John McCain is on Social Security?!?!?!?

[proud2BlibKansan]

McCain collects Social Security. A little tidbit from Union Station

John McCain today at Union Station said he is receiving Social Security checks, but that the system needs to be fixed if future generations are to enjoy the same benefits.

The senator from Arizona is about a month shy of his 72nd birthday and would be the oldest president elected.

Last week, McCain said the system for funding Social Security is "a disgrace" because it forces young workers to pay into a program that is unlikely to benefit them in its current form.

Social Security benefits are projected to exceed its tax revenues in about nine years. The program's trustees have said the Social Security trust fund will be depleted by 2041 unless the system is changed.

http://primebuzz.kcstar.com/?q=node/13098#comment-26489

[fascisthunter]

1. what a free-loading Hypocrit

:evilgrin:

[Thothmes]

33. He paid into the system,

It is not a need based system.

[KamaAina]

2. On top of his 100% disability pension?!

What's next? Farm subsidies for growing grass at the six out of seven houses he doesn't actually live in?! :eyes:

[Bluebear]

8. -----

:spray:

And

:applause:

[Booster]

22. Maybe someone can explain why McCain gets 100% disability

and Jessica Lynch, who can barely walk, gets 85% and Shoshana Johnson, with similar injuries as Lynch, only gets 65% - ok Johnson is black so that might have something to do with it, but I just don't think someone who has worked as long as McCain has should get 100%.

[KamaAina]

23. But, but, but he can't lift his arms over his head!

How on Earth is he ever gonna make that triumphant hand-raising gesture at the convention when he gets the nomination (assuming he even does)? Oh, the humanity!! :sarcasm:

[Booster]

25. Well, first he should fire whoever is doing that combover thing to

his hair, then he can get a little sign-on-a-stick for the convention that says "Whoop-dee-doo" or something.

[Thothmes]

36. McCains level of disability

was determined at the time he was retired from active duty in April 1981. A board of Navy physicians made the determination that he was 100% disabled.
For a retiree from the armed services, what that means is that the retirement pay is tax free. It does not get you any extra money.

[Booster]

37. Are you saying that Jessica Lynch's and all the other troops who

have lost limbs, are blind, etc. will most likely not pay taxes once they are retired from service? In my book getting money that is tax free is extra money. It's like when the Repubs took away our credit card payments from our taxes - to me, that was raising your taxes only in an very sneaky way.

[Thothmes]

38. Lynch and Johnson did not retire from the armed services.

Any disabiliy payments they receive will be determined by the Veterans Administration and not the Department of Defense. And I do believe that any disablity awards they receive are tax free.

[JuniperLea]

3. How can he do that?

Isn't there a limit to the amount of money someone can earn before they cut you off?

[Donnachaidh]

5. he's past a certain age

And I'd love to see how MANY reps are collecting, in both the Senate and the House.

One immediate fix they could do is to STOP giving benefits to seniors who have a large income. When you have seniors eating canned tuna because they are living only on their SS, and lose portions of it when they try to work -- the system is obscene.

[JuniperLea]

11. Obscene is right...

Cat food or their heart meds... some must make a choice.

This country is so ill... my heart is aching.

[Hannah Bell]

12. Sorry, he earned it. Your plan would turn it into "welfare," which plays into the hands

of those who want to destroy its universality.

Everyone pays in, everyone gets something back. That's the strength of the program, & contrary to the hype, the system's not "going bankrupt".

[proud2BlibKansan]

16. But the noble thing would be to refuse it

When I was a kid, my parents had some wealthy friends who never filed to get their Social Security. They said they didn't need it and didn't think it would be right to take it. I met a kid when I was in college whose grandmother didn't get it either, because she was living comfortably enough. And I know a 75 year old woman now who donates her entire SS check every month to various charities.

But I guess we can't expect McCain to be noble and refuse it.

[Hannah Bell]

18. sure, that would be noble. but the system works, even if no one is noble.

that's its strength, & that's what should be emphasized.

it's not a welfare program, nobody gets a free ride, on average. stories like this encourage people to think of it like it's welfare.

[Donnachaidh]

26. Sorry -- as long as our reps look at SS as an *emergency fund*

To pay for all their PORK -- no one making over 100K should get anything back.

When we don't have homeless people, and seniors are actually paying their bills AND eating, we'll consider giving it back to the wealthy.

We can and DO give the wealthy and corporations *welfare* -- time they started paying it BACK.

[Obamanaut]

29. There appears to be some dissatisfaction with our people in

congress - our elected representatives - but time after countless time the same ones are reelected. I read somewhere recently that there is less than a 10% turnover rate for the senate and house combined. This apparent approval rating does not coincide with what so many are saying.

[pokercat999]

14. Means testing, they kinda have a form of that by decreasing

your benefit payment depending on how much you earn. It sunsets at a certain age and I'm not at all sure what "income" is counted against the SS benefit. I'm sure someone here can explain it in detail.

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. You got it wrong, where the means testing should exist is in the NO UPPER LIMIT

to income where you have to contribute to the system...

But it is universal for a reason

[Hannah Bell]

27. income is taxed at 12.4% (1/2 employee/1/2 employer) up to 102K for 2008.

That covers about 90% of income.

When you retire, you get back a certain percent of your pre-retirement income (ajusted for inflation).

Payback is structured such that those who made the least get back a slightly higher %, & those who made most get back a slightly lower %, so it's slightly progressive: as insurance against the vagaries of career paths & economics.

[Thothmes]

34. Social security is not a welfare program. It is not need based

McCain paid into the program just like the rest of us did. He is legally entitled to it.

[Obamanaut]

39. If "they" stop giving benefits to seniors who have large incomes

those seniors should not have been forced to pay into the system. Otherwise this sounds suspiciously like income redistribution.

Seniors who begin SS benefits prior to full retirement age lose $1 for every $2 earned over a fixed amount that changes from year to year. After full retirement age is reached, a senior can earn as much as he or she wants or is able to (SS admin just sent me a letter telling me I can do this)

[BigDaddy44]

20. Of course not

Its not welfare. Its a defined benefit program. You pay in. Why would you not reap the benefits?

[JuniperLea]

28. I know many people in CA who are getting Social Security

And they are not allowed to earn over a certain amount or their benefit is reduced.

[Obamanaut]

31. Here is what SS says about reductions for earnings

FRA (full retirement age) is different for different people depending on when they were born. No reduction after FRA. The following is from their site

http://www.ssa.gov/

If you are under normal (or full) retirement age (FRA): when you start getting your Social Security payments, $1 in benefits will be deducted for each $2 you earn above the annual limit. For 2008 that limit is $13,560 and for 2007, that limit is $12,960. Remember, the earliest age that you can receive Social Security retirement benefits remains 62 even though the FRA is rising.
In the year you reach your FRA: $1 in benefits will be deducted for each $3 you earn above a different limit, but only counting earnings before the month you reach FRA. For 2008, this limit is $36,120; for 2007, this limit is $34,440.
Starting with the month you reach FRA:, you will get your benefits with NO limit on your earnings.
If a child or spouse on your record works while receiving benefits, the same earnings limits apply to him or her as apply to you. If your child or spouse is eligible for benefits this year and is also working, you can use our earnings test calculator to see how those earnings would affect the child's benefit payments. (Your child's or spouse's earnings affect only his or her own benefits. They do not affect your benefits or those of any other beneficiaries on your record.)

[MiniMe]

21. No

Everybody is eligible.

[Faygo Kid]

4. Of course. That is a point about the program he would destroy.

Part of the agreement - imperfect as it is - is that everyone is entitled to Social Security at a certain age.

I do not want to live in a country that does not provide a floor for all as they get older. This was FDR's brilliant trade-off, to get it for those most in need: The rich get it, too.

That's the price. Wish it were not so, but it beats old folks and handicappers begging in the streets.

What kind of country do you want to live in?

[Overseas]

10. Repubs will also try to destroy SSI by saying let's have a wealth cut off

They'll say "Gee, rich folks shouldn't get it. Let's cut off the top 10% of earners from getting any." Whenever they do that kind of means testing, they cut too low and hurt too many people. There is a much simpler way of making things more fair. Removing the cap on Social Security taxes.

Many people don't realize that SSI taxes stop being deducted after the first 100k of income. So the 150K guy and the $10 million earner PAY IN the same amount !! Only the first 100K of their income is taxed for social security. Remove that cap and you've got a lot more money coming in.

[Obamanaut]

13. Will the 150K guy and the $10 million guy get more when they

become eligible (based on their input)? If so, that's fair.

[aquart]

6. There is not and must never be a means test for Social Security.

This money is NOT charity. It is OURS. We worked for it. We are entitled to it. Every one of us.

It is a REPUBLICAN idea that there should be a means test. It is a REPUBLICAN idea that Social Security is a "handout" to beggars.

Stop falling for it.

[dflprincess]

7. And we know that, if there ever is a means test,

the allowable income and/or assets will be so low barely anyone will qualify.

[damntexdem]

9. The system needs minor tweaking.

Raising or eliminating the income cap on the FICA tax would do it. In any case, much of the hype about inadequacies of the Trust Fund are due to projected cash-flow problems at the end of the Boomer years.

No, the true problem is not with Social Security. It will instead be with Medicare.

[pokercat999]

15. Not if we replace it with a universal FREE health care

system. Paid for in full by our taxes, not the "insurance" scam now going on.

[Historic NY]

19. He needs it to pay his wifes credit card & his gambling habit...

he has been on the public dole his entire life.

[Riddler]

24. My son can't walk to the damn bathroom because of a spinal cyst and can't get

crap from SS, but Gramps, married to a multi-millionaire, is 100% disabled AND receiving SS benefits??? This POS has been on the public payroll his entire life, and has had government health insurance since the day he was born. Yet Americans are whiners! Hey Gramps...GFY!!!!

[elehhhhna]

30. Yep. John's a welfare queen. That's the "disgusting" part he was referring to.

[Thothmes]

35. Exactly what "welfare" does McCain Draw?

[elehhhhna]

41. anybody who gets a full disability payment AND works a 165K/yr. job at the same time

is scamming the system, imo.

Is he disabled or not?

[Thothmes]

42. A board of Navy physicians determined that he was

100% disabled when he retired. He would receive that $50,000 annually even if he was not found to be disabled. That is his retirement pay after serving in the U.S. Navy for 26 years. The disability determination means that he does not have to pay income tax on his retirement. He earned his retirement throught 26 years in the service. The Constitution requires that Senators be paid for their services. He income from retirement and Senate service are completely in accordance with the laws of the United States.

[elehhhhna]

44. thank god the little prince has enough to live on, but he's a DOUBLE DIPPER

who, btw, also collects Social Security! So his generous Cong. pension will make him a triple!

[Thothmes]

46. He's 72 and elegible for the social security that he paid into

for 26 years. The Social Security retirement system is not means tested.

[elehhhhna]

48. I'm glad you're a big McCain defender. Not many of them around here.

[Thothmes]

49. Not defending the man

Just pointing out that he is entitled by law to everything that he is receiving. If his receiving these compensations upsets you, have those boobs that sit in the Congress of the United States change the laws. lets make SS a needs based program. Dump the military retirement system. Let those bastards in congress work gratis. But until they change the law folks will continue to draw on these programs.

[Riddler]

45. $165K a year! SS told my son that he couldn't receive ANY disability because their threshold

was $600 a month, and they felt that even though he's wheelchair bound, he could do something to earn $600 a month! But being able to hold a job that pays $165K a year still qualifies for 100% disability AND Social Security? Sorry, and this may piss some people off, but military service or no military service, if you're deemed to be 100% disabled, to me that means 100% disabled and being able to hold ANY job, elected or not, that pays $165K is not being 100% disabled.

[DiverDave]

32. What an asshole

him, and all the greedy bastards like him, don't need it.
But, by god, they will take it.
How about giving it back?
For the system that allowed them to become so wealthy, how bout a little payback?

But, it'll never happen, these assholes are ENTITLED to EVERYTHING, no matter the cost to society.

Assholes.

[DailyGrind51]

40. Triple-dipping dip-shit, WTF?

[roamer65]

43. Insane McSame reminds me of how we really need to rework Social Security.

Remove the 102K cap on SS taxes completely and exempt the first $20000 of gross income from SS taxes for all with a gross income below 100K.

[BlooInBloo]

47. He paid into it, he should get his money back. Duh.