is there a way to fix our social security system?

[wakingdreams53]

you could ask Obama now...
apps.facebook.com/facebooklive/
White house online town hall happening live right now.

 

[FrekeChild]

Freke, nowhere in your post did you say that children are not on SS and are on SSI...obviosuly something I DIDN'T know based on my question...I didn't realise that they probably AREN'T getting SS but SSI until Marie pointed that out to me. If you wanted to answer MY question, the one you quoted, then you could have said "they aren't". And Marie is right I could have googled but I didn't even know there was a difference (obviously bc from my 1st post I have asked WHY do children get SS and I got several responses on why they SHOULD but noone saying THEY DONT). So, again, thank you Marie for answering my question.

I am still confused as to why you quoted me bc I was simply asking why do children get SS. I didn't take part in any of the debate about adults collecting SS (bc it has way too many levels to discuss here at PS) so it confuses me as why you chose MY post to quote when SO many people DO HAVE OPINIONS ON ADULTS collecting SS (or maybe it is adults collecting SSI that THEY are referring too??).

The only part of your statement that I found offensive was the part about you not wanting a person with mental illness waiting on you. Maybe you aren't a judgemental person but THAT PARTICULAR STATEMENT came of as if you are. I AM SURE that there are people reading this that suffer from the disorders that YOU CHOSE to point out...It sounded as if you think that those people are not good enough to work a particular job...If you meant something else (like you tried to clarify in your responding post), then the statement should have been worded different. And if you think you said nothing wrong, then why clarify?

I am not going to debate with you.... My question has been answered. Thank you Marie for pointing it out for me (and I do apologize for my ignorance when it comes to CHILDREN collecting SSI/SS)

Because I can quote whoever I want.

It drives me crazy who people call it SS. SSDI, DIB, sure. SSI is a whole other ballgame as I pointed out in my first post. Apparently I wasn't clear enough. Regardless of where the money comes from SSA is the agency in charge of distributing these funds and checking up on making sure that they are still needed.

Lots of people end up getting cut off because they start working. You know what I say to that? AWESOME! Good for them!

Did I say that I didn't want ANY person with mental illness waiting on me? NO. I said I don't want that particular person waiting on me. If I did NOT know she had such issues and ONLY experienced her mood swings, I would still not want her as a server. I've been a server, I've been around a lot of servers. I've been around a lot of cooks. I've been around a ton of people with mental issues (there are a LOT OF THEM IN THE FOOD SERVICE INDUSTRY) and it's my semi-professional opinion (only semi since I'm not paid to give my opinion) that this woman should not be working A. with the public and B. in a high stress situation where the most stable person can have breakdowns.

You can choose to think that I'm a judgmental biotch because of what I said about a particular person (who you don't know!) but that's your opinion. I chose to clarify because I can be quite wordy or long winded and apparently I had more to share. Plus you obviously didn't read my post with the intent that I intended in the first place. Why not clarify?

Besides, it was an anecdotal situation that, again, you have no experience with. I do NOT want the schizophrenic, bipolar disordered, anger disordered and anxiety ridden woman I talked to today handling my food as my waitress. Which is what she was calling to ask about. "I don't have another choice- I have to work, I have no money. Can I work part time? Maybe as a waitress or something?" Um, well, sure. You don't know this particular woman, nor will you ever. I was specifically talking about HER. There is no generalization there at all, that I can see. What is your beef? Seriously...

Not to mention I did not comment on the following facts:
This woman carries around a Coach purse.
She wears North Face fleece.
She wears DKNY sunglasses.
She has always had freshly dyed hair every time she has come into the office. And perfectly applied makeup.
Not to mention a perfect manicure.
I gave her the same spiel that every single one of our clients gets when they call every single time they want to try to work.
This was the nicest this woman has acted in our office or on the phone. Ordinarily she is extremely rude, has threatened other employees, or hysterically crying.
She looks really really normal. I imagine she'd be fine if she was having a good day going in for a job interview, but from experience, I can tell you that she will not last long as soon as she has a bad day.


BTW, it's MariA.

 

[lbbaber]

ibbaber, you're welcome. In reading these last few posts, it seems to me that all our opinions are actually very close -- let's have a safety net for those who truly need it, opportunities for self-reliance for individuals with disabilities, and zero tolerance for abusers of the system.

I'm no economist but I guess the system is broken because the baby boomers are all going to get old and collect at the same time (and probably live too long to boot) with not enough younger workers in the system. Who asked this question about fixing it anyway -- the guy same guy who is always complaining that his daughters are financially irresponsible! Irony much? Dancing Fire, never mind fixing our soc sec system and never mind telling your daughters to start saving now for retirement. They are not going to to do this. Put your own money aside for them in a trust fund so that you can keep supporting them after you are long gone!

We do have similar views...I guess sometimes in these posts it's easy to get caught up in the emotion but the last thing I meant to do was argue w/someone that I actually agree with.

I was ignorant about SSI. I can see that I am not the only one confused bc I am not the 1st person that brought it up (my question was a response to someone else saying children should get SS) and so many of the responses seem to confuse the two. It was good to get a straight foward answer and I am sure you helped more than just me. Children do not get SS, SSI is what some of us have complained about, it comes out of a different system, it will NOT have any influence on the fate of SS...I am actually relieved to know this. I will never make that mistake again. I also do not intend on getting heated up by DF's instigative posts (ok, I'll try!! lol)

It seems as if I got your name wrong, Maria. Once we start typing a response, I can not see the previous posts so I am sorry that I guessed wrong (my memory isn't what it used to be ) My name is actually LBBABER, not ibbaber, but people make that mistake all the time---it's ok I didn't realise what I was doing when I picked my screen name or I would have picked differently

 

[Dancing Fire]

My conclusions about why you know so many people who are working and their children are getting SSI? Your state’s SSA office is slacking. Here in NM, they are on top of it every single month. If a family has more assets than $2,000 (this does not include a home that you live in or the car you drive) they can get their SSI pulled. If the earnings are more than a certain amount (it varies from person to person and situation to situation!) Then they can cut benefits or eliminate them completely. Perhaps the subjects of your anecdotes aren’t giving you the whole story, OR perhaps your SSA office isn’t on top of it. IN MY EXPERIENCE, the NM office is more than on top of it. I cannot speak for other states.

Also, the OP has a loooooooooooooooooooong history of posting topics to get people riled up. As usual, it has worked. Hats off to you DF!

Freke...i can own a million dollar home,drive a $100k Mercede and still be eligible for SSI in your state?..

 

[y2kitty]

My conclusions about why you know so many people who are working and their children are getting SSI? Your state’s SSA office is slacking. Here in NM, they are on top of it every single month. If a family has more assets than $2,000 (this does not include a home that you live in or the car you drive) they can get their SSI pulled. If the earnings are more than a certain amount (it varies from person to person and situation to situation!) Then they can cut benefits or eliminate them completely. Perhaps the subjects of your anecdotes aren’t giving you the whole story, OR perhaps your SSA office isn’t on top of it. IN MY EXPERIENCE, the NM office is more than on top of it. I cannot speak for other states.

Also, the OP has a loooooooooooooooooooong history of posting topics to get people riled up. As usual, it has worked. Hats off to you DF!

Freke...i can own a million dollar home,drive a $100k Mercede and still be eligible for SSI in your state?..

You can live in a million dollar house, drive a $100k Mercedes and be eligible for food stamps in Ohio.

 

[FrekeChild]

My conclusions about why you know so many people who are working and their children are getting SSI? Your state’s SSA office is slacking. Here in NM, they are on top of it every single month. If a family has more assets than $2,000 (this does not include a home that you live in or the car you drive) they can get their SSI pulled. If the earnings are more than a certain amount (it varies from person to person and situation to situation!) Then they can cut benefits or eliminate them completely. Perhaps the subjects of your anecdotes aren’t giving you the whole story, OR perhaps your SSA office isn’t on top of it. IN MY EXPERIENCE, the NM office is more than on top of it. I cannot speak for other states.

Also, the OP has a loooooooooooooooooooong history of posting topics to get people riled up. As usual, it has worked. Hats off to you DF!

Freke...i can own a million dollar home,drive a $100k Mercede and still be eligible for SSI in your state?..

Yes, to the best of my knowledge. But you'd have to make the mortgage payments on a million dollar home and the car payments on your Mercedes with $674 a month. Not to mention food, bills, utilities, etc.

But if you're living in a million dollar home and driving a Mercedes and you only qualify for SSI, then you've got bigger problems--as in, you haven't worked 40 quarters within the past 10 years. Most people with those kinds of assets are going to qualify for DIB/SSDI because they've worked.

So if you had those...amenities... and you had to resort to applying for a poverty based program, it'd be in your best interest to sell above mentioned items and use that money to live off of.

This, of course, is a very highly unlikely situation (most of our SSI only clients are couch surfers at best, in fact about 65% of our clients are homeless) so I can't say for sure, but I can ask my homie at SSA tomorrow and let you know for sure.

 

[FrekeChild]

And, hi DF! Long time no harass!

 

[Dancing Fire]

ibbaber, you're welcome. In reading these last few posts, it seems to me that all our opinions are actually very close -- let's have a safety net for those who truly need it, opportunities for self-reliance for individuals with disabilities, and zero tolerance for abusers of the system.

I'm no economist but I guess the system is broken because the baby boomers are all going to get old and collect at the same time (and probably live too long to boot) with not enough younger workers in the system. Who asked this question about fixing it anyway -- the guy same guy who is always complaining that his daughters are financially irresponsible! Irony much? Dancing Fire, never mind fixing our soc sec system and never mind telling your daughters to start saving now for retirement. They are not going to to do this. Put your own money aside for them in a trust fund so that you can keep supporting them after you are long gone!

ha,ha... ..my daughter haven't spent any of my money since she been working full time. ..she has been a saver,in fact i'm expecting her to buy a house by next spring.

 

[Dancing Fire]

And, hi DF! Long time no harass!

yeah,you need to hang around here more often instead of FB..

 

[ksinger]

Well, I know what WON'T fix it, and that would be privatizing it. Since that worked out so well for people and their 401K's and all, when the financial industry decided to evaporate our "investments" for us. The last thing Wall Street needs is another huge influx of capital from the average - duped - citizen, just trying to save a few pennies for retirement. I know one thing, if I could make a decent rate of return on money in a savings account - you know, those things that when I was a teen and young adult, paid a fairly decent percentage - I'd not be risking the relatively paltry sum I can put away, on the giant roulette wheel that is the stock market...

 

[Dancing Fire]

Well, I know what WON'T fix it, and that would be privatizing it. Since that worked out so well for people and their 401K's and all, when the financial industry decided to evaporate our "investments" for us. The last thing Wall Street needs is another huge influx of capital from the average - duped - citizen, just trying to save a few pennies for retirement. I know one thing, if I could make a decent rate of return on money in a savings account - you know, those things that when I was a teen and young adult, paid a fairly decent percentage - I'd not be risking the relatively paltry sum I can put away, on the giant roulette wheel that is the stock market...

why not? we must do something. our government is running the biggest "Ponzi scheme" in history the only difference is they won't be going to prison for doing it.