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Where, oh where, has our retirement fund gone? Where, oh were, where can it be?
During our entire working life we paid into Social Security as well as into private retirement funds. Our Social Security money was spent for general expenses as it was received instead of a real fund called for by law. We received imaginary IOUs. There is not even a virtual account.
The members' lifetime contributions were co-mingled with ordinary income and spent for government operations. None of the Social Security fund earned interest.
The decision was to spend the money as it was received and later pay the Social Security recipients out of income. The government created a phantom fund. To make matters worse, those in power covet our private savings, and to get to it they are busily printing money by the billions without any gold, silver or credit to back it. This decreases the buying power of our savings.
Our savings are being bled off faster than they earn interest. How long can this keep up? They will keep chiseling away at our savings until even that little stash under the mattress disappears.
It will be worse when they cut back our Medicare program to have money to help finance "universal" medical care.
Where oh where is our retirement fund going? What funds?
Lee S. Bowers
Gainesville