Special Series: Social Security - Part 5: The ACT Solution

Last week the first seven points of our ten point ACT plan were revealed. To review:

1. Creates an intra-generational alliance that begins to bring together each generation for the greater good of all current and future generations.

2. Broadens the Social Security funding base by establishing an annual base line assessment, and entirely eliminates the current Social Security wage cap.

3. Manages new (operative word) Social Security retiree obligations by reducing new (operative word) Social Security retiree obligations at the rate of 2.857 percent for every year a new (operative word) Social Security retiree is away from full retirement.

4. Under the ACT plan millions of retirement dollars that currently flow out of communities and end up being spent for something other than intended, will never leave local communities.

5. Creates new Individual Community Investment Retirement Accounts or ICIRAs for millions of average working.

6. Establishes a new source for funding local bonding needs, such as schools, bridges, roads, etc.(Wall Street banksters; no longer needed).

7. Makes middle class working Americans, equity partners in the economic activity of their respective communities.
Now the remaining three points of the ten point ACT plan:

8. Under the ACT plan the worker’s new Individual Community Investment Retirement Accounts or ICIRAs are insured against catastrophic losses. The ACT plan utilizes the current 2.6 trillion dollar general revenue fund special obligation bonds as a safety net under the workers ICIRAs.  If/when a catastrophic loss occurs the special obligation bonds would be funded to cover the ICIRA losses.

9. Under the ACT plan the 2.6 trillion dollar general revenue fund retirement liability is turned into a 2.6 trillion dollar contingent liability over time. In effect the current 2.6 trillion dollars of special obligation bonds become a declining term insurance policy for the ICIRAs. As ICIRAs mature in value, the need for the insurance policy declines, and over time the current 2.6 trillion dollar general revenue fund liability, turns into a contingent liability, saving taxpayers trillions of dollars in taxes.

10. The ACT plan puts in place main street checks and balances, shielding your elected representatives from lobbyist, and protects “we the people’s interests. As a previous owner of a Texas quarter horse ranch, I learned very quickly to never take a show horse into a show arena without a halter on its head, a rope on the halter, and someone holding onto the rope. In today's world, our elected representatives show up in the D.C. political arena without a halter on their head, and a political head without a halter in D.C. is a prime target for lobbyists.

The ACT plan establishes three levels of main-street oversight that function as accountability boards; puts a halter on elected representatives' heads, if you will. A county, congressional district, and state level make up the Original District Founder boards, or ODF boards. Each ODF board is populated by residents of the board's locality, with the profile of each reflecting the respective community where they are located.

This keeps one profession from dominating any of the boards. The county level is made up of twenty residents of the county, charged with providing oversight on local issues affecting local residents. Congressional district ODF boards are populated with thirty individuals chosen from the congressional district’s county ODF boards. The congressional district ODF board serves as a buffer between the lobbyist and the elected representative. Lobbyists must make their case before the congressional district ODF board before lobbying the representative. Lobbyist must get 60 percent approval from the representative’s ODF board before gaining access to the elected representative; if you can't sell it on Main Street, it’s not worth selling.

Each member of Congress serves on his or her respective congressional district ODF board. The state ODF board is a 50-member board selected from the state's congressional district ODF boards. State ODF boards are broad ranging in that they provide oversight on issues affecting the state. Each of the state's two Senators serve on the state ODF board, and the same lobbying rules apply to the state ODF board as apply to congressional district ODF boards.

So what’s in it for me you ask.

Current retirees: This is an opportunity to lock in current retiree benefits without revision until the day you expire. It’s an opportunity to engage those who currently fund your Social Security retirement checks, and to address the past practice of using Social Security tax over payments to create new debt on the next generations. Last but not least, it’s an opportunity to cement your generation’s place in history by not being the first generation to pass along the generational chain of trust with a broken link.

Current workers: This is an opportunity to put the retired generation at ease by agreeing to fully support their Social Security retiree benefits until the day they expire, and without revision. By intra-generational cooperation, it’s an opportunity for you to acquire, and begin building a new retirement estate of your own. You become a member owner of a local community investment pod, or CIP. Your investment in this effort will eliminate new debt on your children, and create a new wealth building venue for you and your family.

Our Grandchildren:  Even though they are not entitled to vote yet, they are entitled to our best effort in leaving them a better America than we inherited. The ACT plan is an opportunity to give the youth of America an improved opportunity for a better financial future by relieving debt the burden created by the current Social Security taxing scheme. Their parents will be building retirement estates rather than retirement obligations, and these estates will give the youth of America a better opportunity to inherit value upon the passing of their parents.

Our Communities: The ACT plan is an opportunity to begin restoring the financial vitality of our communities, by pumping millions of dollars back into the community’s financial institutions.  No longer will the people’s investment money be sucked out of the community. Under the ACT plan millions of retirement dollars will never leave main street; this is money for business expansion, and new business startups that leads to more jobs, and a more prosperous community.  

Financial Markets: The ACT plan is an opportunity to send a positive signal to financial markets, by turning a 2.6 trillion dollar retirement liability into a 2.6 trillion dollar contingent liability over time.  Local financial institutions will once again be able to provide vital lending services to their local communities.

Politicians: Whether a 2 year, 20 year or a newbie, the ACT proposal is an opportunity for politicians to right the wrongs visited upon middle class working Americans, their families, and the communities they call home, post 1983.  It’s a long term investment plan that keeps the intra-generational commitments and is an investment plan for current workers and the youth of America, and by extension America herself. Now what politician worth their salt couldn’t run on that platform?
 
Let me end this series by saying over the past few years we’ve heard it all from our politicians. A shining city on a hill; a thousand points of light; I feel your pain; I’ll restore accountability, and yes we can. In search of answers, some have even purchased a ticket on a caffeine powered bus driven by a recovering alcoholic, posing as a Mormon lecturer. Safe to say if political slogans or bus trips were the answer, we wouldn’t be searching for an answer. I ask again; America who are you, where are you going, how will you get there, and who will you be when you arrive?

The ACT plan may not be the end all/be all, but it is a blueprint for putting millions of average working Americans, their families, and the communities they call home back on a glide path to recovery. No longer should those whose backs we all ride to our prosperity, that is average working Americans, be treated like rented mules; that ends with the ACT plan. So make a real retirement investment of $26.95, and join us in our fight to end deceit, deception, and cover up. It’s an investment that won’t create one new special obligation bond or IOU you or future generations will have to pay again. 

This concludes the Social Security series, and thanks again to the Bradenton times for allowing me the space for this series of articles.  You may review both our comprehensive presentations, Social Security the financial affair and the Repair the Affair Proposal. Also, you may contact the author of this series, Jim Gries about getting involved in your community at jgries1@tampabay.rr.com.