Congress just passed a law that will give me (and millions of people like me) extra Social Security benefits that we simply do not deserve and haven’t earned.
To understand what is happening, here is a quick history lesson: The original Social Security Act included unintentional and overly generous benefits for government employees. These were benefits that no other Americans could get. About 50 years ago, a more responsible Congress recognized this and created two laws to correct this mistake. The Windfall Elimination Provision (WPO) said that Social Security retirement benefits for government employees should be figured in the same way as those for all other senior citizens. The Government Pension Offset (GPO) law said that government pensions should offset any Social Security spousal benefits potentially due, just as Social Security retirement benefits have always offset those same spousal benefits.
But now, bowing to relentless pressure from government employee unions and advocacy groups, a more naive and vote-seeking Congress has repealed the WEP and GPO. So once again, government retirees like me will get overly generous Social Security benefits that no other senior citizens in the country are eligible for. And by so doing, they have put a $200 billion hole in an already rapidly deflating Social Security budget balloon.
To explain why repealing the WEP and GPO is a wrongheaded boondoggle, I will use myself as an example. But first, you need to know a basic tenet of Social Security: Benefits have always been skewed to give lower-paid workers a better deal than their more highly paid counterparts. Very low-paid workers could get a Social Security benefit representing up to 90 percent of their preretirement earnings. This percentage is known as a “replacement rate.” People with average incomes (the middle class) generally get a 40 percent replacement rate.
So now, back to me. I spent the bulk of my career working for the federal government. While working as a fed, I paid into the Civil Service Retirement System, not Social Security. (Things have changed since I was hired in the early 1970s; all federal employees hired after 1984 pay into Social Security.) But I also did pay into Social Security at a few jobs I had in high school and college and at other jobs I’ve had since I retired from federal government work. I have about 15 years of earnings that were covered by Social Security.
So, when the Social Security computers looked at my record when I applied for Social Security benefits, they assumed that I must be poor. After all, I had all of those years with no earnings. That record didn’t show that I actually was working all that time for the government and earning a civil service retirement pension.
And because the Social Security system thought I was poor, it was programmed to give me that 90 percent poor person’s benefit rate. In other words, I would have been getting an undeserved windfall from Social Security. And that’s where the “Windfall Elimination Act” came in. It correctly recognized that I wasn’t poor, and it gave me the same 40 percent rate that all other average-income Americans get.
And it did the same for all other workers who spent the bulk of their careers in jobs not covered by Social Security. These are primarily teachers, police officers, and firefighters in certain states. (Why those groups don’t pay into Social Security is a subject for another column.)
For the past half-century, union officials representing these groups have been pressuring Congress to eliminate the WEP because they wrongly think that the law cheats their members out of their due Social Security benefits. And in each of those years, a bill to eliminate the WEP has failed to get approved. But in this wacky political year, things were different. So even though almost all of you reading this column are getting the proper 40 percent Social Security benefit rate, Congress has now decided to eliminate the WEP to give me (and all those other government employees like me) the 90 percent rate—boosting our Social Security checks by a couple hundred extra bucks per month. What a sham, and what a shame!
But it gets even worse. As I said, the other law that the misnamed “Fairness Act” eliminated is called the Government Pension Offset.
To explain what is happening here, I will again use myself as an example. Before the GPO law came into effect, I would have been able to get my government pension retirement check, and I would have been due a “dependent” husband’s benefit on my wife’s Social Security record. Why? Because of those Social Security computers that think I’m a poor old guy with just a small Social Security check. So, I was deemed financially dependent on my wife and granted spousal benefits on her Social Security record. However the GPO law recognized that I worked for the government and got a civil service pension check. And just like a Social Security retirement check offsets any spousal benefits that might be due, my civil service pension check would also offset those potential dependent benefits.
But by eliminating the GPO, Congress is giving me (and all of those millions of other government pensioners) unintended benefits from our spouses. Think about that. Almost all of you reading this column cannot collect your Social Security retirement check and get extra benefits from your spouse’s account. But now, other government pensioners and I will do just that.
And so if you believe that repealing the WEP and GPO makes sense, write your member of Congress and tell him or her that you think the “Social Security Fairness Act” was a great idea. But if you don’t think it’s fair, then write your member of Congress and say: “Shame on you! I thought you were supposed to be saving Social Security, not squandering its funds on greedy government retirees!”
Tom Margenau worked for 32 years in a variety of positions for the Social Security Administration before retiring in 2005. He has served as the director of SSA’s public information office, the chief editor of more than 100 SSA publications, a deputy press officer and spokesman, and a speechwriter for the commissioner of Social Security. For 12 years, he also wrote Social Security columns for local newspapers, and recently published the book “Social Security: Simple and Smart.”
Reprinted with Permission from The Epoch Times – By Tom Margenau
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
I should receive my full social security as I worked private sector, paid into it, and then worked county government until retirement. I am not interested in my husband’s ss benefits as those are his, not mine. What irks me more is seeing time and again benefits paid to those brought in from other countries who never paid into the system…
Social Security (SS) is the worst run federal government program bar none. It has screwed over everyone financially that paid into SS. The money should have been mostly invested in stock index funds with the rest in bonds and T-Bills and it would never have run out of money. Lyndon Johnson and the Democrats really screwed the people over when they took the SS money that was in a separate SS fund and combined it with the general tax revenue. This then gave the politicians extra money to spend without running larger deficits and we know the politicians took advantage of that big time. The other thing that should have been set up in its inception was the older people that never paid in or paid very little in SS taxes should have had a totally separate fund from a special federal tax to pay them benefits (such as people over 40) when SS was started. When SS started, anyone under 40 should have paid into their own SS fund (invested mostly in Stock Index funds and some T-Bills and Bonds) and then everyone at this point funds their own retirement. That would have eliminated the “Ponzi” scheme of people paying SS taxes for someone else. Now, that we have the baby boomers retiring of which I am one, we have a big financial issue with SS. SS while there was nothing wrong with the general idea, it was horribly, horribly implemented. If this were to be started today, everyone could have their own retirement fund like a 401K either via the business they work for or they could be part of a state retirement fund where they reside. Besides SS benefits, my wife gets state retirement funds from 2 different states, and we don’t currently live in those states. SS is a totally screwed up pension system. This is why the federal government should never be in the business of managing things like SS, education, housing, welfare, etc., as the federal government is most of the time incompetent.
This is so inaccurate. I worked in the private sector for 18 years, made a good wage, and paid social security & 401K. After I retired & divorced I began teaching school. When I retired from teaching, I was informed by social security that I would only recieve 40% what I had paid for 18 years! I was also informed that I was only entitled to 0 of my deceased ex-husband’s. This left me with less than $2000. during my retirement.
This repeal allowed my to get 100% of the social security that I had paid in addition to my teacher retirement. What is not fair about this? I personally think that it is unfair that I was expected to relinquish 60% of the social security money that I had paid to prop up a system that was not working in 1983!! Basically this money was stolen from me to pay others. That is unfair.
Yet again The baby boomers middle class workers got screwed by the Federal bureaucrats in the swamp of Washington DC!
I think I do not care about what Congress just did. No one has ever accused Congress of being very smart. This latest action just proves that point. I will be in heaven soon and will not care about Social Security benefits. GOD’s benefits are much better!
If you paid into social security for over 10 years you deserve to get it. Period.
I get a huge monthly payment of just over 800 a month after working in construction all my life… Yeah, I can really afford my bills on that… I made that and then some in just one week… Maybe I should go to Eagle Pass and claim asylum, I’d get more
This is ridiculously incorrect. The pension I received is certainly NOT overly generous. I worked in the private sector from the time I was 16 until the age of 35, when I went to work for a City. I earned my salary from the private sector, and I earned my pension from the City I worked for. When I retired, Social Security took 2/3 of my social security benefits. It’s complete BS to say we didn’t earn it. I only had 19 years in the private sector, and then got 25 years with the City. I worked for both, separately. It’s extremely offensive to say I didn’t work or deserve both. If I would have worked for all that time in one section, my benefits would have been much larger. I split my time, which was hard earned. At times I had a hard time making ends meet, so for the joker who said we didn’t work for it is either a liar, or doesn’t understand the way it worked. It’s about time we get our full benefits!
I am surprised that the AMAC would publish such inaccurate information. I will retire with roughly 42 years of Federal Service. Roughly half of that under the CSRS Offset. It will make very little difference to my retirement.
My sister in law worked for roughly 40 years in the school systems and did not pay SS. Her husband paid SS for his entire time. She was not entitled to his SS since she would receive a public pension not covered by SS. If she had not worked she would have been entitled to half of his SS. Can Tom Margenau explain the fairness of that? No he can’t.
I would expect AARP to just regurgitate what the extreme left says but I expect better from the AMAC. Someone needs to read these articles before they are approved. Tom should be removed from all future releases since he is obviously so biased he can’t see what can be of benefit to his readers or be objective in his writings.
I worked about 5 years including the military and paid Social Security, then went to work for the FEDS and retired. Then I went back to work again for 11 years, however because I get a Federal pension they take 65% of my social security. So I paid in for over 16 years. However if you are illegal of here under asylum you should not get anything. Further more congress will get 100% of their pay for only a few years!
I totally DISAGREE with this article. I worked in the private sector and earned enough quarters to pay for Social Security before starting to work for the USPS under Civil Service .When I retired I received $300.0o a month from Social Security ( non windfall payment would have been $660.00).As of now after deducting Medicare monthly I receive $211.00 from Social Security.per month. If Medicare keeps going up I’ll need to use my Postal pension to pay for Medicare premiums. My Postal pension is NO WINDFALL amount if you live in NJ.Charity begins at home I was always told but we send billions to Ukraine, pay for college tuition under Biden and Rand Paul has shown trillions in government waste etc. so don’t tell me we can’t afford to pay to right a wrong to people like me who need that money.Fund Sociol Security instead of paying for illegal immigrants and Medals to George Soros and Clinton. Congress finds money for all kinds of BS take care of the people who worked and earned it.
I am so surprised at AMAC, I would expect this stuff from AARP. I worked 30 years as a Police Officer and paid 8.5% of my salary into my pension. I retired from that in 1995. I worked various jobs during my time as a Police Officer and received a 1099 at the end of the year which meant that I paid both the employer and employee side of SS. I became eligible for SS 16 years later and received 40% of what I should have. I am now 81 and finally retired after all my post PO years as a peer support specialist to Veterans. All that time paying into SS, I am still not at what I should have received when I started to collect SS plus I had to pay extra into Medicare. So this is way overdue.
Congress snuck this in after the election with almost no debate. This is what we have come to expect from Washington uniparty, they get their’s and the deep state gets their’s, and the taxpayers foot the bill. Disgusting!
Well said .. I appreciate your detailed explanation. I had to look into WEP myself, as I had 32 years in private sector and almost 15 in public (where I was NOT contributing to SSN). I have been looking / planning on possible retire date and had to do a lot of reading about it. I agree with you that this is wrong … it was basically a weighted scale before. Now people will get money, when they did NOT contribute to SSN, the same as others who have put into SSN all or most of their life.
If the social security thinks you’re poor and boosts your benefit, that’s a flaw with SS. Your benefits are calculated based upon your earnings, I won’t get much because I didn’t have high earning years, but I am entitled to what my income earned me, It is disgraceful to penalize someone who worked in both sectors and was able to receive both benefits. If you think it’s unfair, have your legislator introduce a bill to reimburse what the employee paid in and let the govt keep what the employer put in and call t even. I sure like that Americans are getting something rather than the handouts we give to every other country and those who enter our country illegally. And Tom, you can always send your SS back to the treasury. Keep us posted on that!
The Dems came up with another way to buy votes, and the RINOs went along with it.
Well, in my case the WIP penalized me so much that I wasn’t even getting what I was entitled to for the non-government jobs that I had prior to working in state government. I’m glad to see it as is my hubby. His soc sec check should have been $785.00. SSA reduced it by $400 a month. He had plenty of jobs outside of government. In our case, it was just a grab.
Something is very wrong when some of us worked an paid SS form ore than 50 years and yet get less than a person who never contributed to it. The SS admin. need some auditing. I am 86 yrs. old now and get less than $1000. a month after they deduct my Medicare, but still taxed on my SS . I don’t think they even give me part of my husbands SS. We file joint tax returns. Se how unfair it is?
We know that the evil Congress over the years borrowed large amounts of money from the Social Security Fund and they never intend to pay it back. If we had skimmed money off a program that was designated to only be paid as retirement benefits to the American Worker. What they did all these years was totally illegal and many of them should have been in jail for these crimes. That is a big reason why Social Security is going bankrupt. Hopefully, President Trump will be able to get in there and straighten out this mess.This present Cabal Congress has paid out they bribe money for votes on the backs of Senior Citizens. I sure hope we will see some of them in jail after all they have done in the past 4 years.
After working 25 years in Law Enforcement, and working in the private sector doing part-time jobs paying into SSC, meeting my quarters. I thought i was going to get around 1700 a month the windfall took half. it was a shock to me and i earned this. I would take anything I didn’t work for. Now I hope to get what my family and I deserve and worked hard for.
I hate to disagree with this guy from SSA but I will. I worked a little after school then 7 years in military paying into SS, then 29 years in civil service,retire and got a job paying SS again had 42 quarters when I finally retired,
My $285 monthly is what I get with the off set but I paid it so I can draw it. I know many people who did not pay into SS and get an SSDI check every month. I guess we retirees are now going to get what we paid for.
I’m not clear on how all this works. I had 37 yrs, 8 military & 29 civil service. I paid for the military time separate. I also worked part time and had a business on the side and paid in all the quarters. When I retired, I got almost nothing from SS, I guess because of my GS grade?, because of the WEP or GOP?, what happened to all the money I pd in while working in the private sector on the side?
If Mr. Margenau feels that he doesn’t deserve an increase in his SS benefits then he should return his increase to the Federal Government-as for me I paid into the system and qualify for the increase which I will gladly accept!!
Me personnaly I am all for it.
I worked in the military for 15 years and paid into the SSI. I drove a truck for 5 years and paid into SSI. I worked at a hospital for 4 years and paid in to it. I worked for a Sheriff’s Office Correctional Division and recived a pension for 23 years of service doing a job most of you couldn’t do. At one point I worked three jobs to feed my kids and pay for housing and all the while paid into SSI. I didn’t take welfare for a number of reasons nor did I get food stamps for a number of reasons. If you did not work to save money then I am sorry but that is the money I PAID into, not you. They are funds that I EARNED and SAVED! This is no different than having an investment program or working two jobs and retiring from both. Just because the congress has for years thought that the SS system was their pet bank account is what the problem is. Cancel 1 Aircraft Carrier, 1 Submarine, 2 Destroyers, 10 tanks, 10 Fighters, 10 Cargo aircraft. That will fund the SSI system for some time to come. What about the billions sent to Iran to fund terrorism against us? Stop funding Shrimp walking on a tread mill for 5 million. There is so much wasteful spending that it is not funny any longer. So in short, I am all for it. I am tired of being robbed by the Government that I gave so much for.
I am in a similar boat as the author. Retired CSRS and then worked 21 years in a Social security paying job. I do not ever look at my retirements and think they are overly generous! I bet he wants life insurance payouts to be cut if you have more than 1? How about 401K’s be cut if you also have a SS or another pension also? We paid for everything we got and deserve it! This guy makes way too much money that he can throw some back, but the 99% rest of us cannot afford to!!
The government should pay back into Social Security what they were “NOT” allowed to borrow in the first place. I’m struggling, trying to make ends meet. Also while the government is pushing for $15 an hour minimum wage! The cost of living is killing so many Americans!!
I will be affected by this and rightfully so. For 28 years I did not pay into Social Security since I was a CSRS employee. I have, throughout my life time and mainly since Jan2012 I have worked full time employment through today. I retired CSRS in Dec 2011 and get the pension I worked hard to earn. I continue to work, doing the right thing, because I was 50 when I retired. I have had full time jobs paying into Social Security since Jan 2012. I’m now 63 and I have worked hard for my pension and now my Social Security. People who never paid into Social Security should receive absolutely 0 SS benefits. The only way they should earn SS benefits would be based on the money they made in the private sector only. Now, if early on people were receiving social security while only contributing to a qualified pension plan, well that’s the governments fault for not managing things correctly. Now the government can’t steal any more of our our money. For those who have a pension and also contributed to SS by other employment, they have every damn right to celebrate! And to say that correcting a government steal is a bad thing… shame on you. For those who worked and got a pension then continued to work and contribute to SS we have every right to celebrate… We get what we rightly earned. No more government theft!
social Security…if you don’t contribute you get zero SS benefits! Period.
This article does not represent the way teachers, firefighters and policemen feel. Those of us who paid our 40 quarters into SS deserve to receive full benefits. It should not matter if we also worked in a public system that offers pension plan. I am surprised at AMAC publishing such an article.
I graduated high school in 1957 and have never been out of a job.Thank you biden/obama/sory$$ for your totally uncalled for inflation and social security that won’t keep up with your inflation agenda.You leftists really do SUCK !!!!!!!!!!!!
This is not a boondoggle. It is exactly what it says, Social Security Fairness Act. I paid into social security and earned my forty quarters like everybody else that is in the program. However, because I worked in the public sector for several years, I was docked a substantial amount when I was eligible to start receiving my social security benefits. This put me at a disadvantage when I was planning for my retirement. Somebody who worked in the private sector for the same amount of time I did and had the required forty quarters would receive a full benefit, but because I chose to serve in the public sector for several years, I was punished for working on behalf of the citizens of the communities I served. In some of those communities I paid both social security plus into a retirement system. All of us who were affected by the WEP have felt this to be unfair for a long time and politicians have finally recognized how unfair it was!
I will tell you what is really unfair and that is putting caps on what is subject to the social security tax. The fact is that as long as social security has been in existence the burden for keeping the program solvent has fallen on low and upper middle income wage earners, The wealthier people have a substantial amount of their annual earnings exempt from the tax. In all my working years I only exceeded the ceiling one time. It is time for Congress to make 100% of earned income subject to the social security tax because when the wealthier retire they will receive 100% of the benefit they qualify for while only paying a smaller percentage of their income.
Finally, Congress needs to take social security out of the federal budget as a line item and restore it to its original place as a non-federal budget line item. When it was put in as a line item in the federal budget it made it easy for Congress to raid the funds to pay for non-social security programs or projects. That is the real boondoggle! If fairness is the desirable goal, then these changes should be made by Congress!
I paid into SS for over 30 years and into a teacher’s pension fund for 35 years. Because I am getting a teacher pension, my SS check is 70% less than what would be considered normal. So, in one way I am glad to see this act come to pass. In another way, however, I am concerned that this will just bankrupt SS even sooner.
I paid into the Alaska Retirement system. My husband paid into the Social Security system during the same years. After 25 years it was clear that the benefit was nearly double on the money invested to pay pensions that social security funds combined with tax funds produced. Obviously the money should have been mostly invested in stock index funds with the rest in bonds and T-Bills and social security would never run out of money. Congress made a decision that retirement was less important than all the other things they fund. This is not a matter of who is poor enough to deserve a federal check. It is a matter of paying what is earned on savings for retirement. Since those deposits were required, the payments should be made.
An interesting article that makes sense. Thanks for the education. Of course, I didn’t get a paycheck all those years I was staying home being a Mom to a bunch of kids. After my husband died, I got the difference between my SS check and his, but it took almost a year before we got it settled. I got the payment retroactive. It wasn’t much as I, too, worked in high tech and made decent money, but it was enough. I hope they don’t take that away. And, the $245 death benefit? Have you buried your spouse lately?
I DID earn BOTH and needed it when I could no longer work at two jobs – one in education and then in all types of “extra” jobs to pay our bills, qualify for a home (note: back then teachers’ pay was not enough to qualify for a house and a car), plus I needed to work more than one job to assist my daughter with her college degrees even though she worked while in school! We DiD earn it and really was cheated out of almost half of my social security while my drug addict step-sister got almost the same amount as I did SO supposedly she would not do criminal activity and maybe get off drugs! She died a drug addict! She drew more than my Dad who worked mostly at city and state department highway construction! What SHE got was not fair – taking mine to pay people like her was NOT fair to me! I did the work and deserved all that I worked for!
The entire govt is the world’s largest criminal cartel. The only good thing about this bill is hopefully our fellow AMERICANS get the money and not other countries and illegals in this country illegally.The entire federal govt[ on all sides of politics] is full of criminals stealing our money and acting like they are doing us a favor. Each one of them need to be in harms way in our military in all the endless wars they involve us in along with their sons and daughters. All they do is enrich themselves by killing our sons and daughters. They are the epitome of evil!!! When they spend our money to wasteful spending they act like they are doing us a favor[[[ITS NOT THEIR MONEY ]]] THEY ARE MENTALLY INCOMPETENT!!!! They are sick in the heads with the worship of power and money and not at anytime my fellow AMERICAN!!! These people in our govt have killed millions of my fellow citizens AMERICANS over the past especially 5 years and total of last 60 years with no accountability whatsoever!!!!
The federal government ruins everything it touches!! In an effort to protect the public, they either go overboard or under think and never consider unintended consequences!! Those unintended consequences are the result of their racism, their need to bring up the status of black people but not brown or red or yellow people or even the poor white people then they will deny having any racist feelings but……
Another article on this topic talked about teachers being included. Not sure how I feel about this, nor do I completely understand. My thought is if I do get it I will put away for my kids because there will be nothing left for them by the time they are eligible.
I worked for Federal government for over 35 years and I also elworked for over 18 years at a job where I paid into S.S. I earned a Federal pension that resulted in my not being able to receive my earned S.S. benefits or to receive rightfully benefits under my husband’s S.S. that he worked for over 50 years and paid into. I was unfairly denied these S.S. benefits that were rightfully earned. I am so thankful that the WEP and GPO have finally been repealed.
What about people like a family.member of mine ?
He owned a small one man business for almost 50 years, when you’re self employed you must pay both halves of the Social Security payment. Yet when he went to collect that isn’t taken into consideration. Now we have those who never contributed are getting a windfall.
And the government has the balls to call rthis decision the Social Security Fairness act.
What a. Disgrace thus administration has been.
My wife and I are being punished monthly by SS to the tune of $230.00 for some sick crap about us not being signed up by a certain age. That amounts to $2730.00 a year which is nowhere near right, and we were told that it is for life. WHY?
why is everything dems do hurts regular americans
I paid in the full amount of Social Security just like everyone else. I also paid into my Pension Program, at the Full Rate. When I retired, from many years as a Nurse for the State Of California (working with the Criminally Insane, with several injuries) I was told I would only receive 40%-50% of the amount non government employees would receive in Social Security. This is not fair and I am glad it has finally been rectified. As a Nurse for the state, sure I received a good pension, but I also made a lot less in salary and worked under worse working conditions than if I had worked in the private sector. I made the choice to make less at the time but get a better retirement package, my choice. However I was never told I would not receive my full amount due in Social Security. I am not a Legislator, Senator or other Bureaucrat who worked 3 days a week and a handful of hours a day, we often didn’t get breaks or our full lunch break, and when people were sick we were mandated to stay and work another shift, not getting to go home to our families. Just remember, all Govt. workers don’t stand around doing nothing, many work very hard for the citizens they work for and when we have to pay into things like Social Security and Medicare, we deserve to be reimbursed at the same rate as everyone else. There are plenty of things causing Social Security to go broke, things like a man who was married 4 times and each wife getting his full amount of Social Security each month for their entire lives, his check should have been divided by the number of wives or kids getting it. And how about people coming to this country, then brining in their relatives and they get full Social Security benefits and never paid in a dime. And many other abuses like checks going to the children of illegals even some who have moved back to the country their parents came from. Also the Congress has robbed the Social Security coffers for years just to give more Socialist benefits to people when they could not or would not pass Legislation to pay for those benefits.
I am a retired teacher and worked other jobs that I paid in Social Security. Because I get a teacher retirement ( and teachers are underpaid anyway) my social security amount just barely pays for my Medicare premium. I worked jobs before I began teaching and during. I paid that money in and I feel that I am entitled to it. Boy if I was from a foreign country and entered illegally. I would get all kinds of money from SS. THAT is where the waste is! And don’t get me started on welfare and SSI benefits to those who choose not to work.
Most people don’t realize that the Windfall act also states that if their spouse died they would not get any of their spouses benefits. I worked for a school system that didnt take out social security for only 8 years and because of that I was told my SSI would be penalized under this act. I have put off collecting SSI until full retirement age of 70 so I can earn back what they said I’d be penalized for. My state pension is more like an annuity. I paid into it every year I taught . I’m glad they are getting rid of it.
All I will get is what I paid into. Not a penny more. Previous to this, I received 40% of what I paid into. How is that fair in any way. I’ve been cheated out of 60% of my social security for 15 years.
First and foremost, I paid into a pension plan and social security. However, when I applied to receive my SS, I was informed that my benefit would be reduced because I had a pension. Please tell me how that was fair. I paid into but because I had a pension my SS was reduced. I don’t remember SS Admin saying well since you have a pension plain, we This are going to reduce the amount you pay into SS. But if your illegal were going to give those who never paid into it.
Sorry where is the fairness in that.
Bob B
What the government does with the SS we were required to pay in is terrible. Then when we do get some back, they call it a “benefit,”. It’s NOT a benefit. It’s money being returned to us. Now they squander more of it. I pray for correction of this corrupt government.
I restfully disagree with you on this. The WEP has cost me over $30,000.00 in SS benefits since Nov. 2017. I retired from the Feds under CSRS and CSRS Offset which I paid into Social Security. When I retired I worked in County government where I paid into SS. I Have 25 years of Substantial Earnings that reduced the WEP somewhat. I don’t consider myself rich, my pension is not huge. My SS calculation should be the same as everyone else’s. A millionaire who gets the maximum SS benefit based on 6 figure salaries is not penalized, so the logic used in the WEP and GPO doesn’t make sense in my opinion.
Your circumstance sounds quite different from mine. I worked paying into the Social Security system for 14 years before becoming a teacher in my 30s. I taught for twenty years, so not a big investment into the teachers retirement system, but I really wanted to teach to contribute to the education of American children. Dopey me, because the upshot of that was my minimal SS benefit WAS CUT IN HALF because I have an also minimal teacher’s retirement. I AM POOR and they still took half my tiny SS. There are plenty of retired military that come out, work for the Post Office and collect complete retirements from both. But not teachers! I worked for and deserve my SS payments no matter what other retirement I collect—getting my full benefit is going to change my life. Social Security pays money out to people who never paid in a dime— disabled children, drug addicts that “can’t or won’t work”, alcholics, people in prison—the least they can do is pay contributors what they promised.
I paid into s s for years and was denied the benefits I should get because I worked for a local government job and got a pension from that so why shouldn’t I be able to collect my ss the wep is not fair to some of us who don’t get a huge pension from public employment and worked other jobs and paid a lot into ss then they say I can’t collect any of the money I paid in because I get another pension I’m barely above poverty level yes some of you get huge government pensions but I don’t