EMAIL BLAST
An Ongoing Dialogue from
The Delta Group
REVENGE OF THE 1% LOAN: Part XII
August, 2011
Brother that was close! Debt ceiling raised and the Federal government gets to live another
day. But nobody is happy. The cuts were too small and the revenue gains were to…er,
there weren’t any tax increases.
And for the tax the rich-repeal the Bush tax cuts for fiscal sanity-crowd, here’s the deal.
Let’s not just move the top rate from 35% to 39%. Let’s go all the way. Move it up to
100%. Take it all..!!
Amount collected: $365B projected. Would run the government for five weeks. 35 days.
The monies are not at the top. The money is in the middle. The debate was/is really about
saving the middle class from a national sales tax, much like Europe’s value added tax. As
the national debts rings up trillion after trillion, the choice is between a bad one and a worse
one.
Twenty five years ago, we made a bold claim. Social Security, designed as part of the New
Deal in the 30’s, would go kaput, as do all ponzi schemes. Our annual contributions were
just accounting gimickry, as is the $2.5T trust fund that holds treasury securities the Feds
owes to itself. Because of earlier retirements and higher unemployment, more money is
flowing out than in.
Social Security offers no guarantees, only promises by the government to pay a benefit,
which can change at the whim of Congress. Greece rioted for days on the prospect of their
retirement age getting pushed back to 64 years, from 60. Ours too will eventually drift
towards 70 as these debt ceiling debates take on entitlements.
Eric Dahl
THE DELTA GROUP
OAK TREE SECURITIES
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