The shame of social security

[WillowTheWhisp]

That's weird.I got an email notification of a post in this thread but it doesn't seem to be here.

[Just_A_Guy]

Of course, there are survivor benefits with an annuity.......

I don't purport to be an expert, but for what it's worth Wikipedia says the official name is the "Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program".

I'd be interested to learn how an honest-to-gosh, private-sector annuity functions and manages to stay solvent. I suspect that either a) they collect much higher premiums; or b) they invest the premiums they receive much more intelligently than the government does.

[Hemidakota]

My mother is 63 years old and in poor health. She has just had two back surgeries, paid for by Vocational Rehab., but, she will not be able to work anymore. For the past year she has been receiving her deceased husbands social security, because it is more than her check would be. After, she pays her bills, she has about $70.00 a month to live on.

Here is the shame. My mother (and this is true for everyone with a deceased spouse) cannot receive her social security check and her late husbands. Only the higher of the two. So, all the years that she paid into the system, all of that money is......GONE. While our government wastes billions, people like my mother will struggle for the rest of her life. It is appropriate to note that my mother and her late husband failed to plan for the future and now she is facing the results of those decisions. Life insurance and long term savings/investments would have changed her retirement years drastically. She may live another 20 years or more on....$860.00 per month. Not likely.

This should be changed. There is not a good reason for it. Had her husband lived, they would have both received social security income. Now that he is dead, it's the greater of the two....not both.

I will of course help my mother, BUT, how freaking angry this makes me. Hundreds of thousands of retirees with deceased spouses could and should be receiving more income and they should...they paid for it and so did there employers. If not, it is just a tax.

Perhaps a journey into the past and tell the former president Roosevelt why his plan never work.

[WillowTheWhisp]

I'd be interested to learn how an honest-to-gosh, private-sector annuity functions and manages to stay solvent. I suspect that either a) they collect much higher premiums; or b) they invest the premiums they receive much more intelligently than the government does.

Or they don't syphon money off for different purposes?

[boyando]

I believe that by law the loading (overhead) for insurance must be held under 7% of what the insurance company takes in. It is interesting that the loading (overhead) for Social Security is about 60%.

The Traveler

And the newer the government program, the higher the percentage of loading (overhead). Last I checked, welfare was at about 90% loading (overhead). Some day, I will tell my truck driving story, and about how the Feds didn't want to give one hundred million, for a Department of Transportation (DOT) bill, because the loading (overhead) was 110%.

By the way, I'm not making fun of your (overhead). It's the little things like that, that make what I am trying to say, so much clearer.

TY, T

[Just_A_Guy]

Holy cow.

I was just doing my taxes, and Tax Act tells me there's a "conscientious objector" opt-out for Social Security and medicare. So I google the form, and sure enough: it exists.

[WillowTheWhisp]

Presumably if you opt out you get none of the benefits. I wonder if anything like that exists here in the UK.

[bytor2112]

Holy cow.

I was just doing my taxes, and Tax Act tells me there's a "conscientious objector" opt-out for Social Security and medicare. So I google the form, and sure enough: it exists.

My heart skipped a beat when I read this......:)

[miztrniceguy]

Can I opt out and get my money back?

[boyando]

Do you have to opt out every year? And more importantly, can we all opt out on the same day?

[miztrniceguy]

how do we organize a national opt-out day? Should Bill O'reilly or Sean Hannity organize it?

[Moksha]

Many of us will need Social Security. Let us not cut off our nose to spite our face with political rhetoric.

Did you know that there really are no Social Security accounts and that all monies are drawn from the general revenue? That is why it is important to keep money coming in, especially when the large block of Baby Boomers (1946-1960) reach retirement age. That is why we need to ensure that our hidden labor force of undocumented workers must absolutely begin paying full income and social security taxes.

Once the Baby Boomers have died off, the percentage of native born will have greatly dwindled. That is good if it occurs concurrently with a scarcity in natural resources. If not, that means that the economic output of the USA will drastically dwindle before its time.

[bytor2112]

Many of us will need Social Security. Let us not cut off our nose to spite our face with political rhetoric.

Did you know that there really are no Social Security accounts and that all monies are drawn from the general revenue? That is why it is important to keep money coming in, especially when the large block of Baby Boomers (1946-1960) reach retirement age. That is why we need to ensure that our hidden labor force of undocumented workers must absolutely begin paying full income and social security taxes.

Once the Baby Boomers have died off, the percentage of native born will have greatly dwindled. That is good if it occurs concurrently with a scarcity in natural resources. If not, that means that the economic output of the USA will drastically dwindle before its time.

Why not begin phasing social security out and beginning something better for all? My initial point was that because it is drawn from the general revenue...that it is part of the massive waste in DC.

Illegals should be sent home....not invited to stay Moksha. They need to apply to come here legally.

[Palerider]

Come on people....the Gov't has done an excellent job of running and handling Social Security....:o:o:eek:

[Moksha]

Come on people....the Gov't has done an excellent job of running and handling Social Security....:o:o:eek:

Good point. The checks are given out on time every month. Keeps our elderly out of the dumpsters and dog food aisles. While it may ruffle the feathers of a few ideologues, it helps with the sustenance of many of our honored elders.

[Palerider]

Good point. The checks are given out on time every month. Keeps our elderly out of the dumpsters and dog food aisles. While it may ruffle the feathers of a few ideologues, it helps with the sustenance of many of our honored elders.

you are so right.....:)

[Guest]

Good point. The checks are given out on time every month. Keeps our elderly out of the dumpsters and dog food aisles. While it may ruffle the feathers of a few ideologues, it helps with the sustenance of many of our honored elders.

Yeah, something that these poor honored elderly folks have completely no ability to do so on their own steam.

Oh, I forgot, they're too stupid to take care of themselves we need to have the government do it for them.

[boyando]

Good point. The checks are given out on time every month. Keeps our elderly out of the dumpsters and dog food aisles. While it may ruffle the feathers of a few ideologues, it helps with the sustenance of many of our honored elders.

I have held back this story, not because it was too personal, but because it is a little complicated to tell. Here is a "reader's digest" version;

My father was not what you would consider an honorable man. For ten years before his death, he did not pay any taxes, Fed or State. My Mother is and was an honorable woman. So, after my Father's death, she sold her home and the family business, to pay back taxes.

All of the equity from those sales, didn't cover the cost of the funeral and taxes, so she borrowed from her Mother and was paying her back, a little at a time.

My family, at the time, was my Mother and three teenagers (Elphaba was back east at the time) living in a tiny two bedroom apartment and surviving on 1970's minimum wages plus SS survivors benefit's.

Money was tight and the weight of the world was on my Mothers shoulders. Eight months after we started to collect SS, we got a letter in the mail, stated that "they" had made a mistake in calculating our benefits and that my Mother needed to pay back $1,800.00 dollars, immediately. $1,800.00 might as well been $18,000,000.00 because the money was not there. But then my Grandmother came through, again.

Now, before you get all excited and yell, at least you were collecting SS, may I point out, that if my Mother had not done what she thought was right, and payed off my fathers tax debt, that the government didn't have a clue that He owed, she could have taken the monies from the sale of the business and home, and put them into an annuity, drawn out a larger monthly check, and the benefit's would have lasted Her a lot longer.

And, just because I can't seem to post anything without sarcasm, elderly people who have no money, do not eat dog food, because it is four times what roman noodles cost. Thank you Democratic party for throwing that myth out there.

b

PS; My Mother pulled herself out of poverty.

[Guest]

And, just because I can't seem to post anything without sarcasm, elderly people who have no money, do not eat dog food, because it is four times what roman noodles cost. Thank you Democratic party for throwing that myth out there.

b

PS; My Mother pulled herself out of poverty.

Very good point, Boyando! (You are Elphaba's brother?)

But, even so, I know a lot of Filipinos who will jump at the chance to eat Moist and Meaty dog food in a heartbeat. Better and safer than the chicken leg they planned on having for dinner that was fresh from their day's hunting efforts at Smokey Mountain.

You guys have no clue how blessed you are - even without Social Security.

[Traveler]

Come on people....the Gov't has done an excellent job of running and handling Social Security....:o:o:eek:

And they do it with just 15% of every dime you make. Of course half of that the goverment says that they take from the rich company you work for - but the truth is that your company has to justify that from your worth or you get laid off. Which, BTW is why some hard working people cannot find jobs in these hard times.

I know I keep saying this but it is time to junk all the government social programs and adobt a negative income tax as the way to get people out of poverty.

The Traveler

[boyando]

Very good point, Boyando! (You are Elphaba's brother?)

But, even so, I know a lot of Filipinos who will jump at the chance to eat Moist and Meaty dog food in a heartbeat. Better and safer than the chicken leg they planned on having for dinner that was fresh from their day's hunting efforts at Smokey Mountain.

You guys have no clue how blessed you are - even without Social Security.

Yah, even though we are at opposite ends of the political spectrum, I am proud to say that I am Elphaba's (not so) little brother. (I blame Harvard)

And thanks for the reminder, that US poverty is better living than most countries middle class.