People should not count on Social Security

originally posted by: netwarrior
a reply to: JAGStorm

I would be happy to relinquish my benefits in exchange for zeroing out the digits in the student loan column. I no longer pay into the Social INsecurity system due to my job's separate retirement system, but I've paid in enough quarters to "collect" when it comes time..

$763/mo..eligible in 2050. Literally beer money by that time.

Hi netwarrior
You mentioned 763 dollars will be beer money. The fact is, you really are telling the truth without knowing it.
What people don't realize is what will be coming out of your social security. Since I'm not in the US but I do receive SS, I don't know what is taken out.

I live in Japan and collect a Japanese pension which I've paid into for many years. About 145 USD a month.
Well, how much do I get, well, I'll tell. First we get paid every two months.
Damn, I just lost all what I just wrote. fk.

OK, I'll start over I guess.
First I'm pissed since I lost all what I just wrote.

anyway we now get taken out of our Japanese pension the following : national health insurance and old age care insurance.
Since our income is at poverty level we still must pay into both. Health insurance fee just went up to 110 USD a month and old age health care went up to 56 USD a month.

As I mentioned above we get paid every two months. I now receive about 160 USD net every two months.

People in America have said Social Security is a ponzi scheme , well they just might be on something. It's not really a ponzi scheme though because SS is mandatory and backed by the US govt.
What I'm saying is to you all that are not getting it yet is: please understand that the US govt. can and will take legal expenses out of your SS that as of today we don't know what they will be.

With many people not being able to even have 500 dollars in their bank account after working 10 years, well tough times are ahead and this my ATS friends here is my present day situation living and being retired in a foreign country.
One thing good is we are debt free.
And we were able to save for them rainy days which are now upon us.

good luck to those that fall into the position of only having their SS checks as their only income. Tough and I mean real tough times lay ahead.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I really wish the government would have just left their grubby hands out of the SS cookie jar. SS would have been just fine if they would have.

a reply to: Ahabstar

Don't get me started on gas cans.

a reply to: musicismagic

Funny how every few years we hear Social security is broke or going broke, but we never hear how the welfare system is broke ?

People paid into Social security all their working lives whereas the Welfare Kings and Queens Paid How Much ?

originally posted by: 727Sky
a reply to: musicismagic

Funny how every few years we hear Social security is broke or going broke, but we never hear how the welfare system is broke ?

People paid into Social security all their working lives whereas the Welfare Kings and Queens Paid How Much ?

That’s because the welfare reform act caps at 5 years, the lazy ones have figured this out and apply for SSDI, which gives them a monthly check, food stamps, and healthcare.

I actually worked with a man who volunteered to play ball with the kids at recess (Elementary school). He claims his knee was damaged (all the while bending it while throwing the ball).

Ironically I was hurt at work, my right knee, torn meniscus. I walked on it for 8 months because I had too, single mom. I literally could not bend it. I finally had the surgery (thank god). I was out of work for a year; I applied for SSDI to help get me thru it and I was denied, so I cashed in my school pension to get by.

I still have pain everyday (more my back) but work. Also got the 4464c letter from IRS; just great.

So here I am suffering, struggling and paying taxes while that @ssh@t collects SSDI, works under the table and can move better than me.

People like that are why SSI is running out!

I hate scammers with a passion.

My beloved father and I got into one of the biggest fights we'd ever been in over this subject. He almost stormed out of my house over it.

He asked me point-blank if I thought SS would be there when I retired.

I told him, straight-up, NO, I didn't think it would be.

He went ballistic! Absolutely BALLISTIC!!!

His reaction shocked me. At first I was thinking it was because he had retired and was taking SS and somehow saw this as an affront to him. Then I realized...he wasn't mad at me personally. I was sitting across the table from a decorated WWII veteran who had done three tours of Europe from 1941-1945, had been shot down twice and escaped Nazi Germany on one of those occasions. He had later learned he was one of 3 in his training squadron to have survived, nearly every single member had been killed.

No, he was furious that one of the fundamental underpinnings of this great nation for which he and so many of his generation had sacrificed their lives for, or very nearly so, could be so easily dismissed as nearly irrelevant.

He pounded on my kitchen table with his fist, and DEMANDED I take my statements back...but I couldn't. I explained, I wasn't the one who stole all the money. I wasn't the one who was robbing my SS future to pay for his, because some thieving politicians hoodwinked all of America. It wasn't me. And, I would gladly give all that money to him, over me. He earned it way more than I ever did...in a tidal wave of skyrocketing healthcare costs. "Don't worry about me, Dad"...I said. The damage was done long ago, and there's no changing it now.

He was furious! Just furious! And I understand why. All that...for what? So some dime-bag politician can line their pockets with money from favors and special interest money???? I damn sure would have been mad too!

Damn straight!

originally posted by: KTemplar

originally posted by: 727Sky
a reply to: musicismagic

Funny how every few years we hear Social security is broke or going broke, but we never hear how the welfare system is broke ?

People paid into Social security all their working lives whereas the Welfare Kings and Queens Paid How Much ?

Take a picture and turn him in.

Works all the time here. But one out of 4 here have some type of employment with the govt. so they take this stuff seriously and yes, the police get involved. Also one might lose govt. housing for defrauding the govt. disability program. By which all means is meager. Like a free bus pass, taxi discount, friend bus pass for only one dollar and discounts at stores that probably the true disable can't get to.

Fraud is taken very seriously here. It is getting worse in the bigger cities with all the new foreigners coming in. There are reasons for their fraud which I'll just leave it to another thread most likely, but it really isn't important.


That’s because the welfare reform act caps at 5 years, the lazy ones have figured this out and apply for SSDI, which gives them a monthly check, food stamps, and healthcare.

I actually worked with a man who volunteered to play ball with the kids at recess (Elementary school). He claims his knee was damaged (all the while bending it while throwing the ball).

Ironically I was hurt at work, my right knee, torn meniscus. I walked on it for 8 months because I had too, single mom. I literally could not bend it. I finally had the surgery (thank god). I was out of work for a year; I applied for SSDI to help get me thru it and I was denied, so I cashed in my school pension to get by.

I still have pain everyday (more my back) but work. Also got the 4464c letter from IRS; just great.

So here I am suffering, struggling and paying taxes while that @ssh@t collects SSDI, works under the table and can move better than me.

People like that are why SSI is running out!

I hate scammers with a passion.

a reply to: musicismagic


Dude owns a house, brand new pickup truck, no idea where. I will NOT take pictures as I would be committing employment suicide in my town, and even though I’ve probably paid more taxes than that guy in my lifetime, I can guarantee I wouldn’t get any help!

a reply to: musicismagic


Dude owns a house, brand new pickup truck, no idea where. I will NOT take pictures as I would be committing employment suicide in my town, and even though I’ve probably paid more taxes than that guy in my lifetime, I can guarantee I wouldn’t get any help!

a reply to: JAGStorm

Im willing to revolt over it personally

If they eliminate SS I want my money back with compound interest, after all I’ve been paying in for 47 years.

originally posted by: AndyFromMichigan
Social Security was originally raided by Lyndon Johnson to pay for the Vietnam War, and the fund has never recovered.

And, didn't Clinton raid it to balance the budget????
IIRC.

a reply to: KTemplar

Those are not the ones to be upset about. They pulled a con and won. That happens. The ones that get me are the heroin addicts getting the full ride and daily swallow of methadone at the clinics “to get cured of their addiction.” Except substitution without a clear path of stepping down isn’t a cure for jack.

The actual dose is less than a dollar per day, but you get that at the clinic and that costs around $125/wk on the low end. Expect $250-$400/wk as the realistic charge with nurse and counseling sessions, add in the free ride to and from and you see why the signs are posted on telephone poles everywhere to five different clinics in a medium sized city.

Oh, did you know the also qualify for the full ride of other benefits including SSDI? And get to start the program over when they fail the drug test too many times in a 90 day period? Hauled some individuals around for years as a job. Did it pay the company I worked for well to give those rides? I always had a nice vehicle. Last one was. 2015 Prius due to miles I racked up daily...250-300 on average although 550 miles was probably my most in one day.

It'll be there that's what lawyers are for.

a reply to: Ahabstar


I knew about the SSDI benefits and I’ve heard about the rides.

My ex gets $1,500.00/month and complains; he just got free dentures, but I have to save up for my sons tooth filling that just fell out.

What bothers me the most are the women who get pregnant over and over again while using this drug 😡

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Yes...yes he did!!!

Evil bastage!!

a reply to: Ahabstar


When I started working again, one of my coworkers was surprised to see me, she said “Oh you’re working, and I joked that according to SSI if I have to work til I die. Lucky for me Work keeps me sane!

originally posted by: AndyFromMichigan
If the estimate of 2035 is right, then it's going to run out when I'm in my late 50's, and probably looking forward to retirement.

In other words, just before I'm going to need it.

I'm actually afraid that Congress is going to pass a law allowing them to raid private retirement accounts, in order to push off the day of reckoning. It'll be the same kind of scam, where they take the money and issue you some kind of promissory note, and anybody with any sense will know the note is probably worthless.

Don't worry. Chances are that with or without it, you're not going to have the funds to retire anyways. If you're putting any less than about $40,000 per year into retirement right now, you're never going to generate a sustainable income in old age.

originally posted by: musicismagic
$763/mo..eligible in 2050. Literally beer money by that time.

$763/month in 2050 has the purchasing power of $195/month today.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

It's not that pockets are getting lined. It's that contributions have been reduced. 4 people in the US hold more wealth than the bottom 50% of Americans. Those 4 people pay social security tax on practically none of it. Once you break into about the 95th percentile (above which, about 97% of all wealth in the US is held), it is all exempt from Social Security.

You wonder why the fund isn't keeping up? It's because most of the money people take home is exempt from the tax.