Posted on 01/08/2015 8:42:01 AM PST by drypowder
Before reading the information below, I'd like to share an incident that happened to me a couple months ago at a Walgreens. My husband had a new prescription that cost over $200. I have the Balance Rewards card from Walgreens, which honors prescriptions as well as other purchases. So, I asked for the Balance Rewards for this prescription to be added to my Rewards account.
The pharmacist said she couldn't because I was paying for it with an entitlement. I explained that we have never been on any kind of entitlement program. She stated that Social Security and Medicare are entitlements. I tried not to come unglued, but told her nicely that my husband and I had earned our Social Security and Medicare with money paid into these accounts each and every payday. She said she understood, but it was now called an entitlement, and I couldn't get the Rewards points. I could care less about the Rewards points, but was livid that the government now called Social Security (that we paid into all our lives) an entitlement!
To be fair to Walgreens, the pharmacist said that this was a federal law -- that no one on entitlement can benefit from those payments in any way...getting reward points. Wow! The government has their hands in everything! Anyway, now please read the item below...
If you get any Social Security at all in any manner, you might want to read. Did you know this?
Unfortunately most did not, and I am one of those whose Social Security funds are direct deposited to my bank, thus, I never see the checks. Once again, our beloved congressmen are playing fast and loose with vernacular. What motive did they have for changing the name of our Social Security? Iâ?Tm sure they have a plan, and it won't be to our betterment.
Here we go. JUST REALIZED THAT WITH REQUIRED AUTO DEPOSIT, I NEVER GET TO SEE THE CHECK ALERT EVERYONE YOU KNOW. THIS AFFECTS ALL OF US.*
*Subject:* SOCIAL SECURITY becomes FEDERAL BENEFIT CHECK. Have you noticed, the Social Security check is now referred to as a "Federal Benefit Payment"? I'll be part of the one percent to forward this. I am forwarding it because it touches a nerve in me, and I hope it will in you. Please keep passing it on until everyone in our country has read it...
The government is now referring to our Social Security checks as a Federal Benefit Payment. This isn't a benefit. It is earned income! Not only did we all contribute to Social Security but our employers did too. It totaled 15% of our income before taxes. If you averaged $30K per year over your working life, that's close to $180,000 Invested in Social Security.
If you calculate the future value of your monthly investment in social security( $375/month, including both your and your employers contributions) at a meager 1% Interest rate compounded monthly, after 40 years of working you'd have more than $1.3+ million dollars saved! This is your personal investment.
Upon retirement, if you took out only 3% per year, you'd receive $39,318 per year, or $3,277 per month . That's almost three times more than today's average Social Security benefit of $1,230 per month, according to the Social Security Administration.
( Google it - itâ?Ts a fact).
And your retirement fund would last more than 33 years (until you're 98 if you retire at age 65)! I can only imagine how much better most average-income people could live in retirement if our government had just invested our money in low-risk interest-earning accounts.
Instead,the folks in Washington pulled off a bigger Ponzi scheme than Bernie Madoff ever did. They took our money and used it elsewhere. They forgot (Knew) that it was OUR money they were taking. They didn't have a referendum to ask us if we wanted to lend the money to them. And theydidn't pay interest on the debt they assumed. And recently, they've told us that the money won't support us for very much longer. But is it our fault they misused our investments? And now, to add insult to injury, they'recalling it a benefit, as if we never worked to earn every penny of it. Just because they borrowed the money, doesn't mean that our investments were a charity!
Let's take a stand. We have earned our right to Social Security and Medicare. Demand that our legislators bring some sense into our government. Find a way to keep Social Security and Medicare going, for the sake of that 92% of our population who need it.
*Then call it what it is: Our Earned Retirement Income.*
9% of people won't forward this. Will you? *You can bet I WILL!* I THINK WE SHOULD DEMAND THAT THEIR SALARIES AND RETIREMENTS BE CALLED FEDERAL BENEFIT PAYMENTS. THIS WOULD BE MORE HONEST THAN WHAT THEY HAVE DONE TO OUR SOCIAL SECURITY.
I seem to remember that EVERY PAYCHECK I EVER GOT IN MY LIFETIME, had a portion of it deducted and sent to the Federal Government....now it is treated like a Welfare payment! We are made second class citizens by our own government! What a slap in the kisser!
When is a Conservative group in Congress going to start making a fuss about this “general fund” deposit of all Medicare and SS taxes ..??
Al Gore’s father and HIS cronies in the DEMOCRAT party, moved the taxes into the GENERAL FUND years ago .. so that is the reason it’s been LOOTED .. and now may soon deprive many seniors from living an independent lifestyle.
This is what the dems want .. more people dependent on them. It will be pick and choose who gets what amount - no matter how much you put in. THIS IS WHOLESALE THEFT ..!!!
If I were younger, I would stop having funds deducted for SS and/or Medicare .. and start funding it myself. I’m really angry at myself for not thinking of this sooner.
Did you really believe that 'lockbox' stuff?
Really??
Just guessing, but perhaps the government funds used for food do not reflect lower negotiated prices. I think drugs do reflect lower negotiated prices. Rewards are tied to pricing (nothing is truly free) so they are affected by different pricing structures.
The SS DI Trust Fund is exhausted in 2016. As has been done 11 times before, T-bills will be transferred from the main SSTF to the DI Trust Fund. SS has been running in the red since 2010 and will continue to do so until the SSTF runs out of T-bills in 2034. Then, by law, benefits will be cut based on total revenue available.
PFL
We have a definition problem here. Yes, we are entitled to it, so it is an entitlement. But unlike welfare recipients, we paid into it.
Rename welfare "forced charity".
It is my understanding that people get back what they paid in in just a few years, and thereafter they are getting back money which they did *NOT* pay into the system. Social Security is heavily subsidized by existing workers. It hasn't paid it's own way for a very long time.
Before they stopped sending annual SS statements, I noticed they were making an error in their calculation of estimated monthly payments I would receive. They had zero estimated future contributions into my account, even though I was working and paying into the system as I had for years. The second year this happened, I called the office in D C and the person was so rude I lost it and gave him a piece of my mind. (one piece of information I gave him was that they were nothing but a bunch of m-fing liars and thieves.)He told me that I was not allowed to talk to him like that and told me to go to my local office.
At the local office, the first person did not even understand how SS works or is calculated so I asked to speak to a manager. At that time the security guard came to stand at my side. The mid-level bit*h that came told me I had no business whatsoever questioning my account as I was not old enough to collect benefits and if there was anything wrong in their system I could ask about it when I was old enough. I had a few words for her also, then the security escorted me out.
The next year they quit sending out statements.
Self-employed workers must pay into SS, paying both the individual and employer's shares. They are not exempt from SS.
A few minor corrections:
1) Yes a person who never paid into SS can receive benefits - based on being a survivor of someone else who did pay in.
2) Self employed do pay into SS, their tax rate is 12.4%. 6.2% from yourself like everyone else and 6.2% from your employer which in this case is also yourself. This is true for the first $117,000
see http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/EN-05-10022.pdf for more details.
Self employed people pay both the employer and employee sides of SS in taxes.
I know since I run a one man business - me.
I’ve paid over $150,000 into SS over my lifetime and if I start drawing at 62 I’ll pull every dime out in less than 9 years - by 71 years old.
Most people in my family live well into their 80’s.
It depends on whether you are a high or low income earner.
No, you have NEVER paid into Social Security. You have been taxed on your current income to receive a future entitlement. It is not “your” money. There is no personal SS account that holds “your” money.
The is still a very large "collapse". These days (which I am sure you are aware) people claiming they can't work because they are alcoholics are receiving SS Disability.
Sorry, but they are both entitlements, with some people getting more out of SS than they put in and most current Medicare recipients getting far more out than they put in.
Those on food stamps could likewise claim that they paid income taxes into the feds for years, so food stamps in a time of need are something they had personally funded.
All of these systems are used to buy votes for an ever-growing government.
They are using social security accounts of dead people usually.
I do not consider it a plus at all.
No his assumptions are not off and that has been proven many times over, both in calculation as well as in actual practice. Don't forget the deductions on your paycheck are only half of what you are really paying in, your employer just writes the check for the other half which is also your money.
nester vs fleming around 1960. SS has always been the ‘peoples money’ and you aint one of ‘the people’
Think of it as a contract in which the Govt can change the terms any time they want.
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