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by Ed Henry |
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| ..........H.R. 1259 is a pending bill I have referred to as the "bedwetter's bill." The reason I have done so lies in the fact that this bill merely pretends to secure excess Social Security and Medicare money we contribute by the billions. It uses the words but provides none of the substance of a safe-deposit box, vault, safe, strongbox or even a trust. In fact, it is nothing more than an agreement not to touch these excess funds for other purposes. It's nothing more than a promise not to use them on pork barrel ventures or anything short of a grave emergency. Exactly what constitutes an emergency is the subject of great debate presently holding up the bill in the Senate where it's been since May 28, 1999. ..........After almost two years of wrangling over what to do with Social Security, this is the best that our brilliant representatives have been able to come up with—a holding action, and a weak one at that. An attempt to set aside the $5 to $10 billion in extra revenue per month until they have more time to work on the problem, the 2000 elections are over, and hopefully, the public just forgets about the entire subject. ..........The heart of this so called agreement is that it would make it embarrassing for congressional representatives or the Administration to ask for the money, to stand on the floor of Congress and recommend appropriations to use it. ..........Really folks, do you know any politician, any single one of them, that has a problem asking for money? They wouldn't even be where they are if they didn't already have fund raising and begging for money down to a science. American politicians are the greatest panhandlers in the world. Only a bedwetter would be intimidated or embarrassed to break this vow. .......................................................................The core ..........The general fund Treasury is the real culprit. It's the general fund system of banking cash that makes it impossible for the government to hold onto money or put it in a "lock-box." Under the general fund system, all cash is kept in the general fund. ..........That's not so hard to understand, is it? Money never leaves the general fund until it's spent. It never goes anywhere else until the Treasury issues a check, wire or electronic transfer to someone, somewhere who is taking the money out of the government's hands. Yet, most of the people working in government do not seem to understand this or want instead to tell spin stories so they can rob you some more. ..........If the government were to open up another banking account, no matter what that account might be for, it would no longer be operating under the general fund system. It would be violating the system of accounting often associated with most not-for-profit organizations. It would be operating like a private enterprise. It would go absolutely berserk. I don't know how else to say it. Bow down and worship the general fund, but don't think of it as something else. All cash remains in the general fund until it's spent. That's all there is to it. ..........Once you have this simple fact set firmly in mind, you can see the traps criminal minds are laying for you. Trust funds are a prime example. .....................................................................Trust funds ..........Government trust funds never, never, never hold any cash. Instead, they hold nothing but promissory notes, paper or electronic notations of obligation against future tax revenue. That's all that is ever in a government trust. The real cash is in the general fund and we would be better off to consider all trust funds as future taxes. ..........These notes or notations are often called "IOUs" or many other terms, but they are not cash. They are the sort of thing that would make Thomas Jefferson or Alexander Hamilton turn over in their graves. They are exactly the same as what the mob calls "markers" and might trade from one gangster to another. The only difference is that the government has no one to trade them with and you the taxpayers are "the mark." These markers will, when needed, be transferred into cash from the general fund—your tax dollars. In many cases, such as the Social Security Trust Fund, this translates directly into double taxation. You paid the original excess into the general fund, the government spent it elsewhere and issued markers to the trust, and now you pay a second time when those markers are called in. ..........With billions of dollars flowing in and out of the general fund, 50 or 60 good accountants can easily keep perfect track of it all and still have time to spend at the water cooler. There is no guesswork involved. It's a beancounter's paradise. And there's no dispute about what goes where, or where the real cash goes. No conspiracies or secret trails. It's just simple arithmetic, complicated only by the volume involved, the number of digits or zeros being handled. It appears to be complicated only to those who cannot balance their own checkbooks, which seems to include most politicians and media people. ..........When you hear politicians talk about trust funds, when you hear Bill Clinton or Judy Baar Topinka (Illinois State Treasurer) say things like "let's set up a trust fund to handle this," a warning light should go off in your head. You should immediately go on red alert, move to DefCon-3 (defeat/defend Congress, stage three). You should immediately ask yourself what are they talking about? What cash are they talking about, where did it come from, where is it now and where does it go? Remember, by definition, these trust funds cannot hold any real cash. The real cash is in the general fund where it must be spent—and it's supposed to be spent during the fiscal year in which it was collected. ....................................................................Annual spending ..........Not-for-profit organizations, which include government, are supposed to bring their annual books to zero at the close of the fiscal year. All the money that was collected for certain purposes was supposed to be spent for those purposes during the fiscal year. If it wasn't spent, then there's probably some hanky-panky going on. If it wasn't needed, then it should not have been collected in the first place and should be refunded. In a nutshell, that's the way not-for-profit works. ..........Government seldom has more money than it needs. If it does, another alarm should go off in your head and you should move to DefCon-2. For instance, if the State put a huge tax on cigarettes because cigarettes were found to be causing undue medical expenses, then that extra tax money should have been spent on medical expenses—it should have been spent to alleviate the problem. There should not be a sudden "windfall bonus" to talk about "locking up" or spending somewhere else. And for God's sake, don't let them tell you that they are going to put it in a trust fund. We all know that trust funds do not hold real cash, don't we? Government trust funds are also a source of double taxation. Do you want the general public to again pay the tax that smokers have already paid once? Is Judy Baar Topinka learning tricks from the federal government? |
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