LA Times: We Don't Print Letters That Disagree With Our Positions

Truth Revolt ^ | 10/18/2013 | Jeff Dunetz

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

I am all for getting rid of SS and I have offered to let them keep what they have already stolen from me if they will just let me go.

It keeps you tied to the fedgov in a way that is unacceptable. Money is taken from you at gun point and you are told that if you survive until 67 you may get part of it back doled out in drips and drabs.

And if you are married then only one of the couple gets a full payment, the other gets half.

It is not about the money, it is about the power.

If I had been allowed to invest the 14.4% of my paycheck that they took from me I would be far better off financially.

Heck if I had been allowed to just put it in T-Bills I would be able to have retired a couple of years ago.

[dinodino]

Perfect illustration of my point! Thank you for posting that.

[Lazamataz]

The American Press.

They are first.

[dinodino]

See posts 58 and 61.

[Impy]

Why? Simply put, this objection to the president's healthcare law is based on a falsehood, and letters that have an untrue basis (for example, ones that say there's no sign humans have caused climate change) do not get printed.

Both of those are your OPINION, LA times. You don't get to say what facts are.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Sure we agree there but where we disagree is that it is equivalent to welfare. You pay money into the system, it is loaned at interest to another. The SS fund has actually been propping up the fedgov for the past 40 years.

That is not a welfare system where you pay nothing in at all.

[Delta Dawn]

Inflation will do that.

[GeronL]

The US is looking more like Venezuela every day

[TBP]

At least they’re open about it.

[Rockitz]

...which is why I remain a proud non-subscriber for well over a quarter of a century. Die Slimes, Die!

[ridesthemiles]

The L A Times is the California version of PRAVDA.

I quit reading it over 20 years ago.

[USS Alaska]

Try your calculation again, but this time skip the DCF calculation and just sum the payments. The government did not invest your money, nor did they put it in a savings account, so you should just total the payments.

You will see that your present SS payments will quickly exceed the amount you paid. SS is, indeed, an entitlement program.

So I should just total the payments? Are you a special ed graduate of public schools?

The gummint DID indeed invest my money, it is just that I didn't receive credit for the investment.

When the gummint buys land, issues bonds or participates in any kind of fiscal activity, they are investing my money.

Adding up the payments made by me over a 40 plus year period and saying that is the value of my money is ridiculous, even my 11 year old grand daughter under stands the concept of time/value of money.

Can I go to a car dealer, agree to pay $24,000 for the car and then tell him I'll make payments of $50/month for 40 years?

You know, or should know, the meaning of present value and if you don't, the banks, have been eating your lunch, and you deserve it.

[dinodino]

I understand finance very well, thank you. You believe that the government has invested your SS contributions for the benefit of SS recipients. This is not true, and the courts have ruled such.

You pay money into SS and that many and any resulting interest go bye-bye. You are not entitled to the principal, nor the interest. SS is not a savings account, it is a Ponzi scheme.