Nothing gets me more riled up than misinformation widely circulate as fact. Here is the latest example (although it apparently has been around for years) contained in an e-mail. Remember this is all bogus; it’s not true‼️. There is one thing that is correct in this e-mail though, “It’s easy to check out.”
One of the most misunderstood facts is how the Trust Fund operates. The interest paid to the Trust is vital to paying benefits. That interest comes from treasury bonds and is paid by the U.S. Treasury. If you believe Social Security taxes should be in a “Independent Trust,” where should interest come from?
Of course immigrants, legal immigrants, can receive Social Security – as long as they have paid the taxes and under the same rules as everyone else.
You can find the facts here: Source: Social Security History and a history of the Social Security number here.
You can also find the facts on how Social Security operates in various posts on Quinnscommentary. View the Social Security category.
Subject: Fw: History Lesson on your Social Security Card
History Lesson on Your Social Security CardJust in case some of you young whippersnappers (& some older ones) didn’t know this. It’s easy to check out, if you don’t believe it. Be sure and show it to your family and friends. They need a little history lesson on what’s what and it doesn’t matter whether you are Democrat or Republican. Facts are Facts.
Social Security Cards up until the 1980s expressly stated the number and card were not to be used for identification purposes. Since nearly everyone in the United States now has a number, it became convenient to use it anyway and the message, NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION, was removed.
Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social Security (FICA) Program. He promised:
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1.) That participation in the Program would be Completely voluntary,No longer Voluntary
��2.) That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first $1,400 of their annual Incomes into the Program,
Now 7.65% on the first $90,000
��3.) That the money the participants elected to put into the Program would be deductible from their income for tax purposes each year,
No longer tax deductible
��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,
Under Johnson the money was moved to The General Fund and Spent
��5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income.
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Under Clinton & Gore Up to 85% of your Social Security can be Taxed
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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:
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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.
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Q: Which Political Party eliminated the income tax deduction for Social Security (FICA) withholding?A: The Democratic Party.
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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 US
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Q: Which Political Party decided to start giving annuity payments to immigrants?
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AND MY FAVORITE: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!
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Then, after violating the original contract (FICA), the Democrats turn around and tell you that the Republicans want to take your Social Security away!And the worst part about it is uninformed citizens believe it! If enough people receive this, maybe a seed of awareness will be planted and maybe changes will evolve.
But it’s worth a try.
How many people can YOU send this to?
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Actions speak louder than bumper stickers
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PLEASE DO KEEP THIS ONE ROLLING ACROSS THE COUNTRY.
HOPEFULLY IT WILL OPEN A FEW EYES!!!!!
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
We are talking about SSI for people over age 65 many who emigrated to the U.S. after reaching age 65.
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If you want to talk about people getting a benefit they never paid for how about wives, including mine who collect half the workers benefit and then upon death the full benefit of the worker and compare that with the single worker or how about the worker with two ex wives and a current spouse all of whom can collect a benefit in some cases?
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Actually, I like the comparison of two workers, twins, both with the same job, earnings history, same taxes paid, same date of birth who die on the same day. Each was married on the same day, to another set of twins, born on the same day, and each spouse survived. One surviving spouse gets $1,000 a month from social security, even though she never worked a day in her life and paid in $0, the other gets $185 a month because she worked for 25+ years for the state of Ohio … Where there is a government pension offset.
Even though each worker pain inthe same amount. How stupid is that?
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How does Ohio reduce SS benefit? Did she pay into SS?
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It is called the government pension offset. Yes, she did pay into social security, but the surviving spouse benefit, with the offset exceeded her own social security benefit. But, the comparison is between two surviving spouses, where the one who never worked outside the home got many times the benefit of someone who worked many years.
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It isn’t Ohio, but the Feds who reduce the benefit – part of the social security amendments act of 1983- crafted by democrats,signed into law by Reagan.
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Actually, it is less bogus than you think. I think there is plenty of criticism to go around with regard to Social Security and Medicare, starting with changing the rules just five years in so that people could start drawing benefits in 1940 – at least 5 years prior to when the original legislation would have provided. Ida Mae Fuller paid in for three or so years (back when the tax rate was 2% of the first $300. and it appears that she paid in less than $25. Her first check was in 1940 or so, in he amount of $24.75, and she lived for decades, collecting a total of $22,888! Of course, that is nickels and dimes compared to George W. Bush adding Medicare Part D benefits with no specific increase in associated funding – thus adding $10+T of new entitlements to our long term debt.
Anyway, if you read the screed above to include Supplemental Security Income, in fact it is true that legal immigrants, who never contributed a dollar to Social Security, who emigrated to the United States prior to1980 and were perhaps parents of other legal immigrants and over age 65, DID receive Supplemental Security Income.
That would be part of the legacy of the Carter Administration. But, comparatively speaking, it is peanuts, a footnote to all of the other abuses (including the Carter Administration’s abuse when changing the post-retirement COLA in the late 1970’s – which is not mentioned here either).
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Just for the record…How Is SSI Funded?
As an entitlement program, SSI is available to anyone who meets its eligibility requirements. Unlike Social Security (which is financed by dedicated payroll taxes), SSI is funded from general revenues. At a cost of just over $50 billion in fiscal year 2012, SSI constitutes a small portion of the federal budget — 1.4 percent of total spending that year. [14] SSI expenditures were 0.33 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2012 and are expected to decline to 0.23 percent of GDP by 2037.[15]
http://www.cbpp.org/research/introduction-to-the-supplemental-security-income-ssi-program
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SSI IS part of Social Security. Yes it is funded by General revenue. But, your suggestion that it is different because, comparable to Medicare, part of it is funded with payroll taxes and part comes from General revenues isn’t germane to the decision to provide income to people who never paid in. You wouldn’t argue that Medicare Part B and Part D are not part of Medicare, just because they aren’t funded by payroll taxes, would you?
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I guess I was drawing the distinction because the original post spoke to immigrants who never paid into the system receiving social security benefits.
SSI is truly a welfare entitlement whereas social security (for the moment) is not. The legislation creating SSI was a result of President Richard Nixon’s effort to reform the nation’s welfare programs. At that time, each state had similar programs under the Aid to the Blind, Aid to the permanently and Totally Disabled, and Aid to the Elderly. The Nixon Administration thought these programs should be federalized and run by the Social Security Administration. Thus, SSI was created to eliminate the differences between the states including different disability standards and income and resources requirements, which many perceived as irrational or unfair.
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I read it as political decisions to give benefits to people who never paid in … Payroll taxes or income taxes/general revenue.
However, that issue is peanuts in comparison to other abuses of these entitlements,George w. Bush’s medicare part d, carter’s COLA change, FDR’s acceleration of access to payouts all the way back to 1940.
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