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Social Your Security
Posted by
Neurosail
,
24 July 2008
·
947 views
Blog: six
Word count: 612
Title: Social Your Security?
Subtitle: Roach Hotel: You can always check in but you can never check out!
Social Your Security
What is the difference between the FAA and NASA? They are both government agencies. The difference is control. When you fly, the FAA does not own the airline that you fly on nor do they operate the service that the airlines provide. They have a limited role of safety of the industry. If someone invents a better jet, that person or company can expect to receive the patent rights of the new craft. However, when NASA goes to the moon or other planets, NASA controls all aspects of the program. NASA owns the ships, the launch equipment, and does all the management required. If a NASA employee or group develops a new product, since NASA is part of the U.S. Government, it cannot patent nor sell any designs. That is an unfair law to the employees who work on the projects. Civilian goods, which are the result of military or governmental research, are also known as spinoffs. Spinoffs, such as integrated circuits, modern electronics, freeze-dried foods, and satellites, came from the Apollo program. If NASA was allowed to patent the spinoffs then the employees would get a percent and most of NASA's budget today would come from the royalties and not from taxes. Instead of thinking of going back to the moon today, NASA would already be on Pluto and beyond. Total government control of any plan is a poor idea.
Likewise, the same goes for Social Security. The U.S. role of total control of the Federal Insurance Contributions Act Tax (FICA) is unfair regressive tax to the poor employees who are forced to pay this tax, they have no control of how the money is used or saved.
Citizens should have a choice of where to invest their social security funds, as government returns on the levied investment yield much smaller returns than would be gained by allowing their select investment in the private market. In addition, when a citizen dies, the extra funds should go to the spouse and then the children's accounts for their retirements. It is not fair today that when a spouse of a married couple dies, the surviving spouse must choose which account (husbands or wives) to live off and cannot receive both accounts as in the past. This sharply cuts down the survivor's monthly income to about half, making life very hard on the person, even if they use the spouse's life insurance to pay off the bills. This so-called "safety net" does not work for the poor. Even some married couples are getting a divorce so that they can each receive a higher check each month. This is not a fair system.
Where is my FICA money? If I'd put that money in a common bank account at the average rate of four percent, for 40+ years investing and compound interest, I should be a multi-millionaire today! So where is my money? You can't trust the government to save the money for you, they will use the money to build bridges to nowhere and other government waste. When I was in high school, I remember seeing FICA deducted on my paycheck from work. So I asked a teacher what was that tax for? She said that was my retirement saving plan. So where is that money?
Longevity Dividend is a plan that would utilize tax money for longer healthier lives. According to the National Priorities Project website, only 22.1 cents per dollar of tax money is used for health. Over 42 cents per dollar is used for the military and only four cents per dollar is used for education! No wonder we have a nation of overweight and uneducated people in the U.S. always at war with somebody.
Word count: 612
Title: Social Your Security?
Subtitle: Roach Hotel: You can always check in but you can never check out!
Social Your Security
What is the difference between the FAA and NASA? They are both government agencies. The difference is control. When you fly, the FAA does not own the airline that you fly on nor do they operate the service that the airlines provide. They have a limited role of safety of the industry. If someone invents a better jet, that person or company can expect to receive the patent rights of the new craft. However, when NASA goes to the moon or other planets, NASA controls all aspects of the program. NASA owns the ships, the launch equipment, and does all the management required. If a NASA employee or group develops a new product, since NASA is part of the U.S. Government, it cannot patent nor sell any designs. That is an unfair law to the employees who work on the projects. Civilian goods, which are the result of military or governmental research, are also known as spinoffs. Spinoffs, such as integrated circuits, modern electronics, freeze-dried foods, and satellites, came from the Apollo program. If NASA was allowed to patent the spinoffs then the employees would get a percent and most of NASA's budget today would come from the royalties and not from taxes. Instead of thinking of going back to the moon today, NASA would already be on Pluto and beyond. Total government control of any plan is a poor idea.
Likewise, the same goes for Social Security. The U.S. role of total control of the Federal Insurance Contributions Act Tax (FICA) is unfair regressive tax to the poor employees who are forced to pay this tax, they have no control of how the money is used or saved.
Citizens should have a choice of where to invest their social security funds, as government returns on the levied investment yield much smaller returns than would be gained by allowing their select investment in the private market. In addition, when a citizen dies, the extra funds should go to the spouse and then the children's accounts for their retirements. It is not fair today that when a spouse of a married couple dies, the surviving spouse must choose which account (husbands or wives) to live off and cannot receive both accounts as in the past. This sharply cuts down the survivor's monthly income to about half, making life very hard on the person, even if they use the spouse's life insurance to pay off the bills. This so-called "safety net" does not work for the poor. Even some married couples are getting a divorce so that they can each receive a higher check each month. This is not a fair system.
Where is my FICA money? If I'd put that money in a common bank account at the average rate of four percent, for 40+ years investing and compound interest, I should be a multi-millionaire today! So where is my money? You can't trust the government to save the money for you, they will use the money to build bridges to nowhere and other government waste. When I was in high school, I remember seeing FICA deducted on my paycheck from work. So I asked a teacher what was that tax for? She said that was my retirement saving plan. So where is that money?
Longevity Dividend is a plan that would utilize tax money for longer healthier lives. According to the National Priorities Project website, only 22.1 cents per dollar of tax money is used for health. Over 42 cents per dollar is used for the military and only four cents per dollar is used for education! No wonder we have a nation of overweight and uneducated people in the U.S. always at war with somebody.
