I paid into SS all my life, now that I am about to retire, I STRONGLY expect our government to keep their end of the bargain that I bought into long, long ago. I want ALL of my social Security benefits when I apply!
Dennis J.of WY11:02AM June 28, 2011
I am educated, work a white collar job at the same company 40+ years and at the same time a part time (20+ hours) blue collar job for the past 18 years. I will work until age 70, maybe 71 so I get the extra 32% social security payments. I was not able to pay into a 401 plan. Because my company plan was so bad they changed it 15 years ago and are now putting in 11% without me having to match. Thank God.
I have never spent excessively other than on court ordered alimony (Being single is not my fault). I lost 50% of my retirement fund 15 years ago and paid $180,000 more over a 10 year period.
I do not feel sorry for anyone who retired early other than for health reasons or for anyone who did not take a second job. We have all seen this coming.
I also believe I will retire in the Ukraine if I am single. There are 8.5 million people retired overseas and one reason must be because it is cheaper. In the Ukraine the cost of living is about 50% so I will have a good retirement living on social security and interest from my company retirement fund. I will received company health insurance with premiums at employee cost and I will not pay state tax on social security.
I used to believe there would be no social security benefits for when I retire but I now realize there are too many retirees for the government to drastically change it. IT IS NOT AN ENTITLEMENT. IT IS A RIGHT. I will have paid in for 57 years and will have been promised by this government a steady stream of income. Otherwise I want my (And the employers) funds back WITH INTEREST. Boy, will live high on that. Maybe that is a better solution.
Kenof WI5:51PM June 13, 2011
As the Baby Boomer generation ages I hope we take the same actions we did to help end the war in Viet Nam---marching in the streets to say Hell No--we will not support this action! As a person that paid HUGE taxes I DEMAND that the amount of SS I should be getting be paid to me and not have to worry about getting only 77% because the govt. spent it illegally! How dare our elected officals be entitled to a pension and healthcare after serving just one term while the Veterans keep getting services cut??? Or better yet---STOP supporting other countries that are not our allies in whatever crisis they suffer from unless our govt. can also support its own citizens in need (which they are not doing)!!!
By spending MY tax dollars on things other than SS and Medicare and then say there will be a shortage and again I must pay for it by receiving less benefits is like depositing money in a bank and when you go to pull it out being told--sorry--we gave our daily allotment of withdrawals out already--come back and try tomorrow...our govt. would not allow banks to do this so how can they think we the people will allow them to steal from us?? People--we have the POWER to say NO so let's show the govt. we mean it when it comes to being screwed out of our rightful SS payments!
rita foxof FL5:31AM June 08, 2011
I agree with Bridget Jones comments above. Why do we have to be the Beacons of the World...? Here we are bankrupt and insolvent financially and we are sending Billions of $$ to other countries....for economic stimulus or disaster relief. If we were the rich country of 50 years ago, we might be able to sustain such outpouring of funds....but we are not. We need someone in the Whitehouse who can change this trend. When will they wake up in Congress to realize we need to keep our money at home...???
Charles Schultzof NJ11:01AM June 02, 2011
ist it is not an entitlement, when you have contributed to it for 40 plus years. The only problem with ss is that the government can't keep their hands off of it. It is not for every little problem people incounter. Then personally I know of people who received ss because their mother pass. THey still had their father who made good money. People who do drugs and such, should not be rewarded with money from ss. Some of them never even work, less alone pay into ss or medicare. I think it is time that this country needs to go back to the bases. Charity starts at home. WE have millions here going hungry. Take some of the money from stupid projects (how fast a shrimp can run, how burping of cows affect the air). This country was found by the people for the people not for some one who wants prays stopped in school, the work GOD removed from our money, etc. This country is supposed to be by the people for the people (the majority) not some crazy nuts. And not to help everyone around the world, and leave our people suffer. I love this country and my father, brother, cousins and husband a, friends have supported this country thru various wars. We have lost many to these wars, but we still fight for our freedoms. So let's bring out toys home and protect us.
Margaretta Smileyof PA10:23AM June 02, 2011
I have worked and contributed to SS since I was 14 years old, so young I needed papers. Sometimes I work 3 jobs to make ends meet. I know others, especially divorced or widows who do the same. I am now 57 and scared of what is coming after all these years of contributing to SS. I work in a hospital and medical office and see all the time people bringing their elderly parents and relatives here in their 80s and 90s and getting them on the system. Medicaid - welfare is a big one. Social Security has gone from being for people coming up on retirement to some project to fund people who have disabilities (which it should in some cases) to a classification for drugs addiction, alcoholism, and a catch-all fund for everything and everybody under the sun. I recently had a friend come up to me and mention that another friend of hers brought her parents over here from the Middle East. While the elderly parents were here (after refusing to take out insurance to cover medical expenses before they left) this woman had three major surgeries here. My friend in turn aske me where her friend's parents could go to get Welfare to pay for this. As one girl above said, it is nice to help others in need but we have to think of ourselves or we are going to be broke and have no retirement left. Time to look into the waste and things that Social Security is paying out funds to closely and the same for our welfare programs. There is so much abuse of both of these funds. It would be worth the while to employ more investigators to look into the waste and fraud in these areas. Go over to the Middle East, South America, Russia or anywhere else in the world and see if you could have 3 major surgeries, go home and have no recourse for payment.. Let us hope that with whomever is our next President and governing body, we get in some people who are not afraid to take the reins and come down hard and investigate the waste in our Social Security and Welfare programs. I would admire such a person greatly!
S. A. Channellof MA9:53AM June 02, 2011
I am only 34y/o, but my heart bleeds for the elderly who have worked and laid the foundation that we now enjoy. This nation that we proudly say is the strongest nation in the world is not providing for the very people who helped build it. The government needs to focus more on helping the ones in our own country. It is apparent that we have enough problems on our own soil (threatening SS depletion, medicare depletion....which will leave more than half of retirees in complete dispair, poverty, drug related issues, I could go on and on...) to handle then to be spending millions on a war that will gain us NOTHING and in the end will leave our own country to dispair. If things continue as they are and the gov. declares my generation has no medicare or SS left and leaves millions of people out to dry after working and paying in to both of these taxes for their entire working years, I fear an uprising of some kind. It really scares me. You see articles and stories on news all telling the severe condition that these accounts (SS and medicare) are in. And at the same time we see millions sent to Iraq war DAILY and to other countries after earthquakes and tsunamis. I believe in helping others, but in our own country WE NEED IT. It really baffles me.
In the article above, it states,"It also cost about 6.5 billion to administer the program {refering to SS} in 2010". All I know is I can't see why it should cost so much. I know when you call the 1-800 number listed in my phone book, the delay in speaking to an ACTUAL person is extremely long. I feel like in my community we get mixed signals from the gov. In one breath the are warning that SS and medicare are close to bankruptcy next thing you see is brand new Social Security buildings built in my town and surrounding towns in my area. Our federal building down town which housed the post office and SS adm. was just abandoned. Nothing wrong with the old building. Why use federal funds to erect new 2 new buildings (post office and SS building)? I guess that answers my whole question of why it costs so much to adm. the program. A bunch of USELESS spending!!! I think that sums up our whole problem with the gov......USELESS spending. It will eventually lead our country to ruin.
Our country, the strongest nation in the world, should NEVER allow our elderly (who have worked and built the country that we now enjoy) to feel threatened that they will one day have nothing. No income from SS and no health care from medicare. The gov. must get their priorities straight. The people of this country demand it!!
Just a note......I know there are people that are very adamant about providing for their own retirement (IRA's and 401 plans), but let's get real, in this economy who has any money left over from paying bills and buying GAS! The majority of our country lives pay check to pay check because they have to! Just basic household bills, gas, and groceries take it all. How are they going to invest in other areas?
Bridget Jonesof MS8:14AM June 02, 2011
LONG OVER DO THE RULE THAT WAS WRITTEN IN 1937 IS WHAT HAVE PEOPLE LIVENG IN PROVITY TODAY .THERE ARE PEOPLE THAT CANNOT DRAW THER SPOUSE SS. BECAUSE ONE WORK FR THE STATE AN CITY .THE STATE DONT PAY WELL IN SOME AREAS WERE SOME DO >MAKE A LONG STORY SHOT.MY HUSBAND WORKED FR THE CITY FR 15YR. IM STUCK I CANNOT DRAW IS SOCIAL SECURITY. I ONLY GET 697.00 A MO.FROM THE STATE LASER OH YES AN 118.00 WIDOWS PEN. I BEEN WAITING 10YRS FOR SECTION 8 NOTHING YET IM HURTING INSIDE WHAT WILL I DO WITH NOTHING COMING I GUESS I WILL STARVE AN DIE .I HOPE THEY DONT JUST FORGET ABOUT US I WORKED HARD IN MY LIFE NOW JUST SEEMS LIKE THE OLDER PEOPLE IS JUST PUSHED ASIDE MY HEART IS FULL NOW.YOU ALL SHOULD GET THE CARDS ON THE TABLE AN STARTEN THISUP. LOVE PEACE HAPPINESS .
SHIRLEEN SPEEDof LA3:08PM May 16, 2011
When GWB asked Congress and the Senate to consider SS reform, the dems said there was no problem. Despite all evidence, the likes of Schumer, Reid, Pelosi et al insisted it wasn't an issue. Now, as Obama's administration is considering takingh control of 401K's and other retirement vehicles in order to fund the debt, the dems want to reduce and eliminate SS and transfer those dollars to entitlements programs for the lefts new constituents, the illegals!
WallyGof CA6:52PM May 13, 2011
What about the extreme low Social Security that the "Notich People" get? The promise is that we are to get a lump sum or have it added to our check every month until paid back, that like everything that the government promises is a lie. Instead of paying back the money owed, the government borrows from the S.S.fund; not the large salarys that all the elected people get. They must get the big salarys so they can live in a special way befittng their positions. That ic BS, they party and they say,"Let them eat stale cake." Angry, you bet I am as I worked until 2 years ago because of a problem in the sewer system where I worked that caused a breathing problem, ane now that age 87 I am again seeking employment because the $1144.00 monthly S.S. is impossible for me to live on. There is rent, utilities, medical payments and if the is a small amount left (maybe) something to eat. Of course with the prices of healthy foods that is now unlikely.
Does anyone in Washington DC have an answer, please contact me.
Reader Comments
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Dennis J. of WY 11:02AM June 28, 2011
Ken of WI 5:51PM June 13, 2011
rita fox of FL 5:31AM June 08, 2011
Charles Schultz of NJ 11:01AM June 02, 2011
Margaretta Smiley of PA 10:23AM June 02, 2011
S. A. Channell of MA 9:53AM June 02, 2011
Bridget Jones of MS 8:14AM June 02, 2011
SHIRLEEN SPEED of LA 3:08PM May 16, 2011
WallyG of CA 6:52PM May 13, 2011
Georgene W Heckle of LA 6:04PM May 13, 2011