To the Editor:

Sen. Sherrod Brown dishonestly claims that Sen. Rick Scott has proposed a plan that would end Social Security in five years.

In Sen. Scott’s “11 Point Plan to Rescue America” that offered 128 proposals, on page 38, in a section on government restructuring was one sentence, “All federal legislation sunsets in five years. If a law is worth keeping, Congress can pass it again.”

Sen. Scott has said, “No one that I know wants to sunset Medicare or Social Security, but what we’re doing is we don’t even want to talk about it. Medicare goes bankrupt in four years. Social Security goes bankrupt in 12 years. I think we should figure out how we preserve these programs.”

The Social Security Trust Fund is often used to demonstrate the solvency of these programs.

All past surplus Social Security contributions have been moved to the federal general fund and spent by members of both political parties for many decades. In place of this spent money are non-marketable Treasury securities. The illusion of investment is maintained by giving the Social Security Trust Fund government bonds in exchange for the money that is taken from it and spent on other government programs. But these bonds represent no tangible assets. They are simply promises by the government to pay money collected from future taxpayers. Not even the federal government can spend and save the same money.

The Social Security system will remain intact because its contributors are mandated by law to participate. Even when there are no longer surplus contributions the federal government will continue to make payments even if that means simply printing money that no one has ever earned. But as we have seen from the reckless spending of the Biden Administration, putting unearned money into the economy to mix with your earned money comes with the high cost of inflation.

It is not possible to strengthen a government program without reviewing the program. Democrats such as Sherrod Brown would rather have the issue than a solution. The scare mongering election year tactic from Democrats is nothing new. Democrats currently use dishonest terror tactics on many issues. Of the many hoaxes and lies from Sherrod Brown and other Democrats, this is merely one more to remember. Tim Ryan is no different. Ohio or America cannot afford for both US senators from Ohio to be Democrats.

Tony Smith

Sidney