Is this true? I received this email about social security?

Social Security

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 :

Immigrants moved into this country and at 65 got Social Security. The Government gave that to them although they never paid a dime into it.

SOCIAL SECURITY: (This is worth the read. Its short and to the point.)

Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions during election years. Our Senators and Congress men and women do not pay into Social Security and, of course, they do not collect from it.

You see, Social Security benefits were not suitable for persons of their rare elevation in society. They felt they should have a special plan for themselves. So, many years ago they voted in their own benefit plan.

In more recent years, no congress person has felt the need to change it. After all, it is a great plan.

For all practical purposes their plan works like this:

When they retire, they continue to draw the same pay until they die, except it may increase from time to time for cost of living adjustments. For example, former Senator Byrd and Congressman White and their wives may expect to draw $7,800,000.00 (that's Seven Million, Eight-Hundred Thousand Dollars), with their wives drawing $275,000.00 during the last years of their lives. This is calculated on an average life span for each. Their cost for this excellent plan is $00.00. Nada! Zilch! This little perk they voted for themselves is free to them. You and I pick up the tab for this plan. The funds for this fine retirement plan come directly from the General Funds, our tax dollars at work!

From our own Social Security Plan, which you and I pay (or have paid) into-every payday until we retire (which amount is matched by our employer)we can expect to get an average $1,000 per month after retirement. Or, in other words, we would have to collect our average of $1,000. monthly benefits for 68 years and one (1) month to equal Senator Bill Bradleys benefits!

Social Security could be very good if only one small change were made. That change would be to jerk the Golden Fleece Retirement Plan from under the Senators and Congressmen. Put them into the Social Security plan with the rest of us .... then sit back and watch how fast they would fix it.

If enough people receive this, maybe a seed of awareness will be planted and maybe good changes will evolve.

PLEASE - PASS THIS ON 2004 ELECTION ISSUE

This must be an issue in 04. Please! Keep it going.

Used to be 2 terms, but they recently made it easier on themselves. Yes, I agree that we should pull the retirement and the health insurance, and let them struggle with the stuff we have to contend with. THEN you'd see changes.

But the rich get richer, get all the perks. Sucks.

I agree with you totally.

These bastards won't do diddley unless they have to live with the hell their constituants have to live through.

Question is, none of them is willing to make such a rational change. They're as degenerate as corporate america.

THEY ARE EXAMPLES OF WASTEFUL SPENDING. Not social programs.

Talk about evil that should be fought, where are you mr. bush?!!!

I *love* the solution. If legislators had to live with the same programs as the rest of us, we'd sure be better off. In a just world....

That's all I see

gin

www.snopes.com

I believe it is a hoax.

http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/pensions.htm

<snip>
It is not true that Congressmen "paid nothing in on any kind of retirement," and that their pension money "comes right out of the General Fund." Whether members of Congress participate in the older Civil Service Retirement System or the newer Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS), their pensions are funded through a combination of general tax provisions and contributions from the participants. Right now, members of Congress in the FERS plan must pay 1.3% of their salary to FERS and 6.2% in Social Security taxes.

* As of 1998, the average annuity for retired members of Congress was $50,616 for those who retired under CSRS and $46,908 for those who retired under FERS. Not bad, but not the highway robbery this piece makes it out to be.

gin

I must confess most of the details escape my Sunday morning addled mind, but all of it is distorted or at least misleading. For instance I believe it says that congress retirees get 100% of their pay as retirement income. They just receive a raise to $150,000/yr.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2001/12/10/172121.shtml

For Byrd to receive 7.8 million in retirement pay he would have to live an additional 52 years, so without looking up congressional retirements benefits you can see this is a load of crap!

Congress, as all federal employees are not in the SS system. This part at least is true.

I am sure many more people know more of the details of this for you to refute it and send it back to educate yoiur friends and relatives.
:kick:

to may sister was; Funny how they always refer to Byrd and Bradley when sending this around. However they completely ignore the fact that Gerald Ford was appointed VP then ascended to the presidency when Nixon retired. He is now approaching thirty years of drawing the retirement package of POTUS, the retirement pay, secret service protection, office expense, etc., while never having successfully run for that office. So, how much has that Republican cost us?

1) You don't pay into SS every payday. You do until you hit the cap at the point when you earn $85,000. Above that, you don't pay FICA.

2) SS isn't a trust fund that's invested to return the money to you. Your FICA is going into the general fund, and that fund is used to pay current retirees. During Clinton, we were collecting more in FICA than we were paying out from the general fund to SS recipients. That was the "surplus" that Gore wanted to put into a "lockbox." The AWOL stood next to him in one of the debates with his head going like one of those dolls -- bobble, bobble. "Oh yes," says he, "that's what I'm going to do, too."

Well, guess what folks...we're spending that money to kill our soldiers in Iraq and thousands of Iraqis too. This is all laid out in Krugman's book. If the people of this country ever figure that out, Whistle Ass would be on the next train out of Washington. How I wish our candidates would pick up on this.

That amount is significantly above the average yearly income of Americans. Middle class and working class Americans pay into SS every payday.

That if and when you pass it on, you replace all the dem names with reThugs.

are still way too generous in my opinion, but they are now in social security. That was embarrassing and was changed.

The only large group that is currently still not in social security is most public school teachers. That should be changed too. Just that one change would do much to improve the solvency of the system.