Rick Santorum and Social Security

[No Exit]

Yesterday I heard a story from a lawyer. He said he knew a man who was about 63-64 years old. This man had retired at age 62, and had gotten his social security retirement for about a year, perhaps a bit more.

Then, recently, the man got a letter from Social Security, informing him that his check would be cut off--and further informing him that he had to pay back all the social security he'd gotten. That amounted to some $9000.00 they said he owed them.

The reason, according to the letter, was that the man had a felony WARRANT out for him. (Turned out, there was a felony WARRANT open on the man in L.A. county, which is some 3000 miles from where the man now lives. And the warrant dated from over a decade ago.)

(If there is anyone here who secretly harbors just a grain of sympathy for the fact that a "criminal" had to pay for his "crime" by losing his social security, let me explain something: a WARRANT is not the same as being guilty of a crime. It is only an order telling police to arrest someone, and a WARRANT can be issued on SUSPICION of guilt. There need be no finding of guilty in court, nor plea of guilty in court, for someone to have a warrant out for them. Frankly, if a crooked prosecutor or cop got mad at you or me, that person could engineer to have a WARRANT go out for our arrest.)

The lawyer told us that the reason this man has lost his social security due to a mere ACCUSATION (not conviction) of a felony, is because RICK SANTORUM, our favorite senator, authored this bill, and President No-Brains, No-Pain, No-Vetoes signed it, and it went into effect as of Jan. 2006.

Anyone know anything further about this? I figure Rick the Dead Baby Lover probably also included something where, if you don't say, "May I", you find out you can't get social security, and decades from now we're all gonna be very surprised b/c we'll turn out to have been "ineligible" all along under some other hokey provision of this bill which is now law.

Oh yeah--I forgot to tell you the part where the lawyer called L.A. District Attorney's Office and spoke to an Assistant D.A. about the warrant. The Ass't. D.A. yelled at him. Know what he said? "Don't look at US! Blame George Bush!" Whereupon he told them about little Ricky's bill.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Does the guy get to keep his S.S. if he shows up to court and allows

for the prosecution to proceed? Like bail money?

[No Exit]

2. LOL... good question... I don't know. My guess:

He's trying to get the L.A. prosecutor to recall the warrant, and judging from the prosecutor's comments, that may happen. So then presumably he would get to re-apply and begin to get the social security retirement he PAID INTO.

But what about this: what about the time during which this asinine bill was in effect, and the man DID have a warrant out for him? I mean, they are saying he owes them all the back social security he's gotten. So presumably they'd still say he owes them the money from up to the time the warrant officially went away... ? That's thousands of dollars.

I mean, it occurred to me, when the democrats take over, this shitty law would (I hope) end up being repealed. Or maybe some court challenge would nullify this law. But what about the time period during which it WAS law? You can't go back in time and make it not have happened...

[HamdenRice]

3. It's true -- here's an article

SS benefits are suspended for as long as someone is "fleeing" a warrant. When you show up in court, the benefits resume, but to "fix" the problem, the person may have to do jail time.

This article is about an AIDS clinic that found patients benefits being cut off because of warrants:

http://www.thebody.com/apla/dec02/felons.html

[seabeyond]

4. speeding ticket in '97. lost ticket. went into warrant. paid on it

twice over a couple years, and yet they came back, i still owed 46 dollars. sent check and they sent check back saying they wanted money order. finally got a money order, they said they didnt have a warrant. wallet stolen and got new drivers liscence and told them warrant out they cant find. i renewed liscence recently and agian they cant find warrant. i carry a 46 dollar money order that i renew every year in case i get pulled over and the warrant pops up. talking to cops about situation i tell them, you can pull me over, see the warrant, take kids to social service and arrest me..... anytime. yep they say, at the cops discretion. i dont trust the cops to be reasonable.

warrants are easy to come by and is not indicitive of being a "bad" person.....

this is our world. i am sorry to see

i have told the people that if they are going to make repercussions so big, they need a system that will allow easy pay. just put a damn credit card to do in police car, and give ticket and pay on spot.

this world is mad

[PA Democrat]

5. That is so screwed up on so many levels

Warrants get issued fairly frequently due to something as simple as a clerical error.

But getting to the root of the issue, I thought Social Security was a trust fund. If you take away people's right to draw upon their contributions to that trust fund, then how are they supposed to support themselves? Turn to crime?

[rodeodance]

6. whow whow.

[sojourner]

7. ahem...you meant "return" to crime as it is felons and such who lose SS?

(including mere suspects) - in RW-speak, "criminals". and i guess their assumption is "yes, let them return to a life of criminality" -- but, i wonder, where is their high-minded notion of "redemption"?

my son committed and was convicted of a felony at the tender age of 18, when he was a druggie. fast forward and he is now 28 years old. he has since gotten clean (a five-year struggle), and is living a hard-working, law-abiding and sober life (praise the powers that be!) -- so HE should forfeit his SS benefits? I hate HATE these bastids....

[No Exit]

9. I hate them too... your youngish son must do the only thing left to

him if he wishes a prosperous career: get elected to congress.

Since he's cleaned up his act, he would not have any open warrants, so he wouldn't be in the position of the person I heard about. So I am wondering, does this cockamamie, unconstitutional, REPUBLICAN law also state that convicted felons can never get social security disability retirement which they are required to pay into???!?

And if so, shouldn't there be some way for those who are saddled with an old (over-with) felony to opt out of having to pay into social security since they would be unable to receive the retirement?? If there were no such provision, then (in the case of someone like your son), the violation of the U.S. Constitution would be crystal clear. The government would be depriving him of property every time it took out FICA, and clearly he receives no due process. Lawsuit time. Maybe by the time he is old enough to have to worry about this, maybe by that time we'll actually have more decent justices on the Supreme Court.

[roguevalley]

8. how can what you EARNED with your LABOR be taken from you?

These fuckers!

[No Exit]

10. That's what I'd like to know!!