If SS is a government “benefit,” then ANY payment from government in any form is also a “benefit.”
But, you say, military, contractors, and employees are not, because they provide labor and materials (something of value) in exchange for money.
Well, for the forty years that I worked, me and and my employers paid money (something of value) into something called the SS trust fund, in exchange for the promise (however tenuous it may be) that when I retired, I would be able to collect.
So there.
I suggest the only people who collect government “benefits” are those who never put up anything of value (whether money, labor, or materials) in exchange for a government check.
You surely can figure out who those types are.
I suggest the only people who collect government “benefits” are those who never put up anything of value (whether money, labor, or materials) in exchange for a government check. You surely can figure out who those types are.
You’re not getting it. Because the government stole your contributions a long time ago, on paper, from a purely financial perspective, you’re benefits are equivalent to the beenfits of those “other types” — all of it is a growing burden to current, working taxpayers, most of whom never signed on to that promise. And it’s unsustainable.
It is a benefit.
When I have money put into my 401K by my employer, it is called... a benefit. When times get tough, and the employer cuts that program (which is happening a lot and will probably happen to me), that’s life. It was a benefit, not a death pact. I have been making other plans outside of any benefit program because quite honestly I don’t trust the government or corporations to give a rats rear end about me.
SS is a benefit. It is money stolen from workers with a limp wristed promise. It represents the largest portion of the budget deficit. It will change, it will be cut, and it will cause massive pain.
I will never retire. Never. I will have to work to the day I die in order to pay off those who choose to not work. So be it. However, if it comes to making my children starve in order to fund a second adolescence for government workers and retiree’s, I will vote to cut them off. I will save my own first.
I am screwed. I have to pay for your benefits. I will not live nearly as long as my parents did. I will never be able to retire to some nice little condo on the beach and have Uncle Sam pick up the tab for my health care. I will, because I have little choice, have to be responsible for myself.