Hello all. I've received on of those right wing chain mails forwarded from my dad. This one is pro Perry, and uses some superficial annuity math to support the claim that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme.
It also over exaggerates what's spent on foreign aid. The e-mail is copied below. Thanks! I plan on replying to "all."
My first inclination is to state that it is not a Ponzi scheme, and that it's not anywhere near being "broke." I'll also ask whether they propose to replace it with... nothing, or private plan where the individual gets clobbered by fees.
Social Security has a low administration cost.
I'd also like to mention that Social Security has been incredibly successful at alleviating poverty. I've seen a graph somewhere around here.
This is another example of what Rick Perry called "TREASON in high places"
!!!
Get angry and pass this on!
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 ass, 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?
99% of people won't have the guts to forward this.
I'm one of the 1% -- I Just Did.
Your thoughts are appreciated!