by Gary Wonning

Created on: February 20, 2011   Last Updated: February 22, 2011

Medicare and Social Security, An Entitlement?

It isn't an entitlement:

People , especially those in the main stream media and those in the government keep referring to social security as an entitlement. To me an entitlement is something given to us free and something that is automatically ours, no matter what.

Under this definition neither social security nor medicare is an entitlement. Any one who has worked for a living has paid into social security all during their working years, and they have paid heavily. During just the last 10 years of my working life , between my employer and my self we paid in almost $200 a week. That is a lot of money. Contrary to popular belief, the government isn't giving us money, it is our money which we have given them for safe keeping. How is that going for us?

Although I am grateful to be getting social security, any private investment program with a conservative yield would have paid me a  lot more than I am now getting from social security. If I could have or would have paid into a program all my life, starting when I was 20 only $20 a week with an average interest rate of 7%, it would now be paying me about the same amount of money I am receiving  from social security,and this income would be from just  interest. The plan would never run out of money.

Despite what the left wing politicians try to tell you, the stock market , even with it's ups and downs, has averaged ten percent growth  since the depression. Fortunately,I was able to invest about two thirds of the amount invested in social security over the years into a private pension fund. Even though the investment was less, I was able to start drawing from the fund 16 years sooner, it pays considerably more, and unless the economy totally tanks, the fund will never run out of money. Even if someday the payments are reduced, the payout will still be greater than the government program.

I know that when I started giving money to social security in 1962, twenty dollars a a week would have been half my paycheck and would have been unsustainable, however that deficit could have easily been made up in later years. If I had contributed into a private fund the money that was given to the government, my retirement income would be many times higher than what social security compensation is, plus there would no doubt be enough in the fund to provide me the best health care in the world. There would  be money left over at the end of my life for my heirs to distribute as they please.

The only answer to this mess that has been created by our narrow minded congress is to educate people so they have the knowledge to manage their own money and retirement. I know there will always be people who need assistance, but that is OK, nothing wrong with temporarily helping someone who needs it. However the private sector does a lot better job of this than the government ever could hope to do.

Because of the mess that has been created , the only logical way out is to honor the present recipients who have grown dependent on social security and gradually wean the younger generation to a better system where they can benefit and get the full value from the money invested.Medicare and Social Security, An Entitlement? It isn't an entitlement People , especially those in the main stream media and those in the government keep referring to social security as an entitlement. To me an entitlement is something given to us free and something that is automatically ours, no matter what.

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