I’m probably going to be sorry I did this, but I’ve written another Social Security fact sheet that I’m offering free of charge to my readers. I’m feeling sorry for myself because as many of you know, I’m a one-man show sitting alone at my computer in the corner of the family room in our little retirement cottage. In other words, I don’t have a staff to help answer all my e-mail requests (other than my wife who occasionally pats me on the shoulder and says, “Can I get you something to drink?”).
But frankly, I don’t think I’ll be inundated with requests because this latest fact sheet deals with the political and financial side of Social Security. After working with Social Security issues for over 40 years, I’ve learned that people are mildly interested in those aspects of the program, whereas they are keenly concerned about how Social Security personally impacts them. In other words, they’d much rather know “What’s in it for me?” as opposed to “What’s in it for the country?”
I call this fact sheet, “The Sacred Cow, the Cash Cow, Holy Cow … The Politics, Financing and Future of Social Security.” I wrote it because there is so much confusion and misinformation out there about these subjects. Here are examples of the kinds of rumors, false accusations and half-truths the fact sheet clears up. I’ll bet you’ve heard (and possibly even have spread) some of this aggravating gossip:
— “President Johnson moved Social Security money into the general funds to spend it.”
— “President Bush spent the Social Security surplus to help finance the war in Iraq!”
— “Social Security money has been used to pay for other government programs.”
— “Congress has stolen every nickel of Social Security money and never paid it back!”
— “Social Security’s trust funds are stocked with worthless IOUs!”
Some of those “half truths” are just that. The little kernels of fact they contain have been so distorted over the years that no one knows what to believe. So, the fact sheet cuts through all the muck and misinformation, explains how Social Security really works, describes what’s happened to all the money the system has taken in over the years, and lays out the problems facing its near and long-term future. But then the fact sheet offers proposals for reforming Social Security by giving arguments for and against each possible solution and, more importantly, indicating how effective each proposal is.
So if you would like an electronic copy of this fact sheet, just send an e-mail to thomas.margenau@comcast.net. And as long as my wife keeps those drinks coming, I should be able to get the fact sheet to you within a few days of your request.
Q: Do you want to know how we can fix Social Security? We can force congressmen to pay into the system just like everyone else. If they had to pay Social Security taxes and then someday collect Social Security benefits instead of their cushy government pension, they would fix Social Security tomorrow!
A: This is why I wrote the fact sheet. It’s just one more example of the many misunderstandings people have about Social Security. Members of Congress, along with the president, top government officials and all other federal government employees, have paid into Social Security since 1983. But their Social Security benefit can be supplemented with a federal pension — just like my wife’s Social Security benefit is supplemented by a pension from the county library system she used to work for, and my neighbor’s Social Security benefit is supplemented by his pension from the company he used to work for.
Q: If Congress wouldn’t have messed around with it and added all the extra giveaway programs over the years, Social Security wouldn’t be in the red as it is today. I say take Social Security back to the good old retirement system it started out as. Giveaway programs like disability and SSI should be paid from general funds like any other welfare program.
A: Social Security never really was the “good old retirement system” you seem to think it was. Although the original Social Security Act passed in 1935 was essentially a retirement program, dependent’s benefits and survivor’s benefits were added in 1939, even before the first monthly benefits were paid. And today, those programs still make up the vast majority of Social Security payments.
Disability benefits were added in 1956. But what makes you think of them as “welfare”? People getting Social Security disability have to work and pay taxes to qualify for benefits, just like someone getting retirement benefits. Actually, the Social Security disability program is really just an early retirement benefit for someone who has to stop working prematurely because of a physical or mental impairment.
However, the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, added in 1973, is indeed a welfare program. But SSI is not a Social Security program, and its benefits are funded out of general tax revenues, not Social Security taxes. After the SSI law was passed, the government handed the program over to the Social Security Administration to manage because they had experience dealing with similar beneficiaries and they had a vast network of field offices.
