MINISTRY OF SUPREME HAPPINESS

The title of this column sounds like something out of a Pearl Buck novel. Wrong time, wrong country. It involves not the China of yesterday, but the Venezuela of today.

 

President Nicholas Maduro of Venezuela announced Friday the creation of a new Venezuelan ministry. The Ministry of Supreme Social Happiness which already is being referred to as the Ministry of Supreme Happiness. Its stated purpose is to enforce happiness.

 

Sounds good! About as good as President Carter telling American citizens during the oil/heating fuel shortages  to wear sweaters.

 

I doubt the new Ministry will be successful in permeating a feeling of supreme happiness. Things have gone too far and are too bad.

 

Hugo Chavez preceded Maduro as President. Chavez died from cancer several years ago. Things were extremely better under Chavez.

 

Venezuela is blessed with the largest oil reserves in the world.  Chavez took advantage of the blessing. He nationalized the oil industry and made Venezuela a major exporter of oil  Add to this Chavez's keen political judgment and it is easy to understand why Venezuela was a success under his rule.  .

 

Maduro has succeeded in screwing things up in his time in office.

 

Chavez upon taking office, nationalized other industries. In effect, screwing foreigners and capitalists. Venezuela for Venezuelans. As a result, Chavez was able to fund health care and education for the masses. He made significant reductions in poverty, constructed thousands of free medical clinics for the poor, and enacted programs to provide food and housing subsidies. Literacy was a problem. Chavez was responsible for more than one million adults becoming literate.

 

During Chavez's tenure, Venezuela had sufficient supplies of toilet paper, toothpaste, powder, milk, and meat. These same items are in short supply today.

 

I have commented on my television show and blog of Venezuela's acute shortage of toilet paper. Much needed and not appreciated till a person is without.

 

Maduro has screwed up. He faces election in six months. His solution.....the Ministry of Supreme Happiness. Sell Venezuelans a bill of goods. Let them think things are better when they are not. Lie, in effect.

 

One thing is successful under Maduro. The stock market. The Caracas Stock Market this year is the most successful stock market in the world. Returns of over 300 per cent.

 

The rich keep getting richer. Very rich. The poor poorer. Sound familiar?  In a fashion similar to what has been occurring in the United States. Record high stock prices, yet 99 per cent of the people suffering economically.

 

Maduro also devalued the currency.

 

Venezuelans have lost purchasing power.They suffer from increased poverty.

 

Whatever money people have buys little. There is little to be bought.

 

Inflation is near 50 percent. The U.S. dollar is seven times the official rate on the black market.

 

Venezuela is a sort of democracy. Elections are held. The President is king pin in actuality, not in name alone. The government is referred to as a Presidential democracy.

 

Physical beatings have become common place under Maduro. Big time. Generally by the police. The situation is reportedly out of control. Opposition party members and journalists are frequently subjected to the beatings.

 

Maduro must have figured that when there was nothing he could do, the creation of a Ministry of Supreme Happiness was the answer. Such genius! Do not put toilet paper, milk and food back on the shelves. Do not correct the economy so Venezuela's 99 per cent could afford these commodities. Merely tell the people they are happy and that the government is working to keep them  happy. It suffices.

 

Hopefully, they will believe Maduro and he will be reelected in six months.

 

Good luck!

 

By the way, the United Nations did a recent study regarding happiness. The title consisted of many words. Shortened, it was the U.N.'s Happiness Report for 2013. Venezuela was listed as the happiest country in Latin America. World wide, Venezuela was listed 20th.

 

My concern with the Happiness Report  is two fold.

 

First, how can Maduro make an already happy people happier? Is the Report really valid? With all their problems, how can the people of Venezuela be happy?

 

Second, the United States is listed 17th world wide. Are we that happy or unhappy?

 

If Obama or his successor establish a Cabinet department of Supreme Happiness, it will be a sure sign we are in trouble. On the other hand, the U.S. has no need for any type happiness ministry/department. Our Founding Fathers spelled it out for us in the Declaration of Independence. The right to "...life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

THE THEFT OF SOCIAL SECURITY

The U.S. Government has stolen significant monies from the Social Security Trust Fund. Legally, of course.

 

The theft of Social Security is not understood by many. Even elected officials whose business it is to understand  federal program as large as Social Security. Congress persons have standard talking points which are not true. They erroneously represent to the American public that Social Security cannot support itself, that Social Security is broke, that Social Security benefits must be cut, etc.

 

These Congress persons either know not that of which they speak, or are intentionally misrepresenting the facts.

 

You will find this column interesting. Guaranteed.

 

The United States is in debt to the tune of $17 trillion dollars. Who is the biggest creditor of the United States? To whom does the United States owe the most money?

 

If you believe China, you are wrong. The largest creditor of the United States, the entity the U.S. Government owes the most money to, is Social Security. Specifically, its Trust Fund. $2.7 trillion dollars and going up each day. The second biggest creditor is China. The United States borrows money from China sometimes on a daily basis. The United States owes China $1.3 trillion. Japan is close behind at $1.1 trillion.

 

The United States owes Social Security more than twice what it owes China. And more than its combined debt obligations to China and Japan.

 

Surprising. Shocking.

 

Social Security is not broken. It has worked well for 78 years. The United States government is broken. Government has been grabbing money from Social Security for years, has never paid a penny back, and from what I can determine, has no plan to pay any money back. It has been made to appear that Social Security is a noose around the neck of the United States economy. The people have been told that Social Security benefits must be cut so the economy may survive! What bunk!

 

Lets look at the pertinent facts.

 

Social Security comes out of every Americans pay check. An employer contribution added to it. The Government pays not one penny of the monies deposited in the Social Security Trust Fund.

 

The amount a person pays into the Trust Fund over the course of a working life time is substantially more than the benefit derived. A worker pays into the Fund generally for 40-50 years. The monthly Social Security check received by the senior citizen is peanuts in comparison.

 

Social Security has in every year of its existence taken in more than it has paid out. There is always a surplus.

 

The monies Social Security pays out include Old Age Retirement Benefits (the monthly check), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, and SSI. All out of the Trust Fund. A surplus left over each year besides. Amazing! A terrific program Franklin Roosevelt put in place!

 

One problem exists. There should be a hell of a balance in the Social Security Trust Fund. Revenues annually are more than what is expended. There is no money in the Trust Fund, however. The Government has taken it all. Continues to do so. And  never pays a penny back.

 

In the early 1990s, President Bill Clinton and Speaker Newt Gingrich needed to balance the budget. They came up with the genius plan to invade the Social Security Trust Fund. Most of the dollars represented surplus funds. Why leave all those dollars sitting around unused. 

 

Clinton and Gingrich decided they would "borrow" the surplus monies. In return, the United States would give the Trust Fund what were termed  "special service non-marketable U.S. Government  bonds."

 

What were these bonds? Nothing. They were non-marketable. They could not be used as collateral for a bank loan. No sane person would buy them. The bonds were nothing more than IOUs.

 

Good for use as toilet paper in an out house.

 

A scam.

 

It was thought that if and when things turned adverse for Social Security, the Government would redeem these bonds. In effect, pay back Social Security. After all, the commitment of the United States and Congress is to meet the country's obligations.

 

The Government's ability to pay depends on its power to tax and/or borrow. Congress reflects neither past nor present desire to pay. The Government refrains from even discussing these IOUs and their payment.

 

Where did all this surplus money go? How did certain Presidents and Congress spend the money. Basically, in three areas.

 

First, to make up for the reduced taxes on the rich. Thank you Bush 2. Second, two unpaid wars. Thank you again Bush 2. Obama receives some credit also for not yet successfully ending the wars. Finally, other government programs that needed to be funded and for which there might not be sufficient funding without invading the Social Security Trust Fund.

 

The process again is simple. Surplus Trust funds are borrowed by the United States. An IOU is given to purportedly secure repayment. The money goes into the nation's general fund to help pay for the tax cuts, wars, etc.

 

Certain economic experts have suggested a simple 30 year program to repay the IOUs would correct the problem and pay off the $2.7 trillion still growing debt.

 

The real problem is no one cares about paying back. The Government took our monies and spent it like a bunch of college guys out on a night on the town.

 

Social Security and Medicare should not be touched in any fashion. Other than to perhaps increase benefits. Another plan might be for the Government to stop immediately removing funds from the Trust Fund. The surpluses would build up rapidly.

 

This sad scenario makes one wonder whether the Government even cares about the 99 per cent. It appears to me that all our elected officials are concerned with are their images and friends. Not for anything or anyone else.

 

Make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

 

It seems to be working.