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Dear Mr. President: Send me my money
Pittdburghlive ^ | 2/6/05 | Bill Steigerwald

Posted on 02/06/2005 10:20:10 AM PST by qam1

It's no accident I've hated Social Security for 40 years.

That's exactly how long the federal government has been skimming money from my paycheck and putting it into its Social Security "lockbox" for my retirement.

In 1964, the summer I made $547 as a stock boy in Eat 'n Park's warehouse, I heard Barry Goldwater boldly declare that Social Security should be voluntary.

I dug that message at age 17 and I still do, though at 57 I know I'll never live to see it happen.

In fact, I'd bet my 401(k) no one will ever live to see Social Security become truly voluntary, despite President Bush's brave call to privatize a portion of the government program Goldwater and many others exposed long ago as a socialist pyramid scheme.

The president's rhetoric was great in his State of the Union speech. He promised not to raise payroll taxes, though there's some question whether or not Social Security benefits will be reduced. And he called for young people to be allowed to put part of their payroll taxes into private retirement accounts that they, and not the government, will always own.

Excuse me, Mr. President. But if it really is "our money," why is Social Security still mandatory?

And why will there still be so many rules about what our young folk can do with the money they stash in their personal accounts?

(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Government
KEYWORDS: barrygoldwater; baryygoldwater; genx; ponzischeme; socialsecurity
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To: djf
Social Security can never go "bankrupt". Because the government can never go "bankrupt".

Dude, time to clean your bong! When you have a debt of $9 trillion dollars, you aint exactly solvent

21 posted on 02/06/2005 11:21:18 AM PST by Bommer (JFK - "Pay any Cost! Bear any Burden" TFK "I'll pay what you want and bare my @ss!")
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To: GVgirl
15% of your payroll goes to Social Security. 15% PERCENT!!! If you want a retirement you pay for it AFTER. It's the Democrats in congress that perpetuate this Ponzi scheme and call it a "safety net."

And it's Bush who wants to keep this fraud around and "fix" it. It needs to be shut down, and we need to prosecute and imprison anybody perpetuating the conspiracy to continue this scam.

22 posted on 02/06/2005 11:21:46 AM PST by Hank Rearden (Never allow anyone who could only get a government job attempt to tell you how to run your life.)
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To: Recon by Fire

Oh, that would be just the boat the gubment wants you to jump into. I realize your sarcasm, but it also expresses the feelings of many of every generation since the BB. GenXers, GenYers, the TechnoGen, all of those since the "Greatest Generation" are full of people with their collective hands out instead of offering their hands to build our nation as our Grandfathers and Grandmothers did.

Our world was salvaged by the GG and we are forever in their debt. To show our gratitude by putting our hands out in hopes of the "gubment cheese" is a slap in their faces.


23 posted on 02/06/2005 11:23:08 AM PST by phoenix0468 (One man with courage is a majority. (Thomas Jefferson))
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To: phoenix0468

It will never be scrapped.

The surest way for a politician to get beat out of office is to have even the slightest negative comment about SS.

You might very well see some young kids taking potshots at old geezers, or vice versa, but the poli's won't risk any meaningful reform.

And being 50 myself, I'm not sure which side I should be on.


24 posted on 02/06/2005 11:23:50 AM PST by djf
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To: qam1

It would be nice to see things change more than the plan, but unfortunately, you can only make a program such as social security voluntary with numerous small steps. The only way to make it completely voluntary would be to:

1) Get several presidents in a row after Dubya committed to doing so.
2) Keep the Senate and Congress in GOP hands all that time, a very difficult task.
3) Push, push, push.

In other words, there is a greater chance of an asteroid hitting tomorrow.


25 posted on 02/06/2005 11:26:02 AM PST by rwfromkansas ("War is an ugly thing, but...the decayed feeling...which thinks nothing worth war, is worse." -Mill)
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To: TASMANIANRED

I think that would be precident enough for any citizen to sue for exemption. Hey, I got an idea, and this is serious, how about a class action against the SS Administration. Shake it to it's core. Take the money currently in it and give it back now!! Yes, some may not get all that they put in, but then again, a 100,000 now could grow to a couple of million in a few years if invested correctly. And right now those types of investments are too numerous to count.

What would it take to initiate a class action against an establishment such as SS? I am not an attorney, so I don't really know.


26 posted on 02/06/2005 11:26:20 AM PST by phoenix0468 (One man with courage is a majority. (Thomas Jefferson))
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To: Bommer

Better re-check your numbers.

The ones I hear are usually in the range of 25-40 trillion.

PS: I gave up weed years ago.


27 posted on 02/06/2005 11:26:22 AM PST by djf
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Comment #28 Removed by Moderator

To: phoenix0468
You are added, Welcome the Ping List

*****

And while I'm here.... In the past month or 2 a lot of new people signed on to the Gen-X ping list. I'm sorry I didn't get a change to get to everyone and personally welcome each one of you. So to all the new people who signed up recently, Welcome to the ping list.

29 posted on 02/06/2005 11:28:52 AM PST by qam1 (There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)
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To: Bommer

Unfortunately Bommer, the debt is not really the Feds but yours and mine. The Feds owe US that money, and we are basically exempt from ever trying to sue to recover that debt. The only way to recover it is to prune those establishments that are bleeding our country dry. SS, Welfare, Corperate Subsidies, and ohter hand outs that waste billions every year.

There are many other Fed Agencies I could put on the list, but I'll leave those for others to identify; just to see others opinions.


30 posted on 02/06/2005 11:29:49 AM PST by phoenix0468 (One man with courage is a majority. (Thomas Jefferson))
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To: jocon307
"But I have embraced it. Please do not call me a baby boomer."
LOL, I embraced it too, but thanks to your post I now remember what the name is.


I alway knew i really wasn't a "Boomer"(my mother is)..Now I know what I am...
31 posted on 02/06/2005 11:30:26 AM PST by ReeWalker (At the core of modern liberalism is the spoiled child - miserable, as all spoiled children are,)
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To: qam1

Isn't Self-employment tax only ss and medicare taxes? After deductions, if not for this we would not have to pay high taxes.


32 posted on 02/06/2005 11:32:26 AM PST by HungarianGypsy
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To: TASMANIANRED

"...why have certain Federal Workers like the Post Office opted out."

I tell you, that's got a down side. A friend of mine's husband got leukemia (he recovered eventually) but because he worked at the Post Office he had NO disability coverage. He was too sick to work, but not sick enough to retire, so he was stuck for about a year with no income. I suppose what he SHOULD have done long before was purchase an individual disability policy, but I think they are pretty expensive.


33 posted on 02/06/2005 11:33:57 AM PST by jocon307 (Vote George Washington for the #1 spot)
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To: Baynative

Someone once said republicans were just democrats who could afford better suits...


34 posted on 02/06/2005 11:36:38 AM PST by djf
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To: ReeWalker

"I alway knew i really wasn't a "Boomer"(my mother is)..Now I know what I am..."

You're a genxer if your mom's a boomer. The Jonesers are more like the second 1/2 of the boomers. I remember Kennedy being shot, but I don't remember Howdy Doodey.

I THINK my daughter is an xer, she's born in 1986.


35 posted on 02/06/2005 11:36:45 AM PST by jocon307 (Vote George Washington for the #1 spot)
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To: HungarianGypsy
...After deductions, if not for this we would not have to pay high taxes.

You might want to check those numbers again. After removing SS, Medicare, unemployment, etc. your still left with your bracket taxing based on your withholdings. Depending on your income that could be 15-35% plus minus some dollars based on your withholdings. Withhold too much, and you will end up paying taxes to the Feds, withhold too little and you will end up getting your overpayment back sans interest. But of course if you don't pay your taxes the Feds will stick you with penalties and interest. Not a very fair system IMHO.
36 posted on 02/06/2005 11:37:09 AM PST by phoenix0468 (One man with courage is a majority. (Thomas Jefferson))
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Comment #37 Removed by Moderator

To: qam1
It kills me th hear the politicians say that the SS money is still there, that they "borrowed" it and replaced it with "gauranteed" goverment bonds.

Okay, so if I go rob a bank and leave an IOU, won't I go to jail?

Damned lying politicians!

And I LOVE the phrase "Full faith and credit of the American Goverment"

Bull! It can go belly up too.

38 posted on 02/06/2005 11:41:19 AM PST by FixitGuy
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To: jocon307

A Joneser's parents were members of the "silent generation"...not boomers


39 posted on 02/06/2005 11:41:54 AM PST by chalkfarmer
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To: djf

I can understand your uncertainty. You have probably spent 30 years being FORCED to pay into a system that should have been voluntary in the first place. If you were force fed fried food for 30 years, and then someone said, no more fried food because it will kill you, you might fight that as well. Or, say tobacco. An industry that at one time was basically endorsed by our government through subsidies, and probably still is, and other incentives, now is being penalized by the Feds. The things we think are good today, may turn out bad in the long run. Much policy and legislation is written and passed with little foresight, or even hindsight. This is something that has always bothered me.


40 posted on 02/06/2005 11:41:59 AM PST by phoenix0468 (One man with courage is a majority. (Thomas Jefferson))
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