However, I expect sometime in the future congress will come after military and SS retirees with some kind of taking too much from taxpayers limitation. This may be a 1st step.
It started with Ike Fing over the military by adding them to SS.
We have to stop confusing “Military” with “Combatant”. Most military are in support roles that would never see combat. They retire when they are forty, they collect benefits and accolades galore, and they start a second career. It sucks for we who pay for it all, and it sucks for the combatants whose glory is diluted. First thing I do when I see a new five star general on the scene is look at his breast full of ribbons — how many are for valor? Usually NONE. Next time you are tempted to buy a vet a beer, ask them if they were ever shot at, or if they instead filled their free lodgings with discounted stereo equipment and empty subsidized beer cans.
I’m not familiar with the SS benefits but I am aware of a scam being perpetrated on disability benefits.
Healthy ex military men and women are claiming active duty injuries, not war injuries but injuries the “show up” after retirement or discharge and claimed to be a result of service.
They work the claim to an eventual 100% and are collecting over $4,000 per month while they are skiing or playing softball or just normal activities with their families.
This cheating of the taxpayer needs to be investigated. It is a black mark on the people making false claims and those who should be active in their oversight!
What I do know is that my wife is a retired educator who gets a pension from the state retirement plan. She did not have SS taken out all those years, rather, she only paid into the state plan.
I was told by my financial advisor that even if she was to work the required 40 quarters where she paid in SS (at part time jobs, for example), or if she were to collect on my SS benefits in case of my death, there would be a reduction of benefits because of her pension. This was due to the windfall elimination provision. I think it also has something to do with the amount of the pension. As I recall, my advisor said that this provision was more likely to apply to administrators (which she was) rather than classroom teachers.
I retired from public education in Texas in 2012. I am not a teacher, but worked all of those years in administration. I do not have a bachelor’s degree, so my salary was minimal. Although I worked 17 years in the private sector before going into education, my contribution to SSA was only during those years in the private sector. For a while it did not matter to me financially. I was married to a investment banker. But, once we divorced at turn of century, my salary is all on me now. In 2012, my SSA benefit would have been $550 a month. But, because of the windfall elimination tax, I only receive $247 a month. The Feds don’t want me double dipping now with a fancy State of Texan pension. The millions of educators and professors with high salaries were able to high-jack the government for 50 years, but not me once I took on retirement. Gaining an extra $200 a month allows me to even buy some groceries (for a day or two).
I asked Senator John Cornyn when the WEA was in front of the Senate to repeal this law, and his response back to me was “it is too costly.”
Too costly for those in DC, but could they give a crap about a poor old lady in Texas? Hell NO
This is nonsense, not just for military members but for anyone affected.
If they paid into SS (without a choice, as they are coerced by the government to do so), then the government should pay out. Period.
Well, I sure as heck has FICA withheld from my active duty pay.
Amy Conehead Barrett strikes again. The “windfall” provision is garbage. Someone spends a 20 years in the military or something, and then works another 25 years in the SS side of the world, they get their SS payments docked.
You know who doesn’t get any windfall penalty? The lazy turds who never worked, foreigners, etc, who get SS disability.
They get the full check.
Rich snots like Amy Conehead Barrett couldn’t care less about that.
She turned out just as I predicted. A loser.
I am not a military veteran, but I had my SS benefits reduced by 40% because of the windfall provision. I had a civil service career with a ten year break working for the private sector and making social security payments during that time.
I remember when the windfall provision was enacted; it was because the Democrats were jealous of the military veterans benefits, so they put a stop to it.
But it somehow affects those with no military service. One group impacted includes women and single mothers being punished along with the military.
Socialist Security
Military folks who serve the full twenty deserve to get Social Security as well as military retirement (as I do) because we pay into the Social Security fund, just like any other working stiff. If they had left my pay alone and let me keep what they deducted, then I would have made a little more and I wouldn't have a gripe if I didn't qualify for SS when I turned 65. Not hard to understand.
Combat is combat - you either were in the beaten zone or you weren't. Nobody argues that Air Force or Navy or Marine Corps aircrews who were in the position to be shot down were in combat - or navy riverine folks, or for that matter rear area folks within the range of Katyushas or Scuds.
But combat means within the lethal reach of the enemy and in most cases also means a Purple Heart and missing parts of your body. I know that submariners have a dangerous job but they really haven't had to face depth charges for a few years. Just experiencing a dangerous part of the service isn't really the same as combat.
Those few of us who have endured combat and its after-effects deserve a niche among our fellow citizens. But even as I say that, I know that there will be the usual chorus of "well, we signed up for the same things you did". Yes - but it's a bit like being struck by lightning: those of us who did fight got the main blast and those who either volunteered and didn't get picked to fight - or those who got picked for safer job - know full well that the guys (and lately gals) in combat took the full burden of death and loss.
Not sure it matters since this country is broke, and all the entitlement programs are headed toward disaster. They can promise all the money in the world to people, but it’s all going to collapse some day.