Will Trump or Any President Cancel Social Security? No!

Political divisiveness is rampant in the media and internet websites. Some stories are promoted by political parties/groups and some may be supported by foreign interests.

Here is what you should be sure of. Trump will never support “getting rid of Social Security.” No one in Congress will vote for that even if any President wanted to.

Recently, Trump DID SAY he wanted to get rid of the “payroll tax” which primarily partially funds Social Security. That reflects his view (shared by many over the years) that the payroll tax (15% of wages) is very unfair and regressive. That applies to the first $137,700 of wages irrespective of income. Therefore, someone making $25,000 pays the same 15% as someone making $250,000. In fact, higher incomes stop paying above the threshold. Many economists feel it has become unfair.

Currently, those taxes are earmarked for Social Security. In the Federal Budget, all the funds are commingled. Future planned benefits cannot be paid out of funds set aside. There are not enough funds and those funds are not segregated. It has been a long standing fraud on Americans to suggest SS benefits were safely set aside. They simply are not.

What Trump wants to do (and has always said so) is to fix an unfair tax, and, find a way to honor the commitment to beneficiaries.

Any reasoned analysis of Social Security shows there are long standing problems with paying these benefits. It has to be fixed. Like many issues, Trump wants to fix it even though it will be hard and want to be avoided by the politicians that created the mess.

For my friends who are in Illinois, the pension crises for state and local employees in Illinois is much much worse due to chronic bad policies regarding excessive pension benefits, state budgets and funding. While Illinois is only one state, the lack of funding to pay pensions to state employees is almost as large as the unfunded benefits in Social Security.

Details:
15% payroll tax for Social Security and Medicare is jointly paid by both employee and employer.

The max income threshold of $137,700 applies to SS tax (called FICA) and there is no cap on Medicare tax.)

The Important War Against Child Trafficking - #SaveTheChildren

This commentary is from a friend of Children and SF&ST-

SIMPLE TRUTH

 - Child trafficking has been a significant problem for years

 - Masks and fear of COVID 19 may be making it worse

 - Kids need to be back in school "as normal"

 - More focus needs to be placed on issue to stop child trafficking

Child trafficking has been a big problem before, but, it is massive now that we can so easily hide children and others in plain daylight and our see something say something radar is down.

And the science isn’t there for this kind of long term mask wear and cost vs benefit. Not there at all. We are weakening immune systems (bubble theory) by staying masked, locked away from our loved ones etc. Kids are virulent against this. They just are g BH ring tested more right now because of school. Cases are going up because we are testing more, death rates go down.

The survival rate is 99.74 and likely improving as time goes on, regardless of draconian measures in place for months now. It’s time to stop being afraid and go back to normal. We know the tests are faulty, treatment has been suppressed, and vaccines are being rushed. Kids need to be around each other in school. Not masked. Not apart. Normal.

They help improve all of our micro-biomes and we need them to do our “dirty work” in order build us all up.

Look at Sweden and look at South Dakota. We went with a theory and they were the control groups and if this all worked, we should see massive devastation there.

It just isn’t. It’s 5 months later and they are locking down tighter and tighter. It’s not working yet these people seem drunk on power. Continuing to crash our economy, print money and kill livelihoods. It’s not about the virus to me. Wouldn’t we otherwise decide the risk to be worth it?

A 1% drop in employment equals 30k deaths. We had a 14% change in unemployment. That’s depressing math. The cure is worse than the disease and now it’s making it easier to commit all
Kinda of crimes, including child trafficking.

Plus they are accessing the kids through the internet in creative ways I never knew about. We all need to be braver for these kids and others. The number is more like 800,000 in this country alone.

More on Mass Mail In Voting; Possible and Likely Irregularities

There are inherent flaws in vote by mail if not set up correctly. While it does work in places, there are still flaws in the process that leaves open the potential for voting irregularities.

Absentee voting is different because the process has been in place for a long time in all states, it requires voters to request a ballot, and it was not rushed into practice.

The single biggest flaw is that it is being rushed by states with no time to establish near full proof procedures. Readers should also see clearly this is being pushed by Democrats that perceive an advantage for their candidates.

A better system can and should be established for "digital voting" but that system would require up to a year to establish procedures that should then be tested fully. 

As a reminder, anyone with safety and health concerns can request an "absentee ballot" to vote without going to a polling place. 

(Readers should be aware that most voting management of any system occurs at the county level with some procedures for voting integrity at the precinct level. This makes any changes difficult to manage in a rush where so many people are involved, that have to be trained on how to avoid and limit irregularities.)

Here is recent article from Politico on the topic.

COVID 19 Stimulus - Round 4; Horse Trading is Good for America

Attached below is an article the reviews the attempted horse trading going on with trillions of your tax dollars. The US Budget for the fiscal year ended Sept 30 2019 was just over $4 trillion (that is $4,000 billion.) Even in fiscal 2019, the Federal government borrowed additional debt of nearly $3 trillion. So with the stimulus payments this year, Federal spending could easily approach $6 trillion and what is being proposed or "negotiated" is an additional $1 to $3 Trillion. 

The concerns with previous stimulus is that some payments were clumsily provided and the substantial unemployment benefits incentivized some not to return to work. Readers should know that the average unemployment benefits per week were about $330. The CARES Act increased that to $930 per week with an addition $600 per week. That combination of state unemployment benefits and CARES act provided such large benefits that some workers preferred to stay home rather than return to work. Many receiving those benefits were being paid more than "many essential workers" that were showing up to serve Americans during the Pandemic. 

This is a typical ideological conflict that is common place. Dems always want more hand outs, even when excessive, to curry favor with voters. Repubs are willing to help the needy but do not want to create incentives that are counter productive. 

Like most policy disputes in Washington there are easy pragmatic solutions if elected leaders did what is best for Americans. But they don't. 

A Simple Truth solution is to taper benefits down to zero in a few months to encourage everyone to return to work. Say continue for two months at $500 per week.. then two months at 300 per week and then drop to $100 per week after four months for another 6-12 months.

There are other issues in dispute but the Simple Truth is there are pragmatic solutions. Another key dispute is over Federal bail outs for states that have wrought havoc on financial position due to long standing unsound financial practices and flawed lockdown decisions. These are democrat run states like California, Illinois, New York and New Jersey. 

But "we" elect too many to Congress that care more about their political future than doing what is best for America. Let them know how you feel. No more horse trading.

Here is the Article that provides a recap the breakdown in "negotiations."

Here is a link to the Federal Budget with actual data about spending.

Do Government Scientists Own an Interest in Moderna COVID 19 Vaccine

It is well documented that Anthony Fauci has made encouraging remarks about the Moderna Covid 19 vaccine currently in Phase 3 Trials. There have been reports in the media that Fauci will reap a financial reward if the vaccine proves effective and is used throughout the US and the World. 

A cursory review of literature did not reveal evidence from a credible source that Fauci may have an interest. That could be important if he was knowingly "fanning the flames" of fear to make the vaccine more essential and valuable. With a financial incentive, he may also be discouraging therapeutic treatments that would reduce the risks of the virus and thereby lessen the fear that many have had. 

SF&ST did not find evidence that was credible of Fauci having a direct financial interest. However, Americans should be alert to future revelations. Some of the source documents available were redacted to conceal the interests of NIH (National Institute of Health - Fauci's organization) scientists. Reports of current US law state that scientists working for the government may receive a financial reward for their intellectual property while working for the US Government but it is limited to $150,000 per year. The four NIH scientists were not identified. It was clear from patent applications that the US Government did share in the ownership of the vaccine under development and provided substantial funding. 

For more information - see this link:

Here is the link to an article with credibility and links to actual documents from "Public Citizen." 

Hysteria About COVID 19? Look at this!

Why Do Teachers Unions Want to Shut Down Schools? Easy Answer

Answer: Defeat Trump in Election

It is that simple. By keeping schools closed, Democrats and Teachers Unions are disrupting families, business, the economy, and, the election campaign. Democrats and their supporters will do anything to defeat Donald Trump.

A reader does not have to support Trump to recognize how insidious this effort is. Teachers unions have a long history of promoting their political agenda over the interest of kids and families.

Captive Mind And Resegregation; Wall Street Journal; August 3, 2020

Editor Comment - this is one of the more effective discussions about what is happening in America and why we need to stand up in opposition. I have excerpted much of the article below:

"Idol smashing and cancel culture are part of a broad ideological project to dominate society."

"Czesław Miłosz, a future Nobel Prize-winning poet who had just defected from Poland, began work in 1951 on a book called “The Captive Mind.” Even as Stalinist totalitarianism tightened its grip on Eastern Europe, many Western European intellectuals lauded the brave new world of Soviet communism as a model for overcoming “bourgeois forces,” which in their view had caused World War II. Living in Paris, Miłosz wrote his book, which was published in 1953, to warn the West of what happens to the human mind and soul in a totalitarian system.

Patrick Henry and Margaret Mead

Defunding, Dismantling, & Destroying America - Dan Crenshaw

This is a podcast from Dan Crenshaw, a Houston Congressman and ex Navy Seal. He is one of the more thoughtful and articulate leaders on the right. This podcast is an excellent recap of what is going on in America with lots of facts and not opinion or vitriol. In his words, he is not creating a straw-man. It is worth 38 minutes to listen to - link below. In his words the podcast is about Democrat intentions:

"Abolish the police. Take over free markets. End the Electoral College. Destroy our health care system. It's been a long time since Democrat leaders were this far apart from their Republican colleagues in either political or cultural perspectives. On this solo episode, Dan expands on his recent thoughts about the differences between the two parties policies, and what it all means for the future of America."

Click on this link to listen to podcast