The Lexington advertiser. [volume] (Lexington, Miss.) 1904-1985, 1951-07-26
THROUGH
HAZEL
EYES
by Hazel Brunnon Smith


During the past ten years
American loans and grants to for
eign countries, including Lend
Lease, is about 95 billion dollars.
The total since World War ii
for agencies such as UNNRRA
and ECA is approximately AS and
one-half billion dollars. For the
calendar year of 1850 the total
was more than 4 and one-half
billion dollars.
The President has asked for 9k
billion dollars for next year Q951-
52), or more than twice the
amount spent for foreign aid in
1850 and more than was spent for
all purposes during any year OF
the Roosevelt administration up
to 1941. If the Presidents re-
quest is granted this win bring
the gross total since 1941 to 104h
billion dollars and since the war
to SIS billion dollars.
We belong to that group of citl-
zens who wonders h@w much
longer this can go on - the dispo-
sal of American goods and money
to the four corners of the world
without the whole world blowing
up in our face
The best our President and
State Department seem able to do
Us this tremendous program of try
ing to buy people over the face
of the earth.
We still maintain:
Any friendship that has to be
purchased with dollars, whether ut
is an individual or a nation, isn't
worth a fanker's damn.
Thurman Sensing, executive
vice president of the Southern
States Industrial Council, explodes
the myth about social security in
a current bulletin issued by the
Council
The millions of workers IN the
United States and their employers
who paid social security taxes to
the turle of 300 million dollars
net in lg50r6a and who Will fork
up one billion dollars in social Sc
curity taxes for the l951-52 tax
year, should certainly be vitality
interested IN what happens to
these huge funds once they are
paid into the Federal government.
A conservative estimate on the
amount of social security taxes
paid into the Federal treasury is
Is or more billion dollars. This
goes into "a general funa = it is
not earmarked for social security
but is spent by the government as
fast as it rs taken in.
Mr.. Sensing says:
do you, Mr.. Average Ameri-
can, think that the amount re-
gularly dcdzrrted from your psy
check is set aside by your Govern
ment to provide you with old age
security? II you do. then you
Just don't know the facts of life;
you are just not up on modern"
government finance.
'"The billions of dollars paid into
the Federal Treasury earh year
for Social Security - for old age
retirement - by the American
workers are spent as they are re-
ceived. OF course, government
bonds are set aside to cover -
but they only represent increased
government debts. Bookkeeping
entries are made - but if all the
books we're thrown in a pile and
burned, no one would be the
worse off.
Social Security, as it has baen
foisted off upon the American
people, is a snare and a delusion.
AS now operated, it is a swindle
and a grab for more taxes to be
squandered by an entrenched bu-
reaucracy. More than that. it
penalties thrift and subsidies
laziness. And even if il were pro-
perly handled, it is not actuarlally
sound.
In other words - and 10 bring
1T down to a plain and simple
statement - the Social Security
system we have operating in this
country is NOT HONEST. What
we are able to pay out this year
in the way of retirement pensions
and various other benefits de-
ponds entirely upon the national
economy this year. And the
bookkeeping entries that have
been made and will continue to be
made will have nothing to do with
the case"