Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social Security (FICA)
Program. He promised:
1.) That participation in the Program would be completely voluntary,
I'm SURE Frank never heard of a gov't breaking its promises!
During the Civil War, the American (Union) gov't promised blacks who would fight for it "40 acres and a mule" after the war. They're still waiting.
During WW2. FDR's own gov't promised Filipinos who volunteered to help us fight the Japaneses US citizenship and full veteran's benefits after the war. They're still waiting.
2.) That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of
their annual incomes into the
Program,
Now let's work this out. 1% of 1400 is 14 dollars a year. Assume a 50 year working life (probably not to bad assumption for those days- -of course on average people start work later now, spending more time in the educational system). So we have a 50 year annuity and let's asumme 10% a year compounding (generous). The present value of an annuity of 1 is
P = ((1 + i)^n -1 )/i
where i is the interest rate per period ( a year in this case), n is the number of periods (50 here), P is the final value, and P is multiplied by a factor (14) after the calculation to adjust for the fact it is not 1. So
P = $16294.72
is what the retire would have in his account at 65. Current male lifespan is about 75 years. So he lives 10 years past retirement. Again treating the sum as an annuity but withdrawing equal amounts per and with other assumptions the same, he gets
P/yr = P*((1 + i)^n - 1)/i
or $6182.32 per year or $515/month - a lot less than the average retiree actually receives. (Amazingly, there appears to be quite a lot of disagreement among different sources about just what amount the average social security check is.)
I guess Mr. Franklin never heard of inflation. It can be argued that the life expectancy was not that high when FDR started the program. True, but it had been steadily increasing. Did he fail to notice?
The objections to the statements below are made clear by Carolyn.
3.) That the money the participants elected to put into the Program would be
deductible from their
income for tax purposes each year,
4.) That the money the participants put into the independent "Trust Fund"
rather than into the General
operating fund, and therefore, would only be used to fund the Social
Security Retirement
Program, and no other Government program, and,
5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as
income.
Since many of us have paid into FICA for years and are now receiving a
Social Security check every month -- and then finding that we are getting
taxed on 85% of the money we paid to the Federal government to "put away,"
you may be interested in the following:
--------------------
Q: Which Political Party took Social Security from the independent "Trust"
fund and put it into the
General fund so that Congress could spend it?
A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the democratically controlled House and Senate.
--------------------
Q: Which Political Party eliminated the income tax deduction for Social
Security (FICA) withholding?
A: The Democratic Party.
--------------------
Q: Which Political Party started taxing Social Security annuities?
A: The Democratic Party, with Al Gore casting the "tie-breaking" deciding
vote as President of the
Senate, while he was Vice President of the U.S.
My Personal Favorite -------------------
Q: Which Political Party decided to start giving annuity payments to
immigrants?
A: That's right! Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party. Immigrants moved
into this country, and at
age 65, began to receive Social Security payments! The Democratic
Party gave these payments to
them, even though they never paid a dime into it!
-------------------
And that last, Carolyn, is TRULY amazing!
How many people can YOU send this to?
Several so far. All liberals, including my sister-in-law. |
