"I've Never Taken A Government Handout. Never Have, Never Will"

[babylonsister]

[southernyankeebelle]

1. I get social security and it is less than $1,000. Plus my husband get military retirement pay.

Let me just say something about that. My husband and I both paid into these programs. My husband earned that goddang penny he receives from the military. Nothing was ever given to him he didn't earn while in the service. He was adopted and brought here to this country. He said he wanted to pay the country back for what it did for him. He never was out of work. Never collected unemployment bennies (not that there is anything wrong with that because we all pay for that too). He was lucky never having to do without. Honest hard working man like many that are struggling today.

He and I both are social democrats who believe if people pay taxes then we should all get something back when we retire. After all we all pay into them.

I like to remind my republican friends especially the ones who are getting the benefits that they are getting entitlements. I also tell them if you don't want them then don't apply for them. That ususally shuts them up.

[JSnuffy]

6. You are correct...

... your husband earned those benefits.

There is a difference between something given and something earned.

[southernyankeebelle]

9. Well that is how the majority of people get social security or their pensions of any type.

[RebelOne]

19. Yep, I am collecting social security from the over 50 years

that I have been in the work world. I paid into the system and I deserve the benefits I am collecting.

[southernyankeebelle]

21. Your dang right you do. Like my husband told his dad he doesn't have to back out the door to

collect his pension because he worked dang hard for it. So does every person who collects their pension and social security. Screw the teabaggers.

[quaker bill]

54. Not as much as you think

as the money an individual puts into the system generally runs out in 5 to 7 years of benefits. The rest, given you live long enough to enjoy it, is on the taxpayers dime.

[jamesatemple]

69. I dunno about that.

When I got my first pay in 1954 for sweeping part of the sewing factory in a small East Texas town, a few cents had been withheld for Social Security. During the next four years, my income doubled from that 50 cents and hour to a dollar an hour for work down at the local "fillin' station". I few more pennies were deducted from that pay doubling...and I was proud to pay it. I figured that, as a sign of maturity, that deduction sure beat smoking cigarettes to "prove your manhood". As the years passed, my education, earnings and FICA deductions increased accordingly.

When I retired at 67 years old, the government had had the use of those first pennies for 53 years. I didn't mind my government using the money to provide me a safety net retirement but I felt like they should pay me some interest for the use of my money until I started getting it back. Now I'm not smart enough to calculate how much interest I should have earned over the years nor what the value of my current Social Security income is in comparison with my 50-cent-per-hour income when my contributions started, but somebody would have to convince me that a fair rate of interest earned on my contributions plus those contributions themselves over 53 years plus adjustments for inflation would consume my little 'safety net' in 5 to 7 years. That small early paycheck bought gasoline for fifteen cents a gallon and a hamburger for another fifteen cents.

I'm not saying that your post in inaccurate, quaker bill. I'm just saying that it would take a bit of convincing for me to accept it.

[quaker bill]

88. We both have contributed

The inaccurate bit in your comment is that the government "had use of those pennies for 53 years". The government spent those pennies providing benefits to the retired the moment they were received. This was consistently true until the 1980s when Reagan increased the tax to "create a surplus". However note that the "surplus" Reagan created (and more $ in deficit) was immediately spent on a defense buildup. The magic of compound interest is simply not real in this case.

However, lets say it was real for the sake of argument. In that case, any notional compound interest earnings on your contributions could come from only one place, taxpayer dollars. So anything you get back greater than your total raw $ contribution is tax payer dollars, there is only one other possible source, newly printed dollars made up from the ether. While there are exceptions to every rule, (say folks who had a high income from a very early age), in general, most folks run through the contributions in 5 to 7 years. The rest, even if putatively "earned as interest", is taxpayer dollars or money made up on the spot to pay your benefits.

To me this does not matter, you worked and contributed, you therefore deserve the benefits due, regardless of the source of the money.

[I love God]

83. Sorry, honey...

You don't pay nearly as much as you get from these programs. And? That's what Socialism is! And good on it! I have no problem whatsoever with these programs. But I have to tell the truth and people who claim that they pay into it forget that it is a pot. And everyone pays into it!

[southernyankeebelle]

86. I haven't forgot and I am sure many people realize they pay into a pot. I like you paid for

previous generations. These programs were started in the first place because the elderly were dying. There own families couldn't take care of them. I know I will never get out what I put in but that is ok because it will help the next generation after mine and down the line. We must keep these programs. I am older and not able to work. I watsn't able to retire at 65 due to my health. So I retired at 62 and took a cut in my retirement. I don't know what I would do without these programs. When you live in the lower income your lucky to have a little savings. Not enough to retire on. I'm satisfied because I don't have to depend on anyone.

[meaculpa2011]

87. An analysis done about ten years...

ago showed that the average net per SS recipient was -1.5%. So while some took out more than they put in the average was a small net loss. Don't know if that still holds since life spans have increased.

[Liberal Veteran]

2. Or this little gem from Craig T. Nelson.

"I've been on food stamps and welfare, did anybody help me out? No."

[russspeakeasy]

5. That is a great one...

[chervilant]

46. Yeah,

I used to like this actor, until I discovered that he likes to bludgeon people over the head with his political inclinations.

[baldguy]

67. Which is why actors & other artists should generally shut up about their political beliefs.

It's only acceptable when their art is political itself.

[Erose999]

73. Coach is a worthless drunk.

[peace frog]

75. "...and keep yer gubmint hands off my medicare!11!"

"And while yer at it, don't youse soshulists touch my social security!1"

[russspeakeasy]

3. Or, I have never used my head and never will.

Remember "If you think it's true, it is".

[bluestateguy]

4. Today's generation of old people are mostly selfish

And please, I don't need to hear about your kindly grandmother who has voted for every Democrat since Adlai Stevenson, or any DUers in this age category.

They [you] are the exception, not the rule.

Today's generation of senior citizens (1926-42), is not the civic minded Greatest Generation that Tom Brokaw swoons over.

No, today's seniors are the "keep the government out of my Medicare!" crowd that goes to teabag rallies.

[southernyankeebelle]

10. Idon't know what generation your talking about. Nothing was ever handed to my or my brothers

and sisters. I had a large family. My dad retired from the military. At 16 we got jobs and gave party of our money to help our family so mom didn't have to go to work. We had to share christmas gifts. When my oldest brother worked he bought a stereo record player we all shared together. My mom made us cloths. I don't know any of my friends that were spoiled. You must must mean the rich kids. I didn't buy my first car until I saved enough money for a down payment and my dad co-signed for me at the age of 21. I had to purchase my own insurance. I worked already at that age for a government job. Many of my friends did like wise. We lived in a middle to lower class neighborhood. We rented. Not until my dad died were we able to buy our first house. You didn't find my friends or I protesting and making free love in the streets. We knew a since of duty to family. I have paid my dues into those programs that the teabaggers complain about. I tell them if you don't like it they go over and get off those programs. However, I will be turning 65 next year. I have to take medicare. I have Tricare for military retirees and their families. I will take it and I will not complain.

There are many senior citizens out here who voted and will continue to vote for democrats.

[ret5hd]

11. can't you read? he doesn't want to hear about you!

[southernyankeebelle]

14. Yes, I can read and I still can make a comment. You made yours comment. See we have a

back and forth. LOL

[boppers]

44. "Nothing was ever handed to my or my brothers"

"My dad retired from the military."
"I worked already at that age for a government job."

That is the point being made in the OP, that people who have received government money and support aren't mentally aware of it... they are "self made", in their own minds.

[southernyankeebelle]

45. Agree.

[wildeyed]

56. I have a great aunt who inherited a BANK

who like to tell me her up-by-the-bootstraps story

[boppers]

84. It might be easier...

...when your boots are made of money.

[lumpy]

18. The teabag rallies have lost ground because those few "selfish" senior citizens

failed to show up. It is ridiculous to claim that teabaggers consist of people the ages of 69 to 84. How can you claim most seniors have, after years of supporting Democrats, suddenly change their allegiences? Like to see where you get that idea. We, those seniors that fought for our Democratic principles have not deserted them and remain concerned for our children's/country's future. And yes, keep government out of my Medicare! Signed,Kindly Grandmother

[Odin2005]

24. The Silent Generation.

They get grandfathered in, so they don't give a damn if younger people get screwed.

[Little Star]

29. Ageism much? Most seniors want to protect what they have so that their children..

and grandchildren will have SS, etc.

These kind of broad brush untrue statements fuel discrimination against the elderly.

[jtown1123]

77. +1000 seniors want their kids and grandkids to have the same benefits they do n/t

[LanternWaste]

85. The shallowness of youth will play the generalization card as its opening hand...

The shallowness of youth will play the generalization card as its opening hand...

(six of one, half a dozen of the other...)

[Owlet]

27. Oh bullshit

Gross generalizations like that add nothing to the discussion.

[Little Star]

28. I take offense to your broad brush statement....

There are Many, many more seniors than the ones who belong to the teaparty. No old people are not mostly selfish!

[jillan]

79. Agreed! My first thought was I wonder if that woman knows she is in that poster.

[trof]

37. My first inclination was just to say 'Eff You!' But I won't...

I don't know how old you are, but many born in 1926 died in WWII.
KIds who came of age then were cannon fodder.
I was born in 1941, so I fit your questionable demographic.

I did military service for a bit over 7 years.
I don't get jack for that.
And I don't expect it.
How long did you serve?

From the age of 13 I worked and paid into the Social Security system.
You can do the math.
I'm 70 now.
I paid into that for a lot of years.
My 'break even' point will (may?) come when I'm 74.
If I live that long.

Selfish?
Before I retired, and since, I've contributed time and money (mostly time) to local community worthy causes and the Democratic party.
My local Democratic organization.
A local watershed watch environmental group.
Our local 'Friends of the Library'.
Adult literacy program.
Our elementary kindergarten learning program.
And all this, swimming against the tide, in the reddest county in a bright red state.

You should be ashamed of yourself.

[Jackpine Radical]

48. Ya goddam right, we're greedy bastids.

For two entire years I did nothing but lay around letting the gubmint feed me and clothe me and transport me around all for free. They even paid for my equipment when they sent me on a hiking and camping trip in Indochina. Hell, they even paid me $75 a month while I was doing all that laying around. I was laying around in nice gumbo-lined foxholes, and sometimes in comfy little sandbag bunkers and for a while in a nice clean, fancy bed while the bullet holes were healing.

Then of course I showed my ingratitude by joining the antiwar movement as soon as I got back to the states, and have continued to show my lack of patriotism by participating in antiwar actions ever since.

Yeah, we're all a bunch of bums.

[JNelson6563]

52. Very true in some cases.

I've known several families very well where the grandparents had a lot of money. They often helped their kids and grandkids and often did very generous gifts at Christmas, birthdays and the like.

Yet consistently when the generation of my parents (I'm 48) came into money things changed in all these families. Once that particular generation stopped fighting over the money left behind, in every case, expensive trips, lavish wardrobes, flashy cars, granite counter-tops and casino visits. So much for college funds for grandkids or helping the struggling younger family (like they got when they were raising their own kids). Nope. Now the family motto seems to be more like: I've got mine now get out.

I've been astounded to see people I haven't seen in many years & to learn after "grandma" died, how the family situation changed. Again and again. It's quite a thing to marvel at IMO.

Julie

[dixiegrrrrl]

60. Lovely broad brush you have there.

Pls. provide evidence that "today's seniors are the "keep the government out of my Medicare!" crowd that goes to teabag rallies. "

That statement is meaningless, at best, without facts to back it up.

how many people make up the "today's seniors" cohort?

Of those, how many make up the "keep the government out of my Medicare!" crowd that goes to teabag rallies." ?

Make sure, when you provide your facts to support your statement, that you included not only Dems, but Independents, to distinguish them from the "teabaggers".

[jamesatemple]

71. You are using a bit of a broad brush there, neighbor.

I don't think today's generation of old folks are "mostly selfish". I do think that the political climate has changed so much in their (our) lifetime that they (we) are confused. The fact is, the word "Republican" was a curse word around my grandpa's house. Hell, I thought that the term "damn yankee" was one word 'til I was nearly grown. The Civil War was still being fought in the minds of many, perhaps most, folks in the South and you can bet your sweet bippy that hardly a native of the area would even consider voting for a Republican. I don't remember seeing a Republican on the local ballot for years and years.

It would take the tremendous effort of someone far smarter than me to figure out how everything got turned around to where hardly a Democrat appears on the local ballot; how old folks would vote for Republicans; how oldtimers became convinced that "big Gumint" was an enemy, the very same "big Gumint" that provided jobs during the "Great Depression".

It is not clear in my mind as to how it all came about. But I think that we old folks are confused and/or ignorant rather than selfish.

[jtown1123]

76. Strongly disagree. Way to paint seniors with a broad brush there

I think the real problem is the GOP constantly lying to seniors. Seniors get scared. They are living on fixed incomes, many of them lost a spouse and have to rely on themselves. Some people don't have the time or the Internet savvy to debunk the lies the GOP throws at them, which is why many of them vote for Republicans.

[xxqqqzme]

7. I was 47 when head trauma (car accident)

paralyzed my left side. I was lucky, had a great job & insurance at the time. But now 16 years later, I cannot even begin to imagine where I would be today w/o SSD & Medicare.

[Newest Reality]

8. Words can

reveal as they conceal.

A handout? That sounds like somebody standing on a street corner passing out ten-dollar bills without a string attached.

We could see that assistance provided to people in need is a collective pool of mutual aid based on the accrued wealth that we pool as a resource for loss, catastrophe and dire circumstances -- a social dividend if you will.

Manipulation seems to be the overall intent of branding a resource like that as anything other than a mutually beneficial and compassionate policy. Of course, playing on pride, individuality and a false sense of independence from others and everything is an effective way to continue to promote profit, (the dividend of ownership of money) while denigrating the true value of our overall welfare as a whole.

When others are healthy, I can be healthier and lest disease will be spread. When others have their basic needs met, I am safer and more secure. When others are comfortable and happy, their accrued behaviors will impact my life for the better.

Of course, you can extrapolate on that and get a sense of what interdependence really means from person to person, and from people to planet.

[lpbk2713]

12. I went to school with partial GI Bill assistance.

I don't consider that a "handout". Never have, never will.

I consider it payback for services rendered.


(USN 65 - 69)

[aaaaaa5a]

23. Ron Paul would tell you that the constitution doesn't mention anything about a GI bill. nt

[kemah]

58. WWII GI Bill was passed because they were afraid of Bonus Riots

After the war, the elites were afraid of having GIs go back into the soup lines. The great depression was in full force when WWII started. Memories of the original OWS movement, the 1930's Bonus Army occupation of DC, was still fresh in their minds. They could not take the chance of GIs also starting a bonus army to get their rights. So the GI bill was introduced to have the majority of GIs take classes and also the Vets home benefits.

[taterguy]

13. What would a gallon of gas cost if it wasn't subsidized?

I've read add three or fours bucks to it.

[hfojvt]

15. I never say never

at least not about the future. About the past, I never have taken a handout from the government, but have accepted and sometimes asked for help from people - even strangers.

Also, are tax credits really the same thing as handouts?

Neither is social security, because people pay in to that.

They also pay, through their employer, unemployment insurance. Collecting on that is no more a handout, than it is a hand out for me to collect on my auto insurance after a crash.

A handout would imply I was paying no premiums.

[DURHAM D]

16. It looks like a chart that would be posted on a rightwing website.

Thanks for bringing it here. NOT

[dems_rightnow]

25. Huh?

Did you read it? Understand it?

[DURHAM D]

36. Yes but I don't think you do.

Your post says more about you than the chart says about government handouts.

[babylonsister]

26. Huh? You might need to re-read it. nt

[DURHAM D]

40. Please give me your honest evaluation -

of the items on that list that are "hand outs".

[pinboy3niner]

59. The point is that these are what THEY consider handouts nt

[DURHAM D]

61. Who is "THEY"?

[pinboy3niner]

62. Obviously, 'they' are teabaggers and wingnuts

The point was to compare what they saw as 'handouts' to what they actually self-identified as receiving.

[DURHAM D]

66. The picture of an old woman in the OP

lead to the assumption upthread that it was a poll of seniors and that seniors are clearly very stupid. The OP was unable to provide any support for the graph and your link to the September 2011 article was interesting and I remember it from last year but it does not support the graph.

So I think your "THEY" (teabaggers) and the "THEY" of most of the posters (seniors) in this thread are two different groups.

I find this thread offensive as regards seniors.

[bhikkhu]

17. Did she pave her own road? Set up her own power grid? Does she treat her own water?

Did she go to school? Does she rely on anybody who did?

ed. sp - (I went to school, but have fat fingers)

[bhikkhu]

20. ...and then its very wrong to think of those things as "hand-outs" anyway

as we all pay taxes. work for what we earn, and pay for what we get. Its most obvious if you are working for a wage, using all the infrastructure and systems daily, and paying taxes; but if you're a stay at home mom or managing a household that's also an indispensable role that both gives to and takes from the whole system.

In a more sane society, perhaps it would be recognized that we work not just to earn for ourselves, but to support the structure of society which benefits everyone, ourselves included. I don't mind that, and would give more if I could.

[Arkana]

22. Rule #1: Anyone who says this is fucking lying, either intentionally or unwittingly.

[ashling]

30. Link/source for this chart?

My students need to see this, but I need to source it

[babylonsister]

32. Sorry, FB. If I find one, I'll share. nt

[pinboy3niner]

33. I think it's based on a Cornell Survey Research Institute poll

You can look up the poll, but this article will give you the background:

Our Hidden Government Benefits
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/opinion/our-hidden-government-benefits.html

[ashling]

38. Thanks

I was vaguely aware of a poll that had been done - and we've all known it for years - but I was interested in posting the chart. I'll check it out. Her boook sounds worth checking into as well.

[Egalitariat]

31. That graphic is seriously flawed. Food stamps is clearly a government handout; mortgage interest

deduction is not.

The only way that graphic could be true is if you believed that all money is the government's money. Then you would believe that any money you earned - and were allowed by the government to keep - is a handout.

[rfranklin]

57. It's the same as the generous discount that hedge fund managers get on their income...

It is a special exemption that only a certain class of taxpayers get. Why should home mortgagees and hedge fund managers get special tax breaks that I don't get? How is that different than welfare? Semms like the same type of "social engineering" to me.

[Arkansas Granny]

34. Years ago, when I was a single parent with 4 kids and going to school (on grants) so I could

get a job that paid enough to support us, I received food stamps, government assisted housing and medicare. I don't know how we would have made it without that help. However, I'm sure that I've paid every bit of that back in the last 35 years and more.

What kind of a country would we be living in if it couldn't take care of it's citizens.

[trof]

39. What kind of country? This one. The U.S.A.

Unhappily we fall far short of 'taking care of it's citizens'.

[Johnny Rico]

35. I've never used a single one of these programs.

Mind you, the whole thing is seriously flawed. SS benefits are earned, for instance.

[meaculpa2011]

41. I started paying into...

Social Security in 1963 when I was twelve years old. I started paying Medicare taxes the very first week they were instituted. I was probably 15 at that time. By the time I start collecting SS and Medicare benefits I will have paid into both programs for 53 and 50 years, respectively.

BTW: I agree that the home mortgage/property tax deduction is a massive transfer of of wealth from the poor to the rich, but I would have been pretty stupid if I didn't take it. Plus, it doesn't come close to matching the property taxes I've paid over the course of 35 years.

And yes, I was was working afternoons and weekends in a garment factory on 8th Avenue when I was 12. My SS summary has the payments listed right there in black and white.

There are plenty of Americans taking handouts (see ADM & General Electric). Please don't mention SS and Medicare in the same breath.

[jeff47]

49. Those aren't "pay in" programs

Social Security and Medicare taxes aren't "pay in" programs. You get the benefit regardless of what you paid, and the money you pay goes to current beneficiaries, not you. (With the exception of Reagan increasing taxes to save up for the baby boomers)

When you start receiving Social Security and Medicare, you will be receiving a handout. Your money was spent. You will be receiving someone else's money.

[meaculpa2011]

53. I got a $100 handout from my bank...

this morning. The money I deposited last year was loaned out for home mortgages. When I took the money out of the ATM, that was cash that other depositors put into the bank. It wasn't my money.

I get a handout from New York State every month. When I bought general obligation bonds ten years ago they used that money to build stuff. The money I get now is from today's taxpayers. It's not my money.

You're right. I'm addicted to handouts.

You don't get your SS benefit regardless of what you paid. Your benefit is based on your contribution. And if you didn't pay for 40 quarters you don't get a benefit. My Dad, who worked much harder than I ever have, gets a modest check every month from SS and $103.50 from his union. He gave his blood and sweat for his handout.

Yes, SS is currently running at a $16 billion deficit. And Medicare is at $240 billion. That doesn't mean that someone, like me, who has been paying 15% plus of his annual income in FICA taxes for five decades is taking a handout.

It's a corruption of the language and gives ammunition to those who would seek to break that intergenerational promise.

[Bluenorthwest]

63. That's simply false. To get Social Security at all, one has to pay in for 40 quarters

or you get none. Those who pay in more get larger benefits than those who pay in less.
So none of what you say is accurate at all. None of it.

[Fla Dem]

65. More accurately it's a "Pay it Forward" plan

I paided in all my working years (40 and still counting) to support seniors collecting then. When I begin collecting in my senior years it will be from those paying in now. These are not a handouts, they are a handshake across generations. It is a return on my investments.

[Initech]

42. The teabaggers and GOP are so far removed from reality...

That they're too dumb to realize what government assistance they actually need. Bill Maher was right - they live in an impenetrable bubble through which facts and real information are useless against them.

[socialist_n_TN]

43. You guys DO realize that SS is NOT a "pay in"..........

type program for yourself right? It's an intergenerational promise. We pay for our parents and our kids pay for us. That's the way it was set up. That and Medicare are closer to pure socialist programs that just about anything else we have simply BECAUSE of they way they were set up. And of course, that's why the RW wants to get rid of them. Also they can't STAND the fact that those programs WORK as they were intended to work. They can't have government doing something right.

[provis99]

50. the first generation of seniors to get social security didn`t pay into it at all.

I don`t think most people understand that. social security is a payment from a working person to a retired person. It is not a savings account that you draw on when you retire.

You`re right; it`s not a pay in.

[meaculpa2011]

55. The first generation...

of seniors received benefits at 65 and then died an average of 18 months later. My grandfather spread asphalt for forty years, paid SS taxes for 16 years, collected three SS checks and then died. My grandmother then went to work at age 59 for the first time since she left Puglia in 1921. She worked until she was 80, then collected a small SS check and a miniscule union pension (under $100) for another 21 years.

The people that designed the system never anticipated that the average life expectancy for someone reaching age 65 would be another 22 years.

[tsuki]

51. Until the 1980s, when the Reapubligans

told us that if we accepted the largest social tax increase in the history of the US, we would build a trust fund that would pay for our parents and our social security when we retired.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

47. some handouts are better than other handouts ---

[Kellerfeller]

64. About tax credits/breaks, they will reply

"The government taking less of my money to convince me to do something they want me to is not a handout. If a mugger leaves $20 in my wallet when he robs me, is he "giving" me $20?"

[saras]

68. They're not misguided. They're not ignorant. They're liars.

Unless you drive EXCLUSIVELY on toll roads, or live in the far back of a national forest and never drive at all, you're reaping the fringe benefits of an IMMENSE government program, of the sort that pretty much EVERY government spends money on.

Did you single-handedly defend yourself from all the goings-on in the Middle East? Without any government protection? You were outside the protection of the American military, right? No NSA, no CIA protecting you? You avoid the TSA and the FAA and only fly on uninspected airlines, right? UNSUBSIDIZED uninspected airlines.

Stupid liars. The lies serve to justify the attitude "I deserve it - they don't" irrespective of the merits of the situation. And they will undoubtedly switch to some other lie if it protects their privilege better.

[yellowcanine]

70. The problem is the term "government handout". Few people actually receive anything directly from

government. But people do pay less taxes because of deductions and credits and if they live long enough they will get more from Social Security and Medicare than what they actually put in, depending on what one considers a reasonable rate of return on their money. If they been able to put their SS and Medicare into stocks, they may have lost value or they might have been scammed out of the money.

[JDPriestly]

81. But, as with all insurance programs,

if you do not ever qualify, i.e. you never live long enough, you never receive anything from the Social Security and Medicare premiums you pay in the form of payroll or Social Security taxes.

One of my family members did not live long enough to receive Social Security or Medicare from the payments that he made throughout his working life.

The same principle applies to your homeowners' or car insurance. My husband and I have paid for homeowners' insurance for over 25 years, and, for the first time this year, we received a small benefit for storm damage.

We have paid far more into our homeowners' insurance than we have received from it, and we like it that way. My family member paid into Social Security until he nearly reached eligibility, and never received a penny back. But while he lived and worked, he had the peace of mind that comes from knowing that when he qualified, he would have those benefits.

Whether it is your private insurance plan or Social Security and Medicare, the immediate benefit that you receive is peace of mind. Everyone, therefore, gets a benefit from something like Social Security. You even receive a benefit while you are paying in, before you qualify.

[Progression]

72. This is something you'll never hear from certain individuals

"I've Never Taken A Government Handout. Never Have, Never Will"

Can you imagine hearing this quote from Wall Street and its bankers?

[backtomn]

74. Let's be a bit fair here.......

The mortgage deduction was put in place to encourage home ownership and stability
Student LOANS are supposed to be repaid, with interest
Until unemployment was extended, it was only "insurance" paid by employers......now the states and Fed pay on top of that.
Medicare is manditory for the retired, unless you want to give up your Social Security as well AND is paid for with taxes
Social Security??? What?? We pay for this with taxes.
529 and Coverdell......aren't these private education accounts??
Veterens benefits/GI Bill........if you oppose these, change them BEFORE people join the military. Other than that, it helps recruiting

Many of these are NOT government money at all or were put in place for a purpose that government was seeking.

COME ON........WE DON'T NEED THIS TO WIN THE ARGUMENT. THERE IS STILL PLENTY ON THE LIST......IF WE NEED TO SAY THIS AT ALL. I think that this is overreach.

[mainer]

82. We get on average 3x what we pay into Medicare

in medical benefits so Medicare is, in fact, a bit of a handout. (This figure was mentioned in a recent NYT article)

What shouldn't be considered a "handout" are tax deductions such as for mortgages. Deductions are NOT handouts. They are simply your own money that the government chooses not to collect from you.

The analogy would be the pickpocket who lets you keep ten bucks of your own money. That is not a handout.

[BigD_95]

78. in all fairness

SS among other things on the list people paid into. So its not really Government money they are getting. Its getting their money back. So you can argue that your against SS while getting it because you rather have had a private retirement account that would have earned more money. ( which Im not for by the way)

But yes the post is true. People vote against their own interest all the time and dont even know it. We were just talking about this Saturday night.

We have 3 friends all teachers all vote Republican. How?? After all the unions & Dems have done to protect their jobs & get them their pay scales & great retirement packages. Then turn around and vote Republican.

That pisses me off

[JDPriestly]

80. Social Security retirement benefits are not a hand-out.

Not any more than any other insurance benefit you receive after you have paid for it.