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!
I guess if SS is your only source of income your screwed as it is an entitlement program, but if you have another source of retirement income, I would wonder why you could not say I don’t use SS to participate in rewards programs I use another income source to participate with.
What a crock...
Self employed people have to pay both the Employee part and the Employer part.
“That’s not the way it works”
WELL .. IS THAT THE ANSWER ..?? OR IS THE ANSWER - WE’RE GOING TO CHANGE THE WAY IT WORKS. AFTER ALL .. IT USED TO BE A SEPARATE PILE OF MONEY .. AND THEN THE DEMOCRATS (IN THEIR GREED), DECIDED TO PUT IT INTO THE GENERAL FUND. AND .. ALL THEY LEFT BEHIND FOR THE CONTRIBUTORS .. WAS A PILE OF I.O.U.’S - HOW THOUGHTY OF THEM.
I’M NOT INTERESTED IN HOW IT WORKS NOW .. I’M INTERESTED IN GETTING PEOPLE TO CHANGE HOW IT WORKS .. CHANGE IT BACK TO THE WAY IT USED TO WORK.
Now as to the math:
$0 starting in the account
$375 per month contribution total
40 years of contributions
1% interest
is a final net value of $222,188.57
Far less than the $1+ million dollars this article claims. to reach that $1+ million dollars the actual annual rate of return would have to be closer to 8%. The closest investment option that comes close to averaging 8% or better is the stock market. But that is not the same as a savings account.
With a savings account, you are going to get your principle back. It is a “less risk” investment option. That is why it pays such lousy rates of return. The stock market on the other hand is a “more risk” investment option where the possibility exists that not only will there not be a return, but the account could also loose it’s principle.
Their numbers roughly doubled, iirc, about the time the unemployment extensions started running out...
Sad, too, because I know people who are genuinely disabled (T-4 paraplegic) who depend on that.
Why do people believe these nonsense emails?
Self employed people pay in both sides of it (self-employment tax), not just half.
Well, Pres. Di**head has a solution to that ( of course you know this was planned from the beginning ):
If you aren't preparing to feed and protect yourself without the rest of the system functioning, then you are doing it wrong. I believe the survivors are going to be the ones who can grow their own food. The cities are going to become deathtraps.
google search Harbinger and september 13, 2015. It’s something I was made aware of only in the last few months, but it is rather interesting.
All I find are videos, and I'd rather not watch them. Perhaps you can explain in a few words?
Just shut up and eat your Soylent Green, citizen.
Welfare is paid with your taxes too?
To.the author: N.S.S.
Wrong. The operation of the SSTF has not changed since the inception of SS under FDR. You are spouting an unsubstantiated myth.
The idea here is basically correct. However, this statement is usually joined to a second statement to the effect that this principle was violated by subsequent Administrations. However, there has never been any change in the way the Social Security program is financed or the way that Social Security payroll taxes are used by the federal government.
The Social Security Trust Fund was created in 1939 as part of the Amendments enacted in that year. From its inception, the Trust Fund has always worked the same way. The Social Security Trust Fund has never been "put into the general fund of the government."
Most likely this myth comes from a confusion between the financing of the Social Security program and the way the Social Security Trust Fund is treated in federal budget accounting. Starting in 1969 (due to action by the Johnson Administration in 1968) the transactions to the Trust Fund were included in what is known as the "unified budget." This means that every function of the federal government is included in a single budget. This is sometimes described by saying that the Social Security Trust Funds are "on-budget." This budget treatment of the Social Security Trust Fund continued until 1990 when the Trust Funds were again taken "off-budget." This means only that they are shown as a separate account in the federal budget. But whether the Trust Funds are "on-budget" or "off-budget" is primarily a question of accounting practices--it has no affect on the actual operations of the Trust Fund itself.
I’M NOT INTERESTED IN HOW IT WORKS NOW .. I’M INTERESTED IN GETTING PEOPLE TO CHANGE HOW IT WORKS .. CHANGE IT BACK TO THE WAY IT USED TO WORK.
It is working the way it has always worked. The problem is demographics, i.e., an aging population that is living far longer than when SS was set up about 80 years ago.
The money we paid into SS was already spent. The SS payments going out now are coming from those paying into SS now.
Sad, but true,
I collect a very small Social Security check. I only have Medicare Part A, so pay for anything I purchase at the pharmacy cash. I don’t have any problem getting reward points.
And once you reach 65-66, if you've been on SSDI, you are rolled over into the regular SS funds account.
Every time you add a few million more people to something it changes the time it expires, especially if they are not paying in.
Every dime in depreciated currency, that is. What investment rate of return are you expecting, on top of the balance you originally deposited over the years? (But which now has less purchasing power, thanks to the hidden theft of inflation.)
There are many instances where *not* using your medicare RX plan is way cheaper than using your Medicare RX plan to buy prescriptions.
Friends don’t let friends use Walmart for drug prescriptions. You’re okay for basic stuff, but the advanced formulation medicine is sub quality and inferior to even generics provided by CVS/Walgreens et al ....
And getting the “Be Well” greeting from Walgreens employees is kinda creepy.
This is true, but the fund is not holding a pile of cash, or stocks, or real estate investments. It's holding a pile of Treasury Bonds. The income was used to lend to the government and once expenses exceed income can only be paid out by the government buying back the bonds out of general funds. So it's really an artificial distinction.
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