Have you noticed, your Social Security check is now referred to as a "Federal Benefit Payment"?
The government is now referring to our Social Security checks as a “Federal Benefit Payment.”
This isn’t a benefit – its earned income!
Not only did we all contribute to Social Security but our employers did too.
It totaled 15% of our income before taxes.
If you averaged $30K per year over your working life, that's close to $180,000 invested in Social Security.
If you calculate the future value of your monthly investment in social security ($375/month, including both your and your employer’s contributions) at a meager 1% interest rate compounded monthly, after 40 years of working you'd have more than $1.3+ million dollars saved! This is your personal investment .
Upon retirement, if you took out only 3% per year, you'd receive $39,318 per year, or $3,277 per month .
That’s almost three times more than today’s average Social Security benefit of $1,230 per month, according to the Social Security Administration (Google it - it’s a fact).
And your retirement fund would last more than 33 years (until you're 98 if you retire at age 65)!
I can only imagine how much better most average-income people could live in retirement if our government had just invested our money in low-risk interest-earning accounts.
Instead, the folks in Washington pulled off a bigger Ponzi scheme than Bernie Madoff ever did.
They took our money and used it elsewhere. They “forgot” that it was OUR money they were taking.
They didn’t have a referendum to ask us if we wanted to lend the money to them.
And they didn’t pay interest on the debt they assumed.
And recently, they’ve told us that the money won’t support us for very much longer.
But is it our fault they misused our investments?
And now, to add insult to injury, they’re calling it a “benefit,” as if we never worked to earn every penny of it.
Just because they “borrowed” the money, doesn't mean that our investments were acharity!
Let’s take a stand.
We have earned our right to Social Security and Medicare.
Demand that our legislators bring some sense into our government –
Find a way to keep Social Security and Medicare going, for the sake of that 92% of our population who need it.
Then call it what it is:
Our Earned Retirement Income.
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
13 comments:
Social security taxes amounted to 12.4% of our income, not 15%, The other 2.9% was allocated to MediCare.
But, since the Obama tax cut, SS is assessed at 10.4% these days ....
It's my money and I want it NOW!
1145pm, Ive been investing in SS since 1970. I needed a tax break. This government has been abusing our SS since I was born. I am 55 years and still make less annually than my age. I work 40hours a week and been employed with the same ole county job for over 23 years. I wish Romney and his rich friends would at least pay off my mortgagge. Oh! I'll be the next winner in the publishing clearing house sweetstake. Thank goodness for the Obama tax cut. It helped me keep my home. If you don't agree with anything this sorry azz federal government elephants and donkeys are doing, sue them.
And we have to pay taxes on that "benefit!" I was shocked when my taxes for the first year of retirement were so high, why, because my SS was taxed. I think it was Al Gore who broke the tie resulting in our benefits being taxed, I hope I am correct?
Do away with it now. Make the young stop paying into something that we wont receive. It is a ponzi scheme. Why should we pay for someone else's retirement and poor planning.
That's why I want personal accounts. No more spin from the gov't on how much I get, or that they can use it as a slushfund for something else. My contributions=My money. I think a good model to look at is the Thrift Savings acct for public sector workers. Base it off something like that, and get the greasy gov't mitts off our dough!
SS is NOT an investment. Your money is going directly into taking care of today's seniors. It's not an investment fund.
No politician has the cahoonas to go with my plan for SS.
55+ leave unchanged
45-54 25% reduction in payment
31-44 50% reduction
below 30 end SS retirement benefits
741-but it SHOULD be an investment fund. Not a slush fund, or a fund where a guy can pay in 1500$ and get out 10x that in benefits. Want it to actually last? It's gotta change, and it's gotta change dramatically.
Pay social security tax on all income, not just the first 110,000, and up the retirement age. Problem will be solved.
906-Additional taxation is not the problem, it's how it's being spent. The system is already very progressive, those that pay in the least get the most. That system has failed. Further piggybacking on the rich won't make anyone better.
It's now being classified as an "entitlement" for political reasons. As a "welfare" payment the administration can have more control over it.
I love it how people on Social Security and Medicare scream about welfare but deny that they are on it.
The facts are these: Social Security and Medicare are not "earned" by anyone. They are government programs that take tax money being paid today and give it to seniors. It's the same thing as giving tax money to welfare moms or people in Section 8 housing.
You didn't "earn" your Social Security benefits. It wasn't an investment. You paid SS taxes when you were working and they paid the benefits of retirees at that time. Now my taxes are paying your benefits.
It's always been set up as a "pay-as-you go" system. Yes, the math is pretty screwy. The government should have let you keep your money to invest as you pleased. I agree with all that. But the fact that the government screwed you when you were paying SS taxes doesn't mean you "earned" your benefits. You're on welfare, pure and simple. Recognize it and accept that fact. Don't pretend otherwise.
I don't blame the seniors for being upset by the nerve of government calling SS a benefit. They all paid into it unwillingly I might ad as a tax. They should get it back when they reach the age of retirement. They are not the ones who chose to impose the SS tax, but were forced to pay into it, with the promise of getting it back when they reached retirement. I am sure they would all have gladly kept that 15 % in their paychecks to invest as they chose fit.
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