Straight Talk About Social Security

Congress persons and political commentators are blathering full steam ahead about Social Security. It is amazing that they tell so many lies and distort facts so egregiously. So here are the actual facts.

*When Congress created the Social Security system in the 1930's, they created an account where all of the contributions of employees and employers would be kept until payouts were required.

*Congress has repeatedly raided that account and now there is nothing in it. However, if Congress had repealed the Bush tax cuts, the fund could have been completely replenished in couple of years.

*If absolutely no changes whatsoever are made in Social Security now, it is fully funded until about 2036. There is no need to panic, period.

*If the cap on contributions were eliminated, the entire problem would go away forever without changing a damn thing. Over 50% of all Americans now know this fact and are in support of doing it.

*Most people who receive Social Security checks now, receive less than a $1,000 a month. And it is their only source of income. If you start fooling around with Social Security, you better have a plan for these people.

*And the one that offends me deeply is the charge that Social Security is charity from the government. I got my Social Security account when I was twelve years old so I could sweep the floors at Apple's Drug Store. For the next fifty years, I paid into the Social Security account, and so did my employers, except for three years in the U.S. Navy when I guess $20 a month pay wasn't sufficient to cover a deduction. By the time I was thirty, I made the full payment into the Social Security account every year.

If my contributions and my employers contributions (which was after all, part of my salary) were totaled and adjusted for inflation, I have no doubt that the amount would cover any and all payments to me for a period a lot longer than I am likely to live.

So to Paul Ryan who thinks I receive charity from the government, I have just one thing to say, "Kiss my ass".