Social Security An Entitlement? No, Feds Borrowed OUR Money

Let's first begin by attempting to comprehend the millions and millions of people who paid in to Social Security for over four decades (40-plus years) and then  died, before collecting a penny in "benefits."  In other words, they died too young.

Where did all that money go?  Did it go to the surviving family members of the employee who paid in to the social security system religiously, for over 40 years without collecting a cent in benefits? Of course not.

Our government kept the money that was collected from each and every one of them.  While that is fresh in your mind, remember too that not only did you contribute to social security during your peak earning years but your employer did too.  It totaled 15% of your income, before taxes. If you averaged only $30,000 a year over your working life of 49 years, that's close to $220,500.  If you figure the future value of $4500/year (yours and your employer's contribution) at a simple 5% growth after 49 years of working, you'd have $892,919.98. If you only took out 3% per year, that's $26,787.60 and would last better than 30 years.

If you bought an annuity and it paid 4% per year, you'd have a lifetime income of $2,976.40 per month.

Entitlement? Hardly. I, along with millions of others, paid CASH for my/our social security insurance!!!  Just because the government saw fit to "borrow" my/our money, doesn't make my/our benefits some kind of charity or handout, in my humble opinion, of course.

There are many who would assert Congressional benefits, such as free healthcare, outrageous retirement packages, over 60 paid holidays, three weeks paid vacation, unlimited paid sick days, constitutes REAL welfare, yet they have the gall to call our social security retirement "entitlements?"

Our seniors, veterans, orphans and homeless need help but instead, literally BILLIONS of dollars go out to places like Turkey, Chile, Haiti and Pakistan, to name a few. Seniors living on a fixed income receive precious few "breaks" while our government sends billions of dollars and food to foreign countries. Our elected officials now call social security and medicare "entitlements" even though most of us have been paying for it our entire working lives and now, when it's time to collect, the government is running out of money. 

Why did the government "borrow" our retirement money in the first place? This is beyond sad. One associate called it "legal corruption." In any event, Congress did pass the Social Security Act in 1935, covering retirement, survivors and disability insurance. Although it has been amended many times since it's original enactment, it remains solvent for the time being. Keep the faith...Until next time...

                                                     Glenn