Bruce in Bangkok wrote in
:

Just out of curiosity (and tell me to f**k off if it is not my
business) but how much does a life time of labor get you in your
socialist service check?

Well, after 50 years of working, and only 35 of that count in the
numbers games they play to come up with a figure, it only comes to
$877/month, which is reduced from $1,168 because I took my retirement at
62 instead of 65...oops...that got extended to 66 back a few years ago
by bureaucratic decree. I've been advised to take it ASAP because
they're broke and looking for ways to weasle out of it. I figured the
date would be extended more years in the near future to 70 or 75 or 95
at the stroke of a pen. But, now I'm on it so they'll have to take it
away, if they dare.

I won't live well on it, but during the depression I won't starve like
many will, either.


And, could a guy that didn't own two diesel cars, miscellaneous
generator sets, a ham radio station and sail an Amil live on it?

The Amel isn't mine. I have 4 boats that aren't mine. I can't afford
them, so like to work my way aboard swapping for sailing, which is a
great deal for all of us. I get to sail. They get the technology and
maintenance quite cheap.


without eating dog food?


There's noone left in my family, so eating isn't so much of a burden
with only one mouth to feed. I don't know how Americans survive with a
wife and 3 or 4 kids to feed/house/clothe/entertain. I don't want to
work that hard, any more. Yecch...

In answer to your question, yes a guy could survive on it, but not in
the manner to which he is accustomed. He certainly couldn't dock and
fix a yacht on it.

-------------------------

A lot depends on how much you put in for how many years. I asked the
bureaucrats for an explanation of how they came to that figure and the
answer letter that explains it is 5 pages long, single spaced. Every
new Congress, trying to get out of paying back what they stole, adds
some more complexity. To give you an idea what we're up against, here's
the 2nd paragraph of my letter:

"The method for determining the primary insurance amount of an
individual who becomes disabled or attains age 62 after 1978 takes into
account the fact that the taxable earnings in prior years do not reflect
their relative dollar value in comparison to recent higher earnings
levels. Under this method, an individual's reported taxable earnings
after 1950 are adjusted to provide comparability to the average taxable
earnings of all American workers (sic) in the second year prior to the
year the individual attained age 62 or became disabled, referred to as
the indexing year. Reported taxable earnings in each year are adjusted,
or "indexed," (their typo) by multiplying the average earnings in the
indexing year by the ratio of the individual's actual earnings in the
year to the average earnings of all workers in that year. Earnings in
years beginning with the indexing year are used in determining initial
benefit amounts or increases. Once an individual's record of earnings
has been adjusted (or indexed), the average monthly earnings are found
by dividing the earnings in the computation years by the number of
months in those years.

In figuring your PIA, we first determined the number of years to be used
in the computation. This was done by subtracting 1968 from the year you
became age 62 then reducing the result by 5. You became age 62 in 2008;
therefore, we subtracted 1968.

This resulted in a total of 40 years. Reducing the 40 years by 5
resulted in a total of 35 years to be used in figuring your PIA......"

etc., ad nauseum. Who decided 1968? Who decided 1950? Who decided
minus 5 years? They are masters of deceit.

What ****es me off is we are TAXED in the dollar values of many, many
years ago.....then, we are PAID as if the dollars they are handing out
NOW are worth the same as all the dollars collected, which is CRAZY!
Gold was $35/oz until very recently, then they go on the BIG LIE that
the devaluation of the money is only 2%/year, taking out any factor from
the consumer price index (CPI) that costs them money....like FUEL and
FOOD and POWER....and other things we need to sustain any dignity of
life....CLOTHES. Levis aren't $7.99 any more!...(c;

So, we're paid a retirement check as if
it's......well.....1968!....or.....1950!

I'm still studying the Buzzwords to see if I have a BINGO on my BUZZWORD
BINGO cards.

If the rate of devaluation continues to halve the value of the worthless
dollars every 2 years, or worse, THEN we'll all starve. This payment
will be about 1 loaf of cheap bread.....

Bill Gates pays SSI, but only on the first $50K of his billion dollar
income. His Social Security tax is only on the first 3 hours of every
month's wages. The rich don't pay SSI on the other 99%. Their payments
are only about $6000/month after they're 62 from a lifetime of bumping
this arbitrary limit to prevent the collection of the SAME 15.7% of
GROSS income I paid all my life. Isn't that fair?

No, it's NOT.