New republican e-mail on Social Security

[B Calm]

What load of crap!
.............................................................

History Lesson On Your Social Security Card

Just in case some of you young whippersnappers (& some older ones) didn't know this.

It's easy to check out, if you don't believe it.
Be sure and show it to your family and friends. They need a little history lesson on what's what and it doesn't matter whether you are Democrat or Republican. Facts are Facts.

Social Security Cards up until the 1980s expressly stated the number and card were not to be used for identification purposes. Since nearly everyone in the United States now has a number, it became convenient to use it anyway and the message,
NOT FOR IDENTIFICATION, was removed.

Our Social Security

Franklin Roosevelt, a Democrat, introduced the Social Security (FICA) Program.

He promised:

1.) That participation in the Program would be
Completely voluntary,

No longer Voluntary


2.) That the participants would only have to pay
1% of the first $1,400 of their annual Incomes into the Program,

Now 7.65%
on the first $90,000


3.) That the money the participants elected to put
into the Program would be deductible from their income for tax purposes each year,

No longer tax deductible


4.) That the money the participants put into the
independent 'Trust Fund' rather than into the
general operating fund, and therefore, would
only be used to fund the Social Security Retirement Program, and no other Government program, and,

Under Johnson the money was moved to
The General Fund and Spent


5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income.

Under Clinton & Gore
Up to 85% of your Social Security can be Taxed

Since many of us have paid into FICA for years and are now receiving a Social Security check every month -- and then finding that we are getting taxed on 85% of the money we paid to the Federal government to 'put away' -- you may be interested in the following:

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ----

Q: Which Political Party took Social Security from the independent 'Trust Fund' and put it into the
general fund so that Congress could spend it?

A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the democratically
controlled House and Senate.

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --

Q: Which Political Party eliminated the income tax
deduction for Social Security (FICA) withholding?

A: The Democratic Party.

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------

Q: Which Political Party started taxing Social
Security annuities?

A: The Democratic Party, with Al Gore casting the
'tie-breaking' deciding vote as President of the
Senate, while he was Vice President of the US

------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- --------- -

Q: Which Political Party decided to start
giving annuity payments to immigrants?

AND MY FAVORITE:

A: That's right!

Jimmy Carter and the Democratic Party.
Immigrants moved into this country, and at age 65,
began to receive Social Security payments! The
Democratic Party gave these payments to them,
even though they never paid a dime into it!

------------ -- ------------ --------- ----- ------------ --------- -------

Then, after violating the original contract (FICA),
the Democrats turn around and tell you that the Republicans want to take your Social Security away!

And the worst part about it is uninformed citizens believe it!

If enough people receive this, maybe a seed of
awareness will be planted and maybe changes will
evolve.


Actions speak louder than bumper stickers

[Skink]

1. Nice to see how we kept strengthening it

although I it is only the repubs that think it is in the general fund.

[ChiciB1]

2. WOW! Just WOW! Now What Do We Do?? n/t

[mysuzuki2]

3. there are an incredible number of factual errors here.

Dare I call them lies? SS taxes have ALWAYS from the beginning been invested in US Treasury bonds. It ALWAYS was spent for general purposes. The only thing that happened under Johnson was a change in accounting procedures. SS benefits were first taxed under REAGAN. Immigrants do NOT get SS UNLESS they have paid into the system like everyone else. Illegal immigrants CANNOT get SS payments. More republican BS!

[ChiciB1]

6. Thank You For the SECOND Time In 10 Minutes! n/t

[w0nderer]

18. no kidding, dare, dare!

work permit comes with a tax number
then comes ssn with LPR usually

at least some illegals that work 'more permanent than day-jobs' pay into 'random' ssn's
ie, they pay in but can't collect, it's a convenience to the employer

republicans it seems cannot differentiate between
legal immigrant, illegal immigrant


legal immigrant, takes years, can't receive cash help from government in many cases(most, in fact it can be a cause for deportation) and has a social security number or a tax number, pays into it, and can once qualified, receive from it

[Mojorabbit]

20. Yep and snopes is on it. I got this email last month. nt

[ChiciB1]

4. What Am I Missing? Are You Saying This Isn't True? n/t

[meegbear]

5. snopes.com ...

http://www.snopes.com/politics/socialsecurity/changes.asp

[snappyturtle]

9. Thank you....you saved me doing it! I have now bookmarked the Snopes response

because I know my repub friends will be sending it soon! Of course, the Snopes explanation will require them to read.....not likely.

[B Calm]

11. According to my republican e-mail contacts Snopes is a liberal site, LOL

[snappyturtle]

23. I've come to the conclusion that repubs define anything they don't like as 'liberal'! nt

[Mz Pip]

24. as is factcheck.org

However any email written by an anonymous rw bloggler is the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

[Curmudgeoness]

26. For those with contacts who do not trust Snopes,

I have had this same discussion and heard all about how it is run by one person who is far left. I was told to use truthorfiction instead for the real truth. So, here you go, from the RW email checking site:

http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/s/ss-origins.htm

[KamaAina]

29. "Reality has a well-known liberal bias"

:P

[MineralMan]

7. A lot of this is bogus. This was in wide circulation

as forwarded email in about 2005. Snopes has the facts on this, and there's a link in the thread:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/socialsecurity/changes.asp

Please don't distribute false information on DU. Thanks!

[RebelOne]

8. No. 5 is not true.

5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be taxed as income.

Under Clinton & Gore
Up to 85% of your Social Security can be Taxed

Since many of us have paid into FICA for years and are now receiving a Social Security check every month -- and then finding that we are getting taxed on 85% of the money we paid to the Federal government to 'put away' -- you may be interested in the following:

I receive social security and it is not taxed at the end of the year. The only time I paid taxes on it was when I was still working and also collecting social security. I was laid off my job in January 2010, and when I filed my taxes last year I paid no taxes, but rather I received a $900 refund. I have always had to pay when I did my taxes. That was the only time in many, many years that I received a refund.

[doc03]

14. Oh yes it is partially true Ronald Reagan signed the bill

passed by a Congress controlled by Democrats to tax up to 50% of SS benefits. Then Bill Clinton expanded it to 85% and it was passed by a Democratic Congress and not one Republican voted for it.

[B Calm]

10. Republicans misinforming people. . . Sick Bastards

[MineralMan]

12. You might have made it more clear that you knew this was

bogus, you know. What is the point of posting an entire bogus email forwarding from the right wing without clearly stating that it is incorrect and propaganda? That's not at all clear in your original post.

[B Calm]

13. Uh. . . read the first sentence

[MineralMan]

15. I did read it. It wasn't at all clear.

And, there's the whole text of the bogus email there. Write two or three sentences. It's not difficult.

[B Calm]

16. If that one sentence was not clear enough for you, what good would two or three

more do. . . WHOOSH!!!!!!

[MineralMan]

17. You can either listen or not. I don't care. But, the way your

post was laid out, and the opening words did not make your point clear. Evidence of that is the misunderstanding of more than one DUer who read it and the necessity of several people debunking the contents. I'm not saying you believed it. I'm just saying that the way you presented it was unclear. What you do with that bit of information is up to you.

[Curmudgeoness]

25. What part of "what a load of crap" is not clear?

Also, the debunking is a healthy part of this discussion, since many DUers here may not know the truth, even if they can tell that this is lying propaganda. One of these days, all of us will get this email, and we want all the facts to counter the argument.

Keep up the debunking. We are not swayed, just looking for truth.

[B Calm]

30. Thank you

[Angry Dragon]

19. #2 it is 6.2% of the first $106,800

:hi:

[DenverDad]

21. Ha ha! I got that one from my Mother-in-Law a couple of weeks ago.

She didn't appreciate my "research" (a five-minute session on Google) and the facts it yielded, and suggested I get my head out of. . .the sand.

[B Calm]

22. I think the GOP must have a misinformation department to keep people

stupid. .

[WCGreen]

27. First of all, the workers part of the combined Social Security and Medicare

is included in taxable income. However, on the the other hand, the worker, upon receiving checks, does not have to recognize the half of the income they already paid taxes to.

This was done so that people in their retirement years wouldn't have to pay tax on their benefit.

Second, that 7.65 is a combination of Social Security (FICA) at 6.2% and Medicare at 1.45%.

Third, the cap on that amount that is taxed is $106,800 asnd not $90,000

[CaliforniaPeggy]

28. Finally, a voice of reason and facts.

Thanks, Chris.