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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Pcunix, post: 1916421, member: 67806&quot;]That just infuriates me.</p><p><br /></p><p>I was lucky in many ways. My working career mostly spanned a time when the middle class was strong. We owned a home because we bought before speculators pushed prices out of site. We were able to pay for our youngest daughter&#039;s college bills in full and most of our older daughter&#039;s expenses too.</p><p><br /></p><p>We were able to accumulate enough retirement savings that I <b>thought</b> we&#039;d have a comfortable - just comfortable, but that was ok - retirement.</p><p><br /></p><p>Well, my wife became disabled from her illness and we lost a lot of income from that, both in lost earnings and in medical expenses. The real estate crash caught us right at the worst time - while already contracted to buy another home. The stock market dips wiped out too much of our retirement funds. The general business downturn hurt my business and at the same time I needed to spend more time helping my wife.&nbsp; We didn&#039;t do as well as I had hoped because of all that.</p><p><br /></p><p>But still, after all is measured out, we&#039;re better off than many. If we live too long, we&#039;ll die poor and we definitely will spend our last few years scrimping and saving, and if inflation runs rampant or either of us has a serious medical problem, well, we are screwed, but right now, we are fine - IF we get our SS checks!</p><p><br /></p><p>We absolutely need Social Security. In fact, I&nbsp; started drawing early because my income&nbsp; dipped far enough that I can and, dammit, we needed it. I&#039;m 66 now, so am drawing full benefits, which helps.&nbsp; I still work, though the income isn&#039;t much - less than $25K a year now and 15% of that goes back as Self Employment tax!.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, in your view, my wife and I are leeches. She gets SSI disability and I&#039;m taking benefits. We are awful people.</p><p><br /></p><p>That&#039;s B.S.&nbsp; I met my part of the social contract and then some.</p><p><br /></p><p>My taxes built the highway systems and bridges that the current generation won&#039;t fix. My taxes paid for the schools you were educated in. </p><p><br /></p><p>I have had employees and have contributed to their Social Security as well as my own. I also paid their wages.&nbsp; I worked hard for 50 years and I *still* work and am still paying into SS even as I withdraw benefits!</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;ve done my part.&nbsp; If I had been luckier, I wouldn&#039;t need SS, but I was not and I do.</p><p><br /></p><p>I deserve it and have no embarrassment about saying so!</p><p><br /></p><p>The reason we have deficits is not because of Social Security but because of wars you refuse to pay for by raising taxes![/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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