Social (in)Security

What a joke this system is. My Dad started paying into the system in 1943, assuming that he paid in starting with his first "employment" beyond being on a farm, joining the Marine Corps in 1943. If not that year, then when he was discharged in 1946.

He died in May of 1982.

Let's say it was 1946 that he started paying in.

So, he basically paid into the system for approximately 34 years until he was incapacitated by cancer in 1980.

He died just shy of his 57th birthday, he never got to retire.

Being his son, my mother received a Social Security check for me, from his account, which in 1982 was about $480.00 per month or so. A couple years later it went up to about $511.00 and then I was off of it after approximately four years and three months.

Now they want to raise the age to 70 because "Americans are living longer."

WOW. It's not only a Ponzi/Pyramid Scheme run by government that they make you participate in by force, but now it's "bait and switch," too.

I'm supposed to work for 52 years before I get my lousy Social Security benefits because people who sit behind a desk for a living are living longer now.

What about all of the people that paid in for decades and never received ANY of it? Never had any kids or a spouse, etc.? I guess all of that money just got heisted.

I've had a fairly hard life and I am betting I don't see a dollar of that money.

Not a single cent of it.

What's the difference between Bernie Madoff and Social Security? Well, the government passed laws against individuals creating Ponzis and Pyramids while reserving the right to do it for government. The other difference is one of scale.

There is no real difference between the two.

Government passing a law saying that they can steal doesn't make it moral or even ethical, just "legal."

And at that point, what good is the word "legal" anymore?

If the rules change, again, why should I have to participate in this nonsense?

Because I have to, that's all.

One of the greatest "survival" websites...

...is "Listening to Katrina." I recently browsed a forum and re-found this website again after having read it and "lost" it in a crashed PC's bookmarks.

An Interesting Interview With James Keating...

A great read on one of the world's best edged weapon instructors. You can read it here.

I don't think I would even have a website if it were not for James Keating.

Wal-Mart...again...

Another article about The Beast That Continues To Eat Everything In Its Path - Wal-Mart...

Remember the entry some time ago, "The man that said 'no' to Wal-Mart?" This is another good article like that one. 8-)