Six Misconceptions About Social Security

Bellevue University's Economic Department ^ | Dr. Judd W. Patton

[PeteyBoy]

SS pays more than just retirement benefits. There are lots of people that are way under 60 years of age or have never worked that still collect checks from SS.


You are sooo correct! I wish someone would push a button on the main computer at SS headquarters and find out just how many people under 62 years of age get benefits. It would drive the "seniors" nuts. Then we might get some reform.

[freedox]

Not that it really helps anything, but Social Security payments are available only to those who have worked and paid into the system (or their dependents.) Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is for the poor and the non-workers, and those payments come from the general tax fund.

[Slyfox]

Any bumper sticker people out there? Here's a good one:

SOCIAL SECURITY IS A PYRAMID SCHEME
PYRAMID SCHEMES ARE ILLEGAL IN ALL 50 STATES

[mamelukesabre]

People that claim to be "unable to work" are often on SS. THey are not retirement age.

At least, they(the ones unable to work) say they are getting SS checks. Maybe they are calling a SSI check a SS check.

[freedox]

"People that claim to be "unable to work" are often on SS. THey are not retirement age."

You are correct. One does not have to be retirement age to collect Social Security payments. Social Security also covers workers who become disabled prior to retirement age. However, in order to collect Social Security Disability Income (SSDI), one must have a qualifying employment record. Those who don't have qualifying employment records might be eligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), but only if they meet the strict poverty standards that program requires.

Please don't misunderstand me......I am by no means a cheerleader for the Social Security system. I'm just telling you how it works.

[Comus]

Congress will confiscate all private retirement funds to save Social Security. Your IRA's and any other tax deferred instruments, and your company retirement funds. There are far too few people who are planning for the future and their votes will be minor compared to the destroyers. You will be better off with regular savings and real property. The mutual fund peddlers will deny this, but wait and see what happens.

[Dianna]

I have no wish to pass this insane burden on to my beloved child.I missed the original cuttoff and the subsequent reinstatement of the GI bill.Bad timing on my part.Good lesson on the fact that life is not fair.

Just curious, but do you think the GI Bill has anything to do with SS? Or are you just demonstrating something which is "unfair"?

[Dianna]

We received my husband's SS statement recently. Here is what I see as a problem (not necessarily a huge problem, but a problem nevertheless).

If my husband dies, I can collect benefits for myself and our two children to the tune of $3000 per month.

If my husband dies, he is well insured. I would not have a house or car payment. I would have sufficient funds to go back to school and gain a skill allowing me to support my family.

My husband has paid in less than $20k. I would be paid well over the amount that he has contributed.

This money may well have been intended to keep widows and children from being poor, but quite frankly, I would be very well off financially (until the youngest turns 16)if my husband died.

[orfisher]

>>Because not one single Republican has the cojones to stand up and call it what it is, let alone enough Republicans to sponsor a bill to end this Government sponsored thievery.<<.....They would be voted out of office in a heart beat. Baby boomers want what they "invested" in the system. The majority are not well off enough to live off their savings in their old age. How many have savings in excess of $750.000? That's what it takes nowadays.

[sarasmom]

Just demonstrating that government programs are not set in stone. I used the GI Bill as an example of an instance where changes in cut-off dates, and program options did not benefit me, personally.They were of great and I believe proper benefit to those before me, and those after me.I would have loved them, but I was outside the dates.

SS has to change greatly.I am not altruistic when I say I am willing to suffer the pangs of the required cuttoff.I would consider it sunk cost, as long as it stops somewhere,preferably before my childs generation has to fund my generation.

[MichiganConservative]

The CATO Institute maintains this website: http://www.socialsecurity.org It is a good site for information.

[rapture-me]

The REAL reason that Social Security is insolvent is because 1/3rd of the people that should be paying into it were murdered while inside of their mothers wombs.

Imagine how much money would be in the fund if 40 million more people were paying into it.

[hobbes1]

Because People are Morons, and Most dont realise these simple facts.

I did fifteen minyutes on it in a room full of Minority stdents and had them all nodding in agreement by the end.

[k2blader]

Eliminate Socialist Insecurity bump.

[leadpenny]

The Federal Insurance Contribution Act (FICA), is a misnomer of the first magnitude.

That is an understatement. If you buy Life Insurance you are, in effect, betting that you are going to die. Under FICA, they are betting you are going to die before you can collect. Look at how much you and your employer (read you, also) contribute to FICA. Imagine how much straight Term Life Insurance you could purchase for that amount of money.

The system we have now created in this country is one of duty to smoke and duty to die. The day you turn 18 it is your duty to smoke like a chimney so your cigarette taxes will help fund the Tabacco Bill. You also need to work very hard so you can pay your FICA taxes. If the government has it figured right, the smoking will help insure you will contract lung cancer and/or heart disease around the time you turn 60. At about the time you are applying for your first Social Security Benefit, you'll do your duty and die. Pretty neat system.

[dwills]

SS is all of what the author charged, but mostly it's a safety net

do you really think that america would let irresponsible seniors die in the streets? hell, we don't let nature take its course in the 3rd world

perhaps it would be more honest to see who doesn't provide for their future and let them wear the scarlet W, but a forced savings plan isn't the worst travesty if we were allowed to invest it

in a utopia, perhaps we could provide incentives to saving so attractive that very few would pass them up and simultaneously make welfare less attractive (eg, dorms not dwellings and a work requirement, even for senior recipients--licking envelopes or whatever)--then you might not need to 'force' savings

[Sonny M]

Quick question, can anyone here provide a step by step explanation on how Medical Savings Accounts work, exactley? I know its a well liked conservative idea, and has been very successfull in Singapore, I'm not sure if they have it in Chile, how does it work exactley?

[toenail]

"The REAL reason that Social Security is insolvent is because 1/3rd of the people that should be paying into it were murdered while inside of their mothers wombs."

And seniors think that they are going to escape the cold, hard logic of retribution. Wait until the government tells them which medical treatment they can receive, based on a cost-benefit analysis. Expensive. Unwanted. Physically weak. Sorry, but you're just going to have to die [visit your local abortion clinic for confirmation on the logic of this]. I don't think that the blue-hairs realize yet exactly what hell they've unleashed on themselves.

[let freedom sing]

Social Security is headed for bankruptcy! No one disputes this fact, too many retirees to workers in the future. The dispute is over what to do - you know - reform proposals. Proposals range from raising the retirement age, to raising the payroll taxes, to cutting benefits, to eliminating the limit on earnings subject to the payroll tax, to having government trustees invest a portion of the Trust Fund in private assets, to letting individuals invest a portion of their payroll taxes into their own retirement accounts or into stocks, bonds, and mutual funds.

DNC SS futures: Abortion-abortion-abortion.