[bdenucci]

I worked as a firefighter fighting air plane fire, structure fire, NY TOWERS 1 AND 2 . I worked there for 44 years paying. I ALSO worked at a welding supply store for 34 years. I paid SS MY WELDING JOB . When I retired I was told I'm only getting 50 percent of what I was told collect BECAUSE I WAS A FIREFIGHTER. I got 753. I was penalized for firefighter ING. Do to this law congress put into effect. Now that the law is gone I get what I put 35 years into for SS.

[USNA87]

Originally Posted by retiredguy123

If a husband worked and qualifies for SS, the spouse can also collect a spouse benefit (half of the husband's check), even if she never worked. That would be two Government retirement checks. If the husband dies, the spouse can only collect one SS check, but it would be the higher amount.

I had a cousin who benefitted from 4 Government checks: a military retiree check, a spouse SS check, her husband's SS check, and her husband's civilian Government retirement check. And, she never worked a day in her life.

Note that military retirees are allowed to retire after 20 years, and then get a civilian Government job, and collect two Government retirement checks, and a SS check, and if they have a spouse, the spouse can collect a spouse benefit check, plus two survivor checks after he dies.

And a VA Disability.

[bsloan1960]

This is Social Media. People post on social media to interact with others. Yes. Calling SS will get you answers. Having a running conversation on Social Media will get you information that will allow you to ask many more questions than you would have thought of.

Originally Posted by GoldenBoy

If you have questions about Social Security, call the SSA and ask someone who actually has the definitive information. If you have a question about who can fix a garage door in TV, post it here.

[rsmurano]

I’m all for people getting what they deserve out of SS, but SS pays out billions that IMO shouldn’t. For example, we have friends that he worked for the railroad all his life and has a great pension which he deserves, but when his wife turned 65, she got a railroad pension too. Why did she get 1 when she didn’t work for the railroad and she had a very good job with a pension (non-government job). I heard this comes out of the SS pot. Check it out for yourself, the 1st paragraph gives you insight into this and this is on the SS website:

Research: An Overview of the Railroad Retirement Program

I watched a few videos on this new fairness act, some state it’s good while others say it’s very bad. Check this out which goes over all the things that make this new bill terrible for the remaining 97% of SS recipients. This guy has stats that can drastically increase the benefits of part time SS payees into the system and also shows that this $190B cost will cause SS to reduce benefits starting in 2031 by 20% or in 2034 by 33%. So when you look at this new bill, you have to look at the whole pucture:

Social Security "Fairness" Act is BS!! Former Insider REVEALS! | PLUS LIVE Q&A with Dr. Ed - YouTube

[Sabella]

Originally Posted by Pmelo

But, the most absurd situation is that military people can retire after 20 years, and then immediately return as a GS-15 or SES civilian employee and earn another full pension. They have an inside track with military preference, and sometimes they return in one day to the same desk.

Anyone could have joined the military (unless a medical condition, etc). And yes members of the armed services can retire after 20 years but perhaps what many don't know is the hours put in during those 20 years, the sacrifices, the works conditions, and NO overtime to name a few. And many don't make it to the 20 years.
cheers...

20 years in the military, protecting the freedom of everyone who lives in the United States and risking death not to mention all the other personal sacrifices that our military people endure . Nothing is too good for the people who sacrifice and and protect you and everybody else in the United States.

[Romad]

Missing in this entire thread was who avoided paying social security taxes. It wasn’t the employee’s decision. They don’t get asked if they want to pay the taxes or not. It was the employer. Those state governments that avoided paying the taxes.

I was hoping the legislation would end any exemptions and every employer is required to pay into the system. One can pretend that employees pay half, but the reality is that the employer pays all of the FICA taxes.

[jimbomaybe]

Originally Posted by jimjamuser

Social security was designed to give the MIDDLE CLASS a small amount of stability. In other words a base from which innovation and setting up small businesses could be more imagined and acted upon. It was (and should be in the future) a building block for UPWARD MOBILITY. Today the statistics for UPWARD MOBILITY in the US are VERY dim and discouraging. The top ONE ( 1 ) percent have more WEALTH than the bottom Ninety ( 90 ) percent. All the advantages that we have in the US today were built upon MIDDLE CLASS factory workers in the 40s to 70s when UNIONS were strong. Today UNIONS are decimated by the upper 1% that OUTSOURCED US industry and WEALTH to China (we make almost nothing in factories today). We no longer have VOCATIONAL High Schools so that the poor have only one avenue for improvement - crime or joining the MILITARY.
.........My statements are proven by the generally known FACT that since 1970 each generation has been LESS SUCCESSFUL (and wealthy) than the prior generation. Today the US and Russia have one major thing in common.......OLIGARCHY !

Where to begin, SS was to be a supplement for peoples old age, human nature has encouraged many to depend too much on it, or entirely, making for a rather meager existence. This crutch has been expanded by politicians making it ever more of a general welfare fund . Making promises is always politically easy, the hard part of funding is always kicked down the road. The western democracies practicing free market capitalism have produced the highest standard of living for the largest number of humans of any time or place in history. This is because of the demonstrated success of people like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Sam Walton, Jeff Bezos, they and many lessor innovators have supplied this , we are beneficiaries not victims. The Oh So Egalitarian sounding ideas of Marx produce governmental systems that will not allow individual success, concentrate central power, and well power corrupts taking away individual freedom. After WW2 the USA was in the best of all situations its economy and industry not only intact but stimulated by war production, the American worker was in the right place at the right time. The world moves on , countries rebuild , undeveloped countries improve the result, COMPETITION. How much is the Hourly wages worth of someone doing a job that can be learned in a few hours and done by any reasonably fit , intelligent human being that has ever lived ?

[Gn'Me]

How Public Employees Can Double-Dip in Social Security | American Enterprise Institute - AEI

[Lynnesail]

Originally Posted by CoachKandSportsguy

Senate passes Social Security bill to repeal WEP and GPO

Not sure what this means, other than more people can collect, and that means the insolvency is now approaching sooner.

Lets hope the Congress can fix social security without all the continuing resolutions to fix the debt ceiling and the budget ever increasing spending

good luck to us!

Much of this is over my head but I have a good friend who was a firefighter for the City of Detroit. On occasion he was getting shot at because the people that started the fires didn’t want them put out! When he retired he trained himself as a Master Electrician and then worked for many years doing that and paying into Social Security. On top of that The City of Detroit went bankrupt and reduced his pension benefits. Why wouldn’t he be able to collect SS benefits for the second career during a different time period but he cannot. Would this new repeal allow him to now collect SS?

[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by USNA87

And a VA Disability.

Not every service member get Va disability especially retired military. You have qualify and they usually reject majority. The big lie I was told for 20 years. Some know how to game the system.

[retiredguy123]

Originally Posted by Lynnesail

Much of this is over my head but I have a good friend who was a firefighter for the City of Detroit. On occasion he was getting shot at because the people that started the fires didn’t want them put out! When he retired he trained himself as a Master Electrician and then worked for many years doing that and paying into Social Security. On top of that The City of Detroit went bankrupt and reduced his pension benefits. Why wouldn’t he be able to collect SS benefits for the second career during a different time period but he cannot. Would this new repeal allow him to now collect SS?

If he paid into the system for at least 40 quarters, he should be collecting SS already, but the new law will increase the amount he receives.

[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by bdenucci

I worked as a firefighter fighting air plane fire, structure fire, NY TOWERS 1 AND 2 . I worked there for 44 years paying. I ALSO worked at a welding supply store for 34 years. I paid SS MY WELDING JOB . When I retired I was told I'm only getting 50 percent of what I was told collect BECAUSE I WAS A FIREFIGHTER. I got 753. I was penalized for firefighter ING. Do to this law congress put into effect. Now that the law is gone I get what I put 35 years into for SS.

They maybe cause you paid into fire fighter union retirement plan and didn’t pay SS for 44 years? no different than railroad workers or union school teachers.

[jabacon6669]

Originally Posted by CoachKandSportsguy

Senate passes Social Security bill to repeal WEP and GPO

Not sure what this means, other than more people can collect, and that means the insolvency is now approaching sooner.

Lets hope the Congress can fix social security without all the continuing resolutions to fix the debt ceiling and the budget ever increasing spending

good luck to us!

Let's remember that these folks contributed fully, just like everyone that recieves the full benefit. Yet they were only allowed under Reagan's law to get about 1/3 of their benefit. A very unfair act. Glad they finally changed it. And, no, I will not get anything under the new law.

[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by jimjamuser

I only want to comment on one small part of this post - "the other thing it does is protect mostly WOMEN". To me that is a VERY GOOD thing because women typically earn only 70% of what a man does for the SAME job.

Also lot military wife’s have little chance for career due to having to move 4 or 5 times plus during military career. IMO for those wife’s (like officers wife’s that can collect 1/2 officers retirement if married more than 10 years made claims to same thing) enlisted wife when there spouse dies should get military retirement for there sacrifices for husband and government. Heck most wife’s are real hero’s IMO for putting up with all crap they had to endure raising children and having to move around world.

[Bill14564]

Originally Posted by jabacon6669

Let's remember that these folks contributed fully, just like everyone that recieves the full benefit. Yet they were only allowed under Reagan's law to get about 1/3 of their benefit. A very unfair act. Glad they finally changed it. And, no, I will not get anything under the new law.

For the sake of argument....

I contributed fully FOR MY ENTIRE CAREER while they contributed fully for 1/2 their career.

They are getting a pension for the time they did not pay into SS and partial SS in consideration that they only paid for 1/2 their career.

Either:
- The adjustment is fair so that those that paid only half their career do not receive twice the benefits of those that paid their entire career
OR
- I need to know who to talk to in order to get two SS checks - one for the first half of my career to match their pension and another for the second half of my career to match the SS they will now receive.