Social Security and “Let’s Make a Deal”

Social Security and “Let’s Make a Deal.” www.watchdogonwallstreet.com

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Social Security and let's make a deal. That's right, Okay,
social Security is one big fat see. I told you
so a moment going back to the nineteen nineties, I
warned everybody. I was warning everybody, especially my generation at
that time. I said, listen, do not plan on getting

(00:38):
social Security. If you get it, congratulations, but don't plan
on it. It's going bankrupt.

Speaker 1 (00:45):
And again we get.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Fast forward to two thousand and four. Actually, the one
thing that George W. Bush tried to accomplish failed because
he was spent all of his political capital in Iraq
was reforming social security. But it didn't happen. Again, it
was much more important, uh, fighting for no reason in

(01:08):
Iraq at the time. Anyway, neither here nor there. There
was a story today I want to share with you.
And this again, these are all things that we've discussed
over the past thirty years. Social Security is very popular
with Americans, large majority of the Democrats and Republican liked
the program and wanted to continue with no cuts and benefits,

(01:31):
no increase in costs to taxpayers, and no real reforms
of any kind. This is from Reason today that makes
the general public children. I want it, I want it?
Why can't I have it? I want it? I don't
I want it? I mean again, that's basically what it is.

(01:52):
You've got a bunch of kids. Oh, what's a third
rail of American politics?

Speaker 1 (02:00):
From the get go?

Speaker 2 (02:01):
Social Security was always a Ponzi scheme, from the very beginning. Recently,
recently we had Ramina Boschief from the Cato Institute put
out report and I'm going to quote her. Imagine a
charismatic salesperson promising sky high returns to early investors, only

(02:23):
to use the money from new investors to pay them off.
That's again Ponzi scheme. Charles Ponzi fraud. Again. You might
be familiar with made Off for crying out loud, who
ran the same thing. Current again, social Security, current workers
payroll taxes fund the benefits of current retirees. That's the

(02:48):
same way Ponzi scheme worked. Okay, new money payoff old promises.
Ponzi scheme. Bernie paid off the Social Security Trust Fund, or,
as al Gore liked to call the lock box. Yeah,

(03:10):
there's no money in the lock box. It is, and
I've described it, I think better than anybody else as
the IOU scheme from the film Dumb and Dumber. Again,
if you're not familiar with the film Dumb and Dumber,
you got Harry and Lloyd to not very bright characters

(03:30):
and they find themselves with a suitcase full of money.
These are two unemployed fellas, and they start spending the
money in the suitcase and they stick IOUs in it
like they have the ability to pay it back anyway.
And until twenty ten, Americans paid more and Social Security

(03:53):
taxes than the program paid out in benefits. The extra
money wasn't saved, but passed on to be spent by
the rest of the federal government in return for IOUs.
Isn't that great to love those people in Washington, DC.
Rather than taking your money, they could have stuck it
in a bloody savings account, put a CDs with it. Matt.

(04:14):
Imagine if they actually invested it in an S and
P five hundred fund over those years, you know how
much money you'd be getting today. But no, no, no, no, no, No,
they had to spend it. They got their grubby little
hands Democrats and Republicans and spend it on complete and
utter bullshit. Anyway, as the solid security cash is in

(04:39):
on those IOUs the Treasury is going to have to
borrow I'm about four point one trillion dollars plus interest
to fund the program from now until twenty thirty three,
which is, you know, I got credit cards and I
gotta go borrow money to pay off my credit cards.
Same thing, same exact thing. Okay, we've got to get

(05:04):
to twenty thirty three, and that number could change, could
be twenty thirty two. Shortly, the funds reserves will be depleted,
and again it's going to be cut. It's going to
be caught by about twenty percent plus at that point

(05:26):
in time. Okay, how do we keep Social Security afloat? Well,
some of the things that been offered lower benefits, Nope,
nobody wants that. Nobody can't have that. Taxes could be raised.
Nobody wants that either. But again, you raise taxes, then
you have to pay people more money, don't you. Retirement

(05:49):
age could be adjusted to reflect life expectancy, because it's
obviously much higher now than when the program was implemented. Nope,
nobody wants to do that either. Or it can be
converted into a welfare program. But then people are gonna
get upset. I paid into my entire life. I want
to get some of my money. Nobody wants that either.

(06:12):
And it doesn't matter whether you are a Donald Trump's supporter,
you are a Kamala Harris supporter. You want some magical
genie to come down and make it all go away.
You don't want to be an adult, you don't want
to be a man. You don't want to solve the problem.
I got an idea. I got a deal, and it's

(06:35):
gonna be called Let's make a deal. Let's make a deal.
I think this could be a start throwing this out there,
throwing this out there. Why not cut deals? Why not
cut deals? Why not go to someone and say, someone
that has significant means, has retirement accounts on their own,

(06:59):
that was that was responsible, prudent throughout their entire life
and saving money, putting away you know, the whole ant
and the grasshopper type of thing, doing what you're supposed
to do, not relying upon the government for handouts and
giveaways and the promise of social security down the road.
Yet you go to the people, the personally responsible here

(07:21):
in the country and you make them a deal. You say, listen, okay,
you've got all of this money. Let's see, you got
all this money in a four to one k four
one k ira whatever it may be, and you could
deal with them. You say, hey, listen, we will allow you.
We will allow you the ability to take your four
oh one k your retirement account and convert it free

(07:45):
of charge, no taxes, into a roth. Into a roth.
The only thing you have to do is you have
to give up any claim to Social Security up in
the right direction, right, Oh, listen, I got a long, long, long, long, long,

(08:08):
long list of clients.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
It'd be all over that.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
Why not give up any claim to Social Security as
long as you can take your savings and your retirement
converted into a wroth so it could continue to grow
tax free and the money could come out tax free.

Speaker 1 (08:27):
That sounds like a deal.

Speaker 2 (08:29):
Does that not sound reasonable?

Speaker 1 (08:33):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (08:33):
I know. That's that's the rips people. It's gonna be
taking advantage. No, no, no, no, no, they're not getting
more Social Security. Listen, sign me up, sign me up,
sign my clients up. We'll be all over that watchdog
on Wall street dot com