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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ilaine who wrote (111998)	5/1/2005 5:06:06 AM
From: unclewest	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793931

Does anybody know whether it would still be solvent if we adhered to the original beneficiary scheme? SS would still be solvent if the extra cash collected all these years was placed in a real trust fund and not squandered as it was. I am amazed at how many of my own family members still believe in the myth known as the SS trust fund. They just can't bring themselves to believe the money was spent on prior federal budget items other than SS.

To: Ilaine who wrote (111998)	5/1/2005 7:34:24 AM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793931

Social Security has been grossly distorted by including medical care for poor people of all ages... Does SS do this? I thought that came out of Medicaid. Does anybody know whether it would still be solvent if we adhered to the original beneficiary scheme? Dunno. I have a sense that I've seen data that differentiate between the disability benefits and the pension benefits but I don't know where to find them. (including drug addicts and alcoholics of all ages.) As I was looking back through my clips trying to find an answer to your question, I came across this timeline. Note the bolded part. washingtonpost.com OVER THE YEARS Sunday, January 23, 2005; Page B02 1934 June 8 In response to Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt announces intent to provide an economic security program Aug. 14 Social Security Act is signed into law. It provides retirement benefits to workers only. Legislation establishes three-member, bipartisan Social Security Board to implement provisions 1936-37 More than 35 million Social Security cards are issued 1937 January Workers begin to acquire credits toward old-age insurance benefits; first applications for benefits filed March First payment is made (initial payments were one-time-only, lump-sum refunds) 1939 July Social Security Administration becomes part of Federal Security Agency August Program broadened to include dependents and pay survivors benefits 1940 January First monthly benefit payments begin 1946 July Social Security Administration replaces Social Security Board 1950 Cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) mandated to offset effects of inflation on fixed incomes. Future increases require Congressional action 1953 SSA becomes part of Department of Health, Education and Welfare (which becomes the Department of Health and Human Services in 1980) 1954 September Disability insurance program enacted. First version pays no cash benefits but establishes a "freeze" to help prevent erosion of disabled workers' benefits 1956 August Disability program amended to provide benefits to permanently and totally disabled workers 50 to 65 and adult children, if disabled before age 18. (Today, disabled workers of any age qualify.) 1961 June Act amended to permit all workers to elect to receive reduced retirement benefits at 62 1965 July Medicare program established, offering health coverage to Social Security beneficiaries 65 and older 1972 July A 20 percent COLA authorized, effective in September. Provisions are made for automatic COLAs, based on annual increase in consumer prices, to begin in 1975 October The Supplemental Security Income program established to oversee benefits for needy aged, blind and disabled people (individual programs previously administered by state and local governments); begins operation in 1974 1977 March Health Care Financing Administration is created to administer Medicare and Medicaid 1980 June Greater work incentives set up for disabled beneficiaries 1981 August Some benefits reduced or eliminated: among them, student benefits phased out; lump-sum death payments limited. 1983 January National Commission on Social Security Reform sends Congress recommendations to resolve Social Security program's financial problems April Amendments passed to augment Social Security financing. Provisions include taxing Social Security benefits, covering federal employees, raising retirement age beginning in 2000 and increasing reserves in Social Security trust funds 1986 June Social Security coverage established for federal employees hired after 1983 1995 March Social Security Administration becomes an independent agency 1996 Rules changed for disability benefits; new applicants no longer eligible if drug addiction or alcoholism is a material factor in disability August Social Security eligibility ended for most noncitizens (modified in 1997), and eligibility rules for children are tightened 2000 April Retirement earnings test eliminated, allowing beneficiaries at or above normal retirement age who continue to work to collect full benefits instead of having them reduced based on earnings © 2005 The Washington Post Company

To: Ilaine who wrote (111998)	5/1/2005 10:59:47 AM
From: Lane3	Respond to of 793931

Here's something that shows the split between pension and disability. Looks like the disability part is about fifteen percent, not enough to make up the deficit but a pretty good chunk of it. Facts about Social Security benefits Social Security has been providing benefits to millions of workers for 65 years. Social Security--sometimes referred to by its full name, Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI)--is a social insurance system established in 1935 to provide benefits to workers and their family members upon retirement, disability, or death. It is an earned benefit insurance program, which means that only those who work and pay taxes are eligible for Social Security benefits. At the end of December 2003, Social Security provided monthly benefits to 47 million beneficiaries (or one in every 6 Americans). Social Security paid a total of $471 billion to retired workers, disabled workers, and to the surviving family members of deceased workers in 2001 (SSA 2004 Trustees Report). In 2002, Social Security beneficiaries included about 3 million children under the age of 18. Social Security benefits are guaranteed to beneficiaries. Because Social Security is not an investment scheme but rather a social insurance program, its benefits will continue to be paid as long as a beneficiary depends on them. Social Security's finances are not subject to the ups and downs of the stock market, or the luck of individual investors. The promise of Social Security benefits is instead backed by the good faith of the U.S. government, pretty much in the same way that the government backs the value of the dollar. Thus, there is no uncertainty for beneficiaries--once they start receiving benefits, they will continue to receive them in the future. Social Security offers mainly retirement benefits. Workers can receive four different types of benefits under Social Security: retirement, early retirement, disability, and survivorship benefits. Workers are entitled to retirement benefits if they have contributed to Social Security for at least 10 years, and if they have reached the normal retirement age, which is currently 65 (and is set to increase to 67 for workers born after 1959). Early retirement benefits are available to workers if they have contributed to Social Security for at least 10 years, and if they have reached the earliest age at which benefits can be paid, currently 62. Benefits, however, are reduced by 20% compared to what the retiree would have received at age 65. Both full and early retirement benefits were paid to 29.2 million retired workers in 2002. Of these, 71% or 20.8 million retirees received a reduced benefit payment because they chose the early retirement option. Average monthly retirement benefits for all workers receiving retirement benefits were $895 in 2002, or about $10,700 per year. In comparison, workers who had retired early received on average $830 per month. Workers are also insured in case they become disabled. Social Security provides insurance to workers in case they become disabled and can no longer work. The disability need not be related to an accident at the worker's job. The number of years that are required to receive disability benefits varies with the age of a worker. Younger workers need fewer years to qualify for disability benefits. In 2002, Social Security paid an average monthly disability benefit of $834 to 5.5 million beneficiaries. Social Security offers life-insurance type benefits to workers. If a worker dies, her family receives benefits from Social Security. Survivorship benefits are paid if the deceased worker has, on average, worked at least one quarter for each year after he or she attained the age of 21. In 2002, Social Security paid an average monthly survivorship benefit of $861. Social Security is the most significant source of income for the majority of retirees over 65 years old. Social Security benefits are the most important source of income for the majority of elderly households. Although these benefits are modest, they account for a large portion of income for many elderly households. Figure 1 presents a summary of data collected by the Social Security Administration (SSA) from 2001. The SSA found that Social Security provided more than half of the total income for almost two-thirds of households comprised exclusively of those aged 65 and older and provided at least 90% of income for a third of this group. 64.233.187.104

To: Ilaine who wrote (111998)	5/1/2005 11:30:02 PM
From: KLP	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793931

Wish we could have been there! ~ (the Scotsman's take) Laura raises a laugh with tales of boring Mr Bush RICHARD LUSCOMBE THE First Lady of the United States has revealed herself to be a "Desperate Housewife", frustrated by President George Bush’s early bedtimes. The president’s nocturnal habits came under scrutiny in a lively after-dinner comedy routine in Washington that showed the vibrant and humorous side of Laura Bush’s usually meek demeanour. She also joked about a visit to a male strip show, the president’s attempts to milk a horse and her mother-in-law’s likeness to fictional Mafia boss Don Corleone in a barnstorming performance that had an audience of celebrities and White House journalists on its feet. To applause from the likes of Richard Gere, Jane Fonda, Elle Macpherson and Venus and Serena Williams, Mrs Bush grabbed the microphone from her husband as he attempted to revive a dull joke about cattle-ranch fences which fell flat when he first told it to farmers in Montana last month. "Not that old joke, not again," Mrs Bush said. "I’ve been attending these dinners for years and just quietly sitting there. Well, I’ve got a few things I want to say for a change." Mr Bush feigned surprise as his wife launched into her teasing routine at the 91st annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, also attended by Dick Cheney, the vice-president, and his wife, nine Cabinet members and two supreme court judges. "I am married to the president of the United States and here is our typical evening. Nine o’clock, Mister Excitement here is sound asleep, and I am watching Desperate Housewives with [the vice-president’s wife] Lynne Cheney," Mrs Bush said. "Ladies and gentleman, I am a desperate housewife. If those women on that show think they’re desperate, they ought to be with George. He always says that he’s delighted to come to these press dinners. Baloney. He’s usually in bed by now. "I’m not kidding. I said to him the other day, ‘George, if you really want to end tyranny in this world, you’re going to have to stay up later’." Observers saw a serious side to Mrs Bush’s performance. The White House is keen to cash in on her 80 per cent popularity rating while the president’s languishes below 50 per cent. She also poked fun at the president’s apparent ineptitude as a rancher, and said he knew little about outdoor life when they bought their home in Crawford, Texas. "I’m proud of George. He’s learned a lot about ranching since that first year, when he tried to milk the horse. What’s worse, it was a male horse." Mrs Bush added that the president often spends time clearing brush and cutting trails: "George’s answer to any problem at the ranch is to cut it down with a chainsaw. Which I think is why he and Cheney and [the defence secretary] Donald Rumsfeld get along so well." In a risqué monologue, she went on to describe a visit to a male strip show with Mrs Cheney, the Secretary of State and a presidential aide. "One night after George went to bed, Lynne Cheney, Condi Rice, Karen Hughes and I went to Chippendales," she said. "I wouldn’t even mention it, except [the supreme court justices] Ruth Ginsberg and Sandra Day O’Connor saw us there. I won’t tell you what happened, but Lynne’s Secret Service code-name is now Dollar Bill." The family matriarch Barbara Bush also came in for some ribbing. "People often wonder what my mother-in-law is like. They think she’s a sweet, grandmotherly Aunt Bee type. She’s actually more like Don Corleone," Mrs Bush said. Last year, she said Barbara Bush once warned her never to criticise her husband’s speeches, a rule she broke once as they drove home from a function. "We were driving into our driveway and he said, ‘Tell me the truth. How was my speech?’ And I said, ‘Well, it wasn’t that good’. And with that George drove into the garage wall." This article: news.scotsman.com