true or not about SS

[fatercat]

Who Died before they Collected Social                 Security?

  This is quite interesting and something I                 never thought about... Who died before they                 collected Social Security                 ? KEEP PASSING THIS AROUND UNTIL EVERY ONE                 HAS HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO READ IT... THIS IS SURE SOMETHING TO                 THINK ABOUT!!!! ONE THING WRONG WITH THE GOVERNMENT'S                 CALCULATION OF AVAILABLE SOCIAL SECURITY IS THEY FORGOT TO                 FIGURE IN THE PEOPLE WHO DIED BEFORE THEY EVER COLLECTED A                 SOCIAL SECURITY CHECK!!! WHERE DID THAT MONEY                 GO? Remember, not only did you and I                 contribute to Social Security but your employer did, too. It                 totaled 15% of your income before taxes. If you averaged only                 $30K over your working life, that's close to $220,500. Read that                 again. Did you see where the Government paid in one single                 penny? We are talking about the money you and your employer put                 in a Government bank to insure you and I that we would have a                 retirement check from the money we put in, not the Government.                 Now they are calling the money we put in an entitlement when we                 reach the age to take it back. If you calculate the future                 invested value of $4,500 per year (yours & your employer's                 contribution) at a simple 5% interest (less than what the govt.                 pays on the money that it borrows), after 49 years of working                 you'd have $892,919.98. If you took out only 3% per year, you'd                 receive $26,787.60 per year and it would last better than 30                 years (until you're 95 if you retire at age 65) and that's with                 no interest paid on that final amount on deposit! If you bought                 an annuity and it paid 4% per year, you'd have a lifetime income                 of $2,976.40 per month. Another thing with me.... I have two                 deceased husbands who died in their 50's, (one was 51 and the                 other one was 59 before one percent of their social security                 could be drawn. I worked all my life and am drawing 100% on my                 own social security). Their S.S. money will never have one cent                 drawn from what they paid into S.S. all their                 lives. THE FOLKS IN WASHINGTON HAVE PULLED OFF A                 BIGGER PONZI SCHEME THAN BERNIE MADOFF EVER                 DID. Entitlement my foot, I paid cash for my                 social security insurance! Just because they borrowed the money                 for other government spending, doesn't make my benefits some                 kind of charity or handout!! Remember Congressional benefits? --- free                 healthcare, outrageous retirement packages, 67 paid holidays,                 three weeks paid vacation, unlimited paid sick days. Now that's                 welfare, and they have the nerve to call my social security                 retirement payments entitlements? We're "broke" and we can't help our own                 Seniors, Veterans, Orphans, or Homeless. Yet in the last few                 months we have provided aid to Haiti, Chile and Turkey. And now                 Pakistan......home of bin Laden. Literally, BILLIONS of                 DOLLARS!!! And they can't help our own citizens in New York and                 New Jersey! Our retired seniors living on a 'fixed                 S.S. income' receive no additional federal aid nor do they get                 any financial breaks, while our government and religious                 organizations pour hundreds of billions of $$$ and tons of food                 to foreign countries! They call Social Security and Medicare an                 entitlement even though most of us have been paying for it all                 our working lives, and now, when it's time for us to collect,                 the government is running out of money. Why did the government                 borrow from it in the first place? It was supposed to be in a                 locked box, not part of the general fund. Sad isn't it? More like CRIMINAL!       [font=][/font]

[tom548]

I read an article back in the mid 70's that explained how much extra money was being generated because all of the baby boomers were still working. If I remember right it was 3 million dollars a day and that extra was put in a general fund and spent. That is why no interest was earned on it and why they are short at this time because the same baby boomers are retiring and  less people are working and more are retired.
Our NY State employees retirement fund was very much like SS but we have had some good State comptrollers and they have fought to keep the Governor out of the retirement fund. Our fund is in great shape even in these hard economic times.
SS should have been treated the same way and there would be no problem today. I guess thay have forgotten the money they spent on us.

[guzzijohn]

It is a ripoff. My first wife was an IT professional in aerospace. Made very good money. She died at 45 years old. After all had been paid in to SS over her working years I got the $200 burial expense check and that is all folks.
GuzziJohn

[P.A. Myers]

FDR who gave us this all-or-nothing ponzi scheme was an ardent socialist. Socialists dont believe in private property. Its ALL theirs and they may allow some to trickle out. Only in that context does ss make any sense.

[jhm]

     Of the $17 trillion that the US is in dept, does anyone know if any of that figure is owed  to the SS fund or is it all owed to CHINA ?   Jim

[Oldshooter]

The only thing that stops SS from being a ponzi scheme is the fact that no fraud is involved. The new guys pay for the old guys simple as that. Hence the Ponzi scheme label. But to be a true Ponzi scheme fraud must exist. Ask mader. 

[mechanic]

In response to the question, doe's the gov. owe SS any money?  Yep, all of it.  The gov. has no cash reserve other than on paper, and currently borrows .46 of every dollar spent.
 
Ben

[mannyrock]

Guys,
 
    It is even more horrendus than you think.  From the very beginning, all of the money collected for social security went into a separate Social Security TRUST fund.  It was put in a trust to make absolutely sure that your money would be there when you needed it.   After all, its your money that you are putting aside.
 
   Now in the private world, if ANYBODY steals money out a trust, it is a major felony.  It is absolutely go-to-prison time.   As an attorney, I use to see that if any lawyer ever stole one single penny of a client's money out of a trust fund, he not only went to jail but was disbarred for LIFE.  Could never practice law again.  On the other hand, if any attorney became a raving drug addict or alcoholic, or even sold drugs, he could always get his license back in  3 to 5 years as long as he went through counseling and rehab.
 
   So where is the money that you put into your Social Security Trust fund for your entire working life?   Surprise!  For the past 40 years or so, whenever Congress ran out of money, they simply stole it out of the Trust fund, and replaced it with (guess what?)  paper IOUs.   What are these IOUs?  Why simply U.S. treasury bills, which are paper promises by the U.S. Government to pay the money back at some time in the future with very very low interest!    And, since it is "Congress" of course, its not illegal! 
 
   Both the Republicans and Democrats have routinely done this.  Unbelievable.
 
    I can see myself standing up in front of a judge now, as a corporate lawyer.  "Yes your Honor, I stole the little old lady's money out of her trust fund that she needed to buy food for retirement, but I replaced it with my personal IOUs!  Of course, I'm financially insolvent, with a two trillion dollar debt, but hey, my word is my bond!"
 
   Regards, Mannyrock
   
 
   
 

[Oldshooter]

That's right Mannyrock...Congress took an oath (whatever that means) to defend the US and Con from both foreign and DOMESTIC enemies......whosoever is in office right now need their feet held to the fire...This SS money and issue is paramount in American life,,,,both old and not so old should be outraged_ _out on the street if need be and not accept propamedia BS about SS demise and myth,,,We need talk of provisonal governmnet or whatever it takes to get these criminals to honor the citizen's obligations....even if that takes suspending their 'full spectrum dominance wars' for a several years.  And the officers of the courts are obligated and  should be paving the way and presenting 'papers' to address this matter immediately.  And on this topic the SCOTUS should stop thinking of the Constitution as their own personal modeling clay and do the right thing...this is a country and nation foremost_ _not a crime syndicate or a corporation wonderland.
.
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..TM7

Wow!  I agree with 7!  Go figger!

[ChungDoQuan]

     Of the $17 trillion that the US is in dept, does anyone know if any of that figure is owed  to the SS fund or is it all owed to CHINA ?   Jim

Almost $5 trillion is owed to SSI outright, as of 2011. China is actually owed less than 10% of the deficit, and they are the biggest foreign creditor. A total of 70% is owed to US citizens, through bonds, contracts, etc. (the SSI debt is part of that.)

[magooch]

     Of the $17 trillion that the US is in dept, does anyone know if any of that figure is owed  to the SS fund or is it all owed to CHINA ?   Jim

Almost $5 trillion is owed to SSI outright, as of 2011. China is actually owed less than 10% of the deficit, and they are the biggest foreign creditor. A total of 70% is owed to US citizens, through bonds, contracts, etc. (the SSI debt is part of that.)

This is exactly why the federal treasury will soon only be able to pay for SS and a few entitlements with no money left for anything else--no matter what the tax rates are.

[jhm]

     Thasnks Chung   Jim

[tobster]

 I believe a lot of people actually think that a big pile of money exists in Washington and that the people that are trying to restructure S.S. to extend it's solvency are actually trying to cheat seniors out of their just due. I think most of us here know that money is looooooong gone. To make matters worse, a lot of babyboomers are retiring earlier than they planned because of the unemployment situation. More people applying for benefits early and not paying in as long. As if that isn't bad enough, it's reported that the bar for getting disability benefits has been lowered considerably. I don't know what the answer is , but I think it would help if the politicians quit lying to the masses and tell them we need to quit fooling ourselves and take an honest look at our options. When they talk  about "means testing", they mean if you were responsible your adult life,worked hard, saved a few bucks and paid your bills (and maybe had some good luck with health and money issues) , than you don't "need" the money.

[Oldshooter]

I dunno if Reagan "fixed" anything. He did do some good things for SS and the democreTs like tip oneil like them

Reagan’s speech before Congress-a call for 100% support of his Program for Economic Recovery-was interrupted by 14 bursts of applause and three standing ovations. 63 Democrats subsequently joined the solid Republican minority. Speaker Tip O’Neill [concluded] “the will of the people is to go along with the President.”

http://www.ontheissues.org/Celeb/Ronald_Reagan_Social_Security.htm