Is Social Security an Entitlement?

'Senior citizen' is a euphemism that just doesn't fit Christian Science Monitor ^ | December 22, 2004 | William Ecenbarger Posted on 12/22/2004 5:12:10 AM PST by Graybeard58

In this article, Mr. Ecenbarger states "...Social Security ought to be need-based rather than an entitlement."

So, just what is a geezer like myself "entitled" to after having over $130,000 "contributed" to my SS "trust fund" by myself and my employer since 1955? An additional $30,000 was extorted for Medicare/Medicaid since 1966. Being self-employed for my last 14 working years, I was privileged to pay the entire "contribution" myself. The self-employed are allowed a deduction to their income for one-half of this tax. The actual value of this depends on whether or not your itemized deductions exceed the standard deduction by any significant amount, but basically all of the SS tax is considered taxable income and is taxed again. I realize that there are life and disability insurance features to SS, but are of such limited value that you would be foolish to depend on them. Thus the need to provide your own coverage at additional cost which I always did.

Many little tricks are built into the system to further reduce your "benefits." First off, unless your birthday is on either the first or second day of the month, you get nothing for that month. If your eligible birthday were July 3rd, you would not receive the first payment until the second Wednesday in September. Next, there is no payment for the month in which you die, even if it's on the last day. It must be returned if you are so inconsiderate as to die after having received it. Your spouse does get a $255 one-time payment after your death, however, subject to further rules and regulations. There is no account balance which can be inherited by your survivors. Another good one is the limit on how much you can earn while drawing SS without a loss of benefits. From 62 to 65 your benefit is reduced by $1 for every $2 you earn over $12, 000; in the year you reach 65, the benefit is reduced by $1 for every $3 earned over $30,000 until the month of your birthday; after that there is no restriction. You do get to "contribute" SS taxes on these earnings, though.

Are SS "benefits" subject to income tax? Of course! But according to the SSA, "only if you have substatnial income in addition to your SS benefits." One source of additional income is your spouses earnings if you file a joint return. Thats right, your spouses income counts against you when it comes to determining if you have to pay income tax on your SS. Other factors are nontaxable interest income and 50 percent of your SS. But no matter what, you never have to pay taxes on more than 85 percent of your SS income.

What about Mediscam? I've been paying premiums on it since 1966 as has everyone else. Until you turn 65, no benefit is available. After 65, you get to pay an additional $78 a month for medical insurance (Part B). The hospital insurance (Part A) is "free" since you've been paying for it since 1966. For real coverage, you have to buy private supplemental insurance.

Do I NEED any of these benefits? Damned right I do, I paid for them. So what if I might eventually draw out more than I paid in? If I had put that amount of money in passbook savings over the years I'd have more than I put in. What's wrong with that? It's called interest. So what if I have other income that I worked for and saved over the years? I wonder just how many people pay in for forty or fifty years and die before ever getting one cent back?

Many thanks to the three or four or five of you (whatever the current number is) that are supporting me through your payroll deductions since all the money I put in was long ago pissed away. And thanks for the 2.7% raise for 2005.

The Bush administration has signed a "totalization" agreement with Mexico. Illegals will get full SS benefits with about 15% of the time worked that is required for US Citizens. Is this how to reform Social Security???

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

ONE ILLEGAL COULD COST U.S. TAXPAYERS ONE-HALF MILLION BUCKS

"If a 24-year-old Mexican national who has worked illegally in the U.S. for three years is able to present documents from a friendly doctor and either a W-2 or pay stubs that indicate $12,000 in annual earnings, he will be eligible for the following: nearly $8,000 per year in disability income (adjusted for inflation), until age 65, at which point he would receive the same amount as retirement pay. (If he manages to get an under-the-table job in the U.S. or Mexico, he will be able to double-dip for a second income stream.) If he is survived by his wife or dependents, his family would be able to receive up to almost $12,000 annually. If he dies at 60, and his widow lives to 85, U.S. taxpayers will be on the hook for nearly a half-million dollars. Thatís for one worker brought into Social Security by the pact." Source: Joel Mowbray, National Review, 1/27/03, pp. 22, 24

162,000 MEXICAN BENEFICIARIES?

" ëWe are concerned about the sheer magnitude of the agreement,í said a House Republican aide who is an expert on Social Security. About 94,000 beneficiaries living abroad have been brought into the system by the 20 existing international agreements. A Mexican agreement alone could bring in 162,000 in the first five years." Source: Jonathan Weisman, Washington Post, 12/19/02, p. A1

http://www.google.com/search?as_q=aliens&num=100&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=social+security&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&safe=off

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/michellemalkin/mm20040107.shtml

The criminal raid on Social Security
Michelle Malkin
January 7, 2004

My 8-week-old son's Social Security card recently arrived in the mail. On the back, there's a stern warning: "Improper use of this card or number by anyone is punishable by fine, imprisonment or both."

Welcome to the world of government theft and selective enforcement, my boy.

While innocent babes who have yet to earn a penny are threatened with jail time for misusing Social Security cards, the Bush administration appears set this week to turn the ailing government pension program into an international relief fund for illegal alien workers who used counterfeit Social Security cards and stolen numbers to secure illegal jobs.

Unlike the bedtime stories I tell at night, I am not making this up.

This belated gift to the open-borders lobby and Mexican President Vicente Fox is part of a larger amnesty plan that has been in the works since before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. So, why exactly are we rewarding a country that has been obstinately opposed to the War on Terror? Go ask Mr. Brilliant, Karl Rove. This I do know: It couldn't have come at a worse time from either a fiscal or national security standpoint.

According to Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fla., chairman of the House Ways and Means subcommittee on Social Security, benefits paid to retirees will exceed revenues in just 15 years. The pay-as-you-go system could go belly up as early as 2030. These projections don't take into account the economic impact of the Bush proposal, which would allow untold millions of illegal aliens from Mexico to collect full cash benefits for themselves and their families from their home country -- without having to work the required number of years that law-abiding American citizens must work to be eligible for payouts.

Reporter Joel Mowbray, who first exposed this treachery a year ago, noted that this raw deal may well cost overburdened U.S. taxpayers $345 billion over the next 20 years. Probably much more. As we know from experience, Social Security projections are notoriously off the mark.

The bureaucrats call this scheme "totalization." Try total prostration. The proposed agreement is nothing more than a transfer of wealth from those who play by the rules to those who willingly and knowingly mock our own immigration and tax laws. What are we doing promising lifetime Social Security paychecks to day laborers in Juarez when we can't even guarantee those benefits to workers here at home?

Unbelievably, the White House is trying to convince us to embrace this global ripoff because it "rewards work." No, it rewards criminal behavior. The plan will siphon off the hard-earned tax dollars of American workers who may never see a dime of their confiscated earnings and fork it over to foreigners guilty of at least four acts of federal law-breaking: crossing the border illegally, working illegally, engaging in tax fraud and using bogus documents.

Giving money to scam artists will simply result in more fraud -- not only by Mexican agricultural workers, but also by Middle Easterners such as Youssef Hmimssa, who provided fake Social Security numbers and fraudulent drivers' licenses to members of an accused terrorist cell in Detroit. "If you have the right connection, you can get anything," he testified before the Senate last fall.

The door is now open for all illegal aliens to collect retirement benefits using bogus Social Security cards. What's next: survivors' benefits for the families of the 19 Sept. 11 hijackers?

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