No need to worry about your 401k, democrats would like to absord it into the Social Security system.
Posted By: nm on 2008-11-12
In Reply to: Oh geez -- my 401K is now LESS than half of - what it was worth last spring.
xx
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isn't that social security?
We already pay 7.5 of income to social security and employers pay an additional 7.5%. An IC pays the full 15% themself. Is this 5% in addition to that, replacing that or what? Can you provide additional information or a source for such?
Re: Social Security
Yes, I applied in April of 2008. Was denied. Filed Request for Reconsideration. Was denied. Am now awaiting a hearing, which might take another year. Since my initial application, I've developed a few more diseases, and I'm hoping to talk with my lawyer today to see if we can send a "Dire Need Letter," since the situation is now dire.
As far as quarters, I have plenty of them and was even told when I applied how much I could expect to receive each month.
I never, EVER thought I would be in a position like this. If anything, I've softened my attitude about "those people" who are forced to take advantage of government assistance. You just never know when it might happen to you. 
You don't believe in Social Security and Medicare?
What would your plan be for the elderly population then?
No drug laws? I thought libertarians only objected to posession of marijuana as a crime. I didn't know you actually objected to all drug laws. So then, you believe all drugs should be legalized?
You don't believe in a standing military. I am not sure I remember that right. It's hard to remember that very long list without it in front of me. So is your plan then that we should all live in a drug-haze, leave all other countries to their own devices and we won't need a military because we won't be bothering anyone and who will care anyway because, of course, we will all be stoned? I can't say that I see any cogent thought behind this list. It's a morally relative list of Doctor Feel Good. I thought libertarians had more sense. What a bummer dude.
I think the quickest way to fix Social Security...
is to make it so politicians have to rely on it when they are of retirement age instead of us paying them their government salary after they leave office.
I think a lot of economic problems would be solved if politicians would have to play by the same rules as the rest of us.
Do you draw social security or do you know
someone who does?
Medicare and social security
This today regarding Social Security and Medicare. For the person below who thought this money could not be used for other purposes, please note the *** paragraphs and the final paragraph stating this administration would run a deficit this year of $1.84 trillion, four times last year's record, and said the deficits will remain above $500 billion every year over the next decade.
Washington – The financial health of Social Security and Medicare, the government's two biggest benefit programs, have worsened because of the severe recession, and Medicare is now paying out more than it receives.
Trustees of the programs said Tuesday that Social Security will start paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes in 2016, one year sooner than projected last year, and the giant trust fund will be depleted by 2037, four years sooner. Medicare is in even worse shape. The trustees said the program for hospital expenses will pay out more in benefits than it collects this year and will be insolvent by 2017, two years earlier than the date projected in last year's report.
*******The trust funds — which exist in paper form in a filing cabinet in Parkersburg, W.Va. — are bonds that are backed by the government's "full faith and credit" but not by any actual assets. That money has been spent over the years to fund other parts of government. To redeem the trust fund bonds, the government would have to borrow in public debt markets or raise taxes.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the head of the trustees group, said the new reports were a reminder that "the longer we wait to address the long-term solvency of Medicare and Social Security, the sooner those challenges will be upon us and the harder the options will be." Geithner said that President Barack Obama was committed to working with Congress to find ways to control runaway growth in both public and private health care expenditures, noting the promise Monday by major health care providers to trim costs by $2 trillion over the next decade. However, Republicans pointed to the newly dire assessments as evidence the Obama administration has failed to come forward with actual entitlement reform to close the funding gaps. "Instead of getting existing public programs in order right now, some are saying we should create a new government-run health insurance plan," Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the Finance Committee, said in a reference to the administration's health care proposals. "When we can't afford the public health plan we have already, does it make sense to add more?" House Republican leader John Boehner said the trustees report "confirms what we already knew: Our nation cannot afford to continue this reckless borrowing and spending spree." The findings in the trustees report, the annual checkup given the two benefit programs, did not come as a surprise. Private economists had been predicting that the dates the programs would begin to pay out more than they take in and the dates the trust funds would be insolvent would occur sooner given the economic recession.
The deep recession, the worst the country has endured in decades, has resulted in a loss of 5.7 million jobs since it began in December 2007. The unemployment rate hit a 25-year high of 8.9 percent in April.
Fewer people working means less being paid into the trust funds for Social Security and Medicare. The Congressional Budget Office recently projected that Social Security will collect just $3 billion more in 2010 than it will pay out in benefits. A year ago, the CBO had projected that Social Security would have a much higher $86 billion cash surplus for the 2010 budget year, which begins Oct. 1. The trustees report projected that Social Security's annual surpluses would "fall sharply this year," then remain at a reduced level in 2010 and be lower in the following years than last year's projections. The report said that the Social Security annual surplus would be eliminated entirely in 2016, reflecting increased demands from the wave of 78 million baby boomers retiring. That means Social Security will have to turn to its trust fund to make up the difference between Social Security taxes and the benefits being paid out beginning in 2016. The trustees projected the trust fund would be depleted in 2037, four years earlier than the 2041 date in last year's report. At that point, the annual Social Security taxes collected would be enough to pay for three-fourths of current benefits through 2083.
*******To tap the trust fund, the government would have to increase borrowing or raise taxes because Social Security bonds exist only as bookkeeping entries. While the government is obligated to redeem those bonds, it has already spent the excess Social Security collections over the years to fund general government operations, providing the trust funds with IOUs.
While the smaller surpluses that will begin this year will not have any impact on Social Security benefit payments, the government will need to borrow more at a time when the federal deficit is already exploding because of the recession and the billions of dollars being spent to prop up a shaky banking system. Medicare's condition is more precarious, reflecting the pressures from soaring health care costs as well as the drop in tax collections. Obama on Monday praised the pledge by the health care industry to achieve $2 trillion in savings on health care costs over the next decade, but it was unclear how much help those pledges would be in achieving Obama's goal of extending coverage to some 50 million uninsured Americans. The administration is pushing Congress to pass legislation in this area this year, preferring to tackle health care before Social Security. The trustees report is likely to set off renewed debate over Social Security and Medicare. Critics have charged that the Obama administration has failed to tackle the most serious problems in the budget — soaring entitlement spending.
*****The administration on Monday revised its federal deficit forecasts upward to project an imbalance this year of $1.84 trillion, four times last year's record, and said the deficits will remain above $500 billion every year over the next decade.
Tax cuts, progressive tax system, social programs
are as American as apple pie and these same policies and initiatives can be found puncuating the pages of our history from the day of our country's inception.
You do not understand Marxism or socialism, or you would be a lot more exercised by the current redistribution of wealth that takes your tax dollars and moves them upward to an elite ruling class that represses and undermines the middle class at the drop of a hat. State ownership of banks, lending institutions and direct personal property "buy outs" (as proposed by McCain certainly smack of Marxism and are not exactly what you could call traditional American values.
Post Office, Social Security
Veterans Health care.
Social Security is a retirement "insurance" sm
as with any insurance you usally do draw more than you pay in! If you have a (for example) $250,000 life insurance policy, do you think you are going to pay in $250,000 for it?
All this complaining about people drawing SS but I tell you if you are paying in and happen to have a catastrophic illness and have to draw disability benefits, you will be glad you paid in.
You might want to Google "mccain privatize social security"
nm
My social security kicks in this April and I am hoping
they have enough left to get me through my life. I am not worried about that basically but I can hardly wait, full retirement age so working, drawing from there- priceless.
A lot of it also has to do with Social Security Disability (SSDI), supposedly the dad......sm
had a back injury years back, so he can also collect SSDI, along with a Worker's Comp claim, along with State supplementation because of the size of the family/income ratio....don't know exactly how it works, really do not want to know, I just see the daughters taking over...as I said, the oldest has two babies a year apart, and the third is on the way, and her little sister is at home, pregnant, no daddies in sight....let's invest in more social workers for each state to work on these cases, cut out the fraud, and can you imagine, state by state, how much money could possibly be recouped this way, medical benefits, food stamps, welfare, rent subsidies...I also have a young woman in the neighborhood living with parents, two small school children, and she gets welfare for the kids and she is on SSDI for "ADHD!" but she goes out and parties!! don't get me started here, I am starting to sound right wing, huh???? ;-)
You consider Social Security and Medicare expanding government projects, t hen?
Help me understand this concept. I am afraid the logic escapes me.
You better not have a 401K
Democrats now want to take your 401K from you and tax the crap out of it beforehand. They also want to set up a government pension where everyone will pay 5% of they pay into a mandated pension plan. Obama is supporting this. Where does it all end? You don't call this complete government takeover? Liberals in the white house will be the death of a free democracy. They will kill this country.
No 401K here either....... sm
In fact, no real savings to speak of. I'm winging it (no pun intended....okay, pun intended) from paycheck to paycheck.
401K
http://www.pensionrights.org/pubs/facts/401(k)-match.html
If you want to blame someone for your 401K,
nm
We will also be trashing our 401K if the O gets in....sm
...and as I've posted before, if it comes right down to it, I WILL stop working and let the govt take care of me.
I now make $60,000 a year, give or take, and work 12 hours a day 7 days a week. I cannot possibly work any more, and I cannot afford to have the O take my money away and give it to people who don't work at all. When that middle class umbrella cuts in half again...and since it's now 120,000, it could be real soon for me.....there's no way, no how I'll stand for more taxes from my blood and sweat as it is.
As my husband says..... We'll quit working, and become good little communists....if it comes right down to it....and if they try to our guns away, we will go down fighting....and if the thought police come to our door because they don't like what we think? Oh well....we'll take a few of them with us.....
1984 will be here...in ol' 2009......and it ain't pretty.
I am STILL pulling for McCain......as Rush says, if we have to drag Yosemite Sam's behind over the finish line, we have to drag it over....and it's gotta be done.....
My husband and I have had the same 401K, of which 1/2 is.....sm
General Dynamic stock, the company he has worked for for 27 years. Well, our stash there is now about half what it was, our retirement, essentially. We are hoping and praying that by staying into the market that we will be able to recoup some of this as the market rebounds..GOD WILLING!!! I am sooooo sorry for all the folk who have gotten hurt in the banking collapse and the crash, so not fair to hard-working Americans. We need stricter laws, I think, stricter regulations once again on banking and corporations. JMHO
401K/retirement fund
You can't "take" your pension and 401K out of the stock market if you are not retirement age. We are stuck with whatever the companies we work for invest in. my husband and I have some choices about where we invest our 401K but they all involve mutual funds, stocks, bonds, etc.
WHAT 401K? Mine evaporated after the
And since my job will probably end up in India soon anyway, I'll be the next one needing a government handout. So bet your bippy I'm voting for a democratic president!
re-did 401k's or IRAs since the election?
i saw a couple of people saying they would if Obama was elected. I re-did mine. Did you?
Oh geez -- my 401K is now LESS than half of
And the feds are now going to buy STOCK in failing companies with the bailout money. Real intelligent. Where's MY 'bailout' ?
Yeah, and if he wins, I will be pulling my 401K
I don't want to pay any more taxes on my 401K than I have to. O wants to tax it. We already pay taxes on it when we take distribution, so that's double taxation and I want no part of it. I don't have much but I sure want to keep what I have.
A lot can happen in the next 2 days and hopefully, things will go from blue to red where needed.
Doesn't matter - my 401K is losing an average of $3K
per DAY. Not per week, per DAY. If the loss continues at this rate, it will hit a zero balance and I'll have nuthin' to lose. So I'm voting for Obama, cuz I sure as he11 don't want that old Republican prune taxing my HEALTH CARE next.
my 401K from a previous employer hasn't lost much
but it's in low risk investments, a lot of bonds, and so when things get better, it probably won't rise as quickly as other 401k's. I'm a chicken.
I saw Jim Cramer this morning too. I have J&J stock and my 401K through Merrill Lynch
I am really upset and not sure what to do.
oh no - social ostracism -- I can't
bear it . . .
So, you look forward to paying for more social
xx
Perhaps it was the social and community outreach
1. Can-Cer-Vive support to cancer patients and caregivers.
2. Churh school and youth church.
3. Counseling services, both individual and group.
4. Emmaus Road Ministry, which provides companions, prayer partners, helpers and friends for grieving persons, months after the passing of a loved one. Ongoing contact with the family is maintained.
5. Girl Scouts.
6. Teen choir.
7. Computer classes.
8. Assistance to physically, mentally and emotionally handicapped.
9. Marriage enrichment seminars.
10. Workshops on building and maintaining Christian homes.
11. Men's chorus.
12. Men's fellowship.
13. Bible study.
14. Sanctuary choir.
15. Stewardship.
16. Women's chorus.
17. Women's drill team.
18. Yoga.
19. Youth drill team.
20. Active seniors.
21. Adopt-a-Student.
22. Athletes for Christ.
23. Career development.
24. Church in the community.
25. Domestic violence advocacy and support.
26. Drug and alcohol recovery.
27. Food share.
28. Grandparent's ministry.
29. HIV/AIDS support.
30. Housing workshops.
31. Health and wellness.
32. Legal counseling.
33. Math tutors.
34. Prison ministry.
35. Reading tutors.
36. Drama.
37. Fine arts and literary guild.
38. Quilting.
39. Adult dance.
40. Music.
Compare these ministries with Obama's life experiences, political views and current campaign platform. That is explanation enough for me.
Yeah, they are liberal on social issues. sm
And, they have run amuck chasing the adoption records of Roberts. It's things like this that make people want to lump liberals/democrats all up in one pile when in fact this is one, maybe two journalist starting this up. It gives fuel to the right wing media and the wheels keep on turning.
This is not social programs......this is HUGE government
!!
Correct....or the 3.5 trillion dollar social programs
@
So why wasn't social services called on this girl?
So the parents who are involved in the lives of their children should be punished because some are not? Obviously if the parents don't care then something is wrong in the household and their needs to be an investigation or a report.
I just don't think a 14-year-old girl has the maturity to make decisions on her own like that. God knows the stupid things I would have done at 14 if my dad had just let me do whatever I wanted or wasn't informed!
I mean in that case, schools shouldn't call home when we skipped school because we should be allowed to make our own decisions about whether we want to be educated or not.
Yes, it does, as well as the VA system. (sm)
The VA system used to be pretty decent, but during the Bush regime, it became a terrible place for our brave veterans to go for healthcare. If one president can destroy it, maybe another can restore it.
VA system..
was not pretty decent pre-Bush. My husband is a vet. We had used VA services on a couple of occasions way before Bush. He is a Vietnam era vet and we used those services when he got home in 1973. It was AWFUL. Just AWFUL. We chose to pay for his care at other hospitals rather than subject him to horrors of the VA system. Sorry, but you can't blame Bush for everything.
Now we'll see if the justice system REALLY ..
This whole system needs to be overhauled.
This is outrageous. :-(
System in place........
No more taxes? Would be nice, but have to have some system in place to run schools, hospitals, keep infrastructure up to date, etc.
That is what your state is supposed to be responsible for.....not our government.
We have a geothermal system
and it saves us so much money. We have a decent sized home too. We used to live in an old farm house that was half the size and we used natural gas to heat the place....holy crap.....I truly don't think we could afford to live in that old farm house now because of the price of gas and how much it took to heat that old place. Our new home is twice as big and our geothermal is a heck of a lot cheaper. Definitely worth it if you ask me. 
Honestly, as our system is now, there is no
reason for anyone to be homeless. Before you tell me, I understand about mental illness and all, and, perhaps, those people are not making a choice, but anyone without enough money to afford a home can get one through our current welfare system--they must only ask.
I would think that with a punch system you
wouldn't have front and back pages, but separate pages. If they are front and back, they would have to be spaced so that could not happen IF punched correctly.
If we can restructure the tax system, you would have your wish..............sm
The corporate giants right now have so many legal tax loopholes, which their pricey lawyers handle so efficiently for them, that if they shouldered most of the tax burden, instead of the middle class, then they WOULD be giving billions to the government, and we would not be in such a mess, although there are many other factors and that is much too simplistic. But honestly, no one wants to tackle this subject, becaue where do the politicians get most of their $$$ for campaigning????? You know!
First of all, I never implied that there should be only one system s/m
this is just another example of you guys taking words and twisting them into something sinister. Obviously you didn't listen to the President's speech last night. He made it very clear he wants to get rid of the the banks' dependence on the government and allow them to run once again independently. YOU DON'T LISTEN! And did I say I did not want democracy? NO!! What I am talking about that the way the GOP is now is going down the toilet. They need to update their philosophies to correlate with the 21st century instead of the 19th century. A poster on here a couple of days ago made a statement about the Republicans allowing the Evangelicals run the party -- that is what is killing it and will continue a slow demise if that is allowed to continue to happen. You people are in total denial about what is really happening to your own party, except for the few people who don't have their heads up their behinds and are trying to distance themselves from that extremist faction, which unfortunately, seems to be very prevalent on this board..
I do not follow the 'party' system. sm
Consider myself true conservative (not Republican or a religious zealot), libertarian. Colbert shoved the truth in the face of power, media & government. Somebody needs to do it. The mainstream media does not have the guts to really put the truth in Bush's face. They are afraid of him, just like the rest of the world and America. Definitely something wrong with that.
Draft System To Be Tested...sm
Military Draft System to be Tested
Body: Associated Press | December 22, 2006
WASHINGTON - The Selective Service System is planning a comprehensive test of the military draft machinery, which hasn't been run since 1998.
The agency is not gearing up for a draft, an agency official said Thursday. The test itself would not likely occur until 2009.
Meanwhile, the secretary for Veterans Affairs said that society would benefit if the U.S. were to bring back the draft and that it shouldn't have any loopholes for anyone who is called to serve. VA Secretary Jim Nicholson later issued a statement saying he does not support reinstituting a draft.
The Selective Service readiness exercise would test the system that randomly chooses draftees by birth date and the network of appeals boards that decide how to deal with conscientious objectors and others who want to delay reporting for duty, said Scott Campbell, Selective Service director for operations and chief information officer.
We're kind of like a fire extinguisher. We sit on a shelf until needed, Campbell said. Everyone fears our machine for some reason. Our machine, unless the president and Congress get together and say, 'Turn the machine on' ... we're still on the shelf.
The administration has for years forcefully opposed bringing back the draft, and the White House said Thursday that its position had not changed.
A day earlier, President Bush said he is considering sending more troops to Iraq and has asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates to look into adding more troops to the nearly 1.4 million uniformed personnel on active duty.
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, increasing the Army by 40,000 troops would cost as much as $2.6 billion the first year and $4 billion after that. Service officials have said the Army wants to increase its force by 20,000 to 30,000 soldiers and the Marine Corps would like 5,000 more troops.
The unpopular war in Iraq, where more than 2,950 American troops have already died, complicates the task of finding more recruits and retaining current troops - to meet its recruitment goals in recent years, the Army has accepted recruits with lower aptitude test scores.
In remarks to reporters in New York, Nicholson recalled his own experience as a company commander in an infantry unit that brought together soldiers of different backgrounds and education levels. He said the draft does bring people from all quarters of our society together in the common purpose of serving.
Rep. Charles Rangel, a New York Democrat who has said minorities and the poor share an unfair burden of the war, plans to introduce a bill next year to reinstate the draft.
House Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi has said that reinstating the draft would not be high on the Democratic-led Congress' priority list, and the White House said Thursday that no draft proposal is being considered.
Planning for the Selective Service exercise, called the Area Office Mobilization Prototype Exercise, is slated to begin in June or July of next year for a 2009 test. Campbell said budget cuts could force the agency to cancel the test, which he said should take place every three years but hasn't because of funding constraints.
Hearst Newspapers first reported the planned test for a story sent to its subscribers for weekend use.
The military drafted people during the Civil War and both world wars and between 1948 and 1973. An agency independent of the Defense Department, the Selective Service System was reincorporated in 1980 to maintain a registry of 18-year-old men, but call-ups have not occurred since the Vietnam War.
What do you think?
OMG! (lol!) In the public school system,
Thanks for a good laugh!
The local hospital uses a system like this
but it's just a matter of time until they will invest in the additional equipment so they no longer need any MTs. I forgot about all the file clerks, etc. in medical records whose jobs have already been cut. Lordy!!! What on earth are we all gonna do when they "save money" by taking away ALL our jobs.
I work on an EMR system for a hospital.
It has an interface where the physicians dictate and we transcribe. The report is then uploaded for physician review and signature. After being signed, the report is electronically filed in the patient's record. The patient records are stored electronically and are easily accessed by staff from any the hospitals within our healthcare system. At least in an acute care setting, the system has not replaced MT's but rather reduced the staffing in the in Medical Records.
Yes, there are people who abuse the system, but...
you can't apply that to everyone on welfare. There are a lot of good people who don't abuse the system who have to be on welfare.
That's not how the voucher system works.
You don't send your kid to a "voucher school." You get a tax credit to help offset the cost of private school. Because, guess what, THEY'RE BETTER! They're actually held accountable. In high schools here in Florida, you don't even need a teaching degree! You just have to have gotten a BA in something. Anything. That's effing pathetic. My daughter's BIOLOGY teacher was a TAX ACCOUNTANT, who did little more than pop video tapes into the TV set so the kids would leave her alone so she could eat her box of Slim Fast bars and read Soap Opera Digest. THAT'S the public school system, and it stinks to high heaven.
People who protest against vouchers do so because it suits their political agenda, NOT because they are thinking about what's best for the kids.
"Voucher programs have also inspired enormous opposition, primarily from the education establishment and on the political Left. Union officials and public educators tend to see vouchers as a threat because they empower parents rather than school boards to decide where a child goes to school. The Left views vouchers as the conservatives’ way of introducing competition into public education as a whole, and as a means of promoting the privatization such programs as Social Security and replacing many others with free market initiatives. In addition, since most (85 percent) of the private voucher schools serving low-income students are religious (and mostly Catholic), vouchers inspire stiff resistance from those who believe in a strict separation of church and state. " ~ from http://stats.org/stories/2008/tes_scores_vouchers_oct20_08.html
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