Bid to change Social Security is back

President Bush's aides are reviving his long-shelved plan to let workers divert some Social Security taxes into stocks as a reelection issue, gambling that market drops have not soured voters on the politically risky idea.

Republicans on Capitol Hill have refused to touch his 2000 campaign proposal to overhaul the nation's largest domestic program, and some of his allies remain leery of pushing an issue that Democrats have long used to woo senior citizens by charging "privatization."

Bush aides said he will make the longtime conservative goal more palatable by discussing changes to Social Security as part of a set of plans encouraging what he calls an "ownership society" in which minorities receive help buying homes, seniors have a choice of health care, and employees control part of their retirement savings.

"We are going to do everything we can to encourage a healthy public dialogue about Social Security reform," a senior administration official said. "The politics works on this because it is accepted in the general public that Social Security has a long-term solvency problem."

Perhaps this is the public dialogue about SS that should be examined:
Since many of us have paid into FICA for years, and are now receiving a Social Security check every month -- and then finding that we are getting taxed on 85% of the money we paid to the federal government to put away, you may be interested in the following:

Immigrants moved into this country and at 65 got Social Security. The Government gave that to them although they never paid a dime into it.

SOCIAL SECURITY:

Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions during election years. Our Senators and Congress men and women do not pay into Social Security and, of course, they do not collect from it.

You see, Social Security benefits were not suitable for persons of their rare elevation in society. They felt they should have a special plan for themselves. <So, many years ago they voted in their own benefit plan.

In more recent years, no congressperson has felt the need to change it.

After all, it is a great plan.

For all practical purposes their plan works like this, When they retire, they continue to draw the same pay until they die, except it may increase from time to time for cost of living adjustments.

For example:

Former Senator Byrd and Congressman White and their wives may expect to draw $7,800,000.00 ( That's Seven Million, Eight-Hundred, Thousand Dollars), with their wives drawing $275,000.00 during the last years of their lives. This is calculated on an average life span for each. Their cost for this excellent plan is $00.00. Nada! Zilch!

This little perk they voted for themselves is free to them. You and I pick up the tab for this plan.

The funds for this fine retirement ! plan come directly from the General Funds, our tax dollars at work!

From our own Social Security Plan, which you and I pay (or have paid) into every payday until we retire (which amount is matched by our employer) we can expect to get an average $1,000 per month after retirement. Or, in other words, we would have to collect our average of $1, 000 monthly benefits for 68 years and one (1) month to equal Senator Bill Bradley's benefits!

Social Security could be very good if only one small change were made.

That change would be to jerk the Golden Fleece Retirement Plan from under the Senators and Congressmen. Put them into the Social Security plan with the rest of us ... then sit back and watch how fast they would fix it.

If ! enough people receive this, maybe a seed of awareness will be planted and maybe good changes will evolve.

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