by Guest » Fri Jun 07, 2024 2:08 am
From Peter Schiff:
June 6, 2024
[Note from Peter: Despite the absurd theatrics in Congress this week during the Tony Fauci and Merrick Garland hearings, there was actually another hearing that may have been even more important. It was about Social Security-- probably the most obvious ticking time bomb that absolutely no one is doing anything about.]
This entire week has been full of eye-rolling— borderline eye-gouging— cowardice and deceit in the halls of Congress.
It started on Monday when none other than Dr. Anthony “the Science” Fauci appeared in front of the House Oversight Committee for two days of testimony. And every time the guy opened his mouth, we found out more about just how absurd and corrupt the COVID regime really was.
He acknowledged, for example, that the infamous six-foot social distancing rule “sort of just appeared,” and “wasn't based on data.”
Given that Fauci asserted so much intellectual superiority throughout the pandemic— all of which was supposedly based on his unparalleled command of science— the revelation of this notably unscientific social distancing commandment is a monument to incompetence and hypocrisy.
But the most recent damning evidence comes from Dr. David Morens, one of Fauci’s most senior advisors.
Morens corresponded through private emails with Peter Daszak— the man who secured US government funding for gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology— with Morens coaching Daszak on how to violate federal law in the grant process.
He also bragged to Daszak that they didn’t have to worry about Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, requests. Morens said he would simply communicate with Fauci on his private email, because Fauci was “too smart” and knew how to avoid scrutiny and oversight from the public.
Again, Morens was one of Fauci’s top lieutenants, and the men have known each other for years.
But when asked about Morens in the hearing, Fauci acted like he barely knew the guy and gave a slimy, cowardly response: “It is conceivable that I communicated with him. . .”
And then Fauci proceeded to throw Morens under the bus, saying his correspondence with Daszak was an unethical conflict of interest, and should be punished. But Fauci, of course, should not be punished…
Not to be outdone by Dr. Fauci, Attorney General Merrick Garland testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday to respond to concerns about the weaponization of the Justice Department.
Garland found it incomprehensible that anyone thought there was a double standard in the justice system. Rather than acknowledging citizens’ realistic concerns, he instead insisted that any hint of impropriety or double standards constituted “baseless and extremely dangerous falsehoods.”
Garland then nearly teared up as he proudly claimed that he has devoted his entire career to the rule of law and does “not pay attention to the political parties.”
And for good measure, he added that he “will not back down from defending our democracy.”
Yet at the same hearing he couldn’t manage to answer a question about whether he (or a family member) had ever profited or benefited from a case he was prosecuting.
For a guy riding around on his high horse to supposedly save democracy, a simple “no” should have been pretty easy. But apparently that’s too high an expectation of the country’s top public servants.
These two hearings— Fauci and Garland— grabbed a ton of headlines this week. But there was actually another Congressional hearing that, frankly, was equally important… but absolutely no one is talking about.
And that was a rather bland meeting of the House Ways and Means Committee featuring testimony from the Chief Actuary of Social Security.
Now that sounds about as exhilarating as watching paint dry… hardly comparable to the popcorn theatrics in the Fauci/Garland hearings.
But Social Security is pretty critical, directly impacting the lives of literally every working American and retiree. Most people are either paying into the system, or they’re collecting from it.
Yet the Chief Actuary stated plainly that Social Security’s key trust fund will run out of money and be fully depleted in less than a decade— sometime between April and November of 2033.
This insolvency “should come as no surprise,” he said, since for the last 13 years, the Social Security Trustees have been saying this in their official annual report. And bear in mind, the program’s trustees include the United States Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Labor, and Secretary of Health and Human Services… so not exactly a bunch of crazy conspiracy theorists.
The Chief Actuary also reiterated that, once the trust fund runs out in nine years, retirees will immediately have their benefits reduced by more than 20%, as the only source of funding to pay benefits will be payroll tax revenue.
But it will only get worse from there— in large part because there simply aren’t enough young workers to support a growing number of retirees.
US birth rates have been declining for decades and keep hitting fresh historic lows year after year. This is a huge problem for Social Security.
Fewer babies today mean fewer workers in the labor force 20 years from now, which means fewer people paying into the Social Security system. Yet 20+ years from now, there will be more and more retirees receiving benefits.
This math is totally backwards; a well-functioning Social Security system means having far more workers paying into the system to support a much smaller number of retirees.
This is known as the worker-to-retiree ratio. And due in large part to America’s historically low fertility rate, that critical ratio gets worse every year.
So, based on current trends, if you’re in your 20s or 30s now, Social Security is simply not going to be there for you when you hit retirement age in a few decades. You will pay taxes for your entire working lives only to have this promise yanked when it becomes your time to collect.
Maybe the plan is to import tax-paying workers into America through immigration. In fact, perhaps that’s why Joe Biden has opened the borders to millions upon millions of migrants. He’s trying to save Social Security. I’m sure that’s the reason.
Except none of those people has legal status, hence they aren’t paying into the system… in fact many of them are beneficiaries of generous taxpayer-funded benefits. How any of these progressive politicians are still in power is beyond my comprehension. But I digress…
The Chief Actuary bluntly stated that the only way forward is for Congress to either cut benefits, i.e. default on the promises they’ve made to US citizens for decades… or to substantially raise taxes.
Neither is a good option. But even if we want to pretend that these are real ‘solutions’ to the Social Security problem, it’s worth noting that nothing is being done about it. No politician wants to touch Social Security. Joe Biden insists he will veto any legislation to overhaul the program.
Social Security is a ticking time bomb that everyone is willfully and deliberately ignoring. It’s irresponsibility at its highest.
The younger you are, the more important it is to plan for this if you expect to ever be able to retire.
Retirement planning is boring, yes. Especially if you’re young. If you’re 18 years old, it’s virtually impossible to imagine your life 10 years from now, let alone 50.
And yet you’ll blink one day and realize that you just turned 45. It really goes quickly.
Time is on your side, and there are plenty of sensible ways to set aside your own retirement money.
Self-directed IRAs, solo 401(k)s, and other plans are tax-advantaged and extremely flexible. They allow you the freedom to maximize your investment options, minimize fees, and also ensure you don’t just have to hand over your savings to the BlackRocks of the world.
This is absolutely a fixable problem... as long as you’re willing to take action and exercise a little bit of discipline.
To your freedom,
James Hickman
Co-Founder, Schiff Sovereign LLC
From Peter Schiff:
[quote]June 6, 2024
[Note from Peter: Despite the absurd theatrics in Congress this week during the Tony Fauci and Merrick Garland hearings, there was actually another hearing that may have been even more important. It was about Social Security-- probably the most obvious ticking time bomb that absolutely no one is doing anything about.]
This entire week has been full of eye-rolling— borderline eye-gouging— cowardice and deceit in the halls of Congress.
It started on Monday when none other than Dr. Anthony “the Science” Fauci appeared in front of the House Oversight Committee for two days of testimony. And every time the guy opened his mouth, we found out more about just how absurd and corrupt the COVID regime really was.
He acknowledged, for example, that the infamous six-foot social distancing rule “sort of just appeared,” and “wasn't based on data.”
Given that Fauci asserted so much intellectual superiority throughout the pandemic— all of which was supposedly based on his unparalleled command of science— the revelation of this notably unscientific social distancing commandment is a monument to incompetence and hypocrisy.
But the most recent damning evidence comes from Dr. David Morens, one of Fauci’s most senior advisors.
Morens corresponded through private emails with Peter Daszak— the man who secured US government funding for gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology— with Morens coaching Daszak on how to violate federal law in the grant process.
He also bragged to Daszak that they didn’t have to worry about Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, requests. Morens said he would simply communicate with Fauci on his private email, because Fauci was “too smart” and knew how to avoid scrutiny and oversight from the public.
Again, Morens was one of Fauci’s top lieutenants, and the men have known each other for years.
But when asked about Morens in the hearing, Fauci acted like he barely knew the guy and gave a slimy, cowardly response: “It is conceivable that I communicated with him. . .”
And then Fauci proceeded to throw Morens under the bus, saying his correspondence with Daszak was an unethical conflict of interest, and should be punished. But Fauci, of course, should not be punished…
Not to be outdone by Dr. Fauci, Attorney General Merrick Garland testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday to respond to concerns about the weaponization of the Justice Department.
Garland found it incomprehensible that anyone thought there was a double standard in the justice system. Rather than acknowledging citizens’ realistic concerns, he instead insisted that any hint of impropriety or double standards constituted “baseless and extremely dangerous falsehoods.”
Garland then nearly teared up as he proudly claimed that he has devoted his entire career to the rule of law and does “not pay attention to the political parties.”
And for good measure, he added that he “will not back down from defending our democracy.”
Yet at the same hearing he couldn’t manage to answer a question about whether he (or a family member) had ever profited or benefited from a case he was prosecuting.
For a guy riding around on his high horse to supposedly save democracy, a simple “no” should have been pretty easy. But apparently that’s too high an expectation of the country’s top public servants.
These two hearings— Fauci and Garland— grabbed a ton of headlines this week. But there was actually another Congressional hearing that, frankly, was equally important… but absolutely no one is talking about.
And that was a rather bland meeting of the House Ways and Means Committee featuring testimony from the Chief Actuary of Social Security.
Now that sounds about as exhilarating as watching paint dry… hardly comparable to the popcorn theatrics in the Fauci/Garland hearings.
But Social Security is pretty critical, directly impacting the lives of literally every working American and retiree. Most people are either paying into the system, or they’re collecting from it.
Yet the Chief Actuary stated plainly that Social Security’s key trust fund will run out of money and be fully depleted in less than a decade— sometime between April and November of 2033.
This insolvency “should come as no surprise,” he said, since for the last 13 years, the Social Security Trustees have been saying this in their official annual report. And bear in mind, the program’s trustees include the United States Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of Labor, and Secretary of Health and Human Services… so not exactly a bunch of crazy conspiracy theorists.
The Chief Actuary also reiterated that, once the trust fund runs out in nine years, retirees will immediately have their benefits reduced by more than 20%, as the only source of funding to pay benefits will be payroll tax revenue.
But it will only get worse from there— in large part because there simply aren’t enough young workers to support a growing number of retirees.
US birth rates have been declining for decades and keep hitting fresh historic lows year after year. This is a huge problem for Social Security.
Fewer babies today mean fewer workers in the labor force 20 years from now, which means fewer people paying into the Social Security system. Yet 20+ years from now, there will be more and more retirees receiving benefits.
This math is totally backwards; a well-functioning Social Security system means having far more workers paying into the system to support a much smaller number of retirees.
This is known as the worker-to-retiree ratio. And due in large part to America’s historically low fertility rate, that critical ratio gets worse every year.
So, based on current trends, if you’re in your 20s or 30s now, Social Security is simply not going to be there for you when you hit retirement age in a few decades. You will pay taxes for your entire working lives only to have this promise yanked when it becomes your time to collect.
Maybe the plan is to import tax-paying workers into America through immigration. In fact, perhaps that’s why Joe Biden has opened the borders to millions upon millions of migrants. He’s trying to save Social Security. I’m sure that’s the reason.
Except none of those people has legal status, hence they aren’t paying into the system… in fact many of them are beneficiaries of generous taxpayer-funded benefits. How any of these progressive politicians are still in power is beyond my comprehension. But I digress…
The Chief Actuary bluntly stated that the only way forward is for Congress to either cut benefits, i.e. default on the promises they’ve made to US citizens for decades… or to substantially raise taxes.
Neither is a good option. But even if we want to pretend that these are real ‘solutions’ to the Social Security problem, it’s worth noting that nothing is being done about it. No politician wants to touch Social Security. Joe Biden insists he will veto any legislation to overhaul the program.
Social Security is a ticking time bomb that everyone is willfully and deliberately ignoring. It’s irresponsibility at its highest.
The younger you are, the more important it is to plan for this if you expect to ever be able to retire.
Retirement planning is boring, yes. Especially if you’re young. If you’re 18 years old, it’s virtually impossible to imagine your life 10 years from now, let alone 50.
And yet you’ll blink one day and realize that you just turned 45. It really goes quickly.
Time is on your side, and there are plenty of sensible ways to set aside your own retirement money.
Self-directed IRAs, solo 401(k)s, and other plans are tax-advantaged and extremely flexible. They allow you the freedom to maximize your investment options, minimize fees, and also ensure you don’t just have to hand over your savings to the BlackRocks of the world.
This is absolutely a fixable problem... as long as you’re willing to take action and exercise a little bit of discipline.
To your freedom,
James Hickman
Co-Founder, Schiff Sovereign LLC[/quote]