The first thing we should do to secure a dignified retirement for most Americans is to stop the lies surrounding our monetary system that only serve political purposes. FICA taxes cannot “fund” anything as they are currently. There is no pile of Treasury bonds that actually “contain” any money sitting in the Social Security trust fund. Considering that FICA is the most regressive tax in our history, hitting even minimum wage workers from the first dollar they earn and that the benefits they promise comprise the bulk of retirement funding for most of those workers, this grand lie is egregious manipulation.

The bonds are there, but they are an accounting entity only and have no actual money attached to them beyond the promise to “create” it to pay benefits as the bonds mature. That’s how Treasury bonds work, originally only serving to defend a gold reserve that no longer exists. The government could do that just as easily without reducing the purchasing power of the working class for their entire careers. The most actual benefit realized by the working class from their wage reduction is knowing they paid down the mostly meaningless national debt.

Greenspan was one of the best liars the right-wing had until someone placed him under oath. He, unlike most of his party, had some respect for the law. WE can watch him here as he attempts to be truthful under oath while also obfuscating sufficiently to satisfy Rep Paul Ryan’s desire to vilify Social Security. The key point to take away from his testimony is “There is nothing to prevent the government from creating as much money as it wants and giving it to someone.” He also accurately stated that the limitation to this is the ability of the economy to produce real resources at the time the “NEW” money is deployed.