Anyone here affected by Reagan's Soc. Security cuts in 1982? I was!!!!

LynneSin

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Mon Jun-14-04 07:32 AM
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Anyone here affected by Reagan's Soc. Security cuts in 1982? I was!!!!

This week has brought back a painful reminder of how Reagan's cuts to social programs like Social Security affected thousands of College Age kids back in 1982. And this had not only a major impact on my family, but other families in the area that I knew.

See, our family was receiving Social Security back in the Early 80s. My father passed away in 1981 and our family was receiving Soc. Security checks for my brother and myself. This was one ofthe entitlements to children who lose a parent which was the extra income from those checks (one for each child) to help a stay-at-home mother take care of her children. Back in 1981 (when my father passed away) my brother and I would receive these checks until we were 18, but if we went to college then we would continue to get the checks until we were 21.

Since my brother was over 18, his checks went directly to him while he was in Ohio at college. Those checks helped pay for his education (at an expensive top rated college in Cleveland). I was 4 years younger than my brother so my checks were sent to my mother and helped pay for day-to-day expenses. Gratefully my father had life insurance & some savings so we were able to make it without his salary (he was a Surveyor for the PA Game Commission).

HOWEVER.....

That magical year of 1982 came along and Reagan made cuts to Social Security that those checks for kids like me would be cut off at 18. So even if I continued on to college, I would not receive any Soc. Security money like my brother did. I would have to find other ways to pay for my college.

In 1982 I knew of almost a dozen kids who were seniors in High School that ended up dropping out of HS and enrolling into the local Community College. One of those people was one of my first boyfriends (he actually went to a different school). He too lost a mother and fortunately was able to continue his checks until he was 21 by dropping out of high school his last semester and enrolling full time at the local community college. When he should have been enjoying his last months as a kid, he was toiling away at classes over at the Community College so he could hold on to that extra money for college. For his family, he needed those checks if he were to get through college.

There wasn't much choice for me. I was in 10th grade and although we briefly looked into enrolling me in local college classes it really turned out to be a dead end. Although intellectually I was ready for college level classes, emotionally & mentally I would not have been able to handle it. I would have to find another way to pay for my college education.

Folks around here think Bush Jr. is worse than Reagan, but I strongly disagree. Ronald Reagan ruined the lives of millions of people. Reagan ended the cold war by sacrificing the welfare of Americans in order to outspend Soviet-bloc countries. And if Reagan was never presidnet, Bush Jr. would probably be bankerupting his 4th or 5th company by now.

Luckily I found a source of income for college through loans and my grandparents. But I know kids who never got the education they wanted because of those cuts in Social Security checks.

Good Riddance Reagan: I am not one to speak ill of the Dead, but you I will make the exception!!