Help With Social Security Email

[SoKalKyle]

I just got an e-mail from an old classmate of mine. I never realized that she was a republican since we've never discussed politics. She forwarded this to me, so they are not her words, and I was wondering if anyone had a cogent, concise reply that I can send her that won't destroy our friendship....


"WE HAVE TO MAKE SOME CHANGES

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 party took Social Security from an independent fund and put it in the general fund so that Congress could spend it? A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the Democratic-controlled House and Senate.

Q: Which party put a tax on Social Security? A: The Democratic party.

Q: Which party increased the tax on Social Security? A: The Democratic Party with Al Gore casting the deciding vote.

Q: Which party decided to give money to immigrants? A: That's right, immigrants moved into this country and at 65 got SSI Social Security. The Democratic Party gave that to them although they never paid a dime into it.

Then, after doing all this, the Democrats turn around and tell you the Republicans want to take your Social Security. And the worst part about it is, people believe it! Pass it on please! 2004

Election Issue This must be an issue in "04". Please! Keep it going."


Any suggestions?

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. I'll bet it's debunked on...

Snopes.

[RobertSeattle]

2. Try Snopes

Goto
http://www.snopes.com/info/search/

And do a search on "Social Security". I believe there is a thread in their discussions than nukes many of these points.

[Robbien]

3. Tell her to read the proposed legislation

It proposes stopping the FICA tax making it available to the taxpayer to invest in a retirement account on his own. Social security payments will only be available to those who are at least 50 years of age. So people who have been paying into FICA for up to 25 or 30 years will receive nothing from Social Security if they are not 50 years old at the time the bill passes. If that is not the definition of theft, I need a new dictionary.

[zbdent]

4. Aside from the rest of the debunking . . . remind her that

a person making more as much as Bill Gates/Warren Buffet pays exactly the same amount as a person who makes enough to pay 85G in FICA, I believe. Yet this rich person is likely to get a helluva lot more than the person at the very beginning of the top amount.

Also, about the Al Gore casting the deciding vote - BWAHAHAHAHAHA! You can stick in any senator at that time who voted AYE, they just love to blame Bill, Hillary, and Al.

Democrats may have raised the tax, but beloved Saint Ron signed it into law.

Remind her also who was in charge in the 20s which led up to the reason why Social Security was created, in other words, the Great Depression. Solely held by Republicans.

[HootieMcBoob]

5. Here ya go

Q: Which party took Social Security from an independent fund and put it in the general fund so that Congress could spend it?
A: It was Lyndon Johnson and the Democratic-controlled House and Senate.

FALSE

Rebuttals can be found at:
Cato Institute
http://www.socialsecurity.org/
SSP Report No. 24 p. 6

http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/98jul/socsec.htm
"The Social Security Trust Fund is an accounting fiction."

http://www.aarp.org/bulletin/departments/2002/news/0405_news_1.html
"Trust Funds: A Healthy Picture"

Q: Which party put a tax on Social Security?
A: The Democratic party.

FALSE

Ronald Reagan signed a bill taxing Social Security benefits. http://www.ssa.gov/history/briefhistory3.html

"In the early 1980s the Social Security program faced a serious short-term financing crisis. President Reagan appointed a blue-ribbon panel, known as the Greenspan Commission, to study the financing issues and make recommendations for legislative changes. The final bill, signed into law in 1983, made numerous changes in the Social Security and Medicare programs, including the taxation of Social Security benefits, the first coverage of Federal employees under Social Security and an increase in the retirement age in the next century."

Q: Which party increased the tax on Social Security?
A: The Democratic Party with Al Gore casting the deciding vote.

TRUE, But Misleading

The answer is misleading because it does not mention any specific bill on which Al Gore cast the deciding vote. It may refer to the VPs constitutional power to break a tie vote in the Senate. Thus the reference might be to the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 in which the VP did cast a vote in the Senate to break a tie. This Act was a huge bill that covered everything from agricultural commodities, licensing of radio spectrum, luxury automobile taxes, fuels, banking, Medicare, etc., etc. The bill passed in the House by a vote of 218-216 and in the Senate by 51-50.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d103:HR02264:
|TOM:/bss/d103query.html| H.R. 2264 Latest Major Action: 8/10/1993 Became Public Law No: 103-66.

Q. Which party decided to give money to immigrants?
A: That's right, immigrants moved into this country at 65 and got SSI Social Security. The Democratic Party gave that to them although they never paid a dime into it.

FALSE

1972 Public Law 92-603, enacted October 30 "Other Eligibility Provisions Citizenship and Residence. The individual must reside within one of the 50 states or the District of Columbia and be a citizen or an alien lawfully admitted for permanent residence or permanently residing in the United States under color of law." The SSI (Supplemental Security Income) and the automatic annual COLA (Cost of Living Adjustments) based on the Consumer Price Index were pushed, signed, and implemented during the Nixon administration. So immigrants first received SSI under the Republican administration of President Richard M. Nixon.
http://www.ssa.gov/history/pdf/ssi.pdf

Bill Clinton signed legislation barring immigrants from receiving SSI as part of The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.
http://www.ssa.gov/history/briefhistory3.html

[SharonAnn]

6. See this at Snopes.com

http://www.snopes.com/cgi-bin/news/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=3;t=000003

Identified as False.