Courtesy of Peter Suderman (Reason Magazine)... and yours truly:
How can you tell that Medicare and Social Security aren't
handouts?
According to President Obama, it's because seniors have
"earned" them by paying into the programs.
Via TPM, here's what Obama told the American Association
of Retired Persons (AARP) earlier today:
"There's been a lot of talk about Medicare and
Social Security in this campaign, as there should be," Obama said.
"And these are bedrock commitments that Americas makes to its seniors, and
I consider those commitments unshakable. But, given the conversations that have
been out there in the political arena lately, I want to emphasize, Medicare and
Social Security are not handouts. You've paid into these programs your whole
lives. You've earned them."
It's true that workers pay Medicare and Social Security
taxes over the course of their careers. But have they "earned" them?
(*SIGH*)
Not in the sense of having paid into the system equal to
what they get out.
LET'S DO THE MATH, FOLKS...
A single man or woman who turned 65 in 2010 and earned
the 2011 average U.S. wage of $43,500 will pay $58,000 in Medicare taxes and
$294,000 in Social Security taxes, making for a total of $352,000, according to
a 2011 report by the Urban Institute.
But the average Social Security and Medicare benefits
that single man will receive will come to about $432,000.
And the single woman will get benefits worth about
$475,000 out of the system.
(*PURSED LIPS*)
This isn't a new development either.
The same Urban Institute report shows that the average
wage-earning man who turned 65 in 1980 would pay about $104,000 into the two
entitlement programs, but get benefits worth $265,000. A single woman in 1980
would pay in the same amount and get benefits worth $330,000. Single earner
couples fare even better. In 1980, they'd pay in the same $104,000 - and get an
average of $512,000 in benefits. Today that single earner couple would pay
$352,000 into the system and get $798,000 out.
YA UNDERSTAND...?
FOLKS... YOU MAY BELIEVE THERE'S A CASE TO BE MADE FOR
SUBSIDIZING THE SYSTEM - BUT THAT'S NOT THE CASE BEING MADE! WHAT THE
POLITICIANS DO (OBAMA IN THIS CASE, THOUGH FEW REPUBLICANS TELL IT LIKE IT IS
EITHER) IS LIE... AND LIE... AND LIE... AND AS THEY'VE BEEN LYING FOR ALL THESE
DECADES THEY'VE ALSO BEEN LOOTING THE SOCIAL SECURITY AND MEDICARE "TRUST
FUNDS" AND PUTTING UNFUNDED IOUs IN THE "LOCK BOX!"
This isn't about "earning" one's own benefits.
With Medicare, money being paid in isn't being held for
the individual who paid for it.
As the Associated Press reported last year, "Many
workers may believe their Medicare payroll taxes are going for their own
insurance after they retire, but the money is actually used to pay the bills of
seniors currently on the program."
TO PARTIALLY PAY THE BILLS OF SENIORS CURRENTLY ON THE
PROGRAM! AT BEST! WHAT HAPPENS IS THAT THE POLITICIANS SIMPLY STEAL THE SOCIAL
SECURITY AND MEDICARE "CONTRIBUTIONS" AND USE CO-MINGLE THEM WITH
GENERAL REVENUES AND BORROWED FUNDS!
If more seniors knew this (not that either of our current
president or his Republican rival likely to tell them) they might think
differently about making changes to the program.
AND THIS IS WHAT I'M ALL ABOUT, FOLKS! I'M ABOUT
EDUCATING PEOPLE! I'M ABOUT TELLING THE TRUTH NO MATTER WHOSE OX GETS GORED!
The latest Reason-Rupe poll found that 68% of voters say
they’d be willing to accept some cuts to their own Medicare benefits if they’re
guaranteed to receive benefits equal to what they and their employers paid out.
The point, though, is that Medicare is a transfer program
in which the federal government takes money from current workers and gives it
to retirees. One might call that a handout.
IT IS WHAT IT IS... AND MOST AMERICANS DON'T KNOW WHAT
IT IS! DELIBERATELY SO! JEEZUS, FOLKS... THERE'S A FRIGGIN' REASON YOU PROBABLY
NEVER LEARNED ANY OF THIS IN SCHOOL - INCLUDING COLLEGE! THE DUMBER THE
POPULACE... THE MORE POWER ACCRUES TO THE POLITICAL CLASS! THERE'S BEEN A
DELIBERATE DUMBING DOWN OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE - DON'T DOUBT ME ON THIS!
Social Security, meanwhile, certainly isn't a guarantee.
NO! LEGALLY IT'S JUST ANOTHER PROGRAM! LEGALLY
"CONTRIBUTIONS" ARE SIMPLE TAXES. NOTHING IS "YOURS" - NOT
IN A LEGAL SENSE!
Obama might consider the retirement program a
"bedrock commitment," but the Supreme Court doesn't. The court has
ruled on two difference occasions that citizens are not entitled to the dollars
they pay into the entitlement.
WERE... YOU... EVER... TAUGHT... THIS...?!?! (I MEAN...
ASIDE FROM READING IT HERE OR HEARING IT FROM ME?)
Money paid into the program can be used to fund other
totally unrelated government activities, just like any other tax dollars.
AND... IT... IS...!!!
The commitment to the program is dependent on the whim of
politicians who are legally allowed to tax you for one thing and use that same
money to pay for something else.
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