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What about those who paid into the system all their working lives and are now retired and living on SS? Should they get the promised amount? Who will pay for their SS if you shut it down?
tough luck, they get to pay no taxes at all for the rest of their lives. it is a ponzie scheme and one that the politicians have stolen money from its citizens.
tough luck, they get to pay no taxes at all for the rest of their lives. it is a ponzie scheme and one that the politicians have stolen money from its citizens.
With all due respect, I think you're solution to SS is a lousy one. Many seniors who live on SS don't pay any taxes because they don't get enough money to exceed deductions. You're throwing away the minimal security of the elderly for the sake of putting more money in the pocket's of the young. Who changed your daipers when you were young? Who scrimpped and saved for years so you could have a good education? Who put the downpayment on your first house? Would you want your mother in law and her husband coming to live with you for the rest of their lifes? There is a lot of fallout involved if you just cut off the 47 million seniors who are currently on SS. Soon there will be 70 million seniors. I can promise you one thing though. Just as we boomers built this country over the last 50 years we can just as easily destroy it in the next 30 years if you take away our self sufficiency. Much more to think about than just "Tough Luck."
tough luck, they get to pay no taxes at all for the rest of their lives. it is a ponzie scheme and one that the politicians have stolen money from its citizens.
Is the fact that it is a ponzi scheme and people paid into all of their lives in good faith and the politicians stole the money make it okay now to take away benefits from senior citizens when they can possibly no longer work.....?
Our county has a program for the people that are "slow" I guess I'll call it. They seem to always be working somewhere and there is a bus to pick them up and take as much as 20 miles away. It is sort of temproray staffing service. They might work the same place for a long time or short time. A lot of the time they work for minimum wage. Sometimes I'm tempted to get my doctor to qualify me for the program so I'd be working somewhere, too. I guess I'm little bit jealous of them, however, I wouldn't want their disability. I've reached the point where I don't really care about the wage.
I didn't think it was funny at the time but it actually was. I started a new job. The person who met me at the door and told me the one who would assign wasn't availabable at the moment and took me to a table and put me to work. All of a sudden I was completely surrounded by the people the county sends out. It ended up kind of fun showing them what to do and the like and listening to their stories. I was there for about 2 hours until I got reassigned to where I was supposed to be. I have seen and worked with many of these people over the years because I've been working for a temp staffing outfit so I have worked many different places. These people are a very valuable part of the work force. I have never seen them walk out on a job because they don't like it or the work is to hard like I've seen so many "normal" people do. They are just happy to be working somewhere, doing something constructive.
Exactly. I finally got two part-time jobs--greeting people, directing them to the right place, cleaning the store at one place, and waving a sign at the other place. They're not the most extravagant of jobs but I am really just so happy to be working. Even to have somewhere to go and to have people who believed I could work is so rewarding.
I never thought I could get a job in this economy deaf-blind but it happened. Though I should mention that I have worked really hard at it and am lucky to be fast at picking up new skills. I learned sign language and braille quickly. I speak perfectly cause I grew up hearing. Not all deaf-blind people have those skills which can make it much harder for them to get a job.
But you're absolutely right. I know so many disabled people that are more than willing to work, more than happy to take ANY job they can get. I know for sure I am just so happy to have two jobs that I don't even care how boring or pathetic some people might consider them to be. I'm just happy to have them and making the most of them I can and working my hardest to help build up my resume for future opportunities and also to help save up for school so I can do the things I really do care about.
My hope is that one day we won't even need Social Security because the disadvantages disabled people face today simply won't exist. My hope is that even those who cannot move or leave the house will be set up with online jobs, with technology that can scan the brain so that the person only needs to think the command. My hope is that employers won't think twice when they see someone using a disability aid and will consider them based on qualifications only.
Just saw this as I had left this thread because the subject matter makes me furious. My doctor has said for years that I am bi polar (I have had 2 complete breakdowns and been hospitalized) but I refused to take the medications he wants to prescribe. I do take medication but as little as possible. I still work full time and I need my wits about me, not medicated to the hilt. Do I struggle ? You betcha ! Is life difficult because of this for myself and my family ? You betcha ! But my life and my self respect is my own.
The person I spoke about with the supposed bi polar disorder is just one of about 10 people a week that I meet that says they have bi polar disorder.
It is the disability flavor of the week....
Do I think people should not be on disability ? No, just quite a few should not be on it and it saps their will and determination to get better. My niece, God bless her, needed help so badly and it was a struggle. The woman could not walk from her front door, across her yard, without struggling for breath.
Don't chastise me about bi polar disorders. I live it and have for more years than I can count.
That's great that you are working and successful despite your bipolar disorder. I'm also lucky to be functioning well as a deaf-blind person. I think it's important to remember though that just because you and I are doing well (or at least well enough) that doesn't mean that all bipolar people or all deaf-blind people are just fine. Some people do need help. We all have different coping mechanisms. We all face situations differently. As tempting as it may be, it's important for us not to impose our personal standards on everyone.
As somebody with a chronic illness that could eventually progress into something that is on the SSDI fast-track list, I can see it both ways:
On one hand, there are the people, on SSDI for "mental" reasons in my experience, that are perfectly capable of "gainful economic activity", but instead a) stay at home and drink lots of alcohol, or b) work part- or full-time jobs for cash (and cash is very difficult to track, as all of you probably know).
On the other, SSDI payments can go to people who are physically impaired or have a mental condition so grave as to preclude working.
Then you have those on SSI who cannot work but, illegally or through a loophole, receive enough support from a family member to not need SSI.
Like any government welfare program, it's a mixed bag between the truly honest, the truly dishonest, and those in different shades of gray. Cutting it or restricting it could lead to those who sincerely deserve it being cut off; obviously by further opening it to sincere people it is unwittingly opened to insincere people, and counter-fraud programs can sometimes cost more than they would save.
i certainly agree that a lot of the disabled are people who want to work and i certainly believe that people are happier when they do work. i think the excessive drinking, drugs, and even often the pain are caused or amplified by being idle.
people are not meant to be idle and to sit on the sidelines of life, and it is certainly clear that we have a rise in disability every time we have a rise in unemployment.
fix the unemployment situation and a lot of the disability situation will take care of itself.
as far as the fraud, i am amazed that people do not turn in the fraudsters WHEN THEY KNOW ABOUT IT as they are taking away from your fellow citizens. i don't know anyone on disability, but if they were doing it fraudulently you bet i would turn them in.
there should be one big rule in life-always reward good behavior and always punish bad behavior.
we certainly seem to be getting a little topsy turvy in that rule anymore, but i would never encourage people to turn a blind eye on fraud.
maybe we need a reward hot line to get people to do the right thing in this country now.
I dont expect SS to be there when I would be able to collect SS at age 67 in 19 years. Instead, my mom gave me a roth when I graduated from HS and I have been putting into it since 1980. I also had an IRA and a 401k that I had cashed out of and after paying taxes on paid off all of my debt.
I hope to be able to retire at age 55, which is in 7 years. I just hope that the feds dont try and take my retirement to help pay for their misdeeds and mismanagement.
There is a huge ammount of abuse of this system. Many, many claimants are frauds. This is also true of military disabilities. I don't personaly know of even one retired military person without a claimed disability, and I have worked with the military for many years. It's a crime what some people will do to "get over" at the expense of the tax payer.
This must be especially galling for those with genuine disabilities that are immediately suspect when presenting genuine claims.
Last edited by Bideshi; 02-09-2011 at 02:06 AM..
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