Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: AWMac on September 24, 2003, 10:31:41 AM
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Since many of us have paid into FICA for years and are now receiving a Social Security check every month -- and then finding that we are getting taxed on 85% of the money we paid to the federal government to put away you may be interested in the following: Immigrants moved into this country and at 65 got Social Security. The Government gave that to them although they never paid a dime into it.
SOCIAL SECURITY: (This is worth the read. Its short and to the point)
Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions during election years. Our Senators and Congress men and women do not pay into Social Security and, of course, they do not collect from it.
You see, Social Security benefits were not suitable for persons of their rare elevation in society. They felt they should have a special plan for themselves. So, many years ago they voted in their own benefit plan.
In more recent years, no congressperson has felt the need to change it. After all, it is a great plan.For all practical purposes their plan works like this: When they retire, they continue to draw the same pay until they die, except it may increase from time to time for cost of living adjustments. For example, former Senator Byrd and Congressman White and their wives may expect to draw $7,800,000.00 (thats Seven Million, Eight-Hundred Thousand Dollars), with their wives drawing $275,000.00 during the last years of their lives. This
is calculated on an average life span for each. Their cost for this
excellent plan is $00.00. Nada! Zilch! This little perk they voted for themselves is free to them. You and I pick up the tab for this plan. The funds for this fine retirement plan come directly from the General Funds, our tax dollars at work! From our own Social Security Plan, which you and I pay (or have paid) into every payday until we retire (which amount is matched by our
employer) we can expect to get an average $1,000 per month after retirement. Or in other words, we would have to collect our average of $1,000. monthly benefits for 68 years and one (1) month to equal Senator Bill Bradleys benefits!
Social Security could be very good if only one small change were made. That change would be to jerk the Golden Fleece Retirement Plan from under the Senators and Congressmen. Put them into the Social Security plan with the rest of us ... then sit back and watch how fast they would fix it.
If enough people receive this, maybe a seed of awareness will be planted and maybe good changes will evolve.
:rolleyes:
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This piece has been circulating on the Internet since April 2000. So much of it is outdated, inaccurate, or misleading, it's difficult to know where to begin.
It is not true that Congressmen do not pay into the Social Security fund. They pay into the fund just as everyone else does.
It was true prior to 1984 that Congressmen did not pay into the Social Security fund because they participated in a separate program for civil servants (the Civil Service Retirement System, or CSRS), but that program was closed to government employees hired after 1983:
In 1983, P.L. [Public Law] 98-21 required Social Security coverage for federal civilian employees first hired after 1983 and closed the CSRS [Civil Service Retirement System] to new federal employees and Members of Congress. All incumbent Members of Congress were required to be covered by Social Security, regardless of when they entered Congress. Members who had participated in CSRS before 1984 could elect to stay in that plan in addition to being covered by Social Security or elect coverage under an 'offset plan' that integrates CSRS and Social Security. Under the CSRS Offset Plan, an individual's contributions to CSRS and their pension benefits from that plan are reduced ('offset') by the amount of their contributions to, and benefits from, Social Security."
It is not true that Congressmen "continue to draw their same pay, until they die." The size of their pensions is determined by a number of factors (primarily length of service, but also when they joined Congress, their age at retirement, their salary, and the pension option they chose when they enrolled) and by law cannot exceed 80% of their salary at the time of their retirement.
The figures given as an example for Senator Bradley ($7,900,000 over the course of his and his wife's lifetime, culminating in a top payout of $275,000) are simply outrageous amounts with no basis in reality. There is no conceivable way Senator Bradley could draw anywhere near that amount of money though his pension plan.
It is not true that Congressmen "paid nothing in on any kind of retirement," and that their pension money "comes right out of the General Fund." Whether members of Congress participate in the older Civil Service Retirement System or the newer Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS), their pensions are funded through a combination of general tax provisions and contributions from the participants. Right now, members of Congress in the FERS plan must pay 1.3% of their salary to FERS and 6.2% in Social Security taxes.
As of 1998, the average annuity for retired members of Congress was $50,616 for those who retired under CSRS and $46,908 for those who retired under FERS. Not bad, but not the highway robbery this piece makes it out to be.
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/pensions.htm
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S.S. should be for the people who pay into it. Too many people get checks who never payed a dime into it. You shouldn't take $$ away from disabled people, but the $$ should not come out of S.S.
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Thanks Sandman. I knew I should have snoped it first....arrrrggghhhh.
:rolleyes:
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PwN3d!
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AWMac: Immigrants moved into this country and at 65 got Social Security. The Government gave that to them although they never paid a dime into it.
Not true. You are confusing SSA which is Social Security with SSI (Supplemental Security Income) which is what they are getting.
miko
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What really bothers me that we don't have a choice as to whether we want to be involved in the Social Security program to begin with. :mad:
Given a choice, I would rather take care of my own money and retirement rather than allow the government to take it from me as though I were a child, and IT knows best. I could've done a lot better...