"jim rozen" wrote in message
...
In article , Harold & Susan Vordos says...

I, for years, resented having to pay into SS. I've already made mention
of
the fact that I had to pay both halves, so I know and understand all too
well how you might have your feelings, which I also shared. I recall
all
too well having paid what I thought was a fair amount on my quarterly
estimates, only to be hit by a $5,000 tab when I filed my taxes one
particular year. For the most part, it was due to SS fees, which were
far
and away higher than my tax tab, and were rising rapidly. SS is a
stupid
idea that has gotten completely out of control, but I paid and paid
dearly,
so I expect to receive the benefits. The government was unwilling to
exempt
me when I hoped they would. I'm not too keen on the idea of letting
them
(us?) off the hook now. The money I may have put away for my living
expenses was taken from me by them (us?) without my permission. I had no
choice other than to face possible imprisonment for not paying. .

But that's like any other tax. They taxed you to pay for
somebody elses retirement - and now they're taxing me, to
pay for yours.

Nothing prevented you from putting away more money for retirement,
and nothing prevents the government from telling me, you ain't
getting nothing back. But remember, nothing prevents them
from saying the same to you - sorry, but there's no more money
to give you, and seeing as we're gonna 'starve the beast' and
cut Jim's taxes, your benefit is going to be drastically reduced.

Yup, I'm operating on the assumption that SS will not be paying benefits to
me or anybody younger than me. In addition, it probably won't be paying
benefits to people even somewhat older than me.

All this stuff that looks like cast in stone entitlement, really
isn't. I learned that when my pension was taken away by my
employer.

I had an interesting epiphany around 1999 when my (large company based in NJ
and run by Tony Soprano types with MBAs) employer forced every employee in
the company - 100,000+ - to choose between the traditional pension plan and
a cash balance plan. I'm a long way from retirement, and I had to face up to
the recognition that (1) I couldn't possibly trust the thieving executives
to fulfill the current commitments (medical + the federally-protected
defined benefits) of the traditional pension plan even until I retired, and
(2) they wanted me to know that they didn't think we'd be long-term
employees - new employees only had access to the cash balance plan. I took
the cash balance with me when I left the company a few years later and
they've now significantly cut the medical benefits to current retirees.

Pete