Yesterday, Medved had a guest on his show who characterized Social Security benefit payment obligations as "an unfunded liability".  This outrageous canard was not challenged by Michael, nor were any callers patched in to refute it.  In reality Social Security has been in surplus for many, many years.  Since the late 1960s, these payroll tax surpluses have been diverted to fund general obligations, instead of being set aside, and invested, to fund the Social Security benefits they are intended to pay for.  The US Government currently owes more than 1.5 trillion dollars to the Social Security Trust Fund.  More importantly, the debt owed to Social Security carries the exact same "full faith and credit" imprimatur as those tax-free US Treasuries held by the wealthy here and abroad.  It needs to be repaid, and repayment should occur sooner rather than later, by raising--not lowering--those taxes that have been kept artificially low, by using payroll taxes to prop up expenditures.

 

It may surprise you to know that PAYGO is not written into the Social Security Act as the funding mechanism for Social Security.  We really don't need a younger demographic of illegal aliens to fund it.  On the basis of quality of life, we should declare a moratorium on all immigration, until we properly absorb the legal immigrants who have poured into the US over the last 40 years.  For example, when I got my driver's license, the US population was 180 million and the roads were pleasant to drive on.  Now, there is road rage everywhere.  People are fed up with highway congestion, and overcrowding in general.  Let's give immigration a rest for awhile.

 

Medved and others constantly remind us that federal income taxes are only paid by a small percentage of higher income taxpayers.  What is left out of the syllabus is how much income--and underlying wealth--this cohort controls.  And, we are never told how unfair and regressive the payroll tax is for those--i.e. most of us--whose earnings fall entirely within the earnings cap, currently set at $97,500.  One of the niftier features is that--unlike the income tax--there are no chargeoffs.  And, someone earning $97.5M pays exactly the same amount of payroll tax as the $97,500 earner.

 

If conservative talk radio won't stop misinforming listeners about--among other things--Social Security, it can expect the Fairness Doctrine to be reimposeed--and rightfully so.