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    Social Security is Not an Entitlement

    By Dan McGinnis | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Sat, Jul 16, 2011
    This story comes from the Yahoo! Contributor Network, where individuals publish their unique perspectives on some of the world’s most popular websites.
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    COMMENTARY | Social Security is not an entitlement -- it is an obligation.

    It infuriates me every time I hear someone in Washington refer to Social Security as one of the entitlement programs. When I look at my paycheck stub, I see a mandatory deduction for Social Security. I have no voice in the amount or how it is invested or what I will receive in return.

    Every year around my birthday, the government sends me a statement in the mail with the estimate of how much I will get each year when I receive my Social Security checks. That is not an entitlement; the government has been taking my money since I got my first job at age 14.

    Maybe one of the problems in the halls of Congress is that they need to draw some of that Social Security to understand the pains the American people have every single time we hear that they might adjust the retirement age a little higher, reduce benefits, suspend a cost-of-living adjustment or -- as they are currently threatening -- delay making the monthly payment to seniors.

    Members of Congress do not participate in the Social Security program. They have their own pension plan for federal workers. How nice. But if Social Security is the mandatory safety net retirement benefit for Americans, then all Americans need to participate in it.

    I doubt the Social Security trust fund would have been raided -- or placed in the dire condition it is today -- if members of Congress had to pay into the system as well. They are masters at protecting their own skins, so I've got to believe they would have insured the trust fund was in good condition all along.

    Too late for that. Oh well, it was a good idea. Here's another one: force them to join the Social Security system today and I bet they'll have it fixed before the end of the year.

    So, stop calling Social Security an entitlement. It is an obligation my country owes to every single senior citizen who has contributed throughout their lifetime to support the generation before them. It's their money and the government has no greater responsibility then to provide for those who have provided for it throughout their life.

     
     
    Top Locations Venice Madison Dallas

    467 comments

    • Jo
      Jo  •  10 mths ago
      All politicians should earn minimum wage, get insurance only if they can afford to pay for it, and if they need to travel, let them pay for the gas. Oh, and stop sending our money to help other countries, like Pakistan.
      • g
        g 10 mths ago
        I agree completely.....Why can't they live like the people they represent or say they represent....Our politicians have gone to hell in a handbasket and so is this country....
      • paul
        paul 10 mths ago
        This suggestion makes no sense. If we did what you proposed (cut congressional pay), every congressman/woman would have their hand out to the lobbyists every day.

        We should pay congresscritters MORE money so that they aren't subject to being bribed or shaken down for votes by the legions of lobbyists that swarm capitol hill. Really, I think for the work that they do (high pressure) it's a pretty demanding job. They have to live away from home most of the year, and they have to campaign for re-election every two years. I wouldn't want to do it myself.
      • gyrls7
        gyrls7 10 mths ago
        Civil Service Employees should pay social security. Those high salaries that they are paid would be a tremendous help with budget deficit
    • American
      American  •  10 mths ago
      The government should be made; for we are all equal; to have SS monies extracted out of their pay checks as well!!!!!!!
    • None
      None  •  10 mths ago
      I agree 100%, and I have watched and listened for a long time. America is dying, we are being bled dry by our own government, and by OPEC. And now they are picking on our Fathers and Mothers, and Grandparents. How long as Americans are we going to sit back and let this happen. It says in the Constitution if our Government is corrupt, tear it down and rebuild it. There needs to be a movement in America, before we are all living in the streets, Again America is no longer the land of the free. We are all slaves to our corrupt government.
      • David,Kristi
        David,Kristi 10 mths ago
        Then lets quit talking about it and DO IT!
    • Taylor
      Taylor  •  10 mths ago
      I agree 100%. It makes me ill when i hear that it is an entitlement as i paid into it from the time i started working and i am now 65. It was set up as a trust that was never supposed to be "raided" but it was. If I do not receive a check for any reason, then i consider it theft by the government.
    • Jack Slade
      Jack Slade  •  10 mths ago
      Obama is full of manure up to his eyebrows, and the rest is sawdust~!!!
    • brando97
      brando97  •  10 mths ago
      I also agree, Congress and Sentate should receive their benefits from Social Security at the same rate as the rest of us.. They should also have to rely on Medicare medicaid. Think how good these programs would be.
    • Gene
      Gene  •  10 mths ago
      The US Congress voted to STEAL the Social Security trust fund so they could spend it on their own high salaries, perks, retirement ( after one term ) and full medical.
    • Art
      Art  •  10 mths ago
      I agree with this article.
    • Jose T
      Jose T  •  10 mths ago
      Remeber it was obamanazi who said seniors might not get their checks. He believes it is an entitlement. One more hope and change.
    • brando97
      brando97  •  10 mths ago
      Also a congressman should be faced with the same requirements the rest of have to endure to retire. If you don't have the years of service you cannot retire or have to retire at reduced benefits. No more golden parachutes. I for one am tired of millionairre politicians giving millionaires tax breaks that the rest of us pay for. It is true the rich always get richer in America because they just keep voting themselves raises and releif. Talk about entitlement programs. These are the entitlement programs that need to stop.
    • WHO CARES
      WHO CARES  •  10 mths ago
      Tea baggers just interested in low tax because most are wealthy, let others fight for their country///poor or middle class///while they sit and live the good life
      • joe
        joe 10 mths ago
        You are so foolish...
      • Tex the merciless
        Tex the merciless 10 mths ago
        Look up Pelosi and john kerry and see how rich they are you idiot.
      • Ron
        Ron 10 mths ago
        9 of the 10 wealthiest in congress are democrats but let's not complicate any of this discussion with facts.
    • Anonymous wizard
      Anonymous wizard  •  10 mths ago
      I agree. It's the latest spin by folks fronting the ever growing corporate powers infiltrating the government. What you've already paid into is entitlement?! WAKE UP! The Christian Left needs to speak out.
    • brando97
      brando97  •  10 mths ago
      But back to the topic, Social Security is a PONZI scheme that has gone on for decades. I fthe money had been invested as it should it would not run out. Those who paid little in would get little out as they should. I for one want my Social Security paid to me in gold please. Its there in Fort KNox. I would also take gold certificates or oil certificates.
    • A Yahoo! User  •  10 mths ago
      It's time to start kicking some of these politicians in the teeth.
    • K B
      K B  •  10 mths ago
      Amen Amen Amen!
    • boxcar bertha
      boxcar bertha  •  10 mths ago
      right on ............ just another example of government out of control...
    • Dianna
      Dianna  •  Dallas, Texas  •  1 mth 17 days ago
      If they do away with Social Security and Medicare then Mom and Dad will need to live with their kids again and not just Mom and Dad, but Mom-in-law and Dad-in-law. Hope they all get along. If that's not a pretty picture, then voters had better speak up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    • LanMan
      LanMan  •  Venice, Florida  •  2 mths ago
      There are significant inaccuracies here. Howe can I believe any of it? The biggest is that congress does NOT participate in Social Security. They have since 1984. The next is that the "trust fund" has been raided. Not really. The Social security act of 1936 provided that all excess funds be invested in a special issue T-Bill that is only sold to SSA and can not be resold. Please if you are going to write an authoritative sounding piece get you act together AND RESEARCH it. I also fault your editors for not fact checking.A high school student with internet could have done better
    • Mary Kay T
      Mary Kay T  •  Madison, Wisconsin  •  4 mths ago
      John McCain draws SS benefits.
    • Old Dude
      Old Dude  •  10 mths ago
      Rise up before it's too late...Vote for new independent blood and not for the same old same old....
     Post a comment
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