Reply #13: Relax. It was a dirty trick, but they aren't going to stop checks. Here's why [View All]

[Ruby the Liberal]

First, It isn't a human resources/payroll issue any more and hasn't been since the mid 2000s. No one is cutting checks and licking stamps. Your Medicare comes out of your check as an automated deduction and the balance is deposited to your bank account (or prepaid debit card if you chose that option). Unemployment and WIC work the same way. It is all automated and computer generated.

Second, SS is its own fund. The President fucked up when he questioned "money in the coffers" as SS is stand-alone and at a surplus. He did that to freak people out. Right or wrong, it is legislative sausage making and it sucks either way. The fact that he misled people into thinking SS (and Medicare/Medicaid) are part of the budget/deficit debate was deplorable, but in faced with the August 2nd crisis we are facing, understand why he said that.

Your money will be there. It is constitutional. Period.

Look up the FDR quote on why he did the SS bill the way he did so that "no politician could fuck with it" in the future (paraphrasing, obviously). It details how they protected it by (i) payroll deduction while in the workforce and (ii) keeping it seperate from the budget so that it couldn't be abused for other things.

You are going to be fine. :hug: