Alarming New Commercial, And Perhaps It Will Effect Pm's....

http://www.ssa.gov/pubs/10045.html

The specific reason it affected me was as a Ca. teacher, my contract teaching wages did not have SS contributions withdrawn from my paycheck, instead pension contributions were made to CALSTRS. Then, only summer school and overloads had SS withdrawn from wages as these were not included in CALSTRS at that time. SO when I retired , I was fully invested in my pension from CALSTRS, and 29 years of meeting SS requirements for contributions to SS. SO I fell under the Windfall clause mentioned above in URL. So many do, Here is a history of this provision. What I was mainly pointing out, is that unless you read all of the secions, you may not get what you expect. Best thing obviously is to make a vosit to your local SS office.

http://www.nea.org/home/17765.htm

no one stands on there own two feet. thats where alot of people get it way wrong. with out roads police fire schools defense subsidies the fed buying stocks to to keep the rich rich govt backed student loans etc wed be a third world nation. it is estimated that a gal of gas really costs $13 do you pay $13 no the cost of just this nations defense is $12,000 per person do you pay that in taxes? I dont so to say you stand on your own two feet well I'm sorry but thats just insane

A) In most instances, it does take money to make money. Case in point; I want to run my coin dealers' shop when he retires, and I'd like to hire an employee or two. Well, I need quit a bit of capital to buy the coins that I will in turn need to re-sell for profit, making me money and hence allowing me to hire people. I can't do any of that without money in the first place.

B) Yes, I've paid more than $12,000 in taxes in a year. As a matter of fact, my step-dad, a doctor, just paid over $100,000 in taxes. We both work for our money. We are not bankers and greedy Wall St. types who make money off of the backs of the working class, nor are we union types who make more per hour than we are worth (I've been a member of a large union...and I made WAY more, as did my co-workers, than we should have, and you, the taxpayer, paid my salary).

C) Yes, people do stand on their own two feet. Who do you think pays for those roadways, police and fire? Taxpayers. So lets say gas was $50 a gallon, yet we only pay 5. So, what? The government pays the difference? OK. So the government uses other people's tax dollars to cover the difference. Or, better yet, they cover the difference by deficit spending. So they go in further debt. Well, guess what. That debt causes inflation. Which means your dollars buy less goods. Which is, in fact, a 'hidden' tax.

Yes, the only person that gets screwed, and ultimately pays for it all in the end, is you. The taxpayer.

Robbing Peter, to pay Paul, and then having Paul put the money back into Peters' back pocket (which is essentially the shell game and ponzi scheme the Treasury and Federal Reserve are perpetrating on us) will in the end screw us all.

So stand on your own two feet, buy gold, buy guns, buy beans and buy bandaids.

I normally shy away from blogs that can be perceived to be political in nature: especially in a coin forum.

It is imperative to reiterate that I am not affiliated with any particular political party and always have voted based upon the most important issue at hand etc.

But I had to chime in on what captainfwiffo earlier stated about the rich getting richer...

It does seem that when the top earners received all of those big tax breaks, the loss in revenue to the government had to be made up somewhere in order to stay 'in the black ink'. Where the additional revenue comes from is and will continue to be a major problem for the feds and the source of many sleepless nights for our legislators.

Tax breaks for the high income earners is only part of the problem: war costs, entitlements, and tax cheats etc. also contribute to this issue.

I do not want to drastically change the nature of this thread but a small comment on a beneficial and game changing consumption tax is in order here.

Just think of how complex and awkward it is for businesses and individuals to file taxes each year without the help of paid experts. Just keeping up with all of the ever changing federal and state tax rules and regulations is mind boggling.

I apologize in advance if my comments affect anyone's livelihood but just imagine how much unnecessary government and commercial bureaucracy overhead exists surrounding issues of filing and maintaining federal and state taxes throughout the year. In short an effective and all encompassing consumption tax would eliminate the need for local, state, and federal taxes.

If all businesses and individuals simply paid the same % of consumption tax on what they purchased, tons of wasted time and money could be saved and applied toward the building of a more fiscally sound economy. If richer individuals/families desire to purchase more expensive items, then they would have to pay their fair share of tax in order to acquire their purchased merchandise etc. Lower income families, on the other hand, would probably purchase less and consequently pay less consumption tax all at the same % rate that the rich also pay.

In a perfect world whether one is rich or poor the consumption tax rate should ideally remain the same for all income groups. I am sure, however, that certain situations would require some tweaking of this 'same tax rate for all' concept.

In summary the concept of the consumption tax seems to be a simple idea but its implementation would more than likely be a major undertaking. In the long run, however, I sincerely feel that our government representatives should take a more serious look at this issue especially in light of the fact that we are soon approaching a new presidential election desperately seeking solutions to our ever increasing debt crisis.

I truly want America to always be fiscally sound without major obstructions blocking the way; economic stability is vital for America as well as for the other countries in the world that America trades with.

thanks,
mdpmedia

Smart move Ed, take the little penalty and get what you can now, as it is in much better hands now....

I started this thread earlier this afternoon, and figured as I left for work it would either get ignored or stir up some interest and I am not really surprised to see so much response as I got back in close to 1 A.M.. I think we all can relate to the gov one day deciding to take our money we worked our entire lives to accumulate, lol....

I made $200 weak dollars since most of main Knoxville is out of power still after Tuesday's massive storm and many restaurants are closed due to that fact, yet another tree slingin affair. I will convert most of that to PM's of course, since the gov is gonna spend our dying dollars to cover their endless debt, lol....

Mainman touched on my question though, after the smoke clears I could feel it will be good for PM's as well, even though last I looked they took a massive drop on the day across the board....

SS was a simple idea that was stupidly managed from the start.

All they had to do is require each person with income to buy insurance annuities/life insurance from an approved list. Either prove your non-cancellable account, or it becomes part of your income tax.

A 40 year old can buy a million dollar life insurance policy for $300 or so a year. If he makes $10,000, he's paying around $1500 to SS, and if he dies before he's old enough to retire, SS keeps it all.

A million dollar annuity isn't horribly expensive, and could easily provide more than SS retirement. The difference is that the annuity would provide monthly retirement income until death, and then the life insurance would provide $1,000,000 cash to the heirs. Compare this to more expensive SS, which provides less retirement income, and NO death benefit for people who live a normal life span.

Meaning I don't expect the next guy to pay more or less because he works harder or not at all.

slim:none