Social Security, Bernie Madoff, Congress & Entitlement

Most of the time, I have a little cash in my wallet and a little change in my pocket. I don’t carry a title to this money; in fact, I don’t have and wouldn’t know how to attain one.

As far as I know, congress has never passed a law that grants me a title to this money………..it’s just my money. There are however, laws about someone taking this money without my permission. If I surrender it voluntarily, as in making a purchase, then it’s all legal. If someone takes it from me without my permission, it’s called stealing or robbery, it is a crime and the person who does it is a criminal.

I also have some money in checking and savings accounts in my bank. I pay the bank some fees, for their services, and for safeguarding my money but it’s still my money. It does not belong to the bank. This money is not mine because I am entitled to it. It was mine when I deposited it, it’s still mine and I don’t need a title to it………it’s just my money.

paycheck, (Air Force or civilian) some of By law, all of my life, each time I received a the money that I earned was taken out of my check and deposited in a government bank to be held for me and then returned to me in increments when I retire. This is called Social Security. Also, taxes were taken out of these checks. I pay these taxes to the government for various services, among which is safeguarding my money, as Social Security.

This Social Security money is money that I earned during my life. It does not belong to the government any more than does the money in my pocket. It does not belong to the government or the government bank; anymore than does the money in my checking or saving accounts, belong to my bank. It does not belong to either bank anymore than does the money in my pocket………it’s just my money.

The money that I have in my pocket and my bank have nothing to do with entitlement…………it’s just my money.

My Money that is in the government bank does not belong to the government. It does not belong to the tax payers. I earned it; it came out of my paycheck and it is mine, so why is it called entitlement?

Empowered to do so by us, the voters, the government, over the years, determined that it’s better to provide for some unfortunate people than to have them resort to desperate measures e.g. crime. It was also determined that it’s better to avoid having a nation of sick people. In many cases, these people did not earn the money to provide for themselves. This is taxpayer money. we empower our government to provide for all of us in various ways, i.e. infrastructure, courts and prisons, laws, armed forces (military), police, museums, schools, public institutions, public lands, foreign policy, child care, agriculture, animal control and a myriad of problems and needs that we, as individuals, can not deal with. By democratic, majority vote, we agree to, and pay taxes for, these provisions and services.

Some of these things can only be called entitlements. But is money that I earned an entitlement after it was paid to me by my employers? My employers, debtors or customers believed that I was entitled to it for goods or services rendered. But once it is my pocket or my bank, is it still an entitlement? The government didn’t give it to me. The taxpayers didn’t give it to me.

I very much dispute this idea. Does my car or TV belong to me because I was entitled to have them and therefore the government provided them for me?

Since the Social Security Act was signed into law in 1935 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the Republican Party has tried to get rid of it. If I chose to invest my money in the stock market or wherever, it’s my right and my business. But the Republican Party does not own the money that I have in mine or the government bank.

Is my money an entitlement, and does the Republican Party have the right to do with it what it will? They like to call it, and are very much responsible for calling it, Entitlement because they can associate it with Socialism….and scare people. The insurance and pharmaceutical industries also like this for their own reasons…………obvious.

Appropriating my money, for any reason, without my permission would normally be considered a crime and those who do it, criminals.

Well it’s just a rant and I doubt if I can ever get through but I’m going to try to send this to the Supreme Court.

After all, I guess I did live this long for some reason. I am now a senior citizen, a veteran, a tax paying voter and all that stuff that implies that I might have a voice and something to say about how I am governed………..and or maybe robed.

Why did Bernie Madoff go to prison?
To make it simple, he talked people into investing with him. Trouble was, he didn't i nvest their money. As time rolled on he simply took the money from the new investors to pay off the old investors. Finally there were too many old investors and not enough money from new investors coming in to keep the payments going. Next thing you know Madoff is one of the most hated men in America and he is off to jail.
Some of you know this. But not enough of you. Madoff did to his investors what the government has been doing to us for over 70 years with Social Security. There is no meaningful difference between the two schemes, except that one was operated by a private individual who is now in jail, and the other is operated by politicians who enjoy perks, privileges and status in spite of their actions.

If you need a side-by-side comparison here's a nifty little chart--
BERNIE MADOFF SOCIAL SECURITY
Takes money from investors with the promise that the money will be invested and made available to them later. Takes money from wage earners with the promise that the money will be invested in a "Trust Fund" (Lock Box) and made available later.
Instead of investing the money Madoff spends it on nice homes in the Hamptons and yachts. Instead of depositing money in a Trust Fund the politicians transfer it to the General Revenue Fund and use it for general spending and vote buying.
When the time comes to pay the investors back Madoff simply uses some of the new funds from newer investors to pay back the older investors. When benefits for older investors become due the politicians pay them with money taken from younger and newer wage earners to pay the older geezers.
When Madoff's scheme is discovered all hell breaks loose. New investors won't give him any more cash. When Social Security runs out of money the politicians try to force the taxpayers to send them some more; or they cancel S/S to all those who paid into it.
Bernie Madoff is in jail. Politicians remain in Washington .. With fat medical and retirement benefits.

Are things really that much different on the state level?

'The taxpayer: That's someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination.'

"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert ,
In five years there'd be a shortage of sand."
Milton Friedman