What Happens If the Social Security/Veterans Checks Stop Coming?

reply to post by NthOther

"Quit starting wars."

Disabled people are starting wars?

I thought rich Republicans, Haliburton, International Banksters, rightwing Democrats and Big Oil were doing that.

(Dick Cheney is seen in a wheelchair though.......hmmm)

Aww. Heck. Don't worry. There's enough. After all, these veterans did serve America. If anything would happen, then I guess it's war because the retirement benefits of the old timers won't be enough to live by and that's why the veterans depend on their SS.

nothing. They complain then go to sleep in the dark.

A lot of people would suffer, thats about it. Some could just endure a hardship, others not so much, depending on level of family support if any.

Apathy in the media and on TV in general will skyrocket, in order to flatten the steep emotional spike. Basically a lot of craziness. Piles of news anchors saying ridiculous things, a lot of drama, creating scenes, get people to bicker amongst each other and have even the most even keel person screaming at their TVs. With this the general population will stop caring that the disabled and elderly are not getting money to sustain their quality of life. Basically how a maximum-security prison operates. Who cares about what's new in the prison, because it's total chaos and I'm just trying to survive, sucking up as much apathy as possible.

Then, war.

This is how it's always been, for thousands of years or more. Take out the technology, the technology doesn't matter. It's just sociopaths and self-proclaimed oracles controlling people's emotions.

Basically another small taste of hell on earth, whispers of the wicked from the netherworld, taunting us from below.

..

Or, it doesn't happen, and the checks still go out. That would be the preferable outcome in this hypothetical scenario.

It might stop but give them a few days and it will be there.
They'd be fools to do anything so drastic so fast and they know it - it is scare tactics.

If it actually did quit cold turkey then you'd see more people selling at flea markets, yard sales, begging, more thefts, especially thefts of contents left in parked cars,purse grabbings, things like that, crimes that involve easy opportunity.

Charity groups would be trying to get more money and id those in dire needs, homesless shelters and charities that are stretched to breaking would be stretched even further.

Average household size would go up, and more houses on the market. After a month or so, it would not take long, local smaller grocery stores would close down, unable to stand lack of income after granny's rent wasn't paid, the landlord no longer can afford to buy as much.

It would be a death blow to commerce, and it wouldn't take long for everything to stop. That's way too much money that goes into the system that CIRCULATES.

reply to post by hadriana
You are right. I have called it before, an economic apocalypse. With all that shtf lawlessness, it would be open season on comfortable psychopaths.

I do not understand why people cannot connect the dots that what happens to the poor trickles UP without doubt.

I have talked to many people who when I ask how the economy is treating them they say "we've not really seen any change' because they have state jobs or secure jobs and so they've not had any pay cuts or loss of employment. They might complain about inflation.

But they live in the same town as I do! We now only have 2 grocery stores open, and the cost of meat is high because of lack of competition as well as inflation. A lot of restaurants have closed. Bums come at you like zombies when you go to the shopping centers. You see them on the roads. Crime has skyrocketed.

We are in this TOGETHER. Money paid to the poorest in food stamps is probably keeping our other 2 grocery stores open and sales tax going to the state. When someone is poor, every BIT of what they get from anywhere goes right back into the economy- mainly the local economy. We are connected.

Originally posted by simone50m
reply to post by Wyn Hawks

 

" some will become a risk to themselves and anyone around them... "

There will be alot of people with nothing to lose.

...yep, thats a distinct possibility - but - i was referring to people who are clinically ill and wont be able to afford their medicine... the elderly, the mentally ill and the terminally infirmed are the most unacknowledge portion of our society...

well i certainly hope they are not stupid enough to actually follow through with cutting SS. it's the government and their record on doing silly things is astounding. as some have stated, yes a fair amount of people currently on SS, may be able to move in with a relative, but a great many others either have NO ONE or are cut off from them for any of a multitude of reasons. so many would end up dieing, from hunger or even being forced out into the streets. how many landlords do you know who would let someone stay who couldn't pay?

even having a lot of them move in with relatives would be bad. for one thing it would likely finish off the economy. think about it. it would mean that those they stay with will have less money to spend. more mouths to feed, many would have no choice but to spend just about everything on food, stores would loose money because people may only be able to afford food that has little markup. on top of that their would be very little cash used to buy stuff that wasn't a necessity. there goes pretty much all other spending. no spending means more people not working. which of course makes the problem even worse. if lucky THOSE people would be able to move in with family. which causes the snowball to get bigger. even less able to pay higher prices, even less to spend on anything BUT FOOD. puts yet more out of work and so on.

now as this is going on another problem starts to creep up, overcrowding. maybe 20 people have to share one bathroom so you will end up with people using buckets and tossing out window. on top of THAT, people are not going to be eating properly, which makes them more likely to get sick. also malnutrition would make getting better FROM being sick harder, so many would start to die. guess what now you have dead people around as no one can afford to bury them which makes yet more sickness, again snowball gets bigger.

i won't even get into the crime that would occur as people steal to survive, and kill one another over food. scary isn't it?

Originally posted by idunno12
reply to post by autowrench

 

Could a civil war, in this day and age, be truly affective? I hear a lot of talk about it lately but it seems like we are in such a different place than we were the last time this happened, 150 years ago. Now it feels as though men with guns would be such a small match against a government with a drone army and a $750 million annual defense budget.

It just seems as though this government which we currently have, would show no remorse or hesitance towards dropping a few bombs on an unruly and "dangerous" crowd attempting to infiltrate its walls.

you are forgetting a few things about who some are who are on SS as well as what happens during a rebellion.

there are quite a few on SS who are older people who served but may still be able to put up a fight. like Korean and Vietnam vets. good chance a good few of them have weapons from the wars. then you have those from the currant wars. while many are injured they may not be hindered in fighting all that much, it's amazing how many handicapped make up for their losses. now MANY of these vets still have FRIENDS serving. so some of THEM may side with the rebels. THESE rebels may be able to get their hands on some of the nice newer toys to hand out. or conduct acts of sabotage within the military. you will also have many just simply refuse to fight fellow Americans.

this is where that interesting treaty with Canada and probably other countries comes into play. they will ask for the promised assistance and most likely get it. now the Canadians will have similar issues about fighting Americans as there are many duel us/can citizenship, not only that but quite a few people have relatives on BOTH SIDES of the border. so you would likely end up with Canadians on BOTH sides of the conflict. other countries they may have a similar treaty with likely wouldn't have that problem.

you will also have many in the military who are against government in the first place so guess which side they would be on? THEN you have groups like the militias. who have apparently been buying and stealing equipment and stockpiling it. things could actually get quite nasty in a civil war like this.

back in the CIVIL WAR. i think things were a bit clearer. for many on BOTH sides the issue they were fighting for was about slavery. then you had those fighting about rites. i suspect that if one were to start over the debt crises. you would see many more on the "rebel"side. due to that fact.

and yes there will be the sheeple out there. as people put it, too fat and lazy to do anything. they generally aren't going to voluntarily fight at all. while i'm sure they would be drafted, we have seen that drafted troops that REALLY don't want to fight tend to be a hindrance.

IF it were to get to the point of civil war i suspect it would be MUCH worse than the last one. i certainly hope that somewhere along the line common sense would break out BEFORE it were to start. it would likely be the ugliest war ever fought. something i DON"T want to see happen.

All the old geezers hobbling to DC with their single shot 10/22's

reply to post by schuyler

Some are not old and a 10/22 isn't a single shot


As for the OP nothings going to happen its all fear mongering and what do you know its all most election year the mighty dems. fought off the evil repubs. That would make a good movie ep. 1 The Reagan Menace ep.2 The Terror Wars ep.3 Revenge of the Dems. ep.4 A New "Change" ep.5 The Repubs.Strike Back Ep.6 The Return of the Socialists. coming this summer to Faux

Originally posted by autowrench
I, like many of you, am a news hound, and yes, I know the news media is controlled.
...
I know there are many of you who collect, and depend on these government checks to survive, and support your family. What will you do if the checks do stop?

If you truly are a news "hound," why don't you try to sniff-out the truth.

Obama is lying when he says there isn;t any money to pay retirement or disability benefits if the debt ceiling (the limit on how much we can borrow) isn't raised.

The federal government takes in roughly $180 billion every month. ... Social Security payments are about $60 billion a month, payments to all military personnel (veterans and otherwise) are about $12 billion, and payments to disabled veterans are about $6 billion. That totals about $78 billion. To say that “there may simply not be the money in the coffers” to pay for these items is plainly false. One might even call it “engaging in scare tactics.”

www.weeklystandard.com...

deny ignorance

jw

Originally posted by autowrench
I, like many of you, am a news hound, and yes, I know the news media is controlled. That being said, I have been hearing a lot of talk that Social Security is now considered to be only a part of the General Fund, and not a Trust Fund as we were led to believe. This may, or may not be true.

It never was a trust. Even when FDR was hawking it as a savings fund, or an insurance fund (hence the "contribution" and "benefit" terms associated with it) it was never intended to be any more or less than a tax. Your grandma has no guarantee of getting that money back, unfortunately. If the government decides to stop payments to everyone it would be political suicide, but they can, and there's nothing we can do about it.

/TOA

Originally posted by autowrench
So what will they do?

During the Bush administration I had a vivid dream one night. In the dream people from all over gathered weapons and surrounded Washington Circle, there were a few million people there, and the circle was completely closed off, nothing in, or out. Loud voices were demanding that the President and his staff come out to be arrested. Just then a black helicopter appeared overhead. someone with a bull horn shouted, "helicopter pilot! Do not attempt to land, you will be fired upon!" The helicopter flew quickly away. The dream ended here.

A few million armed people surrounding Washington DC.
The politicians will be evacuated through the underground tunnels.
Then they drop a few NEUTRON BOMBS on the citizens.
A few months later there is nothing but bones in the streets.
Then its back to business as usual.

Thank you all for the responses. I don't think some of you understand what a Trust Fund is. From the Social Security website:
What are the Social Security Trust Funds?

The Social Security Trust Funds are the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) and the Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Funds. These funds are accounts managed by the Department of the Treasury. They serve two purposes:
(1) they provide an accounting mechanism for tracking all income to and disbursements from the trust funds, and
(2) they hold the accumulated assets. These accumulated assets provide automatic spending authority to pay benefits. The Social Security Act limits trust fund expenditures to benefits and administrative costs. Benefits to retired workers and their families, and to families of deceased workers, are paid from the OASI Trust Fund. Benefits to disabled workers and their families are paid from the DI Trust Fund. More than 98 percent of total disbursements in 2010 were for benefit payments. A Board of Trustees oversees the financial operations of the trust funds. The Board reports annually to the Congress on the financial status of the trust funds.

www.ssa.gov...

Trust funds are set up as legal entities for the benefit of group or individual. Do you know what an entity is?
en·ti·ty
1. something that has a real existence; thing: corporeal entities.
2. being or existence, especially when considered as distinct, independent, or self-contained: He conceived of society as composed of particular entities requiring special treatment
dictionary.reference.com...

The borrowing began right after the Korean "Police Action" in the early 50s. The North Koreans wanted reparations, and Eisenhower borrowed it from the Social Security Trust Fund. This started a precedent, and still today millions are borrowed from the Trust to pay for what the American military blows all to hell in the countries they invade and conquer. I paid into the Fund for 25 years, and received an official letter telling me I had paid in enough to be eligible. I have to tell you I thought I would never need it, at least not until i was 75 or so, I was healthy, strong, and making a lot of money driving my own semi coast to coast. At $1000+ a week, I could, and did have everything I wanted in those days. Never gave a thought to collection S.S.

Then a bad wreck in which the semi rolled over messed me up bad. My neck, and back were both broken, I had internal injuries, nerve damage, and brain damage. I laid in a hospital for over two years. Laid in bed for another year.

That government check you all call an "entitlement" is my only income, that which supports my wife and children. I do not consider it a hand out, it is mine. I paid into a Trust, a Living Entity, owned by me alone. Yes, I am disabled, and I walk with a cane. but I can still shoot, and I know a lot of others than can too. And for the guy who stated the WW2 vet had only .22 single shot rifles? You don't know a lot of Vets, do you?

Well if they stop coming, all our old vets are going to have to start working out. Getting up to grab that check is the only exercise they get!!

But seriously, absolutely nothing will happen. Well i mean other than the beaching and the whaling. I have come to the conclusion that this is just how the american people are. All talks of revolution and "a new government" are simply us saying what we want to do, and then we simply play it out in our heads.

Placebo affect

I am one who collects SS due to a disability and quite honestly have no clue what to do if TSHTF, I can't work due to a spinal injury which stops me from standing or sitting for more than 45 min at a time. This is a scary situation if it goes down.