Charles Shiflett Column August 22, 2004

The Great American Pyramid

Egypt isn't the only nation with a Great Pyramid. You may be surprised to learn that the United States has its
own version of this gargantuan edifice. In America bigger is always better, so in 1935 that great American
socialist, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, decided we Americans needed to build the largest pyramid to ever
grace this planet. It wasn't easy as large numbers of U.S. senators and congressmen were dead set against
it. Taxes would have to be levied and the nation was already gripped in the midst of the Great Depression.

Some serious arm-twisting and a little chicanery finally prevailed as FDR and his leftist buddies pulled off
the biggest tax heist in U.S. history to launch this undertaking. Many over the years have advocated
abolishing or at least modifying the plan, but the giant pyramid soon became the third rail of American
politics and any politician who dared suggest such a change would face certain defeat.

Now there are some major differences between the burial place of Egyptian Pharaohs and this burial place
of U.S. taxpayers. The Egyptian pyramid had a fixed design and once finished, it was complete. It was built to
stand thousands of years. The American design however is open ended. It's designed to continue growing
until it finally collapses under its own weight.

While the Egyptian project required a large workforce, estimated by some to be in the tens or even hundreds
of thousands, the American plan currently requires over one hundred million workers. What a concept; an
open-ended project requiring the labor of increasing millions with no possibility of success.

To make matters worse, the American pyramid design is so severely flawed that the number of workers
required to keep the project moving continues to grow. In fact, the hesitancy on the part of many politicians to
tighten illegal immigration, much less legal immigration, is due to the need for additional workers to keep
the great pyramid project afloat.

The tax burden of this project on the American people is staggering. Without covering all of the technicalities,
roughly 6.20% of every dollar you earn is confiscated by the imperial federal government for this project
alone, but that's not the whole story. Your employer pays the government an additional 6.20% of every dollar
you earn. The bottom line is the Great American Pyramid devours 12.40% of almost the entire payroll of the
American public.

By now you are probably saying to yourself, "This Shiflett guy is crazy." Well yes, but that's beside the point.
So where is this Great Pyramid? There are no pictures of it on the Internet and no road signs pointing the
way to its location. You won't find it at a national park or in a travel brochure. It's way too big for that - in fact it's
so large it can be seen in all fifty states. Give up? You need look no further than that nine-digit number which
is part of everything you do: Social Security!

Let's look at the facts surrounding Social Security. Many believe that every dime they and their employer pay
in Social Security taxes goes into an account in that person's name. Not true! All the funds are lumped
together in one giant general obligation account to fund current and future retirees. In 1950 there were 16
workers paying into SS for each person drawing SS. Today that figure is approximately 3 workers paying in
for each retiree, and by 2030 that ratio will be less than 2 to 1. Now do you see the pyramid scheme?

The original SS tax rate was 1% of the employee's wages with a 1% match from the employer - a total of two
percent of the national payroll. Compare that to the present day rate of 12.40 %. The increasing rates are
necessary because of the decreasing ratio of workers to retirees and the situation will only get worse. Also,
while current retirees were eligible for full SS benefits beginning at age 65, that age is being gradually raised
for future retirees.

The government only has four options for keeping the pyramid alive: (1) Continue to raise SS taxes. (2)
Continue to increase the retirement age. (3) Decrease benefits. (4) Increase the number of workers paying
into the system to keep it propped up.

Options #1 thru #3 are politically risky and have already been used, which leaves option #4. For the past fifty
years, an increasing state and federal tax load has forced increasing numbers of women to abandon the
home and move into the work force. This greatly increased the number of workers paying into SS, but that
trend has reached a plateau.

Now, maybe you understand why our elected officials are so resistant to stopping or even slowing the flow of
foreign workers into this country. In order to keep FDR's pyramid dream alive, the number of workers paying
to prop up a failed system must increase dramatically regardless of the cost to our nation's culture or future
stability.

There is one other option, but it requires elected officials with the courage and foresight to tell the American
public the truth and implement a new plan while protecting those currently receiving SS. Unfortunately, there
aren't enough of those folks around.