative branch of government exceeding their authority and acting against the will and best interest of the public. Will there be an investigation with results over this incident or will it be swept under the rug. I just wonder how many innocent Mexicans have been kill indirectly by this operation. It would seem that the Mexican government would be demanding some answers. I know I would like to hear some and see some heads roll at the ATF.

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©2011 Pedro Sykes - Some Rights Reserved

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

The Best Laid Plans

Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796) wrote in his poem "To a Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest with the Plough" a line that relates to the human condition: "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley." (The best laid schemes of mice and men / Go oft awry.) The John Steinbeck novella “Of Mice and Men” was inspired by this classic poem. Throughout the history of man this oft quoted line of poetry has proven to fit the times. The current situation in the world reminded me of this poem.

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When the industrial revolution started society chose a path that has lead to a standard of living far above anything known in history. The American system of free expression allowed for the release of the human creative spirit which accelerated this prosperity. In the last 100 years the growth improvement of human lives has improved more than in any other time known. With this growth in prosperity, life span, and general welfare of all humans on this planet have come risks.

Human life is risk. One of the most dangerous things you can do is get out of bed in the morning. The act of waking up in the morning and climbing out of your bed is a shock to your system, but no one is saying that everyone should stay in bed. In fact laying in bed is also dangerous the lack of movement of the legs can cause fatal blood clots. It is important that we avoid panic and consider the risk of our actions in life.

Without risk the human race would not exist. If our ancestors had never taken any risk, they would have starved. Without their willingness to not only take risks but make hard decisions the world would be a much different place.

There are many in this world that seems to think that we can return to an agriculture society. The return to an agrarian existence in which we would abandon our cities and return to the land is not based in a reality in which there would be too many people and not enough land. Any attempt to move to such a major cultural shift would mean the death of millions. We have become too dependent on modern technology. Many of those who would have to be force to raise their own food would more than likely face doom. The abandoning of modern medicine would kill many and doom others to slow lingering deaths. The last time a society was forced into such a technical regression resulted in what is known today as the Cambodia Killing Fields. This is the type of thinking that comes from those on the left. They believe that they can build a utopia on Earth. Such thinking does not take into account the human cost of such ideas.

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The natural disaster in Japan that started with an earthquake, then a tsunami, then aftershocks, which lead to radiation leaks and now possible meltdowns in several of the nuclear cores at power plants. These events point to the undeniable facts that life is not perfect and no matter how well we plan we are often helpless when presented with the awesome force of nature. Far too many people seem to believe that life should be without risk. But life and the human condition is all about risk. It didn’t take long for the anti-nuclear groups to start spreading lies about nuclear power and power plants. Even though there have been some control releases of radioactive steam and some hydrogen explosions these power plants are in a controlled shutdown. There have been some deaths from those explosions and some exposure to radiation, but the number of deaths directly related to this phase of this massive natural disaster will be much less than what has already occurred due to the earthquake and tsunami. Much of the hysteria is being drummed up by the media and their lack of understanding of the safe guards in place at nuclear plants.

The power plants that are currently being shutdown are over 40 years old. These plants were built in a way to allow them to survive earthquakes. The earthquake that hit these plants was much stronger than anything being considered with no real consideration for flooding and they survived the shock without leaking radiation. What we are seeing now is the long process of the core cooling and the pile becoming stable. The only real danger would be if the actual containment vessel were to be breached. But at this point that possibility is becoming less likely, but not totally impossible.

The anti-nuclear groups continue to imply that there is a possibility of a massive failure that will result in an explosion that will spread a nuclear cloud that will kill millions. Such hysteria is not based in reality. A nuclear pile in an atomic power plant can not explode. The whole idea of a “China Syndrome” was created by an author and is not based upon physics. Even if such an explosion were even possible, which it is not, the affect would be much smaller than the actual nuclear explosions that were purposely created using actual uranium, plutonium, and hydrogen bombs in the decades of the 40s, 50s, and 60s. These bombs were exploded in the atmosphere in the Southern Pacific, the South Western US, and various other locations across the planet.

All things considered the largest disaster in Japan is not the nuclear power plants, but the things that caused the nuclear crisis. We must accept that fact that when there are huge disasters in first world countries there will be long term dangers. Just as those who came before us, we must be willing to make rational decisions based upon facts, not hype and lies.

In the arrogance often shown by those who seek to plan all aspects of human life we find the idea that human society can obtain perfection. The most dangerous things about people seeking perfection is the definition used to define that ideal society and the means that are used to obtained it. I can not believe that utopia can exist on this planet. We have no way to control the forces that cause hurricanes, earthquakes, or any of the other numbers of natural disasters that plague the Earth.

A FBI agent who infiltrated the Weather Underground in the 60s testified that the member of this terrorist organization thought that they would need to “eliminate at least 25 million people” who would stand in the way of their new social order. The ideas and many of the people who created the Weather Underground are still around. President Obama knows, and some claim that he is friends with, the founders William Ayres and his wife. Such people in such powerful positions do not fill me with confidence.

We must learn to accept the risks that allow us to live our lives. We must overcome the tragedies of our existence. We must stop blaming others and expect someone to pay for our own mistakes. Each of us must look at our life and count our blessings. We must stop listening to those who tell us how bad things are and how they can make it better, when their plans have proven to only lead to death and misery. We must turn our backs on Socialism, Progressivism, Communism, Islamism, and radical environmentalism. The result of each of these ideologies is the end of millions of innocent lives and the end of all human freedoms.

So as we look at the best laid schemes of men we must remember that none of us are perfect and that no matter how well you plan, those plans can go awry.

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©2011 Pedro Sykes - Some Rights Reserved

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Schiller’s List

Once again the curtain at NPR has been pulled back to show the American people who and what our tax dollars have been supporting. If you spend anytime listening to National Public Radio it is easy to see the arrogance and condescension that flows from their hosts and reporters. These self proclaimed “intellectuals” are so busy proving just how much better they are then us “common folks.” For far too many years Public Broadcasting has been run by a bunch of elitists who look down upon people who actually work, and help to pay the bills.

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What I see in the James O’Keefe NPR sting video is the results of a culture of hate and arrogance. Mr. Schiller while trying to win the favor of an organization that presents itself as a supporter of The Muslim Brotherhood, shows his true beliefs. He seemed way to comfortable talking to them and was willing to show that he agreed with what he thought would be their beliefs. While declaring that an entire political movement in the US is racist, he demonstrated his racism. He seem to be very happy to join hands and chant “kill the Jews” with those who he thought to have a connection.

Consider for a minute how Mr. Schiller was very willing to climb into the gutter to impress this fake group. He did say one thing that I have to agree with when he talked about a lack of “intellectuals.” I believe that the true statement should have been a lack of intellectual thought at NPR. Is it not a true sign of low intelligence to show such bigotry as shown by this racist person? He claimed that one group was racist (with no proof from NPR, PBS, or any of the other left stream media organization) and then started talking about how the media is controlled by a single racial group. Such unashamed racially motivated speech meant to insight hatred of a group of people shows his lack of critical thinking and demonstrates his engrained hate.

So it seems that on the Schiller list of hate are Christians, Jews, all white people, the TEA Party, Juan Williams, true intellectual thought, and most of Middle America. He also seems to have a problem with the Constitutional right to keep and bear arms, as if that is a surprise from an executive with NPR. It makes me wonder how he feels about the First Amendment. Of course if he supports the ideas of the Muslim Brotherhood, as he says in the video, then maybe he was trying to setup NPR as the official voice of Radical Islam in this country. Then they could change their name to National Palestinian Radio.

Don’t forget that Mr. Schiller was a Senior Vice President at NPR. He was not some local guy from a NPR affiliate speaking, on his own time, to a couple of friends. He was at this meeting as a representative of NPR and as such an agent for that organization. Since NPR receives federal funding he was speaking as a representative of that federally funded organization. His disdain for Middle America and the average citizen of this country should tell you all you need to know about NPR and the people who run it.

When you look at his position within the NPR organization you must consider the belief system of those who he hired and those who hired him. As a manager I know that you can never really know what your employees believe, but I do know that I always try to promote people who share my beliefs and vision. So how many other racist intellectuals are at NPR? How rotten is the entire tree? Doesn’t this whole affair once again bring into focus the true culture at the Center for Public Broadcasting? Is it time to cut these bigots off from the public treasury and sue to get our money back from these hate filled, self-aggrandizing, Progressive Socialist, neo-intellectuals.

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The idea that our tax dollars continue to support an organization that would hire an individual who holds the belief system of Mr. Schiller shows the disdain that the Obama Administration, the Progressives, and the Democrat Party has for Middle America. It can be seen that NPR is willing to sell their collective souls for donations from anyone. Their willingness to even meet with a group openly said that they were connected with an organization that promotes genocide and the destruction of a close ally of this country should not be overlooked as many are doing. In this one meeting it is clear that NPR and by association the Corporation for Public Broadcasting are lose cannons and no longer should be support by tax dollars and should be investigated to determine how deep the anti-American and racial hatred goes in these organizations. If those who run NPR think that the American people are stupid, then they need to take a long look at themselves.

As far as the Schillers are concerned, I’m sure that she can return to an organization that shares her views, The New York Times. I’m also sure that Mr. Schiller can find work at any one of the Neo-NAZI organizations, here, or in Europe. I don’t believe the Muslim Brotherhood would hire him, but you never know. They do seem to share the same worldview.

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©2011 Pedro Sykes - Some Rights Reserved

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.