Did you know that, with regard to Social Security, Ronald Reagan once said...?

Question

REAGAN: Social Security, let’s lay it to rest once in for all…Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit. "Social Security is totally funded by the payroll tax levied on employer and employee. If you reduce the outgo of Social Security, that money would not go into the general fund to reduce the deficit. It would go into the Social Security trust fund. So Social Security has nothing to do with balancing the budget or erasing or lowering the deficit.":

He said that during the Reagan-Mondale presidential debates.  Where's the republican party on that issue now?

Anonymous · Accepted Answer

Little Red Hen has got it right.  Every president since Johnson, with the 
exception of Carter, has allowed this.  The SS Trust Fund is filled with
I.O.Us from the federal government.

brenton s · Answer

Reagan statement was in 1984 and about 1984.  Deficits are a point in time measurement.  At the time, he had just passed a massive tax increase.  What he said in 1984 is completely irrelevant to 2012.

The idea that Social Security didn't add to the 1984 deficit is very debateable.  LIke all politicians Reagan simply took the popular view.  If you accept his assumptions, Reagan was telling the truth about 1984.  That is a big assumption.

No president or Congress for that matter has 'tapped' the Trust Fund.  You are foolish to suggest so.  The financial operations of Social Security haven't changed since its inception - source SSA.

"Fix Social Security Now" on FB and www.FixSSNow.Org

? · Answer

When will the american people wake to the fact that we have robbers in washington who have drained the SS fund dry. We put people in jail when they rob us,so what the differences with these guys.They robbed us.We won't be in the shape we're in if they would have faced the facts years ago and corrected it then.The state I live in did the same thing(Tx.) They pass a tax on fishing tackle, outboard gas,etc. and instead of using that money for outdoor use,parks,etc. they put it in the general fund so they could draw from it when other agency ran dry.SS is in the same boat. Our good friends in washington can't balance the budget without robbing from funds that would stand on their own if left alone.

Anonymous · Answer

A wise man.
There is no such thing as a social security trust fund.
The evil people of Washington have stolen all of the money that was paid into it for our retirement.
Why do you think that they keep raising the retirement age???????????????

? · Answer

regrettably Ronald Reagan wasn't able to stop the "loose to apply Slave hard paintings "commerce" regulation named NAFTA. shall we face it no Jobs = no paintings = no earnings = a failing financial equipment = great government intrusions = loss of freedoms = eventual financial crumple = Anarchy melancholy© = Marshal regulation = invocation of the administrative Unitary Provision = no shape = King Obama = Slavery as quickly as returned in united statesa...... All for my part of path... † FNS †

Anonymous · Answer

To be fair: He said that BEFORE the Clinton era congress raided the trust fund to "balance" the budget.

? · Answer

That was before baby boomers started retiring in droves and left a minority footing the bill...

Little Red Hen 2.0 · Answer

The gov't. has been raiding the S.S. fund for decades.

Texas Mike · Answer

Yes. Exactly right. And what is the question?

Anonymous · Answer

Of course, on which planet have you been all this time?

Trending News

Did you know that, with regard to Social Security, Ronald Reagan once said...?

10 Answers