Dan Weber, AMAC's Founder
House Minority leader John Boehner, R-Ohio sounds like a liberal Democrat when he talks about some changes he would make in the Social Security program. In a recent interview in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review he said that he would favor raising the retirement age to 70 for people who have 20 years before retirement. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md said the same thing in a speech in June.
Then, sounding like a socialist, Mr. Boehner would not pay anything to people who “have substantial non social security income”. So if you paid into the plan after 45 years you would get nothing- your money would go to someone else. “Why are we paying you at a time when we’re broke” he explained.
What he didn’t explain was the reason we are broke. It’s because of the wasteful spending programs politicians like Boehner have put into law- to buy votes with government handouts.
The answer is not to punish older Americans- the answer is to cut Federal spending across the board.
If Boehner was the Vice-president he might say to me, “OK wiseass, you said across the board- that means everything, even Social Security. How are you gonna do that?”
Well I went to a local Social Security office a little while ago. After waiting 45 minutes I was told I had to make an appointment, or wait about two hours to speak to a representative. After making the appointment I asked the person behind the glass wall why there were so many young people in the waiting room (about half of the 40 people waiting). He explained they were there for disability payments.
Doing a little checking I discovered that almost one third of all Social Security payments do not go to the elderly but to young people claiming some kind of disability. They collect under SSI or Social Security Disability. Is that fair? Wasn’t Social security created for the elderly?
I recalled a 60 minute show that talked about a school in Texas where over a quarter of the kids were receiving SSI payments. It seemed their parents told them to act up in school so they would be declared mentally disabled, thus enabling the parents to collect up to $1,000 a month for each child.
Recently I played golf and found out two of the foursome, who were 20 years younger than I, were receiving SS Disability payments. Well they sure didn’t play like they had any injuries!
Perhaps Mr. Boehner just had a bad day. The only good that came out of this is the fact that political leaders are slowly getting the message that they have got to reduce spending.
One way to do that is to eliminate entire Federal Departments. For example, we started the Department of Energy 25 years ago to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. A complete waste!
We created a Department of Education to raise test scores for our kids. What happened? Nothing, the inner city schools are still not able to provide the kids with a decent education.
Americans, especially older Americans deserve to be treated with the dignity they deserve- they earned it. Representatives Boehner and Hoyer should have the courage to make tough decisions finding ways to cut spending- but they shouldn’t do it on the backs of our older citizens.
Life Insurance 
Roadside Assistance 
Auto Insurance 
I am 45 and disabled and you don’t understand that the Bible says “Let those who WILL not work… not CANNOT work…”
My very life depends on me taking care of myself and I WON’T let you take away SSDI/SSI from me.
Social Security and Medicare belong to seniors AND the disabled!
To our dem/lib friends: Barney Frank now says Fannie and Freddie should be dissolved…does not the fact that the ringmaster of home finance disasters saying this mean something to you. I find it not only pathetic but ironic And remember if you will that Nancy P. and Harry R. have guided the Congress and Senate since 2006. So if you want to speak about misdoings lately ,I say there are at least a few others besides GWB and the Repubs to examine. At least the Repubs have a working knowledge of how things work and how to get things moving….70 days and counting.
I hope I don’t get too carried away here, but, here goes! I am almost 53, and I am drawing S.S. Disability and I HATE it. I worked at last employer for 20+ yrs. I messed up the nerves in my back (on the job, helping fellow employee), had back surgery, then went back to work. My employer put me on the worst jobs possible, and which made my back worse yet. They TOLD me to file for disability, but, I had no intention to do so. I could not just quit, and they knew it. Thankfully, I was able to continue working with help of a few fellow employees. Then, they announced the plant was closing down and moving production to Canada.
With the pain I was experiencing, I knew no one else would hire me. Thankfully, I finally found a doctor that understood, and after I had gone through my savings, I was approved for disability. I still wish I could find some kind of job, but between the constant pain, and side affects of the pain meds, I wouldn’t trust myself working.
On to the point someone else mentioned, these young people that have barely, if at all, paid into S.S. The ones that are living on S.S. Disability, and are giving their friends tips on how to get approved. “All you have to do is tell your doctor that you are depressed because of friend/relative/acquaintance committing suicide, or attempting to, or, your parents splitting up, parents mistreating you, etc.” The diagnosis could be Bipolar, which seems to be reason enough to get on disability. (Isn’t this treatable?)While others are overweight, and this seems to be a good reason, also.
Am I the only one that thinks something is wrong here? How is it these doctors get these lazy people on Disability so easily? While others that obviously need the help, cannot get it?
If only people who put into Social Security received payments from Social Security it would not be in financial disarray.
One of the talking heads said a while back that we had two major political parties in this country. The evil party and the stupid party. The more I see what is going on, the more I realize he was exactly correct.
In all the comments about what is wrong with Social Security, why it is broke, and why the entitlement is helping break the government, I never hear anyone put the blame where it belongs. The problem with Social Security is CONGRESS! Originally, the money taken out of our paychecks for Social Security went into a “lock-box” where the only people who received money from it were the ones who paid into it. Congress moved it from the lock-box to the General Fund, so they could “borrow” from it for increased perks and pork. So far they have “stolen” 3 trillion dollars from it, putting in IOU’s which we all know will never be paid back. The obvious first step in correcting the problems associated with Social Security would be for Congress to put the money back into a lock-box, and only the people who paid into it could be paid from it. Of course, they never mention this as a solution because they will not give up the “goose that laid the golden egg.” Our present Congress is a disgrace, with their automatic “back-door” pay raise every year, golden parachute retirement with full pay and top-of-the-line benefits for life (even if they served only one term), free underground air-conditioned parking (heated in winter), free “franking” (which we all know is used for personal as well as “company” business, access to free government transportation (as in Speaker Pelosi’s case, riding around in a military jet that costs $54,000 an hour – just for fuel; what’s wrong with commercial first class, which is VERY comfortable, and costs less than $500 anywhere in the U.S.), and more perks than I have room for – but none of them ever mention these as waste that could be stopped if they had a moral, ethical or spiritual compass. Until we elect people to Congress who realize that they work for the people rather than the other way around, demonstrate ethical behavior, and stop with the elitist “we know better than the people what is good for them” attitude, things will never change in D.C. That Congress is allowing the current administration to trample all over the Constitution, accept the president’s practice of appointing “czars” who answer only to him, without Congressional screening (totally against the Constitution), appoint people to the Supreme court that have never even been a judge, put a man in charge of the CIA who has not one day of law enforcement experience – I could go on for several pages, but I’m getting sick to my stomach. Anyone reading this knows what I’m talking about. Until all this changes, nothing will stop the inexorable American slide into oblivion. God help us.
Seems like we are rewarding parents who do a bad job raising their children, thus resulting in ADHD and Bi polar kids. Reagan slashed the walfare system and then all the walfare people rolled over into the SSI Disability program.
I liked your July 9th posting especially the part dealing with the Energy Dept. To take that vein one step further I suggest there be a Flat Tax or Fair Tax, abolish the IRS sell all the office equipment at auction as wel as all the property and buildings they occupy. The funds from the sales could reduce the defecit these jerks have put on us and Geitner would probably have to find work in the private sector; that sector of America they have tried so hard to destroy.
Thank you for basing your articles on principle! It is not okay any more, in fact never was, okay to play one party against the other and always accept what “our guys” say, versus “their guys”.
If those that are supposedly on our side talk like those that are opposed to sound American principles, call them on it!
By not challenging people on principle and caving in to party leaders is how we got many R.I.N.O.s like McCain and hence Obama!
Thanks!
I just signed up as a new member because of your integrity!
Sincerely, Wesley E. Smith
If you get your statement from SS it shows you how much you paid in over the years. Then you figure about how much you’ll recieve at retirement. If you devide that amount into your contributions, you’ll be surprised how quickly you get you money back. Anything over that is gravy. If they cut you off after your contributions were used up, alot of people would be in trouble. Originally SS was to help WIDOWS care for their family when the bread winner died. Politictions have scewed the system to get votes.
I call them Republicrats.
I see people on SSI all the time most of them are younger than I am, I am only 51. A lot of the people that I see are drug addicts and community misfits and most of them are in better physical shape than I am.
When I see this it makes me so angry and frustrated with our government that I just want to scream. They are giving away our security and not even batting an eye.How are we going to stop our runaway government and get them to stop wasting our money.
You actually can’t blame the people that are getting SSI, if most people could get something for nothing they would do it and most would not worry about the consequences that it would have on others, It’s our society that has provided for “freebies” and created the problem we have today.
It is my belief that we should stop all the SSI payments to individuals that are proven through re-evaluation to be in good health, taken off the SSI program and make them become productive citizens and make there own contributions to the SS system.
I wrote John Boehner and told him he must want Republicans to lose this November. I have a plan that will allow any citizen less than 50 yrs. old to have an option to receive all their Social Security payments, including employer’s contributions, plus interest based on each years rate of a one year treasury bill. This money goes into an account similar to an IRA with restrictions on the investment vehicles to prevent the funds from losing value. This program will be optional. Citizens 50 and over will stay in Social Security and get all the benefits they were promised.
SS needs to get back to being locked down and not robbed for any government program…they have drained the system…however anyone making over $1M during their retirement should have a reduced SS allotment…many cannot make ends meet on under $1000/month…help those who really need it…lets start offering positive solutions and not just complaining…send your input to your Senators and Representatives…keep it up…now there is a Tea Party Caucus where hopefully some common sense ideas will spring forth…whatever happened to the statement by JFK “ask not what your country can do for you…ask what you can do for your country”…how true now…people seem to have their hands out…current polls give current Administration about 49% approval rating…strange that 49% of all Americans dont pay taxes…
Lets start by being conservative instead of being Rupublican or Libertarian or Tea Party. We the conservatives of America should stand up and fire our elected leaders that vote for any tax increase before cutting the largess of government. In normal day to day life, people have to live on a budget, do without until saving for what they want or go broke and file bankruptcy. Time the politicians in government need to make the really hard choices and do with less just like the majority of Americans have to do with less. I, for one, am not better off than I was four years ago when the democrats (liberals) took over both houses of Congress. People like to forget that Pres. Bush had to deal with democrats in control of both houses of Congress and they (liberals)busted the budget. The reality is that liberals think charity starts with taxation. Conservatives believe charity begins at home. Americans can be the biggest givers in the world if the reason is justified. Taxes are never voluntary and they only create resentment for the ones that receive that which has been taken from them by force in the name of fairness or charity. Remember in November to fire those who have and continue to cost the tax payers more and more of their hard earned money so they can buy votes or advance their socialist view of change on America. The time for a non-violent revolution at the ballot box is upon us! Vote the thieves out of office and elect people who will respect the Constitution of The United States in all they do, as the founding fathers intended it should be. Vote conservative!
I do NOT believe that SS should be done away with. Just take off all the add on benefits such as disability and survivor benefits and really take SS back to where it started and what it was intended for……the elderly who had worked and needed a guaranteed income after a certain age. We pay into the program all our working lives and it IS like a savings account for people who work. But there are should be strict limits as to who benefits from the program. It should be paid only to those who worked/contributed. Congress should not be able to raid SS for monies that they want to spend elsewhere like they have done so often in the past and never repaid. In fact if all the above happened SS would be available for many generations which was what it was intended for in the first place. There are just too many added on benefits that have nothing to do with old age and too many draw off SS who have never and will never contribute a dime. I used to be work in the medial field and was constantly amazed by people who were quite fit coming in for treatment for sports injuries and told us that they had been on disability for years……..and they had retired in Hawaii!! Don’t tell me they were entitled to those payments! And they should have never been able to draw off SS!
Social Security is something that we all are required ( forced ) to pay into all of our working lives. We are entitled to this money. Social Security is not a fund for those who have not contributed into it , such as welfare recipiants and illegal immigrants and those who cheat the system. Raising the age to collect what one has contributed into is totally unfair especially if you don’t live long enough to collect it. Our politicians have skimmed money out of the fund for other purposes and not one of them even pays into the system. They get rediculous pensions , the best health care, etc. so why would they care about the average retiree that paid into SS all of their working lives.
Here’s a solution …. All politicians should pay into social security like the rest of us and also have their lavish pensions reduced to a realistic level. The citizens of this country elected them into office to work for us … not themselves. They are public servents …. not elite gods as they have made themselves to be. They can vote obsene raises for themselves while cutting lost of living increases for SS.
Maybe if they ( politicians ) had to contribute like the rest of us and were once again subject to the same rules as they expect us to follow … then SS would not be abused as it now is …
As far as I am concerned they all should be fired come election time.
I agree with some of the other posts that suggest faising out SS and replacing it with mandated savings accounts.This would guarantee that what you pay into this account would be there for you at retirement as well as passing on to your survivors instead of the token $250 death benefit.
SS was created for the purpose of providing income in retirement. Good or bad idea it is something we have to live with … but raising the age at which one can begin collecting and hoping that many will not live to collect is not the answer. How would our politicians like the idea that they could not begin collecting their pensions until age 90 and should they not live that long then the pension would not be paid out ?
People don’t get disability/SSI/Medicaid just by saying they’re disabled. Substantial medical proof must be presented. I know this because my now adult daughter was born with real mental health conditions and mental retardation.
We went through hoops to get her into the program as she became an adult. Nowdays if you’ve been employed and want to claim disability it takes YEARS in most cases to receive it. Unless you have a horrendous situation you will be filing and then be denied two or three times, which means a two- to three-year wait for any help. I know, because since being laid off in 2008 I have experienced many disabling health conditions (diabetes, congestive heart failure, COPD, etc.) and since I was unable to afford the COBRA I’m in a horrible financial mess. I’m working on getting my pension and SS medical disabiity now. I too fall under that first group who won’t qualify for full benefits until age 66.
You all should check out Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan’s Roadmap for America’s Future. He appears to be one of the very few sensible people in Congress today. He’s the ranking minority member on the budget committee. Although he makes all the sense in the world, very few Republicans will give his plan the time of day, much less Democrats.
He’s the kind of guy I could get behind if he should ever decide to make a run for President.
Anyone who wants to raise the retirement age to 70 simply does not have the pulse of the age 60 and above work scene. At 40 you “have one foot in the grave” and at 60 you “should be in a nursing home” is the mentality of many of the under 40 and especially, many of the under 30 “workforce”. If you can call on the job texting, lying, disrespectful treatment, undercutting and complaining as characteristics of many of the up and coming “workforce”, we are in a world of hurt. Of course, there are many of these younger folks who make the work environment more than tolerable, they make it a pleasure to go to work daily. But being pushed out of the workforce is a constant given: you fight to retain your job after giving it your all and wind up in a minimum hourly wage position “to make room for the younger workforce”. This means you greatly decimate your living style and social life. There are plenty of honest jobs for the younger employees without displacing the older workforce, but the jobs won’t necessarily net them a sports car and Friday night party hardy funds at the onset of employment. As for those who haven’t paid into the system long enough to earn SS credits, several of you are absolutely correct; these individuals should be part of the welfare system. SSA should be taken back to its basics of retirement and survivors benefits only. The politicians should also be banned from raiding the SS funds on a permanent and irreversible amendment to the law. As for the pilfering agencies like the Dept. of Energy, the Dept. of Ed., and others, not to mention the placement of the good ol’ boy czar system, these should all be eradicated/abolished. The oversight would be more effective if states were to manage these areas within their sovereignty responsibilities. Funding of minimal granting and accountability would be much better managed at the local level. If not, the grants can always be discontinued until the state places a plan to live up to its grantee obligation. Foreign aid should be reduced to minimum funding with a volunteer force rendering supportive manpower to bring about stability. If the emergent incident requires longer attention, the UN should do its part and take the next watch, country by country, not as a UN force. Foreign aid should never reach beyond the capabilities of any given country. Rendering support in war torn countries should be the priority and disaster relief next important. Getting back to the non profit organization voice, AARP has sold retirees down the river and are in bed with the current bunch in DC. AMAC can have lasting and greatly impacting results but must lay down preventive measures to under gird retirees. This must be done from within the organization and the organization is wise to continually hear sound, only sound, economic principle and constituency voice in understanding the pulse of the retirees and those near retirement. I truly appreciate the rise of AMAC and admire the tenacity shown as the organization continues solid, realistic and honest representation of retirees and those of retirement age. Our goals are to shrink federal government in every area, to be the uniform voice of retirees and retirement agers, and to hold all government, workforce, and society sectors responsible in the treatment of this population. Holding their feet to the fire is the appropriate terminology, because it must be done on a continual basis or we are back to square one…
In addition to DOE and Eduacation, a large amount of aid goes overseas. While some may be justified, some is just wasted on example, Palestinians in the Gaza Strip that abuse everything they receive. Withhold all money from the United Nations but retain membership so we know what they are doing!! Please add more!!
First, give John Boehner a break! He is Minority leader. He has a command voice; and, an authoritative presence that usually is a burr under the saddle of the Dems when he offers ideas…Second– born after 1960? Retirement Already is ’67′; age ’70′ is not that unreasonable. The only reason I stopped working at 65 (last year) was because my company closed. Start looking at alternatives: annuities; mutual funds (Bush)..I am still in the work force..NOTICE.. MEDICARE Still begins at ’65′ regardless of Retirement age..(96.40/mo-@2010)..unless Obama Care eliminates pre-existing for Medicare, and they Change the Law, you have to Pay for Medicare at 65 because SS is Not available to you yet (Medicare is deducted from your SS payment; so, obviously..) Rock and a hard place..Congress Has to work with a True Ponzi scheme while trying to ‘equitably’ make changes. They cant address SS/Medicare together, although 1966(Johnson) connected both, because most of Congress doesnt Get it (without aides). Keep in mind:Medicare is prime example of Single Payer-minimum coverage at best. You still Need Supplement to cover what Medicare does not cover. Omigod! I have just thrown ‘bites’ as the Author of this article did. Unfortunately, this is how Congress works.
I would be very happy to stop paying SS taxes today and not receive any benefits later. A few extra thousand in my pocket could go a long way.
I agree that it is politicians like Boehner who have gotten us to the point we are with the SS trust fund. I don’t think we can bash him though for trying to come up with a solution. You see, SS has been being raided for 40-50 years and Boehner has only been in congress for a fraction of that time. The problem is WE ARE WHERE WE ARE. SS trust fund has been raided for over 14 Trillion dollars since our lawmakers discovered they could buy our votes with our children’s money. Since we now have almost a 14 Trillion debt as well as 110 Trillion in unfunded mandates something has to give. LOTS of somethings have to give! I think we have to look at all options. When SS went into effect, the retirement age was 65 and the average life expectancy was 64. Now the retirement age is 65 and the average life expectancy is 85. This fact alone would indicate that the retirement age should have gone to 86 by now. I think it is totally feasible to look at changing the retirement age. Yes, we still need to eliminate the Department of Energy, the Department of Education, the new Health Care bill, and TONS of other agencies departments. Of course the normal politician, when faced with lowered revenues immediately screams that the first thing to be eliminated will be Police and Firefighters, in hopes that this will scare everyone enough to drop the threat of lowering the revenues. At least Boehner is willing to touch the “third rail.”
The last time I was in a social security office was when I was 68 or so to change my medicare info. I was the oldest person there and some people say I look about 55. AMAC, please do some research on the % of money that goes for retirement and for other things.
The current tax system is wasteful and corrupt. The IRS admits that it fails to collect 350B$ to 400B$ in taxes every year because income is so hard to track. On the other side this system costs the private sector over 500B$ in compliance costs: lawyers, accountants etc. Its close to a trillion $ a year. This is fiscal insanity and promotes corruption and payoffs. 75% of the lobbyists in Washington are there to lobby the tax code. Now the current Administration wants to hire 17,000 new IRS agents for the new “Health Care” bill. This is our country, not those economic idiots in Washington. Please name the country that taxed its citizens into prosperity. You cannot because there has been one. Its time to go to a national sales tax and eliminate all other Federal taxes. This tax system has been studied and would raise more than enough revenue needed by the Feds. Check out “fairtax.org.
Here is a simple question. Where is the money of the dead? Over the years many of us saw our friends pass away in their 20′s, 30′s well before retirement age. My mother passed away after turning 62, the estate got one check, over 40 years of putting into the system and one check. It was not enough to bury her. The SS system has in it’self become a mismanaged slush fund for Washington. It was indeed put in place to help the senior citizen in later years, but was not placed in a lockbox from the begining. This has led to new and costly programs being added over the years and this has drained the fund. Stop the waste and plain fraud and put back into the retirement system the monies stolen and lock it up.
NO social security should be withheld from those who have endured paying in all these years–and the government needs to find a way to repay ALL the money and IOU’s they’ve taken from the SS coffer. And if someone like John Boehner sides with a socialistic viewpoint on one thing, I wonder where else his mind (and pocketbook) is playing.
Perhaps, we should gather all those from Congress who benefited from manipulating policy, etc. and lined their own pockets very well, and just confiscate back what belongs to the people. Oh, let me count the ways…and I’d be on the side of any angry grandma with a club!
If Social Security funds hadn’t been stolen by the politicians, the program would be solvent today. Now, it’s too late for solvency without radical reforms.
I would propose that all recipients at age 60 and above be offered a one-time lump-sum payout, based upon their national average life-expectancy ages. At that point, making fair and needed changes to Social Security would be possible for the benefit of those remaining in the workforce.
Penny Freeman’
Social Security is a Retirement AND Disability INSURANCE program. When you were working, both you and your employer BOTH paid the premiums for BOTH Retirement and Disability Insurance.
Receiving Disability payments from SSA is NOT WELFARE. It is receiving Insurance Benefits that YOU and your employer paid for.
I also have Epilepsy which caused me to lose my job after working since I was 12 years old. For my whole adult life I paid insurance premiums for protection from disability both to the SSA and from private insurance companies.
I am not the least bit ashamed that I am now receiving Disability income payments BOTH from the SSA and my private insurance company.
But I am extremely angry that the disability income payments I am receiving from the SSA ARE being deducted from my private disability insurance income payments.
I have been disabled for 17 years now because the type of Epilepsy I have can’t be controlled. When I get a seizure I don’t fall to the floor and shake. Instead my brain shuts of all cognizant functions yet I am still ambulatory. So I continue walking or driving. When I was still driving and didn’t know I had it I crashed my car and totaled it by crossing three oncoming lanes of a super highway in Florida, drove off of the highway shoulder and through three fences. The car ended up in the parking lot of a roadside motel and I was uninjured and fortunately didn’t injure anyone else despite driving through three oncoming lanes of traffic at 55 MPH.
Now I stay at home 98% of the time and still when I get a seizure I get up and walk to the washroom and end up with my head through a wall or fall down the stairs and break my arm. One time I was just standing outside of a funeral home for my Brother-in-laws funeral and next thing I knew I hat smashed my forehead into a brick wall. Another time I was talking to my wife in the kitchen and the next thing I was in the hospital with a broken and split open nose and two front teeth knocked out.
So I can’t work because if I walk on the street and have a seizure I could walk into traffic or in front of a commuter train and kill myself and never know it happened because I can’t hear, smell or see but am still ambulatory.
So the bottom line point I am trying to make is that the person who said that those who are on permanent disability are NOT WELFARE CASES. They are being paid from the disability insurance funds that they paid into the system just as I am being paid disability income by my private insurance company.
Everyone who criticizes the SSA system forget that it isn’t a welfare program but is an insurance system.
You may argue that the premiums are lower than they should be but that is also untrue.
The problem with the SSA system is that Congress violated the original design of the system to have SSA funds separate from Government funds and were not supposed to be used to pay for other government programs. If they had left the funds to the SSA to invest privately as it was originally designed to do then the money would be EARNING additional funds to be used to pay out benefits, just the same as private insurance companies take their customer premiums and invest them to earn more money.
The ONLY exception to all of this is the SSI program. Supplemental Security Income is money paid to people who are not eligible for SSDI insurance payments. SSI operates just like state welfare programs.
The only flaw in the SSDI program is that they are not stringent enough in policing it so that those who really are not disabled are collecting disability insurance income undeservedly.
In my case, the approval was immediate, which is rare since most people are rejected one, two and even three times before gaining approval.
I still have to get re-approved every five years even though I will never be cured enough to no longer require disability income.
Yet others who are obviously not disabled are not checked out enough because the SSA system is so overwhelmed with claims.
We all know people who are receiving disability when not disabled just as we know people on Medicaid when they don’t qualify. I know a woman who lives in a $5 million home who receives all the state and federal assistance programs available including food stamps!
Reporting them is futile because there are just not enough competent examiners available and the penalties are minor or non-existent for committing these frauds.
Money is wasted on bad treatments, such as state Medicaid paying $5,000 for tooth repairs and the repaired teeth falling out in 2-3 months requiring twice as much money to re-repair the same teeth.
So don’t be ashamed of receiving long term disability because it is not a welfare program. It is insurance that you paid for all of your working life.
Those who look upon it as welfare don’t have a clue what they are actually paying for and that they are actually paying higher premiums for the same coverage that they could have gotten from private insurance companies and received as much as twice as high disability income payments from those private companies.
In my case, my private disability insurance premiums were about $250 a year and when I became permanently disabled it paid me $41,000 per year tax free. SSDI on the other hand costs 1.8% of my income up to the maximum FICA income level of $57,600 the final year I was able to work. So my premium for SSDI was $518.40 and my employer had to match that so the total SSDI premium paid was $1,036.80.
For this premium I received $16,800 per year the first year. With COL Adjustments it has risen to $22,200 per year.
So you tell me how SSDI can be considered WELFARE when I paid a total of $10,758.60 in premiums to receive $331,500 in SSDI benefits when compared to paying $2,750 to a private disability insurer and so far receiving $454,600 in disability benefits.
For paying 1/4 the premiums that a private insurer pays I have received $123,100 LESS MONEY.
As anyone knows, insurance is a spreading of liability across a population. Some people receive more than they paid in premiums and others much less and still others receive nothing.
When you buy car insurance you hope you will never have to make a claim. Same for Life Insurance.
Well I can assure you that I would trade all $786,100 in a heartbeat for the ability to go back to work.
3/4 million bucks tax free to sit and do nothing all day may sound like something you would want but it sure isn’t something I ever wanted. I’ve worked since I was 12 and at times had three jobs at the same time while going to Jr College as well and loved doing it. I love to work and now I sit here like a dead person that they forgot to toss the dirt over.
To go from traveling all over the country working (the year before I developed Epilepsy I was only at my desk 29 days all year while flying or driving around the country the other 211 days plus many Sunday evenings and flying a half million miles while driving about 150,00 miles as well and then flying to Hawaii with my family on vacation for two weeks. Now I don’t leave my house more than a couple of hours a month.
Believe me that I would give all the money back to get back the last 13 years of my “life”.
John Boehner is right on most issues. To find a replacement for John, who most of us agree with most of the time, would be extremely difficult. He has the seniority and is well regarded. We have to convince him he is wrong on SS. We also need to have him lead the fight against the cuts in Medicare funding.
John Boehner is right on most issues. I think it would be hard to find a replacement right on 98%of what true conservatives want. Why don’t we tell him he is wrong on SS and right on most issues.
John, we need you to re-think your stand on Social Security and stand strong on the $500 billion cut in medicare, that I’ve paid for since it’s inception.
If the Democratic congress and president, in other words Johnson, hadn’t of taken the Social Security money, which at that time was sitting in a separate fund, and passed legislation to move it over to the general fund so they could get their hands on it. If that had not been done, then the funds would still be there to satisfy the needs of the system. A good democrat can’t leave money alone. If it is sitting there, it needs to be spent. Reminds me of my ex wife. So Johnson and his cronies during the 60′s screwed us, just to pay for the Great Society that didn’t accomplish anything other than getting some tin panel barriers around junk yards. It cracks me up when a democrat complains about the republicans screwing up Social Security. Geez, if they had left it alone in the first place, this whole thing wouldn’t be an issue. Ok, stepping off of soap box now.
Our Social Security “system” is bankrupt now. We need to replace it with personal savings for young people, untouched by the government. We need to phase out the Social Security program for everyone else–perhaps doing so over an extended period for as long as 50 or 60 years. Graduated decoupling, supplemented with personal savings, for differing age groups must be done. Those currently closer to the official retirement age (which needs to increase since we are living longer) would be covered at a higher rate until we can fully ween the very youngest in the program off it entirely. Eventually, we need to ween each and everyone of us off the stupid program. This program was never meant to live off of. We need to be realistic and not expect someone else to be obligated to support us. Approximately 15 years back anyone who retired and started collecting SS payments received every cent they ever contributed within 32 months. However, that same person continued to collect way past the total of any reasonable intererst payment on contributions they paid through the year plus the net present value of their actual contributions while working. The Social Security program is a ponzi scheme of the highest order. Disability payments are entirely different and there are insurance policies for this. Plus families, your community and/or your church is where to turn. Again, Social Security is bankrupt, and we will not be able to squeeze the blood out of this turnip for much longer–whether for “security” or disability.
I do not mind paying into a system and getting nothing back if I am well-off already and it helps people less fortunate than me. I just don’t want government making that decision for me. Social Security is broken for multiple reasons, mainly because Congress raided its reserves, but also because there are too many people drawing it and too few people paying into it. One solution is to raise the retirement age and I am not opposed to that. We’re living longer now and Social Security was never meant to be a full retirement plan for everyone. It was a safety net. Wealthy people who still want their Social Security checks are greedy. I don’t want government cutting them off though; I’d rather see them cut themselves off. Show a little compassion and maybe gain a few stars in your crown at the same time. My 2 cents worth.
The SS system is corrupt, broken, and about to go bankrupt. It was always a scam of sorts, in that the retiremenet age was set to the expected average death age.
Many people are not money managers. For younger people, I believe that Social Security should be shut off, and replaced with a mandatory personal savings fund, not at all available to politicians and bureaucrats, but accessible to the individual at a set retirement age, permanent disability, or to his or her heirs at death, if before funds are expended.
Disability is actually another matter, and needs to be addressed separately, I think. I know of younger people who seem to have gamed the system of SS Disability, yet many older people are worn out, injured, or diseased. I wish that everyone who is healthy enough to work would show a little more kindness and mercy to them. They cannot do the work of a young person, yet most employers do not want them because of this.
Our society needs to change. Love your neighbor as you love yourself is a good principle to embrace. Treat people as you wish to be treated.
It should be phased out beginning with those under 21 right now. They would receive no benefit from it, and would not be taxed for it. However, it must include an overhaul of who receives the benefit. There are millions receiving benefits who never provided a dollar, and that must cease immediately.
Sorry: the comment is: We all know we can’t pay into something, then take out more than we paid into it unless it has some kind of investment value.
As someone that expects to NEVER be able to retire, I am going to tell everyone what I really think should be done with Social Security–it should be made into a strictly Disability plan. Having something for people who paid into the system and CAN NOT work anymore–not because they have a drug problem or are just depressed, but they have a documented medical problem like Diabetes for 45 years after workings over 25 years or worked until they had a stroke that permanently disabled them or they have permanent heart damage, etc. Yes, some people will pay into the system and never get anything out of it–that happens EVERY DAY. If I were killed in an accident anytime between now and 65 (15 years), I would have paid into the system since I was SIXTEEN YEARS OLD and never see a dime back. So get off the “it’s not fair” crap. Life isn’t fair. IF WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A SOCIAL SAFETY NET (and I think there is room for that in our society) THEN WE NEED TO MAKE IT A TRUE SAFETY NET FOR THOSE WHO ARE DISABLED AND UNABLE TO WORK. I would be willing to have to work til I was disabled to make sure those truly disabled had a way to eat and live, especially if that meant Social Security truly became Social Security. We all know we can’t pay more into something than we take out without it having some kind of investment value–paying something into the government has NO investment value, so why do we think we can pay a little into a government fund for 30 years and then live without having to work again for another 30+ years? Doesn’t work. Get real folks. We have to change things–that doesn’t mean we should throw all the disabled under the bus when we do.
YOUR ACCOUNT? Jeffrey Ellis makes some great points above regarding how much money we each (and our employers) have “PAID IN” to the system.
But, despite the “annual statement” — there is NOTHING in “your account” with SS system. Except IOUs !
I and my employers have paid in between $400-500k in my career so far, in SS and Medicare. If I had actually been allowed to INVEST my half of the money in any private plan (as suggested above by JE), and my employers had given me even part of “their half” of the SS contributions as increase in pay (to invest, or to spend and improve the economy) this would actually be MY ACCOUNT — for my use or my heirs.
As it is, I have a “SS statement” of big gov’t IOUs — with expectation that I will never collect because I also have been responsible and saved “too much money” in my private 401k and IRAs, etc. So when I retire in another 15 years — they will say I am NOT eligible for SS.
They NEXT thing I anticipate these SOCIALISTS will do is to “take over” my IRA and 401K, and send me another govt IOU. The “democratic leadership” is already proposing this as a way to “balance out the deficit” — because total of all PERSONAL 401ks and PERSONAL IRAs, 403b accts etc is roughly equivalent to total govt debt.
So, to avoid the big, bad investment brokers, our loving govt will “take care of us” by taking over our personal accounts, converting them to govt IOUs, and then “investing them for us” in their usual vote-buying schemes — have you ever driven through W Virginia and seen all the wasteful spending all with “Senator Byrd’s” name all over it? Paid for his campaign by US taxpayers. Now going to Calif and Chicago.
US GOVT — GET OUT of MY LIFE !!
Mentally and physically handicapped children have received benefits for years. That is why people are so very anxious to pin a lable on their children who probably are nothing but normal kids whose parents have no parenting skills or patience.
It is my understanding that social security retirement age has already BEEN raised. Not even my husband, who is now 66 could have retired at exactly 65 with full benefits and, to the best of my knowledge, my own full retirement age is 67. So what has this got to do with anything Boehner says? I’m lost here.
Can someone just tell me WHY a famiy can receive four social security disability checks when three of them are for young children? This woman is totally able to work, she had these children while unmarried (seems to be the norm now) and claims that they all have learning disabilities.
I happen to know that she also receives food stamps, section 8 for housing, free healthcare (Massachusetts), and extra help for her children’s “learning disabilities”. All are paid for by our taxes which she doesn’t pay a penny of.
How can this be sustained?
My husband was severely injured in a fall at our home almost 2 years ago. He almost died, was in the hospital for over 2 months, numerous surgeries, etc. He is a real trooper. He lost his job as a result of this injury and now is trying (very hard) to get another one. He is 52 and doesn’t have much use of his leg, have numerous other medical maladies, but refuses to apply for SSI.
We had to pay over 1100.00 per month for 18 months for health insurance (equity loan on house) and our children had to take a break from school. They have always worked. I work in a very small office where insurance is also very high, but I have to have it. We make 200.00 a year too much to buy into the Mass health insurance plan, but we qualify for a waiver of insurance. Anotherwords, we would not get a tax penalty if we do not get insurance. But my husband has to have it.
We are praying every day that he gets a job, but it is more difficult at his age. We have paid into the system our entire lives and have never taken a penny from it.
I am so very angry at social security for giving “paychecks” to children of parents scamming the system. They all get together and help their friends get on the “rolls”.
My husband died at 52. My 15yr old and I collected SS survivors benefits until he turned 15 and 11 months and he collected until he turned 18. The last 6 months of my husband’s life he was on SS disability. Even with all the money we have received we didn’t make a dent in what we paid into the system over the last 30 years. He lost his job in the 9/11 attacks, then skin cancer ( maybe you can’t take it with you but you can leave it with the doctors before you go) AND I STILL DON’T SUPPORT GOV’T RUN (RUINED) HEALTH CARE.
Over the years I’ve seen a shift away from those who pay into the system towards those who don’t. Survivor’s benefits ran up to 21 if you were in school.
The medicare to Medicaid shift is in the health care bill. Take from the seniors who paid into the system and give to those who haven’t.
Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program in the United States.
Social security was supposed to be 1/3 of your retirement income. 1/3 from savings, 1/3 from pension(401K) 1/3 SS.
In my case its all gone but a house I can’t sell and the SS.
But I’m still here I put my 2 older boys through college and their student loans are manageable, and they are working (my middle has a BS Physics and pumps gas)and paying back their loans, and the above mentioned 15 year old is just starting his senior year.
God willing we will survive.
I am currently underemployed but God willing that will improve also.
I believe in God and I believe the US with all her problems is still the best game in town
Thank you for your kind words Deborah. I have been very fortunate I think in the work friend I’ve had for several years. She invited me to her church and even though my son and I haven’t formally joined yet, we are there every week. I don’t think anyone outside of the Sunday School class that my friend teaches really knows about my disability. My seizures are not the type I always thought of when epilepsy was mentioned, grand mal. Mine are complex partial seizures. I can even be taking part in a conversation and not be at all aware of what is going on at the time, and have no memory of it at all afterwards. I’m very grateful that God protected the people on the road while I was still driving and did not know I had epilepsy. I’m one of those people that I just don’t think I could have lived with myself had there been an accident that killed or seriously injured someone while I was driving, even if it was caused by my having a seizure. Like I said before, I hate having to rely on my friend or my son. I would love to take part in more of the church activities, but my son’s work hours pretty much restrict that. And I feel I am a burden enough on my friend because she does come and take me to Sunday School, and my son meets us for church and brings me home. I am younger than the other ladies in that class, most of whom do not drive at night. And I don’t live that far from the church, but I do live in another city. So I feel that’s a lot to ask for someone to help me get to the church to take part in their activities. I truly try not to make the fact that I can’t do things for myself something that anyone outside of my own family needs to be mindful of or help me with. I have been very fortunate to have work friends that have helped me, and my oldest son is a tremendous help. Without him I really don’t know how I would be surviving today. Again thank you for your kind words and prayers. We need to all be praying that we can somehow root out the evil that we have allowed over time to fester in our society and get this country back on the track the founding fathers intended it to follow. Otherwise our children and grandchildren will never see the America we grew up in and were so proud of!
Penny, I hear your pain through your words. Churches, not the government, used to be the place where the hurting found love and help. I am praying that you will be able to find a loving church home where you will be surrounded by people who care. May God bless you.
I read through all of these blogs and finally Penny mentioned Congress spending OUR SS money! It hasn’t mattered as to which party had the majority – they just spent it, and continue to spend it but talk about rationing the funds that do come in or adjusting the age limit. Does Boehner talk about a halt to Congress spending what does come in? Ha! A good part of the financial problem we are having is that so many of these programs are unfunded and have to come out of the taxes that are paid. But now Obama, Bernanke and company are now trying to print us out of debt so that the national debt is now over 13 trillion dollars and increasing 4.12 billion dollars each day. Each person’s share is almost $43,000.00. You might want to keep track on this debt clock: http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/
How many people realize what a trillion is? If you spent one million dollars a day since the time of Jesus Christ on the earth until now your total would be a little less than one trillion!! I think a requirement for anyone running for public office should be an honest A grade in an economics course – no bribing the teacher!!! Also, any public servant found guilty of accepting bribes should be removed from office and lose any retirement pay.
I would like to have an “adult conversation” with Mr. Boehner.People who work for a living in blue and most white collar jobs can not work until they are 70. If you are a politican and show up whenever you feel like that’s is not real work. Term limits are the answer to prevent people losing site of who they work for which is the tax payer. The hard working people that pay their salaries and benefits which are far better than the average tax payer gets. People are struggling now to keep working just to cover the medical gap. I want to see Boehner working in a factory lifting or doing construction work when he is 70. If he agrees then after he is 70 and did the hard physical work we can increase the SS age to 70. See if he will agree to that.
I think AMAC was making the point that many who were on disability really were not disabled. Someone like Penny sounds like she should be covered.
Maybe you would consider me too young to get disability payments from SS also. I’m 61 years old and lost the job I’d had for 17 years in November 2006.(the company was puchased by another company and they cut a lot of positions) From January 2005 until I lost my job my son had to drive me to work and a work friend had to bring me home. Why? Epileptic seizures. My medicine isn’t controlling them and there isn’t any mass transit in this area. I tried for months to find work. When my neurologist found out I wasn’t working heTOLD ME to file for disability. I hate being on disability and hate Medicare even more, but without having to rely totally on my son that’s my only option. Thanks to the way our crooked politicians have wrecked our financial system over time, I’ve lost a lot of the money I had in my 401k. And without the child support I was supposed to get while raising our three kids (my ex refused to pay), I pretty much went through what I had in my savings account in those months I spent desperately trying to find work. I hate being at home without work and having to rely so much on my son and other people to do things I used to do myself. But it doesn’t look like there’s going to be another option out there for me. My doctors had thought they could do surgery and get me past the seizures, but they weren’t able to pinpoint the place in my brain from which the seizures generate. So they told me they just didn’t feel it would be safe. There was too strong a possibility of damaging my memory. So how do you feel about someone like myself being on disability? I can tell you that the seizures and the medication have affected my balance, which even makes my being home alone a scary situation for me. You can just guess what it might be like if I were back in a workplace. I went to walk from one side of my kitchen to the other over the weekend and fell to the floor. I can close my eyes to just rinse shampoo out of my hair and get so dizzy I have to grasp whatever I can because I feel like I’m going to fall. So since I’m not retirement age you don’t think I should get any help from SS yet? Do you really think someone like myself who worked and supported herself and three kids, putting two of them through college with almost no help from their father, shouldn’t get any help from SS until I’m retirement age? Then what do you think I should do, live on the street? Yes, I agree that SS was supposed to be for the elderly, but that’s something that over time we’ve allowed our crooked politicians to corrupt. It was supposed to be money put aside for that one purpose. It didn’t take very long for politicians to find that little gold mine to use for their own pet projects! It’s long past time America woke up and kicked the crooks out of office and cut their perks as well. Did you know that while they dole out whatever amount they deem enough to those on SS, when our Congressional representatives retire they do so at the same pay rate they were getting while they were in Congress? And their wives get a fair amount of pay and benefits as well. Not only that, but they opted themselves out of Obamacare. Every member of Congress has a wide range of very good options as far as healthcare, meanwhile they’re trying to cut what they pay to doctors who care for people on Medicare. For one office visit to my neurologist Medicare paid him $25. My youngest son is now 37 and I paid more than that to his pediatrician when he was still seeing him! Have I changed your view of people on disability at all? No I don’t like telling people I’m disabled. No I don’t want to be on SS and Medicare. If I were able to work and knew where I could get a job, I wouldn’t be on this computer. I would be at that job. Yes, I know there are a lot of problems with any government program, but not everybody who is on SS disability has other options. I’m living proof of that. I fully expected to work beyond retirement age simply because I get bored very easily. I have to be into some project or doing something constantly. I do watch tv some, but that’s mostly when my son is home in the evening after supper. Don’t blanketly condemn people who are on disability because of the cheaters who do whatever to get on it. Instead fight the crooks in D.C. who have so corrupted the system, and now Obama is bringing in someone to head Medicare/Medicaid who is totally in favor of rationing care, especially in a person’s final years. If you want to yell about something you’d better take a hard look at Dr. Donald Berwick whom Obama just appointed to that position! If you think the options for those on Medicare are restricted now, just wait ’til that guy takes full charge. He’s totally in favor of a system like the Brits have. What kind and amount of care you get depends on age and physical condition, so if you’re in bad shape they’ll just write you off as no use to society and not approve your necessary treatment if they deem it too expensive! So the older you get the less likely it will be that you get whatever treatment your doctor says you need to survive.
I agree SS was a socialist program from the beginning, but it is what it is. It’s totally unfair to those of us who paid into the program for all of our working lives, to have it cut out from under us when we’re no longer able to take care of ourselves. The social security program would be solvent if everyone below retirement age were moved to welfare programs, which is where they should have been to begin with.
Think about this though – consider who started Social Security – FDR! He was one major socialist. I can’t help but wonder if he and Al Gore are related with their ability to invent things. FDR ‘invented’ both Social Security and income tax. Prior to FDR, neither existed. In some respects, I would like to see Social Security done away with all together. Instead, it should be privatized and the individual be responsibile instead for setting up a savings account through his/her employer that would be contributed to by the employer. The individual would not be allowed to access the funds until a certain age and the gov’t would have no access at all to it.
We also need to change the method of taxation. EVERYONE needs to contribute – business and individual alike – and in the same proportion. God asks for 10% of our income. If every person paid 10% of their income and every corporation from the smallest mom&pop to the mega companies, paid 10%, the gov’t would have plenty of money. In addition, each of us would have 80% of our income to spend as we chose. What kind of a stimulus would that be for the economy? Pretty good if you ask me!
Did not Bush have a good idea, which was shot down by the marxist media? We need to be responsible for ourselves, with some government oversite of those that help us.
Having heard Boehner speak quite a bit, those SS comments seem a little out of character but he said what he said. LIke any govt program it’s no doubt a mess, e.g. the disability comments and no doubt a lot of other fraud, like medicare and medicaid. So, that all needs to be addressed. I would only hope that Mr Weber or whoever the author is, would have at the very least contacted Mr Boehner to start a dialog about the issues rather than just attack him on the web. Not sure which happened. I would like to see the fraud and waste taken out of the system first and quickly and then assess where it is. I suspect more will have to be done including raising the age and possibly some means testing. We can’t all hold onto our little piece and expect everyone else to give….and I’m 61 and about to file for benefits but understand I may have to give something also. Ultimately, it feels like a totally non-govt solution is the best thing to phase in. Maybe AMAC ought to lay out what’s wrong with SS and propose a workable solution.
I agree with doing away with the DOE. I am unaware of any worth while accomplishments in the entire time they have been in existence. The DOE is a huge waste of money. The Department of Education is a similar waste of money. Schools have significantly degraded since they became involved. Eliminate them.
SS needs reform. We need to gradually increase the retirement age, indexed to life expectancy. We need to broaden the base of the payroll and self-employment tax. Then once a surplus is created, those funds should be returned to the taxpayer as direct credits to their personal retirement accounts. Those funds must not be left in the hands of government politicians and bureaucrats.
I strongly feel that what I’ve paid in to Social Security (SS) and the interest it should have accrued belongs to me and should not be forfeited because I am a productive member of society paying significant taxes even after the age of 65. What is fairly mine though is a bit hard to figure.
Therefore , I believe that if I and other people had a better understanding of the value of the contributions we have made into SS, we would be in better position to make fair and reasonable judgments relative to SS.
Every year we get a statement from SS listing our lifetime contributions to date. However, the total of these amounts is not an accurate reflection of the value of our SS contributions. For example had I contributed each year SS amounts as listed on my statement to an annuity, the balance shown would be considerably greater than the amounts contributed. Exactly how much depends upon a number of factors. In my case, the annuity would have been from USAA, at least from 1971 when I left active duty for graduate school and really started paying SS. After a year I went to work in the Defense industry for seven years. In 1979, I started business as a consultant and still work as such. I am 67 and since I was eligible for full payment at 65.5, have been collecting SS and will not have received payments equal to all my contributions for a number of years (especially since I am still contributing at the maximum rate and probably will until I reach 75). I would like to know how many years it will be until I am truly on the dole, meaning I have collected the future value of my life time contributions. I have a suspicion that if I keep working until I am 75, that I may well leave this world with a balance in my SS account.
Three things would be very illuminating to me and other members:
1. An article explaining a couple of examples to demonstrate estimated current values: the annuity example, an index fund example, a money market example (all fairly safe examples) and then comparing these to future value of SS payment for several life expectancy models.
2. An online tool available on the AMAC web site, which members could use to estimate the current value of their SS account by entering their annual contributions as listed in their SS report and picking from one of several earning rate profiles provided in the tool. Example profiles to consider are:
a. Average annual annuity earning rates from the top five companies
b. Typical Index fund annual rates
c. Average annual Money Market rates
3. Another online tool available on the AMAC web site, which members could use to estimate the future value of their SS payments, based upon several life expectancy models.
I believe that understanding and knowledge are key to tempering emotional reactions to policy or increasing rational opposition to unfair policy. By the way an example of what I mean by unfair is a policy that treats the incompetent as equal to competent. This type of equality is the ultimate in unfairness: it rewards the incompetent and punishes the competent. It is also a sure way to destroy productivity.
distressing to me as an older American trying to live on SS.
The need is to have people in responsible places who are not afraid to be truly conservative and furthermore will push for those beliefs. It is time for the conservative republican leadership in Washington to step up and show all how to lead. I for one am tired of, this is the best we can do, when they either kick the problem down the road or just give it lip service.
Dr. Stoll, reread the article. Nothing in it says Boehner is not a staunch American. If you had joined AMAC and read their magazines you would know that AMAC and Boehner seem to agree on 98% of the issues. I give AMAC credit for having the guts to say Boehner made a mistake in his remarks. If conservatives can’t be a little tolerant of our slight differences and stick together the Left will continue to win.
A friend suggested I join AMAC, since I was disgusted with AARP, but when I brought up your website, and saw your article on John Boehner, I decided to forego joining you. He is a staunch American, and we need him. It came through to me that you are too picky. He is not afaraid to stand up against the President, and you judge him for his remarks on SS.
Silly me! I thought they were going to really do something to help older Americans. I misunderstood the initial proposal and thought they were going to require any one getting from SS to have worked at least 20 years to get it! I could get behind that kind of proposal!
Hey!
Can you try to get on WOC radio?
I used to get you on another station but they
changed it to all Oldies and they lost a lot of
listeners.
Woc is on about 24 hours in my house. I even
go to sleep with it on.
Dot
Seems like I heard of a pretty decent program a few years ago. People don’t have it in their nature to save for the “down the road years” because it’s so far away.
Well, far away sure comes fast.
Mr. Thurston has it right. Gradually phase our SS and replace it with the Savings Plan. In theory that would work, but, it cannot be run by the Federal Government.
There are many things wrong with SS. The most damaging is that is basically socialist at its roots. It was never a good idea.
The best thing to do would be to gradually phase is out while fulfilling the commitments made to those who have been taxed with the promise of life sustaining benefits in old age.
There has to be more to the explanation. Explain how someone can have substantial non-social security income(worked in the public sector for instance) if they worked for 45 years paying into social security?
There would be no time to work those same 45 years in a public sector job to receive that public sector income=non-social security income. I understand that someone could receive a small social security income if they worked a few years paying into the social security system, but the amount would not be substantial by any stretch.
Because I am not clear on your meaning, please spend the time to run articles by a series of analysts who can help the writer round out these articles to avoid this easily avoided confusion.
Let me know your answer at capstoneec@wowway.com
Thanks
Ed
John Boehner’s willingness toi embrace socialism in Social Security is an example of why we are in the mess we are in today, with the radical Socialistic Democrats in charge. This goes along with the threats that he and Eric Cantor made against Joe Barton when Barton had the courage to speak the truth about BP’s 20 billion dollar slush fund that Obama shook them down for. Barton was exactly right; it is a shakedown and it is a slush fund. For shame, John Boehner and Eric Cantor. You both need to step down from leadership and let some men and women with courage and belief in the principles our nation was founded on step up to lead us.