Social Security Has Been Boosted, Not Looted
…the Social Security Historian’s Office, “the financing procedures involving the Social Security program have not changed in any fundamental way since they were established in the original Social Security Act…
Read moreSocial Security and Class Warfare
…in Social Security taxes, the earned income tax credit can effectively reduce their Social Security taxes to little or nothing. Hence, their actual returns from Social Security are multiplicatively higher…
Read moreDoes the Social Security Trust Fund Really Exist?
…(A second trust fund was created for Social Security’s disability program in 1956, but for the sake of simplicity, Social Security’s two trust funds are commonly spoken of as if…
Read moreRaising Payroll Taxes to Save Social Security Will Cost the Average Worker $73,000
…times the promised maximum. This does not include other taxes that are also levied to fund Social Security. Buckner says there is “plenty of time to act” to fix Social…
Read moreSocial Security’s Trust Fund to Start Losing Value in 2013
…2010, for the first time in 25 years, Social Security’s expenses exceeded its income from payroll taxes and taxes on Social Security benefits. This state of affairs continued in 2011…
Read moreTaking Social Security Off-Budget
…program.” As a matter of fact, taking Social Security off-budget doesn’t change the finances of the program by a single penny. Per the U.S. Social Security Administration, “whether the Trust…
Read moreThe Payroll Tax Holiday Does Not Impact Social Security, but It Does Redistribute Wealth
…replicate” Social Security’s revenues as though the payroll tax cut had “not been enacted.” Therefore, the finances of the Social Security program are not affected. What is affected, however, is…
Read moreThe Costs and Savings of Changing Social Security to a Personal Ownership System
By James D. Agresti November 25, 2011 During the recent one-on-one debate between Newt Gingrich and Hermann Cain, Gingrich said, “If you take it off-budget, you could solve Social Security….
Read moreSocial Security Trust Fund to Begin Declining in 2014, Not 2021
By James D. Agresti June 6, 2013 The newly released Social Security Trustees Report—which is the authoritative source for the program’s finances—states that its trust fund will “continue to grow…
Read moreFederal Government’s 2017 Fiscal Shortfall Is 74% Worse Than Reported Budget Deficit
…by other taxes. Social Security and Medicare differ from true pensions, because taxpayers don’t have a contractual right to receive these benefits. In the original Social Security Act of 1935,…
Read moreEverything You’ve Heard About the Debt Limit is Wrong
…it illegal to spend Social Security taxes on any program other than Social Security. Furthermore, the 2022 Social Security Trustees Report states: The Social Security Act prohibits payments from the…
Read moreIllegal Immigrants and Federal Income Taxes
…earning income in the U.S., but many of them do so by working for cash and by fraudulently using Social Security numbers. A 2013 report by the Social Security Administration…
Read moreFederal Fiscal Burden Consumes 93% of America’s Wealth
…in liabilities that are not accounted for in the publicly held debt. Social Security & Medicare A similar but far more expensive situation exists with social insurance programs like Social…
Read moreFederal Fiscal Shortfall Surges Past $100 Trillion
…reflected in the national debt. Social Security & Medicare A similar situation exists with social insurance programs like Social Security and Medicare because—contrary to popular belief—these programs don’t save workers’…
Read moreFact-Based Poll Reveals Fictions Believed by Voters
…Social Security benefits, while people with lower incomes often receive refundable tax credits that effectively refund some or all of their Social Security taxes. Correct answer given by 39% of…
Read moreFederal Fiscal Shortfall Nears $1 Million Per Household
…place these figures in context: Social Security’s unfunded obligations amount to an additional $247,327 from every person who currently pays Social Security payroll taxes. Medicare’s unfunded obligations amount to an…
Read morePoll Reveals Voters are Uninformed About Major Issues
…program and spending the money on other programs? Correct Answer: No. By law, all Social Security taxes and revenues can be used only for the Social Security program, and the…
Read morePoll Reveals Voters Misinformed About Key Issues
…income can be used only for the Social Security program. Since the outset of Social Security, the law has required that all of the program’s surpluses be loaned to the…
Read morePre-Election Poll: Voters Broadly Misinformed About Key Issues
…Correct Answer: False. By law, all Social Security taxes and revenues can be used only for the Social Security program, and the federal government has never failed to abide by…
Read moreTreasury Data Reveals Federal Shortfall of $614,000 per U.S. Household
By James D. Agresti March 4, 2016 Newly published data from the U.S. Treasury shows that the federal government has amassed $76.4 trillion in debts, liabilities, and unfunded Social Security…
Read moreNew Treasury Data Shows Federal Shortfall of $670,000 Per U.S. Household
…are slightly worse: The vast bulk of current and impending federal debt is due to increased spending on social programs like Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, and food stamps. Such programs…
Read moreQuantifying Illegal Votes Cast by Non-Citizens in the Battleground States of the 2020 Presidential Election
…Security numbers. In 2013, the chief actuary of the U.S. Social Security Administration estimated that in 2010: 0.7 million illegal immigrants worked by using Social Security numbers obtained by using…
Read moreAOC’s Baseless Accusation That the U.S. Is a “Brutal, Barbarian Society”
…of $23,050 in social benefits to every household in the United States. The federal government defines these as “payments from social insurance funds, such as social security and Medicare, and…
Read moreHow Hard and Effectively do Americans Work?
…to collect Medicare and Social Security. For example, since the outset of the Social Security program, the average male retiree has enjoyed a 43% increase in the amount of time…
Read moreTreasury Report: Federal Fiscal Shortfall is $603,000 per Household
By James D. Agresti April 13, 2015 New data from the U.S. Treasury shows that the federal government has amassed $74 trillion in debts, liabilities and unfunded Social Security/Medicare obligations….
Read moreSubstantial Numbers of Non-Citizens Vote Illegally in U.S. Elections
…in a 2013 investigation by the U.S. Social Security Administration, which found that about 1.8 million illegal immigrants worked in 2010 by using a Social Security number “that did not…
Read moreAre Today’s Newborns the Luckiest Generation in U.S. History?
…spending on several major social programs will increase substantially over the coming decades. This includes Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and the insurance exchanges created by Obamacare. Due to the design…
Read moreHas Government Turned Us Into a Nation of Makers and Takers?
…benefits, and increases in life expectancy that have raised spending on Social Security and Medicare. Accordingly, during the past half century, social programs have consumed a rising share of the…
Read moreWhat Portion of the Federal Budget Is Spent on the Military?
…the Kansas City Star claiming that “Congress is cutting Medicare and Social Security to reduce the debt, yet we spend three times as much on national security.” The reality is…
Read moreFour Underused Tools to Stop School Shootings
…He then proceeded to slaughter 20 students and 6 adults. These and other such tragedies may be prevented if schools took a simple and affordable action: apply a security film…
Read moreCan We Prevent a Debt-Driven Economic Collapse Without Reforming Entitlements?
…of age in 2050, the major federal healthcare programs and Social Security will consume all federal revenues, leaving nothing for any other function of federal government or even interest payments…
Read moreSocial Ills That Plague African Americans Coincide With Leftism, Not Racism
…declining racism and rising levels of political and social power held by minorities. In contrast, there are very strong associations between these scourges and leftist public policies and mindsets. Because…
Read moreIllegal Immigrants Are Far More Likely to Commit Serious Crimes Than the U.S. Public
…59%. On top of this, information from the Social Security Administration and other sources shows that most illegal immigrants engage in identity fraud. This is a federal felony punishable by…
Read moreGovernment-Mandated Benefits Suppress Workers’ Wages
…explicitly state that employment taxes levied on businesses drive down employee wages. For example, federal law requires employers to pay half of the Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes due…
Read moreEconomy Declined as Government Spending Rose
…Medicaid benefits, Social Security benefits, Medicare benefits, foreign aid, and interest on the national debt. This amounts to 47% of all federal, state and local government spending, largely consisting of…
Read moreHappy Holidays, You Owe the Federal Government $195,554
…unfunded obligations of the Social Security and Medicare programs. Based on this newly published data, Just Facts calculates that our nation’s government now has about $61 trillion ($61,058,400,000,000) in debts,…
Read moreUSA Today & Facebook Use Slanderous “Fact Check” to Suppress Facts About Illegal Voting By Non-Citizens
…in 2008 suggest that the true rate of non-citizen voter registration is almost twice what they reveal in surveys. Data from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the Social Security Administration,…
Read moreFederal Government Finances Deteriorated by $6.5 Trillion in 2012
…Based on this newly published data, Just Facts calculates that our national government has $67.4 trillion in debts, liabilities, and unfinanced Social Security/Medicare obligations. This represents a significant deterioration over…
Read moreThe Impact of Obamacare and Ryancare on Medicare
…there are 4.4 people in their prime working years (ages 20-64). The Social Security Administration estimates that this ratio will plummet by 39% over the next 20 years, which means…
Read moreAudit Reveals Federal Finances Are Far Worse Than Publicized Figures
…for fiscal obligations that are not legal liabilities but are still considered to be commitments of the federal government. These primarily consist of benefits due to current Social Security and…
Read moreReporters Distort the Truth About Government Spending
…excludes a host of major government programs, such as unemployment benefits, food stamps, and Social Security (credit belongs to Morgen Richmond and Dustin Siggins at Hot Air for bringing this…
Read moreMaximum Facts About the Minimum Wage
…reported to the IRS by the people who receive the money. In 2013, the chief actuary of the U.S. Social Security Administration estimated that 3.9 million illegal immigrants worked “in…
Read moreDonald Trump and the Media Agree on Middle-Class Income, and They are Both Wrong
…all forms of income in its analysis, including wages, capital gains, Social Security, and unemployment insurance, as well as non-cash benefits like food stamps, Medicare, and employer-provided health insurance. Also…
Read moreThe New York Times Regularly Publishes Falsehoods That Spur Violent Unrest and Civic Dysfunction
…more primary sources. “Virtually no evidence” of illegal voting by non-citizens “has been discovered.” Disproven by facts from the academic journal Electoral Studies, the U.S. Social Security Administration, the academic…
Read moreNo, Kamala Harris Hasn’t Promised to Build a Border Wall
…“the toughest border security bill in decades.” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who said the bill “would have delivered the toughest border measures in decades.” U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (NM),…
Read moreTrump Indicted for Citing Data From Ph.D.-Vetted Study to Challenge Election Fraud
…the same scholars. a study by the Chief Actuary of the Social Security Administration. an investigation by the U.S. Government Accountability Office. three surveys conducted by Harvard/YouGov. a scientific bilingual…
Read moreThe Washington Post Grossly Understates the Crime Rate of Illegal Immigrants
…fact that data from the Social Security Administration, IRS, and Government Accountability Office show that most illegal immigrants engage in identity fraud and/or tax evasion. These are federal felonies punishable…
Read moreMedia Outlets Stir Racial Strife and Slander Trump for Urging Governors to Protect People’s Rights
…in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science: “The most common means of testing for racial disparity in police use of deadly force is to compare the odds of being…
Read moreWarren Buffett’s Fraudulent Tax Claims (Part 2)
…beyond Buffett’s target due to increasing costs from Social Security and mandatory healthcare programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and the health insurance subsidies established under the Affordable Care Act. Yet,…
Read moreCurrent National Debt Situation is the Worst in U.S. History
…federal policies. These primarily involve mounting expenditures on social programs (like Medicaid, Social Security, and food assistance), which have risen from 21% of the federal budget in 1960 to 60%…
Read moreThe U.S. is a Democratic Constitutional Republic, and Yes, It Matters
…justice. The Michigan Standards In 2014, the Michigan Department of Education began to revise its social studies standards, releasing a draft of them in 2018. Soon thereafter, critics began attacking…
Read moreObama’s Plan for Tackling the Deficit
…and going back to Reagan-era tax rates are also part of the CBO’s current policy scenario. In this scenario, spending on all government functions but mandatory healthcare, Social Security, and…
Read moreElon Musk is Right and the NY Times is Wrong About Illegal Voting By Non-Citizens
…under [Trump’s] executive order, because if they got a false Social Security card, if they got a false identification, if they got a false driver’s license … if they got…
Read moreIs the Economy to Blame for Our “Runaway National Debt”?
By James D. Agresti November 3, 2011 Lambasting the Washington Post for an article about Social Security that “would have been excluded from most opinion pages because of all the…
Read moreBeware of the “Fact Checkers”
…polar opposite is true. Data from the IRS, the Social Security Administration, and the Congressional Budget Office show that roughly half of illegal immigrants file federal tax returns, but virtually…
Read moreFactCheck Abets False Obama Claim About Romney’s Taxes
…[Adjusted gross income] is a very narrow measure of income. It excludes such items as untaxed social security and pension benefits, tax-exempt employee benefits, income earned within retirement accounts, and…
Read moreKrugman and Obama Mislead on Debts and Deficits
…factors “will substantially boost federal spending on Social Security and the government’s major health care programs, relative to GDP, for the next 10 years and for decades thereafter.” Regarding these…
Read moreThe National Debt Is Rising—Not Declining
…programs with independent budgets, like Social Security. Lauter and Hiltzik also measure debt as a portion of the nation’s annual economic output (gross domestic product or GDP), which is a…
Read moreWidespread Poverty Stats Greatly Overstate the Number of Americans Who Are Destitute
…an average of 65% more money from the programs than they reported to the Census Bureau. In 2013, the chief actuary of the U.S. Social Security Administration estimated that 3.9…
Read moreWhat the $20 Trillion National Debt Means to You
…slightly, but spending has risen more: Since 1959, the composition of federal spending has changed dramatically. Spending on social programs (like income security, healthcare, education, and housing) has risen from…
Read moreFour Fabrications About Firearms
…analysis in the social sciences. Often the investigator will plot two variables and use the tight relationship obtained to draw absolutely ridiculous or completely erroneous conclusions. Because we so often…
Read moreEffects of Immigration From Impoverished Nations
…past. Moreover, a counter-culture has developed in places where many U.S. immigrants live. The academic book American Immigration: An Encyclopedia of Political, Social, and Cultural Change details these phenomena. Per…
Read moreFive Fallacies About Guns and Violence
…security — it is instead a standing invitation to family tragedy. The cold dead hands from which they pry the gun are very unlikely to be the hands of a…
Read more2017: The Year in Facts and Falsehoods
…an average of $50,000 for every household in the United States. This money is distributed as follows: 61% on social programs, like income security, healthcare, and education 14% on debt…
Read morePowerful Groups Are Hiding Facts About Illegal Voting by Non-Citizens
…In other words, these scholars—one of whom leads the creation of artificial intelligence for the world’s largest social media company—failed to conduct even basic research or are deliberately misleading their…
Read moreQuestion of the Day
If Congress had never changed Social Security‘s original income stream in the Social Security Act of 1935, when would Social Security be insolvent?…
Read moreQuestion of the Day
Would a pension system that is financially structured like Social Security be legal if carried out by a private corporation?…
Read moreQuestion of the Day
In 1960, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that paying Social Security taxes does not create a contractual right to receive Social Security benefits. Per the Social Security Administration, “There has…
Read moreQuestion of the Day
Would a pension system that is financially structured like Social Security be legal if carried out by a private corporation?…
Read moreQuestion of the Day
…live include their sex life, job security, having a child at home, spending time outside, and “sitting down to eat a meal with friends and family without the television turned…
Read moreQuestion of the Day
After the federal government pays back with interest the $2.8 trillion that it owes to Social Security, what is the estimated average shortfall for everyone currently in the program?…
Read moreQuestion of the Day
Data from the IRS Inspector General, the Social Security Administration, and the Congressional Budget Office indicate that roughly half of illegal immigrants file federal tax returns but virtually none of…
Read moreQuestion of the Day
…false identification.” This is corroborated by (1) a 2013 report by the Social Security Administration that estimated there were 0.7 million unauthorized immigrants who worked by using SS numbers obtained…
Read moreQuestion of the Day
…taken money from Social Security, they have actually boosted the program by adding more tax money into it. Social Security faces financial problems mainly because of a falling ratio of…
Read more