Let’s say you’re a person who has been paying into social security your whole life but you never married or had children. You die before reaching the age to collect social security. Who gets the money that you paid for? The answer is nobody, they just keep it. Let’s say your spouse dies before you and your children are grown. Who gets your benefits when you die? The answer is nobody, they just keep it. I have a friend that lost her husband when she was 58 years old and her children were grown. She had to wait until she turned 60 before she could start collecting his benefits. She is now collecting his benefits but still having to work because it’s not enough for her to survive on. She is having to pay into social security for her current job but she will never collect one penny from the money she is currently paying for because she is only allowed to collect on either her husband’s or her own but not both. Why? Didn’t both husband and wife pay into social security? Why shouldn’t she be able to collect from both? The only way a couple can collect from both is to collect it while both are still alive. We become eligible at the age of 62 but we are encouraged to wait until we are 67 because we will collect more each month. However, is it really more? If we wait until we are 67, how much have we collected by the time we are 67? The answer is “0” and we have missed out on 5 years of benefits that we could have already received. I believe they are playing the odds in hope that people will die before they collect. None of us have control or know when we will die. How many people do you think die between the age of 62-67 while waiting and never collect any money they have paid for? I have done the math and it’s astonishing. In addition to all of this, they are also collecting from illegal aliens that are using fake social security numbers that will never and should never collect any benefits. With the technology that exists today there is no excuse for the system they use to not be programmed to immediately create an alert the moment a duplicate ss# is being used. Some people will argue that it’s not the social security administration’s job to do this but it’s the employer’s responsibility to verify each applicant by using e-verify before they hire. However, E-Verify is not being enforced as a law to all employers in the country. It varies from state to state so only honest employers use it while corrupt employers that live in a state that is not enforcing it continue to hire illegals because they know they can get away with it. Every time this has been attempted to make it a law nationwide, it has not passed. Here is a good article that shows how E-Verify is not being enforced.
The truth is that social security has been collecting billions for decades from people that they will never pay benefits to. No one can convince me that they are paying out more benefits than what they collect. Yet, they have the nerve to tell us that social security is going broke and I’ve been hearing that my whole life.
Isn't this one of the reasons its still afloat at all? With all of the recently found fraud this is even more apparent. Now when I look at this as a country on the whole as a "capitalist collected, semi-socialist distributed" system this kind of imbalance is needed and actually a positive in the system. This has to do with how long social security is paid out vs. how much has been contributed. For example, if someone collects social security until they are 105, or even 95 this would mean they would be collecting greater than they put in. So in a levelling type of effort to keep paying out social security in these cases there needs to be more than just "you put this much in and so should get this much out" behind the scenes. I would argue that there needs to be non-compensation based measures in place like this in order for the system to last. I also believe that it is or can-be an excellent system for Americans in general and a plus for living in this great country. If that means some things can be perceived as unfair because not all that goes in per individual goes out to that individual in order to provide more to someone else that happens to live far longer than the system could account for I think that is acceptable. I'm just offering another take on this in kind of a devil's advocate stance, although I do agree with it personally for the most part. I also think that once the majority of the fraud has been dealt with it will or "should" be seen that it isn't going broke. Wouldn't it be great if there was a slight surplus? something that could be quantified and distributed out? The goal of course would be to have no surplus apart from a reasonable cushion. Ok, my two cents on this. Thanks for the topic.
I see what you’re saying but wouldn’t it make sense for the Social Security administration to be investing the money they collect in a way to gain interest to make up for for the low percentage of people that that out live what they put in? I don’t think they are doing that and could be an easy solution. I’m not sure of the actual numbers of how many people live to be 95 or older but seems like it is probably a small percentage.
I wouldn't trust the government to invest in anything. That is all they need is a pile of money to give out to their friends for shady investment deals.
You are right about that but isn’t it sad that we can’t trust our government to do the right thing with our money?
True that. They can't be trusted with what they already have much less give them even more to play with. It just ends up in their own pockets and those of their crony friends, not ours. We are simply the leeks to be harvested.
I agree with this also... neither is a full solution I don't think.