Social Security
By bigal3
@bigal3 (1231)
Thailand
December 24, 2010 1:49am CST
For the past few months I have been following the news networks report on the financial and social condition of America. In this latest round of talks there has been no mention of help for Social Security. I am a sixty-five year old Vietnam veteran and prior to my military years I was an employee for someone or some company. My working career has spanned more than fifty years and I have never had to draw unemployment though at one time I did have to apply but I found a job on my own before I recieved any benefits.
Now I am retired . I retired at age sixty-two which was to my advantage since I had been laid up from a rather serious neck operation as a result of whiplash from an auto accident where I was rear ended while I was stopped. (but that's another story)
As some of you out there know I live in Thailand. I live here for several reasons, the main one is the spending power with the exchange rate being favorable for the dollar even in this current financial crunch. So my decision was to live in this beautiful country which I wanted to visit for years anyway. Hence early retirement.
It took awhile for me to get my first check but when it finally came it was from the time I retired so that was a happy moment. It was for three months I think.
At that time I was in BKK. Ultimately I moved to where I live now. Now to the point... The first three years of receiving my benefits there was a more than welcome 3% raise each of those years for "cost of living" increases. Well, as you might guess that was a good thing until last year when we did not get that little increase. We got NOTHING!
Fast forward to NOW! I see on all the major networks how there has been a compromise by the WH and, I mean no malice to any of the parties involved in giving certain mega-corporations who in a lot of ways caused this mess to begin with. NOW THEY GET A BREAK? Some of the very companies who send their work out of the country and then people wonder why there are no JOBS worth anything in the U.S.
The sad thing is if I wanted to come back to America,(which I don't), I couldn't afford to live there.
Oh Well, That's politics!!!!
3 responses
@dark_joev (3034)
• United States
25 Dec 10
The issues with social security is that congress in their infinite wisdom decided that the money we all who worked for a living pay a social security tax on our wages (This part makes since) until you find out that this tax that is on your pay stub as FICA actually just goes into the general fund and not into the programs it should go to so basically you are taxed three times by the federal government in which all the funds go to the general fund. So with the taxable income going down all government programs where effect especially ones that where met to have their own funding that congress wasn't supposed to mess with.
Hence why social security is in such a tail spin.
1 person likes this
@bigal3 (1231)
• Thailand
30 Dec 10
Hi "dark...",
Yep, you hit the nail right on the head but try to explain that to the average everyday "joe" who watches the "networks with a specific one I can't mention but leans really far to the right. It seems the government doesn't want the general public to know "little" facts like that though.
Just like "Medicare" was suppose to be part of the S.S. benefit without charge or with a much reduced charge. What happened to the "REDUCED" part. Since I live out of the country Medicare means nothing to me anyway so that's money saved.
@bunnybon7 (50973)
• Holiday, Florida
24 Dec 10
im glad you've found a way to escape some of the problems of this economy. ive told my son maybe i should move there
anyway, he says you'd have to have someone send your check? as our government wont send it over there. so, i dont know how you manage that. i mean mine is direct deposit. but i dont know if they'd consider me loosing my citizenship after so long a time. its confusing to me as how thats done. yes, its getting awful hard to make ends meet. without online extras some cant do it. ive been told, im supposed to get back 250 bucks from medicare after the first. that will help a little. @bigal3 (1231)
• Thailand
30 Dec 10
Hi "bunnybon"...
"richnai" is correct. You can even open a Thai account with "Bangkok Bank" which is the one Social security recommends. You can go on line to the U.S. Embassy and also directly to Social Security and get all the information. There are also phone numbers listed if you want to be more direct.
If you love plants and flowers and the like and a beautiful tropical climate that is not expensive to live in this is the place for you.
Lookiing forward to meeting you in person here someday soon. Take care and good luck.