I too am concerned about my Social Security.
There are forces out there wanting you to 'hate' undocument immigrants.
A recent petition was sent to me that read in part.
"We, the undersigned, protest the bill that the Senate voted on
recently which would allow illegal aliens to access our Social Security.
W e demand that you and all Congressional representatives require
citizenship as a prerequisite for social services in the United States .
We further demand that there not be any amnesty given to illegals, NO
free services, no funding, no payments to and for illegal immigrants.
We are fed up with the lack of action about this matter and are tired
of paying for services to illegals. "
I just turned fifty last year and have been paying taxes and Social Security taxes since I was twelve years old.
But the basic premise of the petition is incorrect, our social security is not in danger because of possible payments to undocumented immigrants. Undocumented immigrants DO pay taxes, they pay social security, sales taxes, etc. they just never get to collect social security benefits because they are undocumented.
Social security is 'in danger' because our leaders from both parties have for 30 years been raiding the social security trust funds to finance our debt. The money that should be there for our retirement, to provide a modicum of dignity to us in our old age has been spent, and the government does not know how, nor does it particularly want to put it back.
Al Gore in 2000 had pledged to restore those funds by putting the surplus into a "lock box" that congress would not be able to spend (if you remember that). This of course was not allowed to happen. Republicans especially who have hated the 'New Deal" and "social anything" for years have been trying to kill this program and others that they collectively call "entitlements".
This money belongs to the people who have paid into the system for decades. If this were any corporation in America and the management had spent the employees pensions, they would all be going to jail, but this is the government, our elected leaders, and they will not be charged with any crime, although it is certainly a crime to have 'stolen' this money from retirees.
Now the government is telling you more lies, that undocumented immigrants are a threat to your money, they are telling our children that we retirees are a threat to thier money, pitting children against their parents in an effort to destroy these programs, (medicaid, Medicare and Social Security).
They cannot or will not put the money back so they will destroy the programs with lies and strangle it by making it impossible to repay those stolen funds. If you want to put in a petition to Bush, as futile as that would be, it should be aimed at letting him know that using our retirement funds to fund the deficit spending of congress that we have paid into for decades is unacceptable, and demand that the money be put back.
Social security was designed by accountants, it works, it works just fine, it is not broken, it is broke, it is broke because our elected leaders have spent the money, and left us with IOUs that they cannot or will not honor and payback.
Our national deficit is at record levels, thanks to Bush and a republican controlled congress. This is not a situation that was unforeseen or unavoidable, it is deliberately manufactured to dismantle the social programs that many many millions of Americans will depend on for a little dignity in their old age.
They cannot vote to eliminate these popular and vital social programs so they will strangle them by stealing the funding and ballooning the debt..
We are told now that we have NO CHOICE but to accept lower benefits or higher taxes, that is untrue, of course, another lie, they can and must make social security whole again, and only when people understand what has been done to them can we begin to put the pressure on our elected leaders to 'do the right thing'.
Don't hold your breath.
P.S. keep in mind that our elected leaders and republicans especially want you to hate, hate so called 'illegal aliens' hate gays, hate Muslims, etc. etc. hate clouds the mind , dulls the judgment, and muddies the waters of intelligent and rational discussion of the 'real' issues.
Don't be suckered in, undocumented immigrants are doing the 'lowest' jobs in our society in the worst conditions , for the lowest pay, they are hunted and preyed upon and taken advantage of by all sorts of miscreants, criminals and the government. It is not a 'free ride' to be an undocumented immigrant in America, it is often a nightmare.
All Americans are immigrants, (unless your a full blooded Cherokee), together these immigrants send millions of dollars back to their home countries, this money supports many more millions in the developing world, from the Phillipines to Quatemala. And our economy depends in these workers. The monied elite in America does not want this undocumented population to go away, they depend on their low wage workers and 'disposable' people to work in their businesses. What they want is to NOT have them gain any rights, because with rights comes the ability to demand fair wages, to protest or to sue for criminal treatment. They like their 'slave' labor and in fact are addicted to it.
The bush administration for all it's warts, foibles, incompetence and illegal activities had one very good idea, to document these people and create what it called as a 'guest worker program'. It's not amnesty, but a program to begin to document and deal with this vital part of our work force, and treat these people with dignity and humanity. Cheap lettuce and lawn work is hardly a trade off for keeping these people in slavelike conditions, at least not for an enlightened society. To control this situation and live up to our own stated morals and principles, we must be able to know who is in our country, and what they are doing here. Requiring businesses to ensure that employees are documented, fairly treated and paid.
MTMIND
Michael Trachtenberg
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