Just A Ponzi Scheme Regarding "Being Right About Social Security Can Make McCain Sound Wrong" (Our Opinion, July 10): ...more

July 19, 2008

The system for funding Social Security is "a disgrace" because it forces young Americans to pay into a program that is unlikely to benefit them in its current form, Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain said this week, wading into politically touchy territory. ...more

July 10, 2008

The only way to receive a rebate from the economic stimulus package is to file a tax return, the Internal Revenue Service said Friday. That includes recipients of Social Security and veterans' benefits who do not normally need to file returns. ...more

February 16, 2008

One recent morning, dozens of elderly and disabled people gathered at Small Loans. Many had borrowed money from Small Loans and turned over their Social Security benefits to pay back the high-interest lender. Now they were waiting for their "allowance" - their monthly check, minus Small Loans' cut. ...more

February 13, 2008

A comment heard on the radio aroused a compelling response. The caller said that both parties contributed to the serious crisis facing the country today, and contributed to the enormous $9 trillion national debt, and severe Social Security, Medicare-Medicaid crises. It is ironic that the caller cited the last 40-50 years. Consider this. It took 200 years (1787 to 1980) for the national debt to reach $1 trillion. It took 27 years for it to balloon to $9 trillion (1980 to 2007). Ergo: $6 trillion (1980-1992); +$2 trillion (1992-2001); -$5 trillion (2001 to 2007). Total: $9 trillion. So, who was in charge during those years? Who caused the $7 trillion hit on the economy in 2000? Who provided the prescription drug bill that was to cost $400 billion, but ballooned to $1 trillion and caused health care cost to increase 10 to 15 percent each year? Who allowed the corporations to duck their obligations for pensions all across this country? Who sat by while the banks and mortgage corporations manipulated the hapless home buyers to sign those sub-prime mortgages? As an immediate first step to resolve the crisis, who bought $2 millions of those egregious loans, then reduced interest rates for the banks and mortgagors, but left those hapless mortgagees swinging in the wind? Who is being held accountable? Where are those trillions and trillions of dollars? The answers? Corporations and our government! ...more

February 2, 2008

The message of change being delivered by the voters in campaign '08 is directed as much against Des Moines, Lansing and Tallahassee as it is against Washington. ...more

January 28, 2008

How much of a raise is it, really? For the nearly 50 million Americans who collect Social Security retirement benefits, the 2.3 percent cost-of-living-adjustment in their monthly checks beginning in January may make only a small dent on their growing expenses. ...more

December 15, 2007

We worry and fret about the price of gasoline, the cost of food and the lack of rain. These things are insignificant compared to the plans that are being worked on which will change our lives and country. Little is known about these plans as they are being carried out in a clandestine fashion. I am talking about an effort by the present administration to establish what can be described as a union between the United States, Mexico and Canada, very much like the European Union, described as a North American Union. If this comes about, it will mean the eventual end of our Constitution, our government being replaced by a North American government. ...more

December 6, 2007

Soon I will be released from my present job because of restructuring of the company. I will be eligible for unemployment benefits. Can I apply for my Social Security benefits and collect from both unemployment and Social Security until I find another job? I am 63 years old. ...more

December 4, 2007

Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson on Friday proposed slowing the growth of Social Security benefits and creating voluntary, government-matched savings accounts, becoming the first candidate of either party to offer a detailed proposal to fix the nation's retirement system. ...more

November 10, 2007