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Ida May Fuller (b. September 6, 1874 – d. January 31, 1975) was the first American to receive a monthly benefit Social Security check. She received the check, amounting to $22.54, on January 31, 1940.

America is a community. We look out for each other as a nation. We build schools for our children, fund police for our safety and provide a secure retirement for our grandparents.  We don’t toss aside our seniors when they need our help the most. Instead, each generation of American workers invests in the Social Security Trust Fund under the guarantee that someday when they retire or get too sick to work, the Trust Fund will be there for them.

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GOP Senate Majority To Raise Retirement Age, Cut Medicare


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The Republicans have made big promises to their ultra-wealthy financial backers: Should they take the Senate, they promise to cut ‘entitlements’ and pass the savings on with more tax cuts for the 1%.

 

This isn’t fear mongering. This is taking them at their word. Republicans have promised to raise Medicare age and cut Social Security benefits.

 

  • Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, who would become chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, proposed legislation to raise the retirement age to 70 and supported President Bush’s plans to privatize the system.

 

  • Representative Bill Cassidy, who hopes to replace Mary Landrieu as senator from Louisiana, has pledged to raise the retirement age to 70 and turn Medicare into a voucher program.

 

  • Senators Ron Johnson and Ted Cruz both refer to Social Security as a “Giant Ponzi Scheme.” Cruz went further, going on the record with the Texas Tribune for privatization. As Texas solicitor general, he even sued the federal government to strike down Medicare’s prescription benefit.

 

  • Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona said he’d prefer “savings in entitlement programs rather than defense spending.”

 

 

 

Campaign for America’s Future has defeated similar bad ideas before. We’ve done it when Democrats are in charge, and we’ve done it when Republicans held all three branches of government.

 

Can you make a donation of $15 today to help us in this fight? We are now pushing to EXPAND, not cut Social Security. And we are gearing up the alliances, and strategies needed to meet the coming attacks. We will not accept any cuts to benefits older Americans have earned.

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In 2010, Representative Paul Ryan and House Republicans tried to use their new majority in the House to raise the retirement age and cut benefits. We fought back and prevented a “Grand Bargain.” Right-wing GOPers wore their folly around their necks in the 2012 election and it helped re-elect Barack Obama.

In 2015, the assault is likely to be a retirement age of 70 and yet another attempt to replace Medicare with vouchers.

We will not let them savage Americans who are vulnerable because of retirement or disability.

To do this, we need your help. Can you contribute $15 to help us gird for the fight we face? Join us as we work for a country that works for everyone, not just the wealthy and privileged.

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6 Ways to Boost the Middle Class

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By ThinkProgress War Room

Pro-Middle Class Policies That Won’t Cost the Government Anything

In this era of painful spending cuts, it often feels like there’s little political space to get much done to help the middle class — or anyone else. Fortunately, that doesn’t have to be the case. Our Center for American Progress colleagues put together six pro-middle class policies that won’t cost the government anything.

Here’s the short version and a few charts:

  • Increase the Minimum Wage

Since 1968 the inflation-adjusted value of the minimum wage has declined by 31 percent.The minimum wage would be more than $10.50 per hour today if it had kept up with inflation. This decrease has occurred even as workers have become more productive. Over the same period of time, productivity—the measure of output per hour of work—increased by 124 percent.

  • Make Saving for Retirement Easier, Cheaper and More Secure

An increasing number of households are at risk of seeing their standard of living decline in retirement due to a lack of sufficient retirement savings.

In order to help the middle class retire with dignity, we need to expand retirement coverage and improve the quality of retirement plans available. We can achieve these goals and improve the current retirement system by creating a new hybrid retirement plan type—the Secure, Accessible, Flexible, and Efficient Retirement Plan, or SAFE Retirement Plan, a hybrid between a traditional pension and a 401(k) plan—and opening the federal Thrift Savings Plan, the 401(k) for federal employees, to the public.

  • Lower Monthly Housing Costs by Providing Homeowners with Principal Foregiveness

Although housing markets are beginning to recover from the collapse of the housing bubble, more than one in five homeowners are still “underwater” on their loans, meaning that they owe more on their mortgages than their loans are worth. Not only does this threaten individual homeowners, but the more than $600 billion in negative equity also significantly hampers economic recovery.

Paid sick days should be available to all U.S. workers. Implementing this policy would provide greater job security to millions of Americans, reduce worker turnover, and ultimately strengthen the middle class.

There are currently no federal laws guaranteeing workers the right to earn paid sick days. Nearly 40 percent of workers in middle-income families and more than 55 percent of workers in low-income families do not have access to paid sick days. Twenty-three percent of adults report either being threatened with losing a job or being fired for taking time off when they or a family member have been sick.

  • Make Sure That Workers Who Want to Form a Union Can Do So

Unions help strengthen the middle class by enabling workers to negotiate for fair wages and benefits and helping ordinary citizens get involved in the political process.

But as unions became weaker over the past four decades—due in part to an unfair union election process—they became less able to perform these functions. The middle class has withered as a result, with the share of income going to the middle class falling alongside the percentage of workers in unions. (see Figure 5)

  • Require Colleges to Provide Consumer Information Via College Scorecards

Two-thirds of students with four-year bachelor’s degrees finish their studies with student-loan debt, and the average amount of debt per student is nearly $25,000. (see Figure 6) Yet average debt loads at schools can range from $950 or less to $55,250, and graduation rates range from0 percent to 91 percent. Many students, however, are unaware of these differences.

The federal government should require colleges and universities to do a better job of providing pertinent information to prospective students concerning their likelihood of graduating, finding employment, and paying off student debt. Schools should be required to direct students to this information on all promotional materials to allow students to easily compare schools.

For all of the wonky details, check out the full report HERE.

BOTTOM LINE: Instead of continuing the painful austerity spending cuts we’re currently living under, we can and should make needed investments in the middle class, such as expanding access to preschool and child care, as part of a package that reduces the deficit over the longer term. And there’s also no reason not to immediately put in place a set of pro-middle class, pro-growth policies that won’t require any additional federal spending.

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Social Security Online: some Questions Answers and popular Topics


Replace a Social Security card for an adult

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5 little-known facts about Social Security … Bankrate.com


5 little-known facts about Social Security

By Marilyn Bowden • Bankrate.com

 Most Americans watch their money go into the Social Security trust fund in the form of payroll deductions as soon as they begin working, when retirement seems a long way off. As a result, many go through their working lives without giving it much thought.

Here are a few facts everyone should know about Social Security benefits before making any decisions about retirement.

Who is entitled to retirement benefits?

Just about anybody who has worked for 10 or more years is eligible for Social Security retirement benefits.

“You need 40 quarters of employment, earning a minimum income of $1,120 per quarter,” says Brett Horowitz, principal and wealth manager at Evensky & Katz in Coral Gables, Fla.

The income requirement is so low that “it could be met with seasonal work,” says Richard W. Stumpf, principal at Financial Benefits in Wichita, Kan.

There are some exceptions. Most federal employees hired before 1984 aren’t eligible to participate, Horowitz says. Stumpf adds that pastors may choose not to pay in.

Also, railroad workers and their families generally get benefits through a separate retirement system

How are payouts calculated?

The size of your monthly check is arrived at by a series of calculations.

Your primary insurance amount, or PIA — the benefit you would get at full retirement age — determines the size of your monthly retirement check. According to the Social Security Administration’s website, the PIA is based on the Average Indexed Monthly Earnings, or AIME, as applied to an inflation-adjusted formula. The PIA is then adjusted for whether you take retirement before or after your normal retirement age — 66 for those now reaching retirement age, but gradually adjusted to age 67 for those born after 1954.

You can begin drawing reduced Social Security as early as 62. For every month you delay after reaching full retirement age, up to age 70, the monthly benefit increases.

According to a recent report of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, for someone with an AIME of $5,000 in 2009, the PIA would total $1,971.

In keeping with the original intent behind Social Security — a way to lift seniors out of poverty — lower-wage earners get a higher proportion of their earnings than higher wage earners. The maximum monthly benefit that can be received in 2010 is $2,346.

What are spousal benefits and widow benefits?

If one partner in a marriage earns significantly less than the other, the lower-earning spouse can collect spousal benefits rather than payouts based on his or her own earnings history.

“The spouse can get the greater of their own or 50 percent of the other spouse’s PIA,” Horowitz says. “The lower-earning spouse is not eligible until the higher earner starts getting benefits, but both can start as early as 62.”

Stumpf says this option can be a financial planning tool.

“Imagine a high earner whose spouse is his employee,” he says. “If they cut her pay and transfer the rest to him, when she reaches retirement age, one-half of his income will be significantly higher than what she earned.”

A divorced spouse who was married for more than 10 years and has not remarried can draw against the ex-spouse’s work history. Widows and widowers can receive the higher of their own or their spouse’s monthly payment, but not both.

“That’s why it’s important for the higher earner to delay taking benefits for as long as possible,” says Horowitz.

How broke is Social Security?
 
According to many studies, the Social Security trust fund will be able to cover its retirement and disability obligations for the next 30 years or so, after which there will be a shortfall of about 22 percent. The Senate Special Committee on Aging figures funds will fall short in 2037.

Stumpf thinks those estimates are optimistic.

“The Social Security trustees assume an annual 2.8 percent inflation rate,” he says. “Historic norms are in excess of 3 percent. That’s a big difference when you’re talking about trillions of dollars.

“We could make small adjustments now and bring it to fully fundable status; if we delay, it will be more painful. In 10 years the shortfall will be significantly bigger; in 20 years it will be through the roof.”

Where do payroll deductions for Social Security go?

In theory, they’re held in trust by the government. But it’s not as if your money sits there in the Social Security trust fund waiting for you to retire. After current beneficiaries are paid, surplus dollars are used to buy bonds from the U.S. Treasury. So the trust has the bonds, but the money is now in the Treasury, where Congress can use it for any purpose.

“The Social Security trust fund is … a piggybank holding paper IOUs from Congress,” Stumpf says.

This is the first year that Social Security has had to cash in one of those bonds in order to meet its payroll, says Stumpf.

“From this point forward, an increasing number of those bonds will have to be pulled out every year — and Congress is going to have to find a way to come up with all that money,” he says.

Retirement resources

For most people, Social Security is one component of retirement income — one leg of the so-called three-legged stool.

Pensions are another component, but these days few workers get a pension. The last leg would be personal savings, whether in a 401(k) plan, IRA, an investment account or savings account.

Read Bankrate’s Retirement Guide to learn basics about how to construct a retirement plan.