Social Security is a “Great Heist”

As an industrial engineering major, I’ve been educated on how to identify when systems are… As an industrial engineering major, I’ve been educated on how to identify when systems are failing. Such analytical tools have led to a few important conclusions. For example, when Democrats are elected to public office, it is obvious the American public education system has failed. And when Social Security pays out more in benefits than it takes in through taxes, it too will be a failing system. It also takes very little analysis to determine that Social Security has always been a catastrophe in any libertarian’s mind.

Since 1937, when Social Security taxes were first collected, the federal government has been stealing from working men and women to pay the elderly, with only a pinky swear to pay the workers when they retire. Let’s give former President Franklin Roosevelt some credit – it wasn’t his idea. Otto von Bismarck, Minister-President of Prussia, invented social insurance in 1889. I am sure Roosevelt was able to get a good night’s sleep knowing he was just the messenger of what is more aptly named “Uncle Sam’s Great Heist.” The motivations for such an insurance plan aren’t exactly clear, considering that most working people already had insurance and pension plans through their work, according to historian Jim Powell.

You could say he was creating a safety net for all the Americans who were unemployed, but they were unemployed because of the taxation and anti-business laws – of which Social Security is a member – FDR signed. After FDR restricted the economy from real recovery and destroyed any possible incentive to become an entrepreneur, he must have felt bad that 20.1 percent of the labor force was still unemployed six years after Black Tuesday.

And what does Roosevelt do when he is feeling gloomy? Well, given he is a Democrat, he must create a socialist program and tax away his woes.

At its inception, Social Security never provided much security. The average life expectancy in 1935 was 61.7 years in the United States. Most people never lived long enough to start collecting Social Security.

But if you happened to be lucky enough to be 65 years or older, you were encouraged to quit your job and immediately collect a lump sum. It was FDR’s way of kicking old people out of the job market, leaving the few jobs FDR hadn’t yet destroyed available for the people who the government hadn’t already employed. Ah, government at its finest hour.

During FDR’s reign, it was Momma’s house, and you had to play by Momma’s rules. You had to be “insured” by the federal government and you had better like it!

There’s no choice, no freedom. You were merely children playing in Momma’s backyard, hoping she didn’t get angry again and get out her tax paddle.

The greatest scam is that the federal government is not legally bound to pay you what you paid into the program. At any time the government can cut benefits, raise taxes, or any combination thereof. You could, and probably will, work for 30 years and see only a small portion of what you paid in FICA taxes.

The only people guaranteed to see your hard-earned cash are the politicians who spend it the minute it pours into the government’s massive coffers. The federal government is the only institution not legally forced to maintain its part of the contract. Other insurance companies must pay you the value of your contracted insurance plan – Uncle Sam’s orders.

And what if your spouse or parents pass away? The government usurps that money, no questions asked. The money the deceased paid into the system will never be used to better the lives of the deceased’s family, unless the family wants to relinquish their own Social Security benefits. Social Security allows the government to capitalize on American deaths. If the government was so worried about the elderly living on the streets, why didn’t it simply require individuals to purchase insurance from private companies, or at the very least use the collected tax money to purchase insurance for them?

Only blasphemers would mention private business. Government was FDR’s god. And Social Security is his legacy: a legacy of thievery and paternalism. But make sure you look in all directions before you start questioning the greatest American president’s motivation. You wouldn’t want to anger the FDR acolytes by mentioning reality.

Message to our modern Momma: Free us from the economic chains of Social Security, and let us decide for ourselves how to best spend our money in preparation for retirement. We don’t need to be held by the hand as we walk through life. We’re big kids now.

To call the cops on Momma for child abuse, e-mail Gregg at gjs22@pitt.edu.