Hi to all you Patriots out there.
We have a group of a dozen or so who are almost equally divided as conservative and liberal. We go the rounds on a number of topics, the health care fiasco being one. Yesterday I made the observation that Medicare and Social Security are socialist programs.
Alex replied: Medicare is not a disaster nor is Social Security. And they are both socialist programs.
Then Rulon wrote this poem in reply.
Quite true,
Alex, my dear,
Listen to me please,
Let me be clear!
Keith and Maury,
Through irrational extrapolation,
Draw unjustified conclusions,
About the insurance situation!
They rant and rage about,
Social security and Medicare,
But as every month goes by,
They each take a share!
Rapacious insurers,
Used the Obamacare excuse,
To raise their rates,
It’s an unjustified abuse!
We should indeed replace Obamacare,
So I’m issuing the call,
To lower the age for Medicare ,
To cover us, one and all!
To finance this benevolence,
Taxes would take a jump,
For the capitalist exploiters like,
Mitt Romney and Donald Trump!
Rulon (the benevolent socialist)
My reply:
Clever poem, Rulon,
True it is that I, Jonesy, draw the princely sum of $926 per month Social Security. Every month/year, I, and my employer, paid into Social Security from the time I got my first job at 14 years old until present. I’m still paying social security on earnings from my low-paying job (not complaining–I love the job), plus drawing Social Security retirement. I paid/pay 7.65% and my employer paid/pays 7.65% on my earnings. When I paid on my earnings from my businesses I paid 15.3%. That was out of pocket, before taxes.
Did you see where the Government paid in one single penny? We are talking about the money we and our employer put in a Government bank to insure you and me that we would have a retirement check from the money we put in. We didn’t depend on what the Government put in, because they didn’t match any of it. But they sure took what they wanted when they wanted out of those sacred funds. That’s theft.
Anyone who pays into SS has the expectation that he/she will draw it out when they retire. The government doesn’t contribute a dime. Many many people die before retirement age. That money from dead people is simply confiscated and used by the government. It was a tax, pure and simple, not a “retirement” program. They sold it to us based on lies, similar to the lies of our President and Democratic members of Congress; “If you like your doctor, you can keep him. If you like your health care plan, you can keep it. The average family will save $2,500. Period.” All provable lies.
If I/you averaged only $30K annual salary over our working life of 50 years, that’s $225,000 paid into our Social Security account. If we made much more, we paid much more. If it had been invested in MY account, with my name on it, over a lifetime I would have a comfortable retirement.
If we calculate the future invested value of $4,500 per year (ours & our employer’s contribution) at a simple 5% interest, after 50 years of working we’d have more than $900,000.
If we drew out only 3% per year we’d receive more than $27,000 per year and it would last better than 30 years (until we’re 95 if we retire at age 65), not counting interest. If you lived on the interest alone, at 5% on that final amount on deposit, it would pay you $45,000 per year and you wouldn’t touch your principle. The principle could be inherited by your family when you pass on.
If you bought an annuity and it paid 4% per year, you’d have a lifetime income of $3,600 per month. I, Jonesy, am getting a whopping $926 per month. I’ve been ripped off by government. So have you. And Rulon’s clever poem implies I’m a whiner because I don’t like the way Social Security is set up.
OUR ELECTEDS IN WASHINGTON HAVE CONCOCTED A MASSIVE PONZI SCHEME.
I paid cash for my social security insurance. Under the government rules, I draw a pittance because my last five years before retirement is what they base the payout on. I had five very poor business years the last five years before I started drawing SS. Net profit wasn’t much, so payout of SS isn’t much. It’s a crooked system. Typical of all government systems based on socialism, “From the haves to the have-nots.” “The lowest common denominator.” A personal Social Security savings account, with my name on it and drawing consistent interest for a lifetime, would make for a comfortable retirement.
Just because Congress “borrowed” (STOLE) the SS money for other government spending doesn’t make my benefits some kind of charity or handout. It should be mine with my name on it.
Social Security and Medicare are in the red. The government is running out of money. Social Security needs a serious fix, based on a personal retirement plan.
Why did the government borrow from SS in the first place? It was supposed to be in a locked box, not part of the general fund. Congress stole it, pure and simple.
That’s why I’m furious about any government interference in our private financial lives.
Jonesy
PS: As an aside, LDS church President John Taylor saw a vision of when our government and our financial system collapses. He saw riots all across the country. He saw the halls of Congress vacant. I think when those welfare checks quit coming the recipients rioted and wanted the blood of those who spent us into oblivion. His words; “Next I was in Washington, and I found the City a desolation. The White House Empty, the Halls of Congress the same. Everything in ruins. The people seemed to have fled from the City and left it to take Care of itself.”
PPS: Rulon, that “capitalist exploiter…Donald Trump” paid $38 million in income tax in 2005. How much did you pay in 2005?
