Free Republic

The U.S. came very close to having private retirement accounts as part of a sweeping Social Security reform. And, no, it wasn't under President George W. Bush, who put forward a workable plan that went nowhere. It was under President Clinton. That surprising bit of news comes 18 years after the fact in a reminiscence by Cato Institute senior fellow Jose Pinera, who once upon a time served as Chile's secretary of labor and social security, and who designed that country's highly successful pension reforms in 1980. Pinera says that Clinton began thinking in earnest about privatizing part of Social...

On Monday the U.S. national debt hit a new record: $19,012,827,698,418. This is the first time the national debt has ever exceeded $19 trillion. That's more than $58,000 for each person who lives in the U.S. today (including children). The main culprit behind the rising deficits and debt is growing federal spending--especially among Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare. Traditionally, Congress has set a limit for how much debt the U.S. may take on, known simply as the debt limit. But rather than put a higher limit on the debt, lawmakers and the president have repeatedly suspended the debt limit,...

Once again, Barack Obama believed that the American People were not paying attention. After all, much of what he spoke about “correcting” at his tear-stained, anti-gun press conference was already law. The women of “The View” were predictably apoplectic about automatic weapons–machine guns–and outraged that they have not been banned. This was before Sen. Rand Paul patted their hands and told them not to fear, that such automatic weapons are available to the public only after obtaining a special license from the ATF. Just another straw man propped up by our Socialist in Chief to cause the American People to...

The government spent $936 billion last year on health programs including Medicare, Medicaid and subsidies related to the Affordable Care Act, a jump of 13 percent from 2014, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Spending on Social Security, in contrast, totaled $882 billion, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reported.

Shredding the right to keep and bear arms has long been a goal of President Obama, the self-professed constitutional law professor who has long regarded the Constitution as an impediment to advancing his progressive agenda and acquiring as much federal power as possible. The rules he has announced are touted as “sensible gun restriction” are in fact a shameless gun grab that violate the Constitution and patient-doctor confidentiality.

A new law means that two claiming strategies will be off the table in the coming months. The recent budget agreement did more than authorize the federal government to engage in additional borrowing, it also changed the rules for claiming Social Security. Going forward, two claiming strategies that had given some couples the potential for higher lifetime benefits will no longer be available.* Closing the door on two strategies What do you need to know? Social Security strategies are built around the fact that you can start to claim benefits as early as age 62, but if you defer, the...

Retirement savers will get the option to participate in a new type of retirement account next year, the myRA. There will also be fewer Social Security claiming options for married couples and a small Medicare premium increase for some beneficiaries. Here are some of the important ways retirement benefits will change in 2016...

An internal audit out this week reports that there are 6 million people with Social Security numbers who were born more than 112 years ago. Unless there is a Missouri's worth of extremely aged Americans, what this means is that Social Security didn't get the death information that it was supposed to receive on these people.

Do SS benefits increase based on age breaks? There seems to be a different level of benefit at age 62, age 66, and age 70. So as an example, the monthly benefit at age 62 is $2,000, age 66 is $2,500, and age 70 it becomes $3,000. When I read the literature from SSA, it sounds to me like once you start collecting retirement benefits, the based amount you collect is "frozen" at that level, and subject only to COLA increases. I understood that if you start collecting at age 62, your benefit will stay at the $2,000 subject to...

How do I find a thread talking about the news story I've been hearing about? I've looked for an hour and turn up nothing. Social Security changes affecting spouse loophole passed in this recent budget.

First of all, I apologize for the vanity, but this is a subject that has been touched on inside the forum over the years briefly. Given the current political season and the focus on the illegals in our midst, I would like to bring this up again. We discuss the use of E-verify and other eligibility sites for employers to use, but we have a governmental enemy working against us: The Social Security Administration itself. Of course, the problem has gotten much worse during the current regime, and local SSA offices have been given their marching orders for years now....

Why are you here?" I asked. The whistleblowers looked at each other and smiled. "Because I love my country. And I just can't do this no more. It's not right," said one of the IRS workers. "That's why we're both here," said the other, echoing her colleague with long, deliberate pauses. "It's a crime, and it's…just…not…right." Together, they have decades of experience at the Internal Revenue Service, working on the front lines with frustrated, angry or confused taxpayers who contact the agency for help. Risking their jobs to come forward, the whistleblowers do not want to show their identity. But...

Social Security's financial health has deteriorated significantly over the past eight years, with multi-trillion-dollar funding shortfalls posing a threat to retirees and taxpayers alike. But if Social Security is to thrive in the 21st century, the next president needs to do more than simply adjust its tax and benefit rules. Instead, Social Security needs a new paradigm for how individuals and government programs contribute to retirement security. Social Security receives scant attention compared to many other policy issues, large and small. But Social Security is an important program, both in its impact on Americans' lives and in what it says...

See Mike Lee's Twitter page and his facebook post

From Mike Lee's Facebook: This is how it happens. Last night while you were sleeping the Senate voted to steal $150 billion dollars from the Social Security Trust Fund. I joined 34 of my colleagues in a vote to prevent this raid. I would like to thank Senator Rand Paul for leading the fight to protect to Social Security from the thieves in Washington, who seem to think that if they steal from the American people at night while they are sleeping that they will get away with it. I was proud to vote with Senator Paul on his point...

When Congress passed the Senior Citizens Freedom to Work Act in 2000, it introduced a new concept called “voluntary suspension” of benefits, allowing those who had already started Social Security benefits to stop their payments and earn delayed retirement credits. In the process, however, the new voluntary suspension rules unleashed several additional Social Security claiming strategies, including various “claim now, claim more later” tactics involving File-and-Suspend and Restricted Applications for spousal benefits. Those may be going away. Under this week’s two-year budget agreement between Congressional leaders and the White House, Congress will close these loopholes in the Social Security rules....

A budget agreement reached by congressional leaders and the White House would kill popular Social Security claiming strategies shortly after the measure becomes law, cutting off payments in midstream for beneficiaries, according to experts.

Another Government Ponzi Scheme Starts to Crack - Do You Depend on It?Government employees get to do a lot of things that would land an ordinary citizen in prison.For example, it’s legal for them to threaten and commit offensive, rather than defensive, violence. They can take property from others without their consent. They spy on anyone’s email and bank accounts whenever they please. They go into trillions of dollars in debt and then stick the unborn with the bill. They counterfeit the currency. They lie with misleading statistics and use accounting wizardry no business could get away. And this just...

I got this in my FB page and it is good enough to remind us ... again

More than 65 million seniors got their pockets picked last week, and the hue and cry could be heard across the country. The Social Security Administration announced Thursday that there would be no cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for 2016. Yes, America’s elderly, who paid into the system with each paycheck, are getting screwed. And that’s due to the way the SSA’s COLA calculation is done — it essentially comes directly from the notoriously inaccurate Consumer Price Index (CPI). Why not use the “Core CPI,” which strips out food and energy and is not subject to the volatile swings in commodities...