I got the following email last night. It seemed to be more than a rant. Often our words are careless–like when we call something people have paid in to most of their lives an entitlement, like someone is doing them a favor.
Go Bear!
Guest post by BEAR Jones
The following is a rant, feel free to delete without reading!
I spent some time today looking over my Federal Earnings Record.
I started paying Social Security Taxes in 1959 (year before I graduated High School)
I started paying Medicare Taxes in 1966
I continued paying both until I retired in 2005
I’m 69 years old now and those A-holes in Washington say I’m in an “Entitlement Program”
I feel like I spent 40+ years paying “Retirement Insurance” premiums. Now they want to screw with the funding of these programs! I’m not even complaining about all the tax money I gave Federal , State and Local government to fund their activities.(which I’m still paying) I held up my end of the deal with the Government and they shouldn’t be allowed to change their end of the deal.
Sorry, I needed to vent…..Bear
We all need to think before we call Social Security and Medicare ‘entitlement programs.’ It sounds like our retirees are on some sort of free hand-out program rather than something they have paid in to their entire lives.
[Plan taken down. Too expensive. But the rant remains.]
I have a question. Was this meant to be serious or funny?
It is serious as a train wreck.
Why should you ask?
Wouldn’t work. Inflation happens when you both increase the money supply and the velocity of money. They’re getting away with printing money (for now) because the velocity is rather tame. What you’re talking about would greatly increase velocity at a time where the supply is already bloated. Everyone would just jack their prices up by a factor of ten or so.
Agree with Bear 100%!
Several years younger but have been paying SS since 1958, when I
was a Harris-Teeter bag boy, and Medicare since it started in 1966
(Still working, PT pay for a full time job with often demanding bosses,
but an interesting endeavor. Although I now take SS, I’m also still paying
into it – and those dollars, like those at H-T at the beginning, don’t add
to my SS since they aren’t part of my top income years).
I didn’t know there were only 308 citizens in our country.
Cato stole my thunder.
I’m filing this under well meaning but would not pass a High School Consumer Math class review.
Baby boomers and their parents allowed Congress to intermix dollars from Medicare and Social Security programs with those in the general budget. Congress then proceeded to spend that money on things other than medical care and social security. The two programs now look very much like entitlements to those of us expected to make up the difference, without any realistic expectation that they will be around during our retirement years.
Bear’s mom never helped him with his math homework
@Kelly3406
Baby boomers and their parents allowed Congress to intermix dollars from Medicare and Social Security programs with those in the general budget.
I’d be interested in knowing exactly how we did this. We have so much say over how Congress finagles each item in each budget. Where did we get the chance to say “yes, I support this” or”no, I don’t”?
I would like to apologize for trying to ruin a perfectly good rant with simple math – but I cannot resist. Giving every person a million dollars would actually cost 300 trillion dollars.
It would never happen – Congress would have to raise the debt ceiling again.
Thanks observer. I though something was off also but didn’t take the time to figure it out. Bear is good in math also. He has been sick though. It probably threw his mental calculator off. Awww..hold a lottery and let 300 have it.
Observer, thanks again. I fixed the problem. I took down the solution.
I will assume the blame. I didn’t proof read carefully enough and he did tell me to clean it up. Oooops.
Bear’s math skills are indeed deficient; the cost would be $308 TRillion, not Million.
As for his “feeling” that he “spent 40+ years paying ‘Retirement Insurance’ premiums,” he should try thinking, instead. Or actually paying attention. Perhaps the light will go on over his head when he realizes that the notion that these programs are not “Retirement Insurance” programs, and never were.
@James Young
Covered by Observer. Plan fixed. Actually his math skills aren’t deficient. There is many a slip in cutting and pasting.
James, do not come here to insult people. there is enough of that going around. By the way, I was going to email you. Why are you linking to this blog with unrelated issues and leaving remarks like’ blow me?’ Doesn’t sound really family oriented to me. But what do I know.
Bear was serious but he also wrote tongue in cheek. Lighten up.
Could someone define the term ‘Social Security’ please? It seems the word security was a misnomer. So what exactly is a plan set up by the government where you pay into it your entire working life, and then may never see any benefit from the payments? A better term would be ‘disaster’, or ‘sting’ I would say!
Who knows how it got its name. It used to have another one. Perhaps social security had a more pleasant ring. The only reason I can think of to not get it would be that you dropped dead before you collected your first check. Good reason to take it early.
Beforeyou malign the term “entitlement”, I suggest you look up the definition. The term can be perjorative if you wish it to be, but it also means that your are entitled to something after having invested in whatever it is. That is what Social Security is–an entitlement based on the fact that you have paid into it. If you want to take the time to read about the history of Social Security–go here: https://secure.ssa.gov/apps6z/ACU_LDPG/landingpage
It is quite lengthy but it is an eye opener. Those who think they know something about Social security may find that their ignorance is abyssmal. One of the examples in the history is that of the first person to receive monthly benefits–Ida May Fuller. Ms. Fuller paid into Social Security for three years–a total of $24.75. She drew her first check on January 31, 1940 in the amount of $22.54. She lived to be 100 and over her lifetime she received $22,888.92 in benefits. You do the math–a pretty good ROI if you asked me. Today, more and more people are living longer and longer. As a result they more than likely will receive far more than they ever paid into Social Security. In addition, many programs have been added to the basic Social Security Act that have caused more and more to be paid out.
As to another name–some people called it the “Old Age Benefit Insurance” but the act that established it was the Social Security Act.
Medicare is really a pretty damned good program. The premiums you pay in before you are eligible help to defray the cost of Part A, which is FREE to you after you are eligible. You must pay for Part B–around $105.00/month. Medicare coupled with a Medicare Supplement provides very good coverage and for some the supplement may be in the form of an employer provided health plan that becomes second payer whenever you become eligible for Medicare. If your income is very low, you may be eligible for assistance from the federal government that so many on here are quick to demean. If you need more information about Medicare, I highly recommend you contact the local Area Agency on Aging. And speaking of that, now until the end of December is open enrollment for Medicare, Part D–the prescription drug program or part C, the Medicare Advantage Plans.
As to Bear’s rant–I say–Bah–Humbug–If what you were saying made any sense, I would listen.
Bear–how much did you pay into SS? How much do you expect to get out? That’s the issue.
Still waiting for Bear’s answer on how much he paid in and how much he thinks he will get out. Maybe he’s not getting anything!