Announcement! Social Security And Medicare ARE NOT ENTITLEMENTS!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

We all have paid good money into these retirement plans and to have them being called Entitlements, as if they are welfare programs is a fucking lie.

[CleanGreenFuture]

1. Um...you should check the definition of "entitlement"

en·ti·tle·ment/enˈtītlmənt - Noun
1. The fact of having a right to something.
2. The amount to which a person has a right

You actually SAID THAT yourself: '

"We all have paid good money into these retirement plans..."

That is the definition of an "entitlement"

[Peregrine Took]

9. Um, ...they're actually called "transfer programs." n/t

[CleanGreenFuture]

10. So? What does that have to do with the definition of "entitlement"?

[pipi_k]

2. Wrong.

Because we paid into them, they ARE "entitlements".

As in we are entitled to receive them because they are OURS.

[MilesColtrane]

3. Entitlement is not a dirty word.

[begin_within]

4. They should be basic functions that are independent of politics.

[KittyWampus]

5. Yes, they are Entitlements. Just like, as American cititzens, we're entitled to various Rights as

delineated in the Constitution.

[NightWatcher]

6. see, the pukes have fucked up the language. Entitlement=bad word in their book

the same as

Liberal, Social Justice, and others are now cursed words. We are entitled to medicare and social security because they are ours, and that's not a bad thing.


Frank Luntz fucked us up. Millionaires are now "job creators" and letting a tax cut expire is now a "tax hike"

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

7. I am wrong, they are Entitlements but Like the word Liberal, Entitlement has become a dirty word.

This makes stealing from us as fair game....

[JHB]

14. Running away from the word won't help, as with "liberal"...

...you'll just be accused of not admitting you were wrong.

Better to throw it back at them and point out the switcheroo: they spent years railing against how much of the Federal budget was devoted to entitlements, and implied it all went to welfare programs when most of it was SS and Medicare. Now that "welfare as we knew it" is gone, they're reversing their terminology trick to imply that SS and Medicare are "welfare".

[veganlush]

8. entitlement is the right word...

..we paid in, we're entitled to the benefit, it's just that they changed the meaning of words by constantly saying them to their simple followers in a negative way. The words communism and socialism are perfect examples. The words "commune" and "community" are rooted in the same word. In a commune, equal work gets equal spoils. In a community, taypayers pitch-in for equal services, like firefighters, police, garbage collection, etc...ask your favorite right-winger which socialist programs he would keep if it was up to him. Would he keep the military, the police, the firefighters, the library....? they need to be told what socialism is so they can stop railing against it...

[JoePhilly]

11. You mean we're NOT "entitled" to them? nt

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

12. Actually they are

but the words seems to been twisted to be a bad thing; ala liberal
:bounce: Language is important and we are ignoring it..........

[lumberjack_jeff]

13. "Keep government hands off my medicare."

a) social security isn't a retirement plan, it's insurance.
b) the fact that you've paid the premiums (eg taxes) ENTITLES you to benefits.
c) welfare is the opposite of an entitlement. Welfare beneficiaries are not entitled to benefits except to the degree that legislators see fit.

[econoclast]

15. Despite the fact that SS has been marketed to us as insurance ...

Or as a retirement pension plan , you realize that is NOT how the program works. Not DESIGNED to work like that.

Our contributions made during lives fund the benefits of current retirees. If anything is left over it gets invested in US Treasuries. That's how it works. That is how it has ALWAYS worked. That how it was designed. Which is fine as kong as there are always more youngsters than oldsters.

When we retire, our benefits will come from 2 sources - 1: those US Treasuries being redeemed and 2: the contributions made by the younger/working/taxpaying generations.

Currently, there enough taxpayers and Treasuries to support current planned benefits until 2036. After that, if the younger/working/taxpaying generations pay SS taxes at the same percentages that we did, there is only enough revenue to support benefits of about .77cents on the dollar of planned benefits.

The demographic fact us that there will be lots more of us oldsters and lots fewer of those youngsters than ever before. So the question is how many additional dollars do we want to tax those future generations to pay us off in our retirement?

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

16. If the wealthiest continued to pay FICA throughout the year, much of the

problem would be solved.....but goddess forbid that! :puke: