Why is the Obama Administration calling Social Security an Entitlement?

Question

Social Security IS NOT an entitlement


Remember, not only did you contribute to Social Security but your employer did too. It totaled 15% of your income before taxes. If you averaged only $30K over your working life, that's close to $220,500.

If you calculate the future value of $4,500 per year (yours & your employer's contribution) at a simple 5% (less than what the govt. pays on the money that it borrows), after 49 years of working you'd have $892,919.98.

If you took out only 3% per year, you'd receive $26,787.60 per year and it would last better than 30 years (until you're 95 if you retire at age 65) and that's with no interest paid on that final amount on deposit! If you bought an annuity and it paid 4% per year, you'd have a lifetime income of $2,976.40 per month.

The folks in Washington have pulled off a bigger Ponzi scheme than Bernie Madhoff ever had.

Entitlement my ***, I paid cash for my social security insurance!!!! Just because they borrowed the money, doesn't make my benefits some kind of charity or handout!!

Congressional benefits ---- free healthcare, outrageous retirement packages, 67 paid holidays, three weeks paid vacation, unlimited paid sick days, now that's welfare, and they have the nerve to call my social security retirement entitlements?

We're "broke" and can't help our own Seniors, Veterans, Orphans, Homeless

In the last months we have provided aid to Haiti , Chile , and Turkey . And now Pakistan ......home of bin Laden. Literally, BILLIONS of DOLLARS!!!

Our retired seniors living on a 'fixed income' receive no aid nor do they get any breaks while our government and religious organizations pour Hundreds of Billions of $$$$$$'s and Tons of Food to Foreign Countries!

They call Social Security and Medicare an entitlement even though most of us have been paying for it all our working lives and now when it’s time for us to collect, the government is running out of money. Why did the government borrow from it in the first place? Imagine if the *GOVERNMENT* gave 'US' the same support they give to other countries.

Sad isn't it?

Answer 1

Sad indeed. But although most people see it as an investment, Social Security is simply a tax. The benefits are not guaranteed, insured or forecast. Just like you, I've paid into Social Security for decades, but I ain't vested...and neither are you or anyone else. Political expediency and economic reality government how the government collects and spends it's money, and you can bet your social security check, that those benefits are at risk. It really is a Ponzi scheme, in which recipients are paid by the receipts from new players. As the number of new players dwindle and the recipients grow, then the scam falls aparts. Responsible economists and Republican Legislators have been pointing this out for decades and now... it's finally time for the SXXXX to hit the fan. Next election, think carefully about which party gets your vote...

Answer 2

I do not think they should call things entitlements. Food Stamps are an entitlement. Medicaid is an entitlement. SSI is an entitlement.



Definition of ENTITLEMENT

1 the state or condition of being entitled : right : a right to benefits specified especially by law or contract

2 a government program providing benefits to members of a specified group; also: funds supporting or distributed by such a program

3 belief that one is deserving of or entitled to certain privileges



I don't understand why everyone seems to think they are entitled. If you have never put money into something you are not entitled to take the money others have put in.

The government provides these programs with our money. Those who put in should get out. I know that sounds harsh but there are people that never work except for working the system. And I deal with these people everyday so I know what I am talking about.

Answer 3

Here's the dictionaries definition of "entitlement" -



A right to benefits specified; especially by law or contract.



A government program providing benefits to members of a specified group; also funds supporting or distributed by such a program.



A belief that one is deserving of entitlement to certain privileges.



Examples: My entitlement to a refund.

Entitlement e.g. medical aid for the elderly and poor



If Social Security doesn't meet the definition of an "entitlement" program, I don't know what does. If people pay into the program long enough they will, by law, become "entitled" to a monthly benefit and Medicare.



Those people who are scaring Americans by making them believe that Social Security won't be there for them should be shot. They are acting irresponsibly. Social Security is solvent and will continue to be so long after we are gone. Congress will continue to reduce benefits, I"m sure, and whether they like it or not they will eventually raise the FICA tax limits and probably the rate of the tax. And once the baby boomers are dead, there will probably be increases in the benefit amounts because there will be a healthy ratio of those paying into the program vs those receiving again.



And, by the way, EVERY administration, beginning with Roosevelt, refers to Social Security as an entitlement program. Your failure to see it as an entitlement program makes you appear to be stupid. You may not like the program but it doesn't change the entitlement nature of the program.

Answer 4

I am not confused by the nomenclature. Things like social security and medicare are benefit programs you funded through your contribution and are EXPECTED to collect because you paid for them. Programs like medicaid and food stamps are actual entitlements. Congress should restore funding to the aforementioned non-entitlement packages to their "pre-borrowed" state with the accrued interest, then pay the entitlements out of what is left.

Answer 5

Welfare is not part of the entitlements. Welfare is a social welfare program. Entitlements are Medicare and Social Security benefits.



The language of the SS Act refers to it as "entitlement insurance".



Social Security is 6.2% of your payroll check. This year it is only 4.2%

Answer 6

I do not have a problem with calling it an entitlement. I have a big problem when they call it welfare. Unlike welfare you are only entitled to it if you paid into it, and according to what YOU paid into it. Welfare is taxpayer funded based on need and qualifications, beneficiaries did not pay into.

Answer 7

I got it before I read your last line. You have to realize that you have an IQ over 140 and most of the people here have IQs under 110. It'a ll about IQ. Do you know thanks to republicans everyone had jobs till Obama became President?

Answer 8

SS is a insurance Medicare a entitlement.

Answer 9

You are confused: democrats called it entitlements because you paid into it and you are entitled to have the money back.

But republicans tried to call it handouts and then claimed that people are lazy to receive handouts.

Therefore, the republicans are the ones insulting people who are entitled to receive what they actually put in. And, the GOP are the ones who have been trying to cut spending by cutting from the social security funds (from your entitlements), and did you see Obama always insisting that "social security is off the table" - meaning Obama does not want the social security to be cut (from Americans' entitlements). Therefore, Obama takes care of Americans.



EDIT: Please do not play around with words. If you put money into the bank, you are "ENTITLED" to do what you want with the money (instruct the bank to invest in portfolios or withdraw anytime you wish) OR in another word, you have the right to do whatever you want with the money. Those money are under your "TITLE" or "NAME" and you are conferred the rights to do anything with it.

Answer 10

Compare rates free

Answer 11

Social Security Disability Information - http://DisabilityHelp.siopu.com/?ztI

Answer 12

Social Security Disability Guide - http://DisabilityHelp.siopu.com/?emh

Answer 13

Ummmmmm are you confusing entitled with unentitled

Answer 14

totally agree.

Answer 15

Sanity has it right.