Re: SS Trust Fund -- Various Interpretations


"Jim Blair" <jeb@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:d1pt53$fqc$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>
> "Tim Keating" <NotForJunkEmail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> ....
>>
>> As for illegals, they end up consuming many of our government
>> services, (driving up the cost), intended for our citizens. One
>> quarter of all LA county jail cells are holding illegally who
>> committed crimes. Same goes for many other government benefits. My
>> local hospital district levies a $500/yr property tax to support
>> indigent health care. Care to guess what % of that goes towards
>> illegals?
>
> Hi,
>
> Immigrants clearly help the Social Security cash flow in the "short run".
> That is, they pay FICA--until they qualify to collect.
> Once they start collecting, they add to the problem. Just like US born
> workers.
>
>>
>> Second, they depress wage scales across the board. Why hire a US
>> citizen for $12/hr when you can hire illegals for half that??.
>
> And that cuts both ways. Their low wages make things here cheaper. Like
> nannies, lawn care, and some manufactured goods. A reduction in your costs
> is equivalent to an increase in your wealth.
>

This is a very, very WRONG assertion. Wage erosion is good for
people who have income from rents, royalties, capital gains,
interest, and dividends. But wage erosion sucks for those who
support themselves through wages. Do not ever let the aristocratic
prancing pigs convince you that THEY are not the really big
winners from wage erosion. The common people of the USA
have lost big time since the arrival of the neocons.

> Also there is less pressure to move a factory to Mexico when the Mexicans
> move here to work in it.

When we consider the actual facts it might be better to let the
"owners" move the factory to Mexico. So long as we can tax
the hell out of the income from the factory and redistribute it
in the form of unemployment compensation I see no problem
with moving the factory to Mexico. It COULD be that
the owners will also move to Mexico to avoid the tax. I want
to be at the border to kiss them goodbye.

> Ever been to the meat packing plant in Postville
> Iowa? I hear more Spanish there than Hungarian--and some oldtimers speak
> German or Czech. Hebrew is probably less common than Yiddish, and you can
> even find some English speakers there if you look hard enough.

So long as they are all legal then this is fine, well, and good.

>> Third, Congress has advocated and allowed legal importation of
>> over a million tech workers during the last decade, that has cut ALL
>> high tech wages tremendously. (The net result has seriously damaged
>> SS's future solvency.)
>
> As opposed to outsourcing those jobs to India?

Yes. There are certain jobs that can't be outsourced, just as
there are jobs like nursing that can't be outsourced. These
jobs should be done by American citizens.

>>
>> >Manufacturing plants are fleeing
>> >the US for Asia's low cost labor.
>
> Even China is losing manufacturing jobs--to new technology. Manufacturing
> jobs are going the way agricultural jobs went during the last century. Ever
> fewer people producting ever more because of technology.

While technological innovation and capital development are
the wellspring of economic advance, the reduction of wages
is not to be the result if we wish to achieve "good" economics.

China uses forced labor and forced savings to achieve what
it does.

>>>The US is left with service industry
>> >jobs which tend to pay less.
>
> ??? Like lawyers and professional athletes? Maybe doctors? Some "services"
> pay very well.

Typical pig*** of waving the exception around as the norm.
The professional rent seeking monopolists are doing very
well, thank you.

>> That's what you get when start rigging the trade game against US
>> workers/society. WTO, NATFA, free trade agreements, MFN are all
>> elements of the neo-con's plan to rule.
>
> But look at all the jobs associated with things the US exports, from movies
> to airplanes to food to machinery.

Gee.... We all get to work building latter day pyramids for our
illustrious aristocrats. Whoever has the tallest buildings and
the most nukes is the winner.

>>
>> In a nut shell, the neo-cons, (many dems included), are the ones
>> holding the knife which is cutting SS's throat. It would be foolish
>> to give them another blade to finish the job.
>
> ??? Is that an argument for or againt personal retirement accounts?

When you actually look at the FICA proceeds adjusted to
housing costs and population growth you see the REAL
wage statistics. The Clinton era saw a huge increase in
FICA tax proceeds because people actually had GOOD
jobs. Those proceeds have now shrunk because people
no longer get decent wages. I am all for funding SS
with revenue from sources other than wages. But lets
do it in a way that isn't simply payola to the Bush
campaign contributors.

> ,,,,,,,
> _______________ooo___(_O O_)___ooo_______________
> (_)
> jim blair (jeblair@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx) Madison Wisconsin
> USA. This message was brought to you using biodegradable
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