I think it would help if all govt employees (including those voted into office) would pay and receive their retirement under social security, the same as I have done. I have paid into social security since it began back in the thirtyies.
Kenneth F. Baerof NC9:56PM February 27, 2009
Thank you, Lou. I am a retired SSA worker and my experience from the inside was a very positive one in the sense of the employees(a very talented group) and how the agency is managed with the limited resources it has. Therein lies the problem: the limited resources it has. The agency desperately needs more employees and the political will is not there. Social Security gets the highest client rankings of almost any government agency and its computer service is the best in government. Year after year it's among the tops in survey rankings with its service and its administrative costs are extraordinarily cheap relative to its size. But if you don't have enough employees something has to give and I can assure you having been on the inside that something is giving(i.e. issues are not being addressed, phone calls may not be returned, waiting times are extended, etc. as the article indicates above). Anyone filing nowadays for any SSA benefit needs to be patient and make certain their information is picked up by a live person.
Richardof AZ8:39PM February 22, 2009
It would help Social Security to stop paying the already wealthy money for reaching retirement age. The New Deal was put in place to assist the poor and downtrodden not those living on means for six or better people. If you make over $500,000.00, no social security should be given to those individuals. This should allow them(the wealthy)to live at a means that is comfortable to them but not causing others to struggle or lose income because of their greed.
Those voted in office by the people should not be asking for raises when they refuse to raise the minimum pay rate for the harder working person. What they pay into the Social Security pool should be there to benefit the needy. Americans have gone the wrong way, as far as, understanding the needs of the people. I agreed the Social Security System need to overhauled and Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) should be separated to work more efficient. This will provide more jobs for American people.
The Government should start to work for the people by giving them jobs in the USA not overseas. Think of the people as living human being not numbers and figures on a graph or chart. Try living on $6.00 - 7.00 an hour. Maybe they should be paid only for the times they are in attendance at congressional meetings and docked pay for being absent.
This is the way the real world of work does.
phowardof MO5:44PM February 21, 2009
I think the SSA woks better then almost any other government service.People seem to enjoy complaining about everything these days. You can't please all of the people all the time.
Also don't understand why giving seniors $250 is going to do anything to really get economy back on track.
Louof MI3:35PM February 21, 2009
I think that if maybe they would hire some of the people who have become qualified to now work, that the overcrowding could be lessened. I am absolutely sure that more help would definitely help to curtail the time that people are waiting for assistance.
Vanessa
Vanessa Jordanof CA11:21PM February 19, 2009
The SSA has been an underserved and poorly managed system for decades. Now the offical statements are proclaiming "it's not our fault", how very typical. The United States pension and retirement systems are the worst in the world for any kind of satisfaction. There are millions of people dependent upon this system and yet it's one of the government's most commonly ignored problem areas. The whole system needs to be stripped and reformulated to serve the people who need it and to make distinctions between retirees and the disabled. Perhaps the disabled should be removed completely from this system and put into a system more readily prepared to deal with the complicated nature of diseases and diagnoses. The SSA was created as a supplemental retirement income system for people who had contributed to the overall fund, by adding the hadicapped to the rolls we have disasterously overburdened the system which was never designed to handle the additional costs. New computers and an injection of capital will do well to help the overwhelmed system, but there needs to be further fundamental changes made before there is a satisfactory solution to the current problems.
As a disabled person I believe it's well past time to seperate the retired from the medically needy. As a first step it would go far towards renewing confidence in the system. It has always seemed to me to be short-sighted or lazy that the government assistance to the hadicapped has come from the funds put in place by hard-working Americans for their retirement.
I have repeatedly tried to utilize the system to better myself and create a job that I could perform, however, the system has become so outdated and even harmful to those of us trying to make ourselves better by utilizing it that people are now committing fraud and abuse just to make ends meet or better themselves. It's a shame really.
This department of the government has needed a complete overhaul for years - perhaps this is the first step.
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Kenneth F. Baer of NC 9:56PM February 27, 2009
Richard of AZ 8:39PM February 22, 2009
phoward of MO 5:44PM February 21, 2009
Lou of MI 3:35PM February 21, 2009
Vanessa Jordan of CA 11:21PM February 19, 2009
Andrew G. Eggleston of CO 2:52PM February 16, 2009