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Mail
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24…
From
Social
Security to Federal Benefit
by
Herbert London
In
the parlance of Orwellian newspeak words often mean the
opposite of their seeming intent. The Internal Revenue Service is
anything but
a service. Now we have yet another government inspired contradiction.
Social
Security has been transformed into the "Federal Benefits Payment."
One might well ask how an insurance arrangement in which the recipient
makes
payments throughout his working existence is regarded as a
"benefit." Whatever happened to "earned income"?
At
the moment employees pay fifteen percent of their income
before taxes to the Social Security agency. If one assumes a $30K
payment per
year and an employer's contribution of $375 per month at a modest one
percent
rate compounded over a 40 year work experience the total would be $1.3
million.
In this scenario, you can assume withdrawal of 3 percent a year or
$39,318 or
$3,277 a month or roughly three times the present average Social
Security "benefit".
Moreover, using the more generous number the individual fund would last
33
years or until a 65 year old retiree is 98 years old.
Why
then is the system bankrupt? Why aren't payouts more
generous? The answer in simple terms is that the government uses your money elsewhere. Social
Security is not secure, is not really a benefit and, if there were any
truth in
advertising it should be described as a Ponzi scheme in which money
"in" pays for money "out" without regard to the consequences
of a deficit.
Where
does this money go? Since this appears to be a pot of
unexpended and reliably available funds, the Congress uses it for
everything
from highways to helicopters. Unfortunately the money is not in a
locked box so
expenditures are often predicated on an anticipated source of S.S.
payments.
The money is often accounted for before it has been received. Close to
40
percent of the accumulated debt in the U.S. (now at $15.9 trillion) can
be
attributed to the S.S. shortfall.
It
is also true that many receiving this "benefit"
never contributed a dime to Social Security. These are people on
disability
(SSI) or those suffering from drug dependency. Many do not live in the
United
States but still receive monthly payments. Mexico City alone has more
than 1500
people receiving S.S. checks.
While
most Americans have Social Security payments taken out of
their paychecks, there are many who do not participate. Here again the
term
security is a misnomer. Social Security is anything but
secure.
Orwell
would have a verbal party with government titles, but the
latest plan to convert Social Security into Federal Benefit Payment
takes the
cake. Obviously these verbal alternations are designed to confuse the
public
and in far too many cases it works. This is not merely lamentable; it
is a
reflection of a government that has little respect for the public it
presumably
serves.
Source:
familysecuritymatters.org
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