CHECKPOINT by Ed Henry
		..........Last week, the U.S. Treasury released its quarterly report for December. Coupled with the September monthly Treasury report, we now have a way of telling exactly how much money was stolen from Social Security surpluses and how much is in the major trust funds. ..........In other words, it gives us a check of the figures I've been telling you for the last six to nine months. Verification of my predictions. ..................................................................................#1 ..........For most of the year I've been telling you that Congress and the Administration were stealing at least $67 billion from Social Security excess payroll taxes alone. The final figure for fiscal 1999 is..... ...........................................................................$68.6 billion ..........Hey, I only missed it by 1600 million. In Washington, that's a drop in the bucket or, as Dan (Chicago's own crook) Rostenkowski once said; "A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you're talking real money." ..........That's sixty-eight billion, six hundred million and change, stolen from money every working American contributed to what each of them thought was retirement payment. Instead, it went to war in Kosovo, world banking ventures, world trade folly, special interests and other pork barrel activities that the federal government could not otherwise afford. ..........This, while more than two million privileged members of the oligarchy, including just about everyone in Washington, D.C., earned 28.2 percent on investments in stocks. Investments made through the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) Thrift Savings Plan (TSP). A privatized way for federal employees to invest retirement money in the top 500 Standard and Poors index of the New York Stock Exchange, and handled by the Barclay Bank of Great Britain. .................................................................................#2 ..........I've also been telling you that, by the end of fiscal 1999, the Social Security Trust Fund would reach at least $850 billion. ..........All of it tied up in bogus nonmarketable Treasury bonds that cannot be foisted off on somebody else and will someday be redeemed by the general public; i.e., the very same working people, their children or grandchildren, who contributed Social Security excesses/surpluses in the first place. ..........The actual figure reached by the Social Security Trust Fund at the close of the 1999 fiscal year is..... ..........................................................................$863.9 billion ..........That's an increase of $125 billion over the $739 billion this trust fund held at the close of the previous fiscal year. Since interest is paid annually by simply handing the trust fund more bogus bonds, this increase is due to the following: .........................................................$56.3 billion = interest (more bond issues) .........................................................$68.6 billion = excess/surplus (#1, above) ..........Under Wimpy's "I'd gladly pay you twice tomorrow for a hamburger today" policy, Congress and the Administration are willing to commit you and your children to $125 billion in additional debt so they can steal an extra "off budget" bankroll of $68.6 billion in real cash from FICA payroll taxes today. Isn't that nice of them? ..........Spin doctors, and others who just haven't thought things through (but are published anyway), would like you to believe that trusts such as this are under the "Federal" part of the national debt as opposed to the "Public" part of the debt. Implying that, somehow, the individuals in government are going to pay back this money themselves or that the government is going to come up with the money from some source other than taxes on the public. It would be nice if that fairy-tale were true, but it isn't. It would also be nice if Dudley Dooright would come to the rescue, but he won't. ..........Someday, the public will understand that Treasury securities, no matter what kind they happen to be, Treasury securities are "the safest investment in the world" only because they are "backed by the full faith and credit" of every man, woman and child "of the United States." The public will redeem them. There's no two ways about it. It's double taxation, plain and simple. ..........................................................................#3 ..........I told you that many entitlements other than Social Security were being robbed with equal impunity and represented by Trust Funds stuffed with illegal "Pay-It-Again, Sam" bonds as well as pay-it-for-the-first-time perks for the government itself. I claimed that the total for such Trust Fund representation would exceed $1.9 trillion in 1999, 34 percent of the national debt. ..........The actual figure is..... ..................................................................$1.989 trillion ................................................................(almost $2 trillion) ..........................................................................35% ...............................................................of the national debt ..........Who else do you know that's predicting these figures so close? Do you still think I'm day dreaming? Let me go on record right now telling you that Congress and the Administration will steal more than $85 billion from Social Security this year. Right now, during fiscal 2000, they are taking it at the rate of $6.6 billion per month, but this will soon exceed $7 billion per month. Money that could be working for your retirement instead of against it, instead of putting you and your children further in debt. Money that could be invested the way federal employees invest for their own retirement. ..........Meanwhile, we've got a group of candidates for office who pussyfoot around the third rail like a bunch of wimps trying to become the next Wimpys. ..........The solution is obvious; 1) stop stealing our money, and 2) either give it back, stop collecting it in the first place or let investors in the private sector manage it wisely just like the government does with its own pension plan options. ..........Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan said this two years ago and he was one of the members of the 1983 Greenspan Commission that, in 1983, made Social Security into a slush fund. Of course, since then he seems to have flipped his lid by recommending Hillary for his seat in the Senate. Maybe he was threatened. NOTE: Did you know that it's rumored JFK, Jr. was about to throw his hat into the ring for the same New York Senate seat? How many cases do you know of where the body is recovered from the bottom of the sea, autopsied, cremated and burial ceremonies take place all within 24 hours? Am I the only one who thinks there's something odd about this, particularly for a Catholic family? Is it just due to what I know of the trust fund rip-offs halloing over into everything the government does or might do? I ask myself this just about every morning.