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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: KyrosL who wrote (209623)	11/27/2012 2:46:53 PM
From: cosmicforce	1 Recommendation Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 544005

Okay - I see where you are coming from. It is possible one could die before they collect SS and depending upon who their survivors are, the assets may or may not be returned to them. My wife for instance, is in a government pension program that specifically prohibits her from benefiting from social security. My kids are also too old. For thirty years, I've believed that there will have to be a means test for SS and I have planned my retirement to get none of it. At every turn both Dems and Repubs have lied to people like me - maybe they are in denial. I don't think I will get anything. Certainly not much of what I've put in for the past 40 years of working. As an "investment" it is a crappy one and most people alive now would have been better off putting the money in a mattress. IMO. I think it should be called what it is and what it was intended to be, which was NOT a pension plan, but a fund for the impoverished elders, widows and orphans. If it is a national retirement program, it can't sustainably be that.

To: KyrosL who wrote (209623)	11/27/2012 3:17:40 PM
From: Metacomet	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 544005

They are pension/medical deductions, which the contributor gets back more or less in full when they retire. Well, actually they are not that at all They are payments into a fund that provides benefits for people who qualify to participate thru payroll deductions during their working years An intergenerational social contract It is a misconception that anything that you pay in is earmarked in any way as being paid on your behalf This is a broad misunderstanding that leads to a lot of faulty assumptions on the part of folks Why it is not true that you have any sort of "account" in either SS or Medicare They are both akin to insurance programs and you are simply paying premiums for future participation