Free Republic

One potential benefit that can come from last week’s March on Washington 2013, which commemorated the 1963 civil rights event, is the various data publicized about the current state of affairs of black America vis a vis the rest of the country. In particular, it has been an eye opener for many to see how little progress has been made over the last 50 years in closing the economic gap, on average, between blacks and whites. I call shining light on the data a “potential” benefit because there is no benefit if real remedial action is not taken to improve...

A recent audit report by the inspector general for the Social Security Administration found that Obama’s IRS was reluctant to penalize any employers who consistently used Social Security numbers that did not match the names. Thus refusing any efforts to stop identity fraud from ”unauthorized noncitizens” using Social Security numbers that in 80% of the cases belonged to legal citizens. Defund the IRS. Flashback video reports here and here: (VIDEO-AT-LINK)CNSNews.com reports the following: An audit report published this month by the inspector general for the Social Security Administration says that the Internal Revenue Service’s reluctance to penalize employers who consistently...

This week’s charts show total receipts, expenditures, and assets left in the Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) trust fund. Data from the 2013 Trustees Report show that the disability fund is currently predicted to be three years from insolvency. Under more pessimistic assumptions, the insolvency date is pushed up to 2015. The fact that the DI trust fund is not currently depleted shouldn’t mislead us into thinking we have until 2016 to deal with the shortfalls.Spending on Social Security has more than doubled in the past decade, and DI now accounts for almost 20 percent of Social Security’s budget, up...

The Federal government debt outstanding is almost $17 trillion. This has grown at a staggering pace since 2007. GFDEBTN_Max_630_378 (2) And that is the GOOD news! According to economist James Hamilton at University of California at San Diego, the value of notional off-balance sheet liabilities was around $70 trillion in 2012. We were already aware that unfunded liabilities are staggering, according to USDebtclock.org. usbtclcok The biggest items in this category are Social Security and Medicare. If current policies are maintained, these off-balance sheet liabilities will require enormous sacrifices from future taxpayers. Better know as massive increase in taxes. Hamiton includes...

Dear Readers, Social Security is a hot topic for young and old alike. And as with any frequently discussed issue, there's a lot of misinformation out there. So whether you plan to collect benefits soon or are worried there won't be anything for you to collect by the time you reach retirement, take a look at these 10 common myths and misunderstandings about Social Security. It's always best to have the facts! 1) I should start taking Social Security benefits as soon as I'm eligible. This sounds good on the surface, but to max out your benefits, you need to...

In just about seven weeks, people will be able to start buying Obamacare-approved insurance plans through the new health care exchanges. But already, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is predicting those plans, and the whole system of distributing them, will eventually be moot. Reid said he thinks the country has to “work our way past” insurance-based health care during a Friday night appearance on Vegas PBS’ program “Nevada Week in Review.” “What we’ve done with Obamacare is have a step in the right direction, but we’re far from having something that’s going to work forever,” Reid said. When then asked...

The Muslim terrorist group Qa’adat el-Jihad claimed responsibility Saturday for a terrorist bombing in Burgas, Bulgaria. The bombing in Bulgaria last week killed five Israelis, one a pregnant woman. The Lebanese paper El-Nashra reported that the group, which has ties to Al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility in an email to the Arab press.

Went to the local Social Security Administration Office today with my wife who will be retiring in near future. The office is in a rural low crime area in Western Kentucky. We were greeted by two armed, courteous "Rent-a-Cops" upon entry. While waiting to be served we observed the Rent-a-Cops doing a thorough search of a an elderly lady's purse prior to her being allowed to see the Social Security worker. These guys were opening every thing in the purse, unzipping every zipper. Voicing our disapproval over the search, we departed. The entire scenario was ridiculous. Does anyone know the...

Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog, If you want to frighten Baby Boomers, just show them the list of statistics in this article. The United States is headed for a retirement crisis of unprecedented magnitude, and we are woefully unprepared for it. At this point, more than 10,000 Baby Boomers are reaching the age of 65 every single day, and this will continue to happen for almost the next 20 years. The number of senior citizens in America is projected to more than double during the first half of this century, and some absolutely enormous financial promises...

Dear Carrie, I'm turning 65 next year and plan to work for a couple more years. Should I apply for Medicare even though I have coverage through my employer? --A ReaderDear Reader, This is an important question that affects a growing number of workers. In fact, data from the University of Michigan's Health and Retirement Study (2006 to 2010) sponsored by the National Institute on Aging shows some eye-popping trends. According to the study, 79.5 percent of respondents expect to work past age 65, with 65.2 percent expecting to retire by age 80 -- and 22.4 percent planning never to...

The City of Detroit tried to file for bankruptcy last week. A state judge initially blocked the filing, but a federal judge ruled Wednesday this week that the bankruptcy case can move forward. More legal maneuvering is ahead and Detroit may well succeed in the end. After all, Detroit owes somewhere in the neighborhood of $18 to $20 billion to over 100,000 creditors. One group of creditors particularly wary of a municipal bankruptcy is Detroit’s public sector labor unions. They fear a bankruptcy judge might allow the city to cancel or reduce their pension or retiree health benefits. The unions...

The Social Security Administration announced Friday that it would begin accepting benefit claims related to same-sex marriage. The Supreme Court in June found the heart of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) to be unconstitutional. It ruled that the federal government cannot treat same-sex marriages approved by some states any differently than heterosexual marriages. The ruling affects more than 1,000 federal regulations affecting everything from tax breaks to entitlement benefits. Prior to the ruling, an individual in a same-sex marriage was unable to claim survivor benefits from Social Security when a spouse died and a couple was unable to claim...

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has paid at least 1,546 dead people $31 million, with some of the deceased receiving benefits for 20 years. According to a June 21 audit by the Inspector General for the Social Security Administration, 2,475 beneficiaries had a recorded date of death in Social Security’s own database. The IG determined that “at least” 1,546 of these individuals were in fact dead and still receiving benefits, totaling $30,956,695 through May 2012. Among those 1,546 deceased, some were receiving benefits for up to 20 years. …

**SNIP** His age and his tenure in Congress — almost 17 years — are short of the mark for a standard retirement annuity from the Federal Employees Retirement System, or FERS. Members of Congress can collect a pension from FERS starting at age 50 if they have completed 20 years of service, or at any age after 25 years of service, according to the Congressional Research Service. But Jackson appears eligible for another FERS program that pays out "disability retirement" payments. Under program rules, potential payments in the first year would total $8,700 a month — or $104,400 a year....

I received a phone call from American Express a few minutes ago telling me that Social Security had notified them of my wife's recent, three weeks ago, passing, and that they were cancelling her card and what payment arrangements did I wish to make. I hintend to deal with her cards and our accounts but for the life of me I can't comprehend what Social Security is doing passing bnews of her death to private institutions. Where in the law does SSS get this authority. Tea Party Patriot that my wife was, she would be outraged at this example of...

You’d think when the Huffington Post’s top writer on finance writes about the tax code, he’d understand at least how the tax code works. But in an age when “finance” editors, like the HuffPo’s Mark Gongloff, are demonstrably anti-business, pro-Occupy and work as shills for progressive ideas, facts take a back seat to ideology, outrage and agendas. The latest outrage Gongloff has taken issue with is how little of the U.S. tax revenue, on a percentage basis, is generated by corporate taxes, as opposed to the good old days of the 1950s. He even has a chart to prove it...

The heat comes early each spring in Slidell, La. If it weren’t for that, the handless corpse of Charles Fisher might have gone on rotting in a 160-quart ice chest for some while, and the Social Security Administration might still have been unaware that Debra Fisher and Heidi Todd were collecting his benefits. On a warm March day last year, repairmen were sent to fix an air conditioner at a brick apartment complex on Military Road. They knocked on the door of the apartment of Charles Fisher, a man in his early 80s, who shared his home with his 58-year-old...

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Chauncey Clinton, 65, of Ross Township was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on charges he cashed his late mother’s social security checks for nearly four decades. Clara Clinton died in May, 1973, and Clinton allegedly began cashing her checks the very next month. U.S. Attorney David Hickton told KDKA-TV News Tuesday that the fraud began to unravel after a SSA program that congratulates people for reaching the century mark turned up possible fraud.

One-fourth of Social Security disability benefits were improperly awarded, according to a Senate report published last September. Outright fraud accounts for a lot of that. National Review Online thought you might like to put a face to the phenomenon, so here’s our Top Ten list of the most outrageous disability cheaters of the past year: No. 10: The Marijuana Entrepreneur In 2011, federal agents raided more than two dozen medical-marijuana businesses in Montana. At the Missoula home and warehouse of Scott Lee Hubeny, 48, they found 243 marijuana plants, several pounds of marijuana, and processing equipment. It was a profitable...

The annual Trustees Report for Social Security has just been issued, and the news is that there is no news. Social Security is on its way over a fiscal cliff – what we hear every year when the report is issued. According to this year’s report, Social Security will be insolvent in 2033 – 20 years from now - when those now 47 years old will be eligible for their full promised benefits. But nothing gets done because the heroes representing us in Washington won’t act on anything politically tough until emergency sirens force them. Social Security is a tax...