The great Bush deception

Seriously, I can't wait for Bush to be gone. Read about this secret attempt to sell out what's left of the failing Social Security system to the Mexicans and subvert the will of a vast majority of law-abiding Americans , and see if you don't agree that George Bush has overstayed his welcome...

U.S.-Mexico Pact Revealed: Billions to Non-citizens

WASHINGTON -- As a result of lawsuits, the U.S. government released this week the actual U.S.-Mexico Social Security Totalization Agreement, an understanding signed between the Bush administration and the Mexican government in 2004 that would funnel billions of U.S. Social Security funds to Mexican citizens.

That's right folks, Bush signed a secret agreement with Mexico to give them billions in our Social Security money. Read on.

In general, Totalization Agreements are between the United States and other countries to coordinate their respective social security programs. For instance, such agreements typically work to eliminate the need to pay social security taxes in both countries — when companies in one country send workers to the other country. Also they are crafted to protect benefit eligibility for workers who split their working careers between the two countries.

According to TREA, if an illegal worker working in the United States today gets a "work authorized" Social Security number — through guest-worker immigration legislation, the Totalization Agreement, or perhaps just over time — that worker could eventually apply for Social Security benefits once the worker has met eligibility requirements.

The Dreaded Loophole

"A law called the Social Security Protection Act of 2004 forbids illegal immigrants from claiming Social Security benefits — but a loophole exists," Phillips explained.

"If an immigrant gains what's called a valid ‘work-authorized' Social Security number at some point, then he or she could eventually file a claim for benefits. The government would use all earnings to calculate the retirement benefit — even earnings while working illegally," Phillips added.

For example, say TREA officials, a worker who turns 62 after 1990 generally needs 40 calendar quarters of coverage to receive retirement benefits. Under Totalization Agreements, workers are allowed to combine earnings from both countries in order to qualify for benefits.

The agreement with Mexico, like other Totalization Agreements, would allow workers to qualify with just six quarters, or 18 months, of U.S. coverage.

So what that means is that a Mexican national who had worked for 20 years in Mexico, could come here and put in just 18 month in a meat-packing plant, or lettuce farm, file for SS benefits based on 21.5 years of work history, and return to Mexico and collect benefits. All paid for by the same people who foot the bill for every damn thing...the American tax payer.

In addition, advised TREA, that worker could be able to claim credits for work performed while in the United States illegally. The SSA maintains an "earnings suspense file," which tracks wages that cannot be posted to individual workers' records because there is no match for a name and Social Security number.

Once an immigrant gains access to a work authorized Social Security number — whether a legal citizen or not — wages earned while in the United States unlawfully could be reinstated to the worker's new Social Security account, warned TREA officers.

The cost of such an agreement is highly uncertain. In March 2003, the Office of the Chief Actuary estimated that the cost of the Mexican agreement would be $78 million in the first year and would grow to $650 million (in constant 2002 dollars) in 2050. The actuarial cost estimate assumes the initial number of newly eligible Mexican beneficiaries is equivalent to the 50,000 beneficiaries living in Mexico today and would grow six-fold over time.

According to the Social Security Administration, the Social Security Trust Fund will begin paying out more than it is taking in by 2017, and will be exhausted by the year 2040.

Phillips noted that [before the emergence of the agreement] "the Administration always called it ludicrous to suggest that illegal immigrants could get their hands on our Social Security."

"We not hearing that anymore," Phillips lamented.

There you have it folks. Bush selling out the American people to curry favor with the Mexican government. The question is why, given that he should be trying to curry favor with American citizens. I think Bush's world view is one in which Mexico and the U.S. are one country for all practical purposes. Where workers flow back and forth seamlessly and our economies are one. Combine this disaster of an idea with the treacherous amnesty bill that will instantly create 20 million new Democrat, non-English speaking, hostile-to-America voters, and you have the beginning of the end of the U.S. as we know it.

This is why I might vote Liberterian in '08.