Paul Ryan is a FRAUDSTER!

The following article was composed and contributed to the BAP Bog by a local citizen, Tom Dona Rosa who has done his homework. Thank you Tom!

Each year for a number of years citizens living in the First Congressional District have received from Congressman Paul Ryan an Annual Report on the Unites States Government with the Great Seal of the Congress of the United States on it. The Report represents itself to be a an Annual Report similar to a Corporate Annual Report. We all know that Corporate Annual Reports must be a truthful and an accurate representation of the Corporation at the time that it was issued. So why would this Annual Report be any different? WOW is all I can say!! I had glanced at the others and filed them, but this one I looked at more closely and to my utter shock found out that it is a TOTAL misrepresentation of our Government’s finances!! It is in essence a FRAUD upon us because it intentionally misrepresents the income and expenses of our government!!!

For starters Paul Ryan claims that the payments to the Social Security Trust Fund and other similar programs, Medicare, Federal Unemployment, and of all things the Railroad Retirement Fund are part of the Government’s Revenue!! He calls them “Social Insurance Taxes” as if there is such a thing. It would be like Governor Walker claiming that the payments to and income earned by the Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) is part of the income to the State of Wisconsin!! Now people know that the money that goes to the WRS for public employees pensions is NOT income to the State of Wisconsin but money being set aside and invested to pay the pensions when those public employees retire.


If Paul Ryan is supposed to be the financial WIZZAD of the Republican Party (they just changed the rules so that he can continue to be the Chair of the House Budget Committee) he surely does not understand the basics of what constitutes Income to the Federal Government. If he does not know the basics then HOW CAN HE prepare the Federal Budget!! At least Walker has not considered payments to the WRS as income to the State of Wisconsin. YET!

Unfortunately the FRAUD gets worse!! Besides including money that is NOT income to the Federal Government he intentionally confuses the finances so that the favored programs are glossed over and the targeted programs are highlighted. He used negative terms to highlight those programs he wished to destroy or cut significantly as “entitlement programs”, “death taxes” for estate taxes, etc. It is like that classic shell game. You see it here and then it gets lost.

We must stop allowing them to play the shell game with our lives and our future. We must spend some time thinking about and figuring out how it all works. To lift the veil, to lift the fog so we can all SEE. The numbers are big but the concepts are simple and straight forward. Some addition, a little subtraction that is all the math we need to know. Instead of thousands we say billions and trillions but they are just numbers that we add and subtract. 

We also need to know that a Reserve is a Savings Account and that when the Federal Government does not balance its budget (runs a deficit) it borrows money from others (one being Communist China) and right now, ourselves to pay OUR bills. We NEED an accurate Income and Expense Statement for the Federal Government. It should be possible on 2 pages. It would be that Income and Expense Statement that we ALL agree on so that we have a COMMON basis for our discussions. No more shell game no more 10 year savings etc.

It must be REMEMBERED that Social Security (and the other programs listed) are PROGRAMS that must be seen as independent of the US Government. While it is funded through a “wage tax” (the most regressive tax that there is. In essence is a flat tax from the first dollar but stops at $113,700 of annual wages) the money DOES NOT BELONG TO THE United States Government. It belongs to those who have paid into the Social Security Trust Fund! It is in essence a separate Corporation that is controlled by the Congress but it is SEPARATE from the Government and that is one of the critical shells to understand!!

When it was established by the Congress, the Congress became its governing board, with an advisory board with no teeth, which in hindsight was not a wise decision. Having an independent body along with the Congress would have provided a check and balance. For instance the independent board body could have stopped the psychological commingling of payments to the Social Security Trust Fund with the rest of the Federal Government spending which creates the great muddle that we are currently experiencing.

The ultimate FRAUD is that Paul Ryan claims that Social Security is PART OF THE DEFICIT!!!!! According to Paul Ryan’s 2012 Annual Report to us, Social Security is paying out more in benefits to retired, disable individuals and death benefits to minors then it receives. I assumed that this was true yet according to “Fast Facts and Figures about Social Security for 2011” the Social Security Trust Fund increased it Reserves in 2011 so there was no deficit! He lied to us in his report!!!

Even President Obama is telling us is that “We must cut Social Security now“!!! But hold on, remember the shell game I mentioned in the beginning? Well this is one of them! It is critical to remember that the Social Security Trust Fund is financially sound with its current retirement payment structure and retirement age and taxing rate till 2033 without any changes!!”. Where are is the money in the Social Security Trust Fund? It is in US Government Bonds. An easy way to think of this is that there is a savings account and it is still growing in spite of what Congressman Ryan says!!

Social Security HAS NOTHING to do with the Government deficit or the fiscal cliff. That is what they want you and I to BELIEVE, BUT WE must look at the facts. Congressman Ryan and the rest of the Republicans and even some Democrats ONLY talk about CUTTING Social Security as the way to secure the Social Security Program into the future! It is seldom discussed that taxing all wages above the current limit of $113,700 is all that is needed to balance the Social Security Program for the next 75 years.

When the Medicare Program was established the folks (actuaries) guessed wrong on the cost of health care in the future. Who would have thought that we would all be going to Hospitals that are only 10 years old! (Sort of like sports stadiums and the like. They are never good enough and must always be new to stay competitive. The Bucks NEED(?) a new Arena!!). The Medicare Reserve’s are being spent at a faster rate than originally anticipated and so this program will need to be FIXED but the fix should a combination of cost cutting cost through efficiency and increasing the payments by all of us, working and retired and limiting the growth of NEW health care facilities etc. We DO NOT NEED the usual fix passing on the cost to someone else which really means you and me NOT THEM!!

When there is a shortfall in one of the programs and money needs to be taken from the Program’s reserves the US Government must decide if it will decrease its debt or find other buyers for the Bonds that in essence Social Security is “selling” to make the contracted payments to the Social Security participants. Social Security HAS NO IMPACT ON THE DEBT ITSELF.

Much to the consternation of the Republicans and those who want us to believe that Social Security it part of the problem nothing is further from the truth. There is even a significant benefit to the economy and that is that almost all of the dollars paid to Social Security participants are spent maintaining the economy.

This is yet another attempt by Wall Street to steal from us. Rather than focusing on the REAL DEFICIT which at its current rate is a danger to all of us, we will focus on Social Security claiming that it is the problem.
It may be unfair to call Congressman Paul Ryan a Fraudster when there are so many!!
　
* Fraudster - somebody who commits fraud: a criminal who obtains money or some other benefit by deliberate deception - Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2005 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Part two on the real Federal Government Income and Expenses coming soon.