The Truth

Revisited

After this posting, my intention is not to write anything else about Social Security and Medicare until Representative Paul Ryan unveils the Republican plan to reforn both of those programs to keep them solvant for our future generations. At that time I will probably question how the reforms will balance the budget and help cut our National debt during the next twenty years. It is my belief that nothing short of cutting benefits to current Social Security retirees, which no one will even talk about, will do anything except raise the budget deficit and the National debt because of the forced borrowing by our Federal Treasury to redeem those Special Government Securities (IOUs) in the Social Security Trust Fund as needed to pay current retiree benefits. It is still my contention that those Government Securities, which represents the surplus Social Security and Medicare Trust Fund money that has been borrowed and spent by our Government, are not counted as part of our debt and if the need arises for the Treasury to buy back all of those IOUs our total National debt would go up to about seventeen trillion dollars. That need to buy back those IOUs begins this year because of the two percentage points cut in the payroll tax which was passed as part of the Bush era tax cut extension. Nice, isn't it?

In the last two months we have written both of our Senators and our Representative asking for the truth about the condition of the Trust Fund but, at this time, we have been ignored by one Senator and our Representative and after receiving two form letters, which didn't even address our concerns, from the second Senator he, too, has ignored our third e-mail. Is there a conspiracy in Washington to cover up their, and past governmental, misdeeds? Does this come natural to all politicians or do they have to go to special schools to learn double-speak and skating around the edges?

Do you remember the years, 1977 through 1979? I'll give you a few hints about 1977; Jimmy Carter was President, Ahmad Reza Pahlavi was the Shah of Iran and Ayatollah Khomeini was in exile. In October of 1977 opposition to the Shah had built to the point of hugh protest which sometimes ended in riots or violence by both sides. After just over a year of those protest, on January 16, 1979 the Shah left Iran, leaving the Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiar (a long time opposition leader himself) to rule in his stead. Bakhtiar immediately freed all political prisoners and allowed exiles to return to Iran. He ask the, just returned, Ayatollah Khomeini to create a Vatican-like state in Quom, promised free elections, proposed a "National Unity" government including Khomeini's followers but Khomeini rejected Bakhtiar's demands and appointed his own government. Ayatollah Khomeini is no longer ruling Iran but followers rule with the same iron hand. Do you remember the 1979-80 "Hostage Crisis" which probably did more than any other one thing to get President Carter defeated even though he had several other strikes against him such as allowing the Moslems (Islam) to gain control at all. It does appear that our Government has a history of backing the wrong side. Is that what is happening now? Will all the "Middle East", as I suggested in an earlier posting, end up being another Iran?

Do you remember Algeria and what happened there in 1956 through 1962? After more than three hundred years of French Colonial rule there was an uprising and a change of governments. Now there may be another but that will be left for another time, meanwhile thanks for your time and input. Stay tuned, - William