Social Security: Where did the money go?

[shintao]

The interesting thing is that 22% of those who paid into social security never live to benefit from the program, and the average years seniors get benefits before dying is only 17 years. So where did all the money go that everybody paid in and never used, or didn't live long enough to even enjoy a few years of retirement? OR, why isn't Social Security solvent?

Percentage of population surviving from 21 to 65, in 1990, in order to draw social security.
Males: 72.3
Females: 83.6

=======

Average remaining lifespan for those who survived to 65 to draw social security.
Males live 15.3 years longer drawing benefits.
Females live 19.6 years longer drawing benefits.


Life Expectancy for Social Security

 

[Old Rocks]

Just think, if the Repukes get their way, all that extra money can go to Wall Street.

 

[waltky]

Granny needs her social security so's she can buy more Halliburton stock...

Seniors: We need our Social Security!
July 30, 2011: Don't you dare withhold our Social Security payments!

That's the message senior citizens and the disabled are sending to President Obama and Republican lawmakers. They are making it very clear that they don't want to suffer the fallout of the debt ceiling squabbles in Washington, D.C. Hundreds of readers wrote to CNNMoney saying how much they depend on Social Security payments to keep a roof over their heads, food on the table and medicine in their cabinet. Even a one-month delay could wreak havoc on their lives, not to mention send their stress levels soaring.

Libby Rowe already knows how she'll use her Aug. 3 Social Security disability check, which comes to about $1,000. She needs it to pay the mortgage and utility bills. If it doesn't arrive, she won't be able to put gas in her car and will have to cut back on groceries. "I have no one else to depend on but that check," said Rowe, 54, who lives in Bunker Hill, W.Va. "I live month-to-month. It's a lifeline."

If the Obama administration does withhold some or all of the 55 million Social Security payments set to go out in August, several recipients said they will ask their banks to let them delay their mortgage payments. The first call Sherry Carson will make if she doesn't receive her $967 Social Security check will be to Wells Fargo. Carson, who said she's never been late on a bill, hopes the bank will let her postpone August payment. "It bothers me terribly," said Carson, 63, of Watkinsville, Ga., whose neck is hurting from all the additional stress. "I'm very proud to have always paid on time."

Lynne Perry isn't holding out hope that her bank will help her. The Penfield, N.Y., resident called a few weeks ago and the representative told her she must make her payment. "They said if the government defaults on me, I still have an obligation not to default on them," said Perry, 56, who gets by on a Social Security disability payment and some earnings from her Web design firm, LynSys Software Services. Perry doesn't know what expenses she can cut if she doesn't receive her $1,735 check. She doesn't have cable and drives a 21-year-old car. At worst, she'll have to give up her cats. "I already don't have a lot of luxuries," she said.

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[Remodeling Maidiac]

The interesting thing is that 22% of those who paid into social security never live to benefit from the program, and the average years seniors get benefits before dying is only 17 years. So where did all the money go that everybody paid in and never used, or didn't live long enough to even enjoy a few years of retirement? OR, why isn't Social Security solvent?

Percentage of population surviving from 21 to 65, in 1990, in order to draw social security.
Males: 72.3
Females: 83.6

=======

Average remaining lifespan for those who survived to 65 to draw social security.
Males live 15.3 years longer drawing benefits.
Females live 19.6 years longer drawing benefits.


Life Expectancy for Social Security

I see you accidentally left out the stats about the amount of people paying in versus those taking out. You also left out the fact that BOTH parties robbed the so called "lock box"
Naw, you not partisan about this at all.

 

[RetiredGySgt]

The interesting thing is that 22% of those who paid into social security never live to benefit from the program, and the average years seniors get benefits before dying is only 17 years. So where did all the money go that everybody paid in and never used, or didn't live long enough to even enjoy a few years of retirement? OR, why isn't Social Security solvent?

Percentage of population surviving from 21 to 65, in 1990, in order to draw social security.
Males: 72.3
Females: 83.6

=======

Average remaining lifespan for those who survived to 65 to draw social security.
Males live 15.3 years longer drawing benefits.
Females live 19.6 years longer drawing benefits.


Life Expectancy for Social Security

The Government spent it. And since 1952 the dems have controlled the house for 44 years guess who that means spent it?

Ohh they replaced it with Government IOU's. Of course the Government has no money so can not pay them off.

 

[LilOlLady]

You have been indoctrinated and brainwashed by FAUXNEWS, tea party and right wing scare tactics. Social Security is not broke and have a $2.6 surplus and do not add to the deficit and has not been gutted by the government. Even if is has, the government will make good on payment for the next 40 years. And then who will give a damn because we will have more problems than social security.

 

[LilOlLady]

The interesting thing is that 22% of those who paid into social security never live to benefit from the program, and the average years seniors get benefits before dying is only 17 years. So where did all the money go that everybody paid in and never used, or didn't live long enough to even enjoy a few years of retirement? OR, why isn't Social Security solvent?

Percentage of population surviving from 21 to 65, in 1990, in order to draw social security.
Males: 72.3
Females: 83.6

=======

Average remaining lifespan for those who survived to 65 to draw social security.
Males live 15.3 years longer drawing benefits.
Females live 19.6 years longer drawing benefits.


Life Expectancy for Social Security

The Government spent it. And since 1952 the dems have controlled the house for 44 years guess who that means spent it?

Ohh they replaced it with Government IOU's. Of course the Government has no money so can not pay them off.

Democrates did not start two unfunded war, give big tax cuts to the rich, and let jobs leave the country. And now they want to make up by throwing granny, sonny and sis, the poor and disabled and troops under the train. They also want to make sure granny don't live long enough to collect social security and medicare.

 

[Remodeling Maidiac]

The interesting thing is that 22% of those who paid into social security never live to benefit from the program, and the average years seniors get benefits before dying is only 17 years. So where did all the money go that everybody paid in and never used, or didn't live long enough to even enjoy a few years of retirement? OR, why isn't Social Security solvent?

Percentage of population surviving from 21 to 65, in 1990, in order to draw social security.
Males: 72.3
Females: 83.6

=======

Average remaining lifespan for those who survived to 65 to draw social security.
Males live 15.3 years longer drawing benefits.
Females live 19.6 years longer drawing benefits.


Life Expectancy for Social Security

The Government spent it. And since 1952 the dems have controlled the house for 44 years guess who that means spent it?

Ohh they replaced it with Government IOU's. Of course the Government has no money so can not pay them off.

Democrates did not start two unfunded war, give big tax cuts to the rich, and let jobs leave the country. And now they want to make up by throwing granny, sonny and sis, the poor and disabled and troops under the train. They also want to make sure granny don't live long enough to collect social security and medicare.

Sorry to bust your little hate bubble, but ss was empty long before any of that happened.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

It's all gone. Spent.

Thankfully we're a nation of idiots so it has fully sunk in yet that we've all been Madoffed out in the trillions column

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Just think, if the Repukes get their way, all that extra money can go to Wall Street.

Right, you'd have a guaranteed 100% loss of what you put into an account you never own anyway.

That's clever

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

The Government spent it. And since 1952 the dems have controlled the house for 44 years guess who that means spent it?

Ohh they replaced it with Government IOU's. Of course the Government has no money so can not pay them off.

The Democrats may have controlled the House for 44 years, but they didn't control the presidency or the Senate for that long. Republicans were just as complicit in this thievery.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Democrates did not start two unfunded war, give big tax cuts to the rich, and let jobs leave the country.

Oh, but in fact, they did just that. John Kennedy gave big tax cuts to the rich. Clinton signed NAFTA, and the vote to invade Iraq was very much bipartisan.

 

[Harry Dresden]

The interesting thing is that 22% of those who paid into social security never live to benefit from the program, and the average years seniors get benefits before dying is only 17 years. So where did all the money go that everybody paid in and never used, or didn't live long enough to even enjoy a few years of retirement? OR, why isn't Social Security solvent?

Percentage of population surviving from 21 to 65, in 1990, in order to draw social security.
Males: 72.3
Females: 83.6

=======

Average remaining lifespan for those who survived to 65 to draw social security.
Males live 15.3 years longer drawing benefits.
Females live 19.6 years longer drawing benefits.


Life Expectancy for Social Security

The Government spent it. And since 1952 the dems have controlled the house for 44 years guess who that means spent it?

Ohh they replaced it with Government IOU's. Of course the Government has no money so can not pay them off.

Democrates did not start two unfunded war, give big tax cuts to the rich, and let jobs leave the country. And now they want to make up by throwing granny, sonny and sis, the poor and disabled and troops under the train. They also want to make sure granny don't live long enough to collect social security and medicare.

and you talk about someone being Brainwashed?.....

 

[waltky]

Mebbe dey see dead people....

Social Security pays millions to dead people
September 7, 2011: While many Americans worry that the Social Security Administration won't have enough money left to pay their benefits when they retire, the agency is doling out millions of dollars to people who aren't even alive.

The Social Security inspector general estimates that the agency has made $40.3 million in erroneous payments to deceased beneficiaries -- even though the administration had already recorded their deaths in its records. The estimate is based on a sample tested during its most recent audit in January 2008, the watchdog agency said. One man told CNNMoney that he notified Social Security four years ago that his mother had passed away, but he still can't get the agency to stop sending her checks every month.

Dennis Marvin, a Cleveland-based financial advisor, said several of his clients have grown frustrated by how long it took them to convince Social Security to stop sending payments to deceased family members. "My clients are very concerned about whether Social Security is going to be there for them -- there's a tremendous lack of confidence in the system," said Marvin. "The fact that some of the benefits they could get are being taken away because they are being spent on the deceased just adds fuel to the fire."

Typically, family members or funeral directors notify the Social Security Administration of a person's date of death. The deceased's identifying information, including their Social Security number, date of birth and date of death, is then added to the agency's Death Master File, a database that contains 87 million death records. People who fail to report this information and continue to receive payments risk fraud charges and will be forced to repay the money. California resident Rand Washburn, for example, was charged by the San Diego County district attorney with cashing in on more than $300,000 in Social Security checks that were sent to his mother for about 15 years after she died. After burying her body in the backyard, he failed to report her death to authorities, according to the DA's office. Washburn pled guilty to felony grand theft.

Even in cases where the Social Security Administration has received notification of a death and adds the data to its master file, it has continued to make erroneous payments. The inspector general estimates that as of January 2008, nearly 2,000 deceased beneficiaries were receiving benefits for months or even years after the agency had been notified of their deaths. If those payments were not stopped, the SSA likely dished out another $7 million in additional payments over the course of 2008, the inspector general estimated. The Social Security Administration did not return calls or e-mails requesting comment on these errors or what it has done to reduce erroneous payments.

MORE

 

[uscitizen]

The interesting thing is that 22% of those who paid into social security never live to benefit from the program, and the average years seniors get benefits before dying is only 17 years. So where did all the money go that everybody paid in and never used, or didn't live long enough to even enjoy a few years of retirement? OR, why isn't Social Security solvent?

Percentage of population surviving from 21 to 65, in 1990, in order to draw social security.
Males: 72.3
Females: 83.6

=======

Average remaining lifespan for those who survived to 65 to draw social security.
Males live 15.3 years longer drawing benefits.
Females live 19.6 years longer drawing benefits.


Life Expectancy for Social Security

SS is solvent. The problem is that the govt that "borrowed" the over 2 trillion in surplus funds is not solvent.

Where does the money go?
I have bought auto insurance since I was 16 I am now near SS age and I never collected one dime from my auto insurance.
And will never collect any since I no longer drive.

You can unserstand the concept of insurance can't you?

 

[DontBeStupid]

Democrates did not start two unfunded war, give big tax cuts to the rich, and let jobs leave the country. And now they want to make up by throwing granny, sonny and sis, the poor and disabled and troops under the train. They also want to make sure granny don't live long enough to collect social security and medicare.

Sorry to bust your little hate bubble, but ss was empty long before any of that happened.

Technically, no, it wasn't. In 2001, there was a sizable amount in the Trust and the federal government was looking at a decade of surpluses, which it would then use to re-pay the Trust. It was pretty much as it was designed to be.

But then Bush gave a massive tax cut aimed primarily at the top incomes, and then invaded two countries with no plans to pay for it, and THEN the GOP passed the Prescription Drug Plan with zero plans to pay for it.

In the end, no surplus, just massive deficits, which makes it very, very hard to re-pay the SS Trust.

 

[BoycottTheday]

Dint Obama's drunk uncle have a SS number?

I wonder how much he's going to get when he retires~~~~~

 

[uscitizen]

The interesting thing is that 22% of those who paid into social security never live to benefit from the program, and the average years seniors get benefits before dying is only 17 years. So where did all the money go that everybody paid in and never used, or didn't live long enough to even enjoy a few years of retirement? OR, why isn't Social Security solvent?

Percentage of population surviving from 21 to 65, in 1990, in order to draw social security.
Males: 72.3
Females: 83.6

=======

Average remaining lifespan for those who survived to 65 to draw social security.
Males live 15.3 years longer drawing benefits.
Females live 19.6 years longer drawing benefits.


Life Expectancy for Social Security

The Government spent it. And since 1952 the dems have controlled the house for 44 years guess who that means spent it?

Ohh they replaced it with Government IOU's. Of course the Government has no money so can not pay them off.

Umm there is that little thing that the senate also has to pass anything thr house does for it to be law or effective?

And as was previously stated, BOTH sides raided the SS trust fund.
the reason that they had so much to raid in recent years was becuase Reagan raised the SS withholding too much creating nearly 1 trillion a decade to be squandered by both houses of congress.

 

[uscitizen]

Dint Obama's drunk uncle have a SS number?

I wonder how much he's going to get when he retires~~~~~

Ahh flashback to Carters beer drinking brother and the fun the right poked at him.
Some things never change.

 

[Flopper]

The interesting thing is that 22% of those who paid into social security never live to benefit from the program, and the average years seniors get benefits before dying is only 17 years. So where did all the money go that everybody paid in and never used, or didn't live long enough to even enjoy a few years of retirement? OR, why isn't Social Security solvent?

Percentage of population surviving from 21 to 65, in 1990, in order to draw social security.
Males: 72.3
Females: 83.6

=======

Average remaining lifespan for those who survived to 65 to draw social security.
Males live 15.3 years longer drawing benefits.
Females live 19.6 years longer drawing benefits.


Life Expectancy for Social Security

It's not life insurance. You die early you loose and the funds go to other retirees.