Robert65:

SSI & medicare is not a handout.  The USA forcibly takes approximatly 15.3% of everything I earn (Employee and Employer part combined) so that I qualify for SSI.  Conservatively that means my wife and I at 45 years old have contributed about $300,000 so far with more to come.  Even with the recent reduction we are still contributing 13.3%.

If we keep this up another 20 years we'll have put a total of nearly $650,000 or more into the system.  Therefore it is not a handout.  We have paid dearly for this benefit.  Just because the government mis-manages it does not mean I will let them off the hook for paying it.

They made a contract with the American people that said if we take your money you'll get retirement.  If they don't want to hold up thier end of the bargin then give me back my money.

I am aged 67 and have received Soc. Sec. since I turned 64.  At the time of my retirement I had thought my job was being fazed out after being taken over by others.  All my calculations were great, I thought.   I can afford to live off this, along with my deceased husband's pension.  With some money in stock, along with a small amount in IRA CD'S.  Over 3 years later Boy was I wrong!  For more months than I can count now I have been looking for employment to at least supplement my income to make ends meet with food and gasoline alone.   I have discovered that age is really high on the discrimination list in this country.  Yes I have been put out to pasture for sure.  Hopefully Social Security won't run out too  before I get a job; become completely disabled; or the shovel comes out for me!   If Social Security  ever runs out then money should start coming out of the checks of legislators salary & pensions, since they are the ones who have stolen from our benefits that American workers paid into all our lives.  The money in the Social Security system was, and is, paid into a fund to insure workers  have a livable income in retirement.  However this money has been used for other things, which in my opinion the legislators have repeatedly broken the rules and laws over the years by using the funds for other purposes.  This is the American workers money deducted every paycheck for the length of their employment with little raise in living costs after they start collecting it (when you do get an increase, by the way they raise the cost of Medicare & supplements).   This is not the golden years as I thought is was going to be.

What gets left out of this article much like the other articles including the government budgets is the widow who is left only a thousand dollars to live on. My mother is in this position with a large old house to heat. She cannot just sell it and rent an apartment as she would not have enough money to do so. Yet, the government keeps raising Medicare expenses, and Medicare supplements keep going up. i wish I could help her but I am laid off and struggling to survive myself. Many old folks are fine until one spouse dies and leaves the other with one small income to survive. No one talks about this or wants to acknowledge it as a major problem facing an older person.

Okay... say at 62 you get 1000 dollars per month.... that is 12000 per year....  At age 66 you would get 15600 dollars per year. or a differenc of 3600 dollars.  if you divide that into the 48000 dollars you would get between age 62 and 66, it comes out to 13 years... add that 13 years to the 66 year retirement age.  You would have to live to age 79 to recover the money you didn't get for not retireing at age 62...  THAT IS NOT INCLUDING ANY INTEREST THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ACUMULATING...  ALSO figure all the SS money that is never given out because the person dies... MILLIONS of people....  NOW , WHERE IS THAT MONEY AT ?????.

People don't be NOT SMART............. we are getting the shaft when it comes to SS payments.

The SS account is already bankrupt folks.  There is nothing left in the fund except a bunch of worthless government IOU's. The government took the money from the SS fund and used it for the general fund years ago.  Now there are IOUs in there that the government cannot honor because they still don't have the money to do so.  The biggest problem with SS is not the people it was originally intended to benefit but all of the entitlements that are being paid to people that have never paid a dime into it. 

For new SSDI claims in 2009, 34% of new entitlements had dependent benefits involved. The average dependent benefit for new SSDI entitlements in 2009 was $532.00/month.

Duplication of disability benefits and benefits for dependants and even illegals are draining the treasury.  These are the things that need to be fixed.  Not fixed by penalizing hardworking people that have paid into the system all of their lives.  Social Security was started by FDR in the 40s and received about the same support from the public as Obamacare.  The opponents were right in resisting.  It has only made people more dependant on the government and take less responsibility for themselves. The progressive agenda.  

 

I am retired and disappointed.  I know I will not live long enough to receive all the money deducted from my paycheck back in a retirement check.  Due to my occupation and my health it was apparent I could not hold out for a later age.  I put my 3 kids through college so not much was in the ole 401K.  Retirement blues is my new music

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