Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Your questions, Brian's answers. It's time for Today's Q and
A of the day.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
This is the Brian mud Show. Today's Q and A
fixes for social securities, looming insolvency. This has brought to
you by I'm listen to ashes check mark collections. Each
day I feature a listener question that is said about
one of these methods. You may email me Brian Mudd
at iHeartMedia dot com, hit me up on social at
(00:31):
Brian Mud Radio. You may also use the iHeartRadio talk
back feature. Just go to w jano or via Patriot
inside of the iHeartRadio app and you get there. Really
would appreciate it if you want ahead and made us
your presets. Like when I say the presets like number
one would be great, you can actually put both down,
be like number one in two and then behind that
(00:55):
my podcast. Also would really appreciate it if you made
the Brian mud Show podcast one of your presets as well.
While you're in the app with our station, look for
a little microphone button.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
You see it, you tap it. You may lay.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Down a message right there, maybe a topic or question
for a future Q and A.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Today's notice.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
This one good morning, I'll start with saying that, like
most Americans, I have no desire to see the tax
burden increased on any individual. That being said, however, social
Security is going to become insolvent.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
That is a given.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
My question is this, if they were to remove the
cap on income subject to Social Security taxes, how much
would that impact the solvency problem. Thanks for the information
you provide, and we're thankful for these statistical gifts that
you've been blessed with. Well, and I thank you because
I think I've been blessed with an amazing audience for
(01:49):
all these years, and it does not go unappreciated, I
promise you.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yeah. So, social Security, it's been a hot topic.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
In fact, all right, this morning, I have more notes
asking additional questions about Social Security as I've been covering it.
It's been a hot topic over the past couple of
weeks on back of Elon Musk's announcement that doja's initial
review found significant issues with the Social Security Administration's record keeping.
Imagine that he had a group go in and find
(02:19):
out a major federal government agency and they're not good
at keeping records anyway. Specifically, these Social Security Administration's records
show eighteen point nine million active social Security numbers for
people who are too old to be alive. Yeah, I
mean people that are said to be as old as
(02:40):
three hundred and sixty nine. I thought only Joe Biden
was that old. Now, in my recent investigation into the topic,
which I reported on in Monday's Q and A, the
level of fraud being committed by use of these social
security numbers here's to be significant. Because you have approximately
(03:01):
forty four thousand of those numbers that have been actively
used by someone collecting Social Security payments. That's obvious fraud,
But at the same time, even if addressed, doesn't rise
to the level of representing a permanent fix to social securities.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Loving insolvency issues.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
The first projective program to reach insolvency, well, it's the
Social Security Old Age and Survivor's Insurance Fund. Upon insolvency
in twenty thirty three, it's currently projected the payouts would
be cut two recipients by twenty one percent, and then
you get to the big one. By twenty thirty five,
the granddaddy of all programs, the Social Security General Fund,
(03:42):
will have reached insolvency with benefit cuts that are said
to average seventeen percent out of the gate, and most
recently but this year's cola cost of living adjustment, the
average social Security recipient receives eighteen hundred in twenty nine
dollars per month in today's dollars. That would represent an
(04:04):
average cut of three hundred and eleven dollars per month
in benefits. So the magic number to stave off social
security and solvency is a whopping three trillion dollars or
three hundred billion annually without changes being made to the program.
(04:24):
Today's question is about a commonly proposed idea floated to
address social security solvency issues, raising social security taxes by
eliminating the social security tax cap. Most recently, social security
tax collections are limited to the first one hundred and
sixty eight thousand, six hundred dollars of an individual's income.
(04:48):
Now that was put in place due to their being
a limit on social Security payouts for recipients. Essentially, any
tax is paid on incomes earned above the one hundred
and sixty eight thousand, six hundred dollars left well, that
would be a direct nominal tax increase, as the benefits
of those additional tax collections would be redistributed to others, obviously,
(05:09):
not what social Security was set up to be. Nevertheless,
has been discussed as a possible solution to address social
securities solvency issues.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
So, in addressing today's question, is it.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
The most recent analysis on lifting the social security tax
cap from the Congressional Budget Office actually only took place
about two months ago. It was in December, and the
estimate shows in additional one point two trillion dollars in
taxes would be collected every ten years.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
I mean, potentially.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Helpful, sure a panacea, obviously not, as this approach is
projected to not even collect half of the projected social
security deficit a decade from now. And in many ways
this helps you illustrate the extent of the challenges we
face going forward with the current social security system. Cracking
(06:05):
down on fraud helpful, however, with only one percent or
less of payments estimated to be fraud, it's a small
piece of the puzzle. Massively raising social security taxes, as
we just discussed, I mean, that helps close the gap
some but still doesn't even get you halfway to fix
and that's because ultimately, what has happened with Social Security,
(06:28):
and for that matter, Medicare for decades has been nothing
short of legalized fraud. I've been very pointed about this
when I've I've talked about this aspect of these programs
for a very long time. Social Security and Medicare are
one hundred percent ponzi schemes that are legalized fraud. And
the reasons legalized because the federal government set it up.
(06:51):
Anybody else would be behind jail and be behind bars in
jail for this kind of stuff. Everything with these programs
changed in nineteen sixty that year, you know, the Democrat
President Lyndon Johnson and a Democrat controlled Congress that reclassified
Social Security and Medicare funds to be included in the
annual federal budget as opposed to being standalone trust fund programs.
(07:16):
And nothing has ever been the same since. Sixty eight
was when these programs stopped being trust funds started being ponzis.
Once added to the federal budget process, the funds in
these programs were leveraged and borrowed against by politicians during
the general budgeting process. In the mid eighties, President Reagan
(07:39):
spearheaded an effort to reverse this. Congress didn't comply. You know,
Democrats control Congress, but in nineteen ninety President Bush he
was successful, but only ever so slightly, in decoupling the
programs from the general funds in the budgeting process. What
was kept was the mandatory funding of our debt spending
(08:03):
with it. So the way this has worked since ninety
is that Social Security is mandated under law to be
quote unquote invested and what are called special issued government bonds.
What does that mean. They're bonds that allow for increased
debt spending by the federal government. It's a way for
them to still basically spend and borrow against Social Security.
(08:28):
It's a way to accomplish the leveraging of the funds
without having them specifically available within just the general budgeting process.
And here's what happens. This is the ponzi because there
is no trust fund, hasn't been since nineteen sixty eight.
Anybody who gets a Social Security check today is getting
(08:49):
that money from what people working are paying taxes to
the Social Security Administration for So it's money in money
direightly out to pay out what's due right now, and
then whatever is left is going to these bonds, and
then those bonds are borrowed against. Again, this is a
(09:12):
classic Ponzi scheme. It's I mean, it's it's the thing
that's so maddening to me. It is an actual Ponzi
scheme as constructed. It's money in, money out, and then
I'm going to live off of what's there. And Medicare
is only a slightly different version of a similar thing.
(09:33):
But the funds used to buy new government issued bonds
and current taxes going to pay existing needs. And so
the bottom line is that the real fixes are not easy,
but they're also not complicated. Social Security should be paid
into an account in your name that cannot be taken
away from you, and that grows over time until collected period,
(09:56):
end of story. That's the way it should be. It's
the way it was the to be originally. It's what
was taken away from you in nineteen sixty eight. And
that would require significant reform, that would require incredible political courage.
And incidentally, there is only one politician that I have
seen that has exercised that at any point.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
That's been Senator Rick Scott.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
A couple of years ago, you might remember he stepped
out there on Social Security and medicare. What happened to him,
He was demonized to no end for it. He was
one hundred percent right, by the way, but he was
made out to be the devil.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
And it's an indication.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Everything that happened and how he was not even welcomed
by most Republicans when he put that out there, of
the lack of political will there is to do the
right thing to end the ongoing ponzi the way that
it's constructed, and the reason is simply just that schemers
have yet to run out of other people's money. It's
what they always do, right, It's what ponzi schemers do.
(10:55):
They keep the ponzi going. They live high in the
hog until they run out of other people's money. That
year is twenty thirty five. The answer, though, is that
it's always better to do the hard thing, the right thing,
now than it is to wait to do it later,
because it's only going to be that much worse at
that point, and in an era of doge seeking significant
(11:16):
cost savings, it's an opportune time to do big things,
to do this once in the lifetime things that need
to happen. Most likely, however, nothing is going to be
done until there's just no longer a choice because the
programs have run out of collecting enough of other people's money.
Don't mean to be pessimistic, but just being a realist
(11:36):
with this, I'll be pleasantly surprised if the right thing
happens before then.
Your questions, Brian's answers. It's time for Today's Q and
A of the day.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
This is the Brian mud Show. Today's Q and A
fixes for social securities, looming insolvency. This has brought to
you by I'm listen to ashes check mark collections. Each
day I feature a listener question that is said about
one of these methods. You may email me Brian Mudd
at iHeartMedia dot com, hit me up on social at
(00:31):
Brian Mud Radio. You may also use the iHeartRadio talk
back feature. Just go to w jano or via Patriot
inside of the iHeartRadio app and you get there. Really
would appreciate it if you want ahead and made us
your presets. Like when I say the presets like number
one would be great, you can actually put both down,
be like number one in two and then behind that
(00:55):
my podcast. Also would really appreciate it if you made
the Brian mud Show podcast one of your presets as well.
While you're in the app with our station, look for
a little microphone button.
Speaker 1 (01:08):
You see it, you tap it. You may lay.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
Down a message right there, maybe a topic or question
for a future Q and A.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Today's notice.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
This one good morning, I'll start with saying that, like
most Americans, I have no desire to see the tax
burden increased on any individual. That being said, however, social
Security is going to become insolvent.
Speaker 1 (01:28):
That is a given.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
My question is this, if they were to remove the
cap on income subject to Social Security taxes, how much
would that impact the solvency problem. Thanks for the information
you provide, and we're thankful for these statistical gifts that
you've been blessed with. Well, and I thank you because
I think I've been blessed with an amazing audience for
(01:49):
all these years, and it does not go unappreciated, I
promise you.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Yeah. So, social Security, it's been a hot topic.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
In fact, all right, this morning, I have more notes
asking additional questions about Social Security as I've been covering it.
It's been a hot topic over the past couple of
weeks on back of Elon Musk's announcement that doja's initial
review found significant issues with the Social Security Administration's record keeping.
Imagine that he had a group go in and find
(02:19):
out a major federal government agency and they're not good
at keeping records anyway. Specifically, these Social Security Administration's records
show eighteen point nine million active social Security numbers for
people who are too old to be alive. Yeah, I
mean people that are said to be as old as
(02:40):
three hundred and sixty nine. I thought only Joe Biden
was that old. Now, in my recent investigation into the topic,
which I reported on in Monday's Q and A, the
level of fraud being committed by use of these social
security numbers here's to be significant. Because you have approximately
(03:01):
forty four thousand of those numbers that have been actively
used by someone collecting Social Security payments. That's obvious fraud,
But at the same time, even if addressed, doesn't rise
to the level of representing a permanent fix to social securities.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Loving insolvency issues.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
The first projective program to reach insolvency, well, it's the
Social Security Old Age and Survivor's Insurance Fund. Upon insolvency
in twenty thirty three, it's currently projected the payouts would
be cut two recipients by twenty one percent, and then
you get to the big one. By twenty thirty five,
the granddaddy of all programs, the Social Security General Fund,
(03:42):
will have reached insolvency with benefit cuts that are said
to average seventeen percent out of the gate, and most
recently but this year's cola cost of living adjustment, the
average social Security recipient receives eighteen hundred in twenty nine
dollars per month in today's dollars. That would represent an
(04:04):
average cut of three hundred and eleven dollars per month
in benefits. So the magic number to stave off social
security and solvency is a whopping three trillion dollars or
three hundred billion annually without changes being made to the program.
(04:24):
Today's question is about a commonly proposed idea floated to
address social security solvency issues, raising social security taxes by
eliminating the social security tax cap. Most recently, social security
tax collections are limited to the first one hundred and
sixty eight thousand, six hundred dollars of an individual's income.
(04:48):
Now that was put in place due to their being
a limit on social Security payouts for recipients. Essentially, any
tax is paid on incomes earned above the one hundred
and sixty eight thousand, six hundred dollars left well, that
would be a direct nominal tax increase, as the benefits
of those additional tax collections would be redistributed to others, obviously,
(05:09):
not what social Security was set up to be. Nevertheless,
has been discussed as a possible solution to address social
securities solvency issues.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
So, in addressing today's question, is it.
Speaker 2 (05:25):
The most recent analysis on lifting the social security tax
cap from the Congressional Budget Office actually only took place
about two months ago. It was in December, and the
estimate shows in additional one point two trillion dollars in
taxes would be collected every ten years.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
I mean, potentially.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Helpful, sure a panacea, obviously not, as this approach is
projected to not even collect half of the projected social
security deficit a decade from now. And in many ways
this helps you illustrate the extent of the challenges we
face going forward with the current social security system. Cracking
(06:05):
down on fraud helpful, however, with only one percent or
less of payments estimated to be fraud, it's a small
piece of the puzzle. Massively raising social security taxes, as
we just discussed, I mean, that helps close the gap
some but still doesn't even get you halfway to fix
and that's because ultimately, what has happened with Social Security,
(06:28):
and for that matter, Medicare for decades has been nothing
short of legalized fraud. I've been very pointed about this
when I've I've talked about this aspect of these programs
for a very long time. Social Security and Medicare are
one hundred percent ponzi schemes that are legalized fraud. And
the reasons legalized because the federal government set it up.
(06:51):
Anybody else would be behind jail and be behind bars in
jail for this kind of stuff. Everything with these programs
changed in nineteen sixty that year, you know, the Democrat
President Lyndon Johnson and a Democrat controlled Congress that reclassified
Social Security and Medicare funds to be included in the
annual federal budget as opposed to being standalone trust fund programs.
(07:16):
And nothing has ever been the same since. Sixty eight
was when these programs stopped being trust funds started being ponzis.
Once added to the federal budget process, the funds in
these programs were leveraged and borrowed against by politicians during
the general budgeting process. In the mid eighties, President Reagan
(07:39):
spearheaded an effort to reverse this. Congress didn't comply. You know,
Democrats control Congress, but in nineteen ninety President Bush he
was successful, but only ever so slightly, in decoupling the
programs from the general funds in the budgeting process. What
was kept was the mandatory funding of our debt spending
(08:03):
with it. So the way this has worked since ninety
is that Social Security is mandated under law to be
quote unquote invested and what are called special issued government bonds.
What does that mean. They're bonds that allow for increased
debt spending by the federal government. It's a way for
them to still basically spend and borrow against Social Security.
(08:28):
It's a way to accomplish the leveraging of the funds
without having them specifically available within just the general budgeting process.
And here's what happens. This is the ponzi because there
is no trust fund, hasn't been since nineteen sixty eight.
Anybody who gets a Social Security check today is getting
(08:49):
that money from what people working are paying taxes to
the Social Security Administration for So it's money in money
direightly out to pay out what's due right now, and
then whatever is left is going to these bonds, and
then those bonds are borrowed against. Again, this is a
(09:12):
classic Ponzi scheme. It's I mean, it's it's the thing
that's so maddening to me. It is an actual Ponzi
scheme as constructed. It's money in, money out, and then
I'm going to live off of what's there. And Medicare
is only a slightly different version of a similar thing.
(09:33):
But the funds used to buy new government issued bonds
and current taxes going to pay existing needs. And so
the bottom line is that the real fixes are not easy,
but they're also not complicated. Social Security should be paid
into an account in your name that cannot be taken
away from you, and that grows over time until collected period,
(09:56):
end of story. That's the way it should be. It's
the way it was the to be originally. It's what
was taken away from you in nineteen sixty eight. And
that would require significant reform, that would require incredible political courage.
And incidentally, there is only one politician that I have
seen that has exercised that at any point.
Speaker 1 (10:16):
That's been Senator Rick Scott.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
A couple of years ago, you might remember he stepped
out there on Social Security and medicare. What happened to him,
He was demonized to no end for it. He was
one hundred percent right, by the way, but he was
made out to be the devil.
Speaker 1 (10:32):
And it's an indication.
Speaker 2 (10:35):
Everything that happened and how he was not even welcomed
by most Republicans when he put that out there, of
the lack of political will there is to do the
right thing to end the ongoing ponzi the way that
it's constructed, and the reason is simply just that schemers
have yet to run out of other people's money. It's
what they always do, right, It's what ponzi schemers do.
(10:55):
They keep the ponzi going. They live high in the
hog until they run out of other people's money. That
year is twenty thirty five. The answer, though, is that
it's always better to do the hard thing, the right thing,
now than it is to wait to do it later,
because it's only going to be that much worse at
that point, and in an era of doge seeking significant
(11:16):
cost savings, it's an opportune time to do big things,
to do this once in the lifetime things that need
to happen. Most likely, however, nothing is going to be
done until there's just no longer a choice because the
programs have run out of collecting enough of other people's money.
Don't mean to be pessimistic, but just being a realist
(11:36):
with this, I'll be pleasantly surprised if the right thing
happens before then.
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