The following is an e-mail that is circulating the internet; showing up as blog posts, comments and even as unaccredited statements by some politicians and activists.

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Get angry and pass this on!

Remember, not only did you contribute to Social Security but your employer did too.

It totaled 15% of your income before taxes. If you averaged only $30K over your working life, that's close to $220,500.

If you calculate the future value of $4,500 per year (yours & your employer's contribution) at a simple 5% (less than what the govt. pays on the money that it borrows), after 49 years of working you'd have $892,919.98.

If you took out only 3% per year, you'd receive $26,787.60 per year and it would last better than 30 years (until you're 95 if you retire at age 65)and that's with no interest paid on that final amount on deposit!

If you bought an annuity and it paid 4% per year, you'd have a lifetime income of $2,976.40 per month.

The folks in Washington have pulled off a bigger Ponzi scheme than Bernie Madhoff ever had.

Entitlement my ass, I paid cash for my social security insurance!!!!

Just because they borrowed the money, doesn't make my benefits some kind of charity or handout!!

Congressional benefits ---- free healthcare, outrageous retirement packages, 67 paid holidays, three weeks paid vacation, unlimited paid sick days, now that's welfare, and they have the nerve to call my social security retirement entitlements?

We're "broke" and can't help our own Seniors, Veterans, Orphans, Homeless

In the last months we have provided aid to Haiti , Chile , and Turkey . And now Pakistan ......home of bin Laden. Literally, BILLIONS of DOLLARS!!!

Our retired seniors living on a 'fixed income' receive no aid nor do they get any breaks while our government and religious organizations pour Hundreds of Billions of $$$$$$'s and Tons of Food to Foreign Countries!

They call Social Security and Medicare an entitlement even though most of us have been paying for it all our working lives and now when it's time for us to collect, the government is running out of money.

Why did the government borrow from it in the first place?

Imagine if the *GOVERNMENT* gave 'US' the same support they give to other countries.

Sad isn't it?

 

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Anyone 30 years and older should know that Social Security Tax was never intended as a personal retirement fund.  It is a tax.  It is a social insurance program, enacted 1935, by (the then) President Franklin D. Roosevelt.  It was part of his "New Deal" reform act in response to the Great Depression.  At that time, 50% of American seniors were living at or below poverty.  Social Security was a payroll tax set up as a safety net to help those less fortunate.  As years went on, beginning as early as 1937, amendments began to plague and tax the revenues collected.  Today, amongst other programs, Social Security in it's amended state funds the
1. OASDI (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance)
2. Unemployment
3. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
4. Medicare (health insurance for the aged and disabled)
5. Medicaid (grants to states for medical assitance programs)
6. SCHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program)
7. SSI (Supplemental Security Insurance)
8. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

During it's phase-in period and on into the '60s, Social Security was able to grant hefty benefits.  Although (by the '50s) there were more programs and a larger demographic with wider social benefits, there was more money coming in than going out.    But, by the '70s (and no matter the efforts to shore up the funds) Social Security was overburdened and it's future was looking dim.  The FICA revenues couldn't keep up with the ever increasing benefits that were being handed out.  As well, (back in the '50s) there were about 16 workers paying in for every retiree taking out.  Today there is approximately 3 workers paying in for every one retiree taking out.  It is assumed that by 2030 there will be only 2 workers fore every retiree.  The only way to continue paying out future benefits would be to raise the Social Security tax, reduce payouts and begin eliminating the other attached programs.

Again, Social Security is a tax, not an investment plan.  And yes, it is an entitlement.  Merriam Webster dictionary defines entitlement as:
1 a: the state or condition of being entitled, Right
   b: a right to benefits specified especially by law or contract
2 : a government program providing benefits to members of a specified group; also: funds supporting or distributed by such a program
3 : belief that one is deserving of or entitled to certain privileges

As a U.S. tax payer you are entitled to the benefits as drawn out by the FICA.

Although it is popular and legal to draw out Social Security benefits, is it moral to accept a monthly check if you wisely and responsibly secured a personal retirement fund? 

"Social Security provides insurance for the possibility of living longer than expected, when a person has consumed all the resources saved for retirement."

There are many who retire with a very nice nest egg....so much so that they don't need the Social Security check...yet they take it because they "paid in".

I agree that the congressional benefits are extreme and much too good for what little they do (and don't do) and we the people, their employer, have no say.  Maybe there should be some changes. 

I don't actually agree that we give more to other countries than we give to our own.  We are a great country, very charitable both at home and abroad. 

I don't agree that we should be aiding countries that are our enemies.  And, to see jobs move out of the country, only to be forced to buy inferior products at a higher cost (from those other countries) is quite frustrating. 

In the end the author asks if this is sad.  What I think is sad is the author knows not what the word entitlement means, and what a tax is.  What I think is sad is, we the people are being pitted against each other by our elected officials (who we pay the salary of), activists and unions.  What I think is sad is, we (my husband and I) lost a big chunk of our nest egg (which was in investments) and now will most likely need the help of Social Security (now that people are living longer) but it may not be there for us in 10 years (and it's very unlikely we will be able to recoup our losses in that short of time).

But, I am optimistic and believe that things happen for a reason and, that in the end, we will work it out and be okay.  This is after all The United States of America, where anything is possible.

 

 

Thank you for stopping by

and

Have a beautiful day

 

 

 

 

 

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