Economic Stimulus or Death Knell for Social Security?
How many of you are on or know someone who gets Social Security? Grandpa? Mom? An orphan child? Wife? Husband? I’m on Social Security and I am not shy about telling you that having that check every month has been all the difference for my husband and myself. Our retirement was just barely making it, to be honest. I know. I’ve been paying into the Social Security fund since I was sixteen. I’ve been paying into it. I just wanted to emphasize that. Not the Government. That’s my money, and the money of the various organizations I’ve worked for over the decades.
On August 30th, I saw an article from major media outlet ABC, that President Trump had gone ahead and done what he and the GOP have been threatening. They are destroying Social Security. https://www.abc15.com/news/national/irs-tells-companies-to-not-take-out-social-security-taxes-from-checks-following-presidential-order
If you read the article, the IRS has told employers they don’t have to withhold the portion of our pay that we pay into social security. That’s 6.2% of each paycheck. Here’s where it gets tricky. It’s not permanent, as this was an executive order and not an actual Congressional Act. That means your huge benefit from this is about $42 per week for someone making $17 per hour for a 40-hour work week. I’ve been in dire enough straights in my working life to know that $42 per week is a huge sum when money is tight. But is it worth having to pay it back by April 30th, 2021? Let’s say it is $42 per week. That’s about 36 weeks from now if it runs until the end of April. Hmmm. 36 weeks times $68 per week equals $1518. Can your budget take a $1518 blow?
Here’s where the GOP and the President really get you. He says it’s an economic stimulus. And, I suppose it is. What family couldn’t use an extra $42 per week toward groceries or medicine or even rent? But what about next April? How’s that going to play out for the working poor?
Then there’s the really sneaky part. They have wanted Social Security gone for decades. They’d like you to think it’s your tax dollars being given away. But it’s not. It’s money every working person has paid into the fund for the last three-quarters of a century. It’s money that makes the difference between your grandparents buying people food or dog food. It’s money that Congress feels entitled to. They shouldn’t. Taxes on the American public don’t fund Social Security. It’s not their money, it’s ours. We pay into that fund every pay period. Eliminating the payroll tax will make Social Security insolvent. By 2023. Three years from now.
Tell your organization to keep taking that money out of your check. Call or email your Congressional Representatives, both House and Senate, and let them know how you feel. Most of all, come November 3rd, fire every one of those representatives that think they can put you, or your family, or your friends, out on the street. I guarantee you, if the GOP and the President win this round, Medicaid and Medicare will be next. Starving, homeless, and without healthcare. Is that what you want?
Vote on election day for representatives that have compassion, sympathy, and care for the working-class person because it can get worse. Much worse.
