Socail Security now called a "Federal Benefit" - Part 1

Social Security is a plan where you and your employer, on your behalf, make deposits on every payday to a federal retirement program, supposedly for your benefit.

The key is that the money paid by you and your employer into any Social Security fund (formerly called a lockbox, but I digress) in truth belongs only to you because you and your employer(s) paid into the fund for your benefit. It should be 100% your money that's deposited for your use at a designated age or circumstance. Of course, we all realize it really doesn't work this way.

Part of this money goes to pay premiums to an insurance policy on your behalf. That's a separate account from the retirement account, with monetary benefits to be paid in the event you become disabled and unable to hold a full-time job after paying into that account for a minimum of 40 quarters, or 10 years. In both cases, that's money you're counting on to be there when you need it.

It's much like your bank or Credit Union account; they also fund with your money for your use, except you can withdraw that at any time - no one else can use that money; only you. In both instances, the money is 100% your money. If anyone, a banker, an unemployed thief or any other person not named by you on your account somehow gains access to that bank account and withdraws some or all of your money, we call that theft or bank fraud. We arrest the perpetrator and imprison them. We also usually are awarded restitution to be paid by the thief. Yet when Congress raids your Social Security account for the purpose of funding some unrelated program, that's somehow deemed legal. Huh - What?

This is just a short explanation of what Social Security was designed and the way the program was explained when the U.S. government designed it and sold it to us. It would serve each depositor as a sort of rainy day emergency fund which we paid for and from which we would be the beneficiaries when we reached a certain age. The sale was closed and we bought into the Social Security Act back in 1935. So far, so good.

In later years, however, it appears our government began to see Social Security as *their* slush fund to be used for pet projects when other funds were unavailable. Starting in 1969 under President Lyndon Johnson, Social Security funds were included in what was then called the "Unified Budget". According to the federal government, specifically the Social Security Administration, in 1990 the practice ended, and the Social Security funds were returned to their own separate account. How much money was drained from the Social Security Trust Fund and used for other purposes during those 22 years? That answer has thus far managed to elude us.

Today on Facebook, I saw a post by a friend regarding this Social Security Trust Fund and how the government has now decided to describe it. That post will be cut and pasted as soon as I receive his permission to do so. Once that permission is received, I'll provide it on this blog for you to read. You can then form your own opinions. Please be sure to express those opinions in the comment section below!

Stay tuned...