Social Security falls short in ethical test

[dixielib]

On truth: "How many of you feel that the federal government and our media have consistently and completely told us the truth about these programs, including their fiscal and generational imbalances?"

On fairness: "How many think it is fair to vote for ever increasing benefits for people over 65 and leave the whopping bills for people who can't even vote or have not even been born?

"How many think it is fair that many corporate executives are going to jail today for misstating their financials and our federal government is not being held to the same financial accounting standards that it requires of businesses?"

On good will and better friendships: "How many of you still working feel a lot of good will knowing that 15.3 percent of your payroll is going to pay for Social Security retirement and Medicare benefits for Warren Buffett, Ross Perot and Boone Pickens, just to name a few?

"How much good will do you think your children and grandchildren are going to feel toward you when their payroll taxes take off toward 20 percent so that you can enjoy these benefits?"

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/business/2976262

What is this dude smoking???

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. Two comments come to mind on the first two points:

(1) If Christian Republican Americans want even a hint that they are good Christians, they would give gladly to Social Security to help those over 65.

(2) Wicked CEOs who can't balance their budgets deserve jail time, just like wicked CEOS who run the U.S. government and run up the deficit.

[teryang]

2. Oil company CEOs- paragons of virtue

...that's where I go to get my ethics training - to the rotary.

The questions aren't even truthful but are misrepresentations. It isn't 15 percent of the payroll, it's half that. The other half is paid primarily by, suprise, the corporate employer.

Social security benefits haven't increased, they have been indexed to the COLA.

The people who are dishonest are people like Greenspan, who promote attacks on social security but who have been collecting it for many years- in fact, collecting it in an aggregrate amount well in excess of what they paid in because of their excessive longevity.

The only crisis in Social Security is that their funds have been converted to general revenues over the years to pay, primarily, the defense budget and other corporate subsidy programs while corporations have steadily reduced the amount of corporate taxes they pay.

Let's see I've paid social security for 38 years, now they want to eviscerate it.

[dixielib]

3. I've paid in for 45 years

And it really pisses me off that they are trying to lay a guilt trip on me about my children and grandchildren. And who do they think is going to pay off their deficit? Who is going to pay for the 1 to 2 trillion to convert to private accounts? I have a 401B that has taken a beating in the last few years. It is doing a bit better now, but I need to save that for major purchases, etc. I need SS to live day to day when I retire, hopefully in two years. They make it sound like it is some kind of charity. I PAID INTO THE SYSTEM! I am not asking for a government handout. I have worked since I was 15. I worked double shifts (am an RN) to educate my child so he would make more than twice what I do...and pay more than I do into the system. How many of you did the same? Now your children are contributing more than we did. Don't we get some payback? I am supposed to feel guilty because his contributions are helping pay me my well earned retirement? I don't think so!

[tsuki]

4. It is 15.3% of your payroll. Your employer matches the 7.65%

for FICA and MEDICARE. That is the employee's money, not the employer's.

As a small business owner, when I figure yearly pay raises, I must take into account the cost of medical insurance, social security, federal and state unemployment, worker's compensation and the simple IRA we have.

I look at the previous five years, and the projections of the coming year, plus the cost of the employee benefit package to determine the pay raise for the next year.

Just because there is not a line deduction for all of the above expenses does not mean that you are not paying the costs. You are. It is YOUR money and YOU pay it. You just don't write the check.

[teryang]

5. I was a small employer for eight years

It came out of my corporate account. If I didn't pay it, the money would be the corporation's, not theirs. It is an employer obligation not the individual's.

This is why the corporate world hates social security. Unlike income taxes it is a tax obligation they can't evade or avoid.

[tsuki]

6. I am an "S" corporation, so I operate under different rules.

It is the employer's obligation, but in the end, it comes out of an employee's wage.

[teryang]

7. It comes out of an employee's wage when self employed

Otherwise, employer must pay half. That half when employed by another, doesn't come from the employee's wage at all.