Slashdot Mirror
Online Social Security Statement In Limbo
coondoggie writes "While the debate over Social Security benefits is heating up in Congress, one of the most basic ways everyone interacts with the agency — the yearly Social Security Statement — is in limbo as the agency struggles to move it online. The Social Security Statement had been issued every year since 2000 to more than 150 million workers serving as the government's key way of communicating with workers about benefits, earnings records and how much retirement money they have. The statement is also a key tool for communicating with the public about the long-term financial challenges the Social Security system faces. However, whether you realize it or not, the SSA suspended mailings of the statement in March citing budgetary concerns."
My grandma can't read. There's no way she could handle a long document with words printed on it.
One problem here that not many people know about is that the "trust fund" isn't an actual account with actual money in it.
Sure it is. You might as well argue that your bank account has no money in it because they loaned it out, or that any retirement fund with stocks, bonds, or T-bills in it doesn't have any money in the account.
All accounts run like that. "Your" money isn't there. It's in some IOU form. Unless you have your retirement account stashed under the bed, you do exactly what you condemn.
Learn to love Alaska
This is all about politics and scaring older voters.
The SSA has been making a large push to direct deposit. I am sure this is saving them far more than the statements that they have been mailing every few years.
Except the entity who issued the bonds in this case is also the one paying the value plus interest. Therefore, you need the thousand dollars in the other jar to pay for the securities, and then you have to find money elsewhere to pay the interest on those thousand dollar securities. Assuming that, unlike the government, you haven't already spent the thousand dollars in the jar.