Deep State's Waterloo moment as DOGE dishes biggest scandal in human history; media's Napoleonic meltdown over Trump tweet; NYT op-ed signals massive win; funemployment in the Swamp; more.
And Iāve had that excitement for the past 5 years at least out of the 9 Iāve been red pilling. Itās amazing! Like Jeff said, heās running out of words, (I had to laugh because that is what I have been saying for the past few years) I had to buy a Thesaurus! lol LIFE IS GRAND!!!
WEIRD is good!! I was introduced to the "wonderful weirdness" of all things "Monty Python" by my long-time partner, Jeff, who has followed them since the 1970's. I also appreciated "Fawlty Towers" and John Cleese when he did 'solo work'. In fact, John was in PA at a local performing arts center about 2 years ago. I believe he has a home in the USA (he just married his 4th of 5th wife who is an American a few years ago, much to the chagrin of one of his fellow M.P.'ers!)
Yes! Fawlty Towers is also gut bustlingly hilarious. I think Michael Palin may have worked with John on that endeavor.
The overpriced machine that goes 'bing' and the hospital administrator skit is hilarious as well. The Ministry of Silly Walks... Their ability to satire the bureaucratic state is classic. So much to be learned from them. Way ahead of their time with their wit and humor.
So many factoids, eek! But about Monty Python and friends, mind weā¦ I still laugh out loud even if recalling the episodes on my own. Just call me weird. ;)
Their half hour shows are great, but The Holy Grail movie is one of our favorites. The Meaning of Life and Life of Brian as well. Although, I do have some issue with some of it being a bit sacrilegious.
They were way ahead of the "trans" issue. In the Meaning of Life there is a five-minute scene where some of the People's Front of Judea (Eric Idle, John Cleese, Connie Booth and one other) discussing why Stan wants to be called Loreta and have babies. It is priceless and sums up everything regarding the mental illness (what it has become to push the modern agenda).
For some reason, I can handle M.P.'ers irreverence when it comes to the Lord Jesus Christ - because they are SO talented and wacky - yet tasteful with it! Never use a bunch of foul language - they do have the "hot chicks" in a lot of their skits though--LOL!
Actually homosexuality and trans mania are mentioned in the New Testament - Paul's letters to the new Christian church (known at that time as Follows of the Way). We are truly living in the last moments of the The Last Days.
"Since I have a very strong feeling that we will not be receiving tax refunds for our cataclysmically misspent entitlements lavished on millions of career criminals, including those inside the government, I say burn it all down.
There is no fixing this. There is no audit big enough. There is no reform package meaningful enough. It is a soul-crushing abomination. It boils the blood. It is enraging beyond explanation. Just napalm the whole Kafkaesque apparatus and start over from scratch."
Careful how you burn it all down. I want at least what I paid into the dadgum system out of it first. I'm 61. I damn well better get at least a penny back!
When I reached 62, I made a special trip to the SS office to sing up for benefits. Several people asked me what the difference was between 62 and full 65 benefits. I told them I had no idea. I never ran the numbers. I never expected there to be any money left when I reached 62, so I was going to get anything I could as quickly as I could.
I was thinking the same, I'll be signing up this year, end of October. I did run the numbers and figured 3 years of getting a couple hundred less a month than at full retirement well out weighs waiting. I will keep my part-time UPS job which pays my insurance in full, as long as I work at least one day a week šš»
Agreed. I was not going to wait until 65. Besides, I knew too many people that didn't live very many days beyond 65. š¢ All that money confiscated by the government and they got none of it back.
The actuarial system used (subject now to rapid changes!) is set up so the average retiree gets the same no matter what age he starts, neglecting any default or high inflation risk.
An adverse exception may exist for those retiring as early as allowed. So, unless you expect to live longer than average, the risks point to retiring early.
And if you stop working because of a long term disability, apply for disability, it is easier with advancing age; the total payout gets lower.
This text really caught my attention this morning. I sense an uncharacteristic rage in these words. I share this rage. The entire government is a scam. Time for a tea party. What if 50 million of us just stopped paying taxes?
I pay a lot of taxes and I'm having a VERY difficult time sending in my payments as I keep finding out more and more of how they are spending our money! I don't want to give them another dime!
Cutting fraud and abuse, when illegal, is what the Executive should be doing. By slashing it, perhaps there will be enough to pay those who collect legally.
But legal order is not only required, but avoids adverse unintended consequences that detract from the goal of efficiency and maximizing savings.
In particular, there has to be Due Process, as errors do occur, and those wrongly accused are inconvenienced but not illegally gypped.
Yep! That is the part where they stick it to us, the most vulnerable among others. That would be a sad pathetic move if true accounts arenāt liquidated to their rightful owners. I believe itās against law. Stay strong and ready. God and freedom!
We will get every Penny back that is owed to us!! And itās all been done already as far as knowing the amounts we get. He just isnāt going to pay anyone until the Swamp is gone. Imagine what they would do if they knew the amounts! Anyone over 60 will get 100% of what was stolen.
The Executive has full authority to enforce the Law. Fraud is illegal, so it can be rooted out without Congressional approval.
Except: Congress has to fund (and create and authorize new if needed) tribunals to timely render Due Process; that is the Law.
DoGE should go for the biggest illegal money outlays, and the easiest to prosecute and prove first, then work downwards from there.
USAid and Education Dept. don't meet this standard. Also, pell mell chaos, as in mass firings (some later rescinded!) won't maximize efficiency or money saved.
@Emily- good call. It's like redecorating a house: One job leads to three or more. Those benefits could very well lead down a medical fraud rabbit hole that's deeper than anyone could imagine. I'm 64 and without health insurance until October, my birth month. I could have benfeitted from one of those dead people's medical benefits.
I definitely want to hear the stats on the number of 110+ year olds being given benefits. And how more 110+ year olds have been voting regularly. (And who did they vote for?)
That is complete BS regarding illegal voting. Can it happen? Sure, but the people who get fake IDs aren't people who vote or even care about voting. They will try to be as invisible as possible.
I was thinking a Prove You Are Alive or face an āauto-shut offā program run every year would clean up the roles and out some fraudsters if they complained about benefits being stopped.
Someone with knowledge of computer databases could prob figure out how to do that. Just sayinā šš
The returned/undeliverable checks go into a ālock boxā. The funds in question are counted in the SS fraudulent amounts.
I also read the SSA uses COBOL program language that reads/records birthdates in an atypical manner which accounts for the person on the roles who is older than our country.
That's EXACTLY the question I posed today, Emily - I found an article from the National Archives about the SSA Numident (12 pages long) but after sloughing through it--I had ZERO answers to that query. Figures, doesn't it!!
Well, just b/c the database shows likely expired old timers doesn't guarantee any fraud. All they really have to do is add a field to lock the number as invalid and ensure no benefits are paid and no validation of the number can occur.
Or they could just delete the numbers if nothing is being paid out.
I'd be a lot more concerned if Elon's tweet showed the cumulative amount of benefits paid to these vampire numbers...
Yes, I believe this to be true. My dearly departed mother was in her 104th year when she passed last October and she was still getting her monthly allotment at that time. One would have thought that the death certificate filed with the county by the funeral home would have been enough of a notification but you would be wrong. My sister had to "formally"notify SS and send them a copy of the death certificate. I am fairly certain that is often overlooked - or purposely not done.
JEFF YOU SOLVED IT! When republicans asked where the 81 million Biden votes came from? Then suddenly this election democrats ādiscovered election fraudā and were wondering how Kommila had around 20 million less votes than Biden. There are the magic 20 million votes!
There's a big discrepancy in the younger ages as well. When I used US census estimates for 2023 as a proxy for the current number of citizens, the 20-29 age group has 43,829,532 people. Musk's Social Security value is 47,995,478, a difference of 4,165,996. We did NOT have that many people in those birth years die and not have their deaths recorded. Something else is going on.
"The Supreme Court has never held that children born to illegal immigrants are citizens ā never."
So-called illegal immigration didn't exist when US v. Wong Kim Ark was decided in 1899. So the court did not address this as yet to be concept.
My own father who was born in 1914, was 14 years old when the US first had a comprehensive immigration act that prohibited foreigners from entering without permission.
The truth is that birthright citizenship existed before the United States was even a thing. We get it from our British law ancestry which had birthright citizenship for hundreds of years prior to 1789. US v. Wong Kim Ark goes into the legal historical basis in minute detail.
One of the greatest things about our nation is that everyone was welcomed. That's why Emma Lazarus's famous poem is engraved upon the base of the Statue of Liberty:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!ā
That now seems impossible in these terror-wracked times, it is sad to admit.
But until 1928, anyone could walk right in. My ancestor arrived in 1608, maybe yours in 1850, or 1910. They didn't need permission from the govt. to be here. They didn't need to hire immigration attorneys, or win an immigration lottery. They just came and were (usually) welcomed.
And once they were here, their children were automatically citizens, excepting only Indians and the children born to foreign diplomats, both of which groups were not within the jurisdiction of the US.
Thanks for this history. Our immigration quandary is complicated. Back then you had to make your own way and didn't receive taxpayer money just for arriving. So a lot has changed, but sometimes I wish we could go back to less complicated days. Yet even then indentured servitude was a way people came and that was pretty rough. It was basically slavery. I feel empathy for people caught up in all of this and there are no easy solutions.
US v. Wong Kim Ark has been settled case law since 1899.
The 14th Amendment (and case law and history long before it) plainly established so-called birthright citizenship.
Wong Kim Ark was born in San Francisco to non-citizen Chinese parents who returned to China. When Wong was denied reentry, the Supreme Court ruled that he was a natural born citizen and therefore entitled to return.
If we want to add an exception that prohibits birthright citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants, we will have to amend the Constitution to change that.
But consider this: there's nothing in the law that requires us to allow illegals to remain in the US. Deport the illegal parents and they will likely take their child with them.
And then, when the US citizen the child is an adult, he can return just like Wong Kim Ark.
Birthright citizenship is nothing to be proud of. It is the act of a tyrannical government claiming possession of a subject, not citizenship. Our Republic was founded on the idea of mutual consent amongst We the People. Breaking our laws to enter our country is an act of theft, not consent. A government colluding with this thievery usurps the authority of We the People.
My sister was born in the U.K. in 1958 during the time we lived there while my Air Force father was stationed there. I remember she had to get some sort of naturalization form approved despite having two American parents. Something must have changed at some point with the process, because my son was born in 1986 in Saudi Arabia and all we had to do was get a U.S. Embassy form that verified an American citizen's birth in a foreign country. It was just a simple paperwork thing, although we had to show our son's Saudi birth documents and our American passports as the parents.
Immigration laws - some restricting the entry of immoral or unhealthy people - began to take shape in fits and starts in the later 1880s as the European flood began. (I believe the high point of immigration was ca. 1910-ish.)
But most people don't realize we didn't have a comprehensive immigration legislation (covering not just one race, or situation) until 1924 (which didn't take effect until 1928.)
In other words, there was no law preventing foreigners from coming in. As the European deluge started in the mid-1800ās they realized they had to have some processing stations like Ellis,and yes there were a few others I believe.
But these were regulating the flow, not stopping it.
Maybe it's my age, but 1928 seems much more recent to me. It was in the living experience of my own father after all. I remember him telling me of his own experiences near the Texas border with his grandfather (often on horseback, because the terrain was too rough for automobiles of the day.)
Don't get me wrong - I'm not advocating for open borders as we once had. That's far too dangerous in these times.
Well I wouldnāt say they could walk right in, exactly. They still had to go through questioning and processing and a health screening. It was for sure much less complicated than it is nowadays, but travel was also much more difficult then, and potential immigrants couldnāt just fly over to this country in a matter of hours. Also the authorities would have a shipās manifest, at least, for information on the people arriving. And when my relatives came over, during the crossing on the ship they were introduced to American culture and language through a kind of newsletter distributed to passengers daily. Not sure when this began or how long it lasted but it was definitely a thing at one point (I have copies of the newsletters). It was a very different time and circumstances were different. I think we need to account for those differences in whatever future reforms we may make to the immigration process. Certainly at this point it is expensive and byzantine, with all of the bureaucracy and paperwork.
You're probably referring to the Ellis Island immigrants. That was a NY State policy not a federal one.
At most places, there was absolutely zero screening or border control - even in major port cities .
While my Dad was a boy it was common (and perfectly legal) for Mexicans to cross the border and go back and forth on a daily basis. My grandfather hired them as day laborers for his oil leases.
Again, no regulation, no procedures, and all perfectly legal.
With the only exception of the anti-Chinese laws that targeted only that race, it wasn't until 1924 that Congress passed immigration laws that applied to everyone coming in. Those laws didn't even take effect until 1928.
It seems like the difference was, the people not coming through the land borders were coming here to stay and become citizens. From what you said, Mexicans who crossed over just came to work or visit then went home. I imagine it was similar for Canadians. Not so long ago you could go back and forth to Canada from, say, NY state with just a drivers license as ID.
Things are so much different now with air travel and also government programs. Not to mention the cartels.
I believe there was more than Ellis Island but yes, not all immigrants had to go through that. Interesting about the Mexican border. Iām not sure what youāre arguing (or maybe youāre just informing). Do you think we should go back to that? No regulations or procedures? Should states regulate immigration? It would seem to fit better with federal though (foreign relations)?
We can't go back to the open border situation. I think that is a little sad, but as you've pointed out, the cartels, the terrorism, etc. make that impossible.
Just another way life has permanently changed. Oh well.
Fred, the HUGE difference is that in earlier centuries, arrivals became self-supporting. They had to, to survive. Had to work, earn a living.
Across the west now, for years, thereās a totally different dynamic: people arrive, illegally, from dozens of countries, no-one knows who they are, whether theyāre running from justice, & the citizens in each western country are made to support them.
You canāt argue for an immigration free-for-all in the contemporary context where illegal arrivals are given a claim on citizensā cash & services.
Worth noting for all those in Oregon, not just Portland, the State's total population is less than those over 140 years of age, according the the Gov't SS records.
The question remains, how many of those 4.2mm+ Oregonians are on the monthly SS payroll?
At a ripe age of 185 (and I mean 'really' ripe), the average high IQ (too much fluoride I suspect) has voted democrat now in the last 41 Presidential elections (once they turned 18)........even though the state wasn't entered into the Union until 1859, 166 years ago on Valentine's day (isn't that sweet).
The average monthly social security benefit in 2025 is expected to be $1976 per month. Multiply that by 12 months in a year and 18.9 M fraudulent people (likely more but these are only the ones over 100) and you get $448,157,000,000. Youāre right, this much money is simply chump change and not worth pursuing (sarcasm). Every person involved in making the decision that amount of money wasnāt worth pursuing better be fired immediately if not yesterday.
Exactly Roger. Dems never want to actually "solve" any issue, just use it is a sledgehammer against their opposition. If they actually solved a real problem, they would put themselves out of a 'job', i.e. their gravy train system. War on "poverty" is the best example (how many trillions have we spent LBJ's war began? and there is more poverty now than before), but you also through in all the other undeclared wars Dems and RINOs like to wage like the "war on drugs", which only strengthened the State's power and reduces the individual's freedom.
We can get Machiavellian, too. We say nothing, keep them on the books long enough to pay off the national debt, and in the meantime, build enough political capital to shrug off lies like that.
Employers pay 6.2% social security tax. Employees pay another 6.2% to SS on top of that. Self-employed individuals pay the full 12.4%. The amounts we pay into this fraudulent system are non-trivial to say the LEAST...
As this new admin, with DOGE taking the lead, expose decades of fraud, we're going to continue to see the Overton Window shift MASSIVELY (i.e. "Do we even HAVE any gold in Fort Knox?"). The tides are turning to where more people will understand that it's not really Left vs Right - it's We The People Vs. The Deep State.
We need to place bets. Idk whether itās closer to two bars bc theyāve squandered it all away or itās closer to trillions bc theyāre hoarding it all until
Yes I know the law decrees that your employer shall pay half.
I'm talking about the actual reality of the situation.
As far as employer is concerned, the $10 an hour you are 'paid' might as well be $10.62 an hour. More in truth because of other gov imposed costs, but you get the idea.
I had a roommate in 2017 from India. She was in medical school. I began noticing mail for her from Social Security every month, same time.
I never opened it or asked her about it, she was a good roommate. But it never sat right with me. Why would someone on a student visa be getting monthly (or biweekly, I forget) mail from SSA? I don't know that it was benefits, but what else could it be?
DOGE should poke around that tree, is Social Security being used to pay foreigners to come to the US and get an education, even for expensive medical school, that isn't even available to US citizens? Is it not just the work visa issue of taking high skill jobs from Americans, but also paying for the higher education to train them, through Social Security no less?!?! A trust fund with a lock box that Americans pay into for their retirements, separate from general fund, ostensibly?
SSA was actually never set up to be a separate fund. It is raided all of the time. There is no lock on the account SSA. The lie they sold the American public was that it would be like a retirement account. I can't remember which politician disclosed this information, but it was eye-opening.
What about the money from those who died before receiving any or all of *their invested money* and no survivors were āeligibleā to receive it ādue to ageā? If that money had been put into a private retirement account instead, it would be an inheritance for their families at a better interest rate most likely.
Both of my parents passed before they were "eligible" and all that money went back into the "general fund". No one in our family saw it.
Yes. Imagine 12 % of your pay being invested every year. That's what rankles me when some otherwise good conservatives call SS an entitlement. No it's not. We paid into it all of our lives, unlike the first batch of recipients.
Yeah I agree, it isnāt an entitlement when people are forced by the government to give up their money and then get it back later. This should be considered separately from welfare programs.
I always thought he was a well meaning naive but decent politically incompetent clown. I was so wrong. He was a globalist through and through who did horrible damage to this country.
Unfortunately, another reason why LBJ is on the top five worst/most destructive presidents of all time, is his raiding of the SS system, and putting the SS funding into the general fund.
It was always a Ponzi scheme from the beginning, with the system relying on having enough replacement workers to pay for those on their SS benefits. Add to that the growth of the system from a simple retirement system to what it is now, then throw in the debt generating by Congress and we have a complete mess.
The government steals from you for 40 years. They hope you die before you collect one cent of that money theyāve stolen and now we find out that not only do our children benefit from the thousands and thousands of dollars that we had forcibly taken from us, but theyāre giving it to millions and millions of people who shouldnāt be getting it. Itās f**king infuriating. Iām thrilled with what DOGE is uncovering but Iām so angry that weāve been lied to and ripped off for our entire lives. I honestly cannot recall the last time. I have been this angry on a daily basis.
They not only āhopeā you die before collecting benefits, they actively create environments - created pandemics, poisoned addictive food supplies, deliberately poisoning our skies - etc., that are designed to shorten your life. And letās not forget the child vaccine scheme designed to shorten or at the very least weaken our childrenās lives.
My prayer is that DOGE totally OBLITERATES the cushy, non-performing bureaucratic positions and those parasites that occupied those 'jobs' will have to do what you and I have had to do our ENTIRE LIVES. HIT THE PAVEMENT AND FIND ANOTHER JOB!! They will have a HUGE awakening experience!
Oh sure - unemployment is the domain of the STATES not the Feds. If you are 'laid off' or considered 'unessential to the operation' of a business...THEN you CAN collect unemployment - usually for at least (6) months after termination from your previous employment. Our state of PA extends that unemployment benefit for up to ONE YEAR - the last (6) months are at "half rate" of the FIRST (6) month period.
May I suggest, for your soul, that you not be angry on a daily basis, but thankful the Lord is revealing the truth. "And the truth will set you free" (from the captivity of lies and sin). The truth informs and gives us the resolve to look past the narrative of what they want us to believe, to what is really going on. I do not trust our government. It is not working for our wellbeing. It is funding regime changes in parts of the world we haven't heard of for the benefit of the politicians (kickbacks) and their donors.
So true Debra! I am shocked at the scope of the corruption but I donāt get angry about it because I canāt do anything to change it. Anger is a negative emotion. I trust in God that He has His plan and this revelation is part of that plan. Praise be to God that He has given us leaders who are showing us what has been going on. We need to turn back to God and give Him our allegiance and He will set things right with His justice.
I know your words to be true. Yet righteous anger does often well up inside me despite knowing this. It is one of the greatest struggles in my personal relationship with God. Trusting his plan without allowing righteous anger to fill the moments of doubt. There's a bit of St. Michael in me, a fighter for God. That can be fueled by righteous anger. I know I'm not as faithful a servant of God as his example is to hold others accountable without holding myself accountable. But the struggle is real.
About 20 years ago, talk show host Michael Medvid had a huge interest in history (maybe he was originally a history teacher or some such). He wrote a book and also a DVD series on the subject of God's Hand on America. When I look at things now, I can't help but remember what he said about seemingly amazing and almost unexplainable great things over the last 200 years that saved this country, things as unlikely as Trump almost being killed but turning his head at just the right moment. Medved's view was that God did have a hand in protecting America from time to time in our history, because we are the country that was needed to rescue the world from its idiocy.
I'm with you. In my case my husband passed when I was 62 and I was still working. I waited 4 years to start collecting and because my husbands income was higher for years I took survivors benefits. I will never see a dime of what the govment took from me for over 40 yrs as I stayed home when the kids were little for 10 yrs and had lower benefits by a few hundred. I did an estimate at one point and checked SS and over the years they collected somewhere around 75K from me. Could sure use that now. The govment should pay out what we paid in in situations like mine. Now finding out they are paying out to fraudulent accounts it really pisses me off.
SSA will send statements that include what you paid in. It could shock you. The total very likely is more than 1.5 times a year's salary if you worked without interruption.
When SS was set up, life expectancy was a lot lower than it is now, and they undoubtedly calculated that a great many people would never collect, or at least, they wouldn't live enough enough to get much money.
I worked with international students in higher ed. When they were hired as a āstudent employeeā they had to apply for a SS# in order to receive a paycheck in the collegeās system.
I shudder to think how many of those former student employees are now receiving SS benefits just by virtue of having had a number but never paying into the SS system.
At the very least, seems like the SS system would show almost no work history and very low earnings, so how could the payment be much. In fact, would they even meet the quarters worked requirement?
I have many Indian friends like my old roommate. Very nice people. But they are typically very obedient. And don't rock the boat. Especially when they know their place on the boat is tenuous as an immigrant on visa. Placing Indian doctors into the medical system ensures a very obedient medical system. That forces everyone, including asthmatics into masks, injecting every Big Pharma concoction into every arm, dangerously and unnecessarily irradiates us, tests, probes, perform every procedure - necessary or not - they are directed to perform. And sets the stage for a medical system that's already very compromised to repeat this very ugly history:
Why did so many German doctors join the Nazi Party early?
International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, October 3, 2012
"During the Weimar Republic in the mid-twentieth century, more than half of all German physicians became early joiners of the Nazi Party, surpassing the party enrollments of all other professions. From early on, the German Medical Society played the most instrumental role in the Nazi medical program, beginning with the marginalization of Jewish physicians, proceeding to coerced āexperimentation,ā āeuthanization,ā and sterilization, and culminating in genocide via the medicalization of mass murder of Jews and others caricatured and demonized by Nazi ideology. Given the medical oath to ādo no harm,ā many postwar ethical analyses have strained to make sense of these seemingly paradoxical atrocities. Why did physicians act in such a manner? Yet few have tried to explain the self-selected Nazi enrollment of such an overwhelming proportion of the German Medical Society in the first place."
FF - Is this the reason so many Indians are populating our medical schools and are becoming overrepresented in our medical system today? That "investment" by the Social Security administration to bring down costs of the baby boomer population bomb hitting benefit eligibility age? Hmmm?
There is the little issue of Musk supporting the visa programs for high skill workers, his DOGE initiative poking around high skill student visas receiving Social Security benefits? An objectivity concern.
This was a delicious read. As one commenter noted, he was grinning like a lunatic while reading through it. Of course, I felt the same way, kind of the way I enjoy reading C & C. Thanks for this , CindyArizona.
I like the idea of phasing out SS. Give the people their money to invest. If they fail to wisely invest their money they will have to work until they die. No "social safety net." It's above my skill set to figure out how to do this, but this joke of SS has to stop.
People who didn't invest wisely existed before Social Security. They didn't line the streets in their filth and wait to die. The role of churches in community and REAL civic volunteerism, philanthropy helped them in a much bigger way than today. That's what would happen.
We humans when left to our own devices are not selfish, cruel people who will turn away those in need. Despite what the big government "social safety net" advocates portray us as. We do a better job of charity than government ever does or could. To do what you suggest means surviving the onslaught of shrill screams, emotional blackmail and angry tirades about how selfish and cruel we are to try. We and our leaders we support must survive the onslaught and push through it.
And in doing so we must "become the change we seek." Stealing an Obamaism that is appropriate. We can't demand cuts to these "social safety nets" funded by government without challenging ourselves to step in the gap and provide for the less fortunate among us. Our individual participation and contributions to churches and civic volunteerism must match our words. Many already do. Means do more. The churches and civic organizations, philanthropies that waste charitable funds on pronouns and importing more needy should be cast aside, their funding streams dried up. Ones that harken back to days of true community and civic participation will step up and thrive. Just sayin'.
Youāre correct in that the churches helped people in need. We also took care of our aging relatives. But today, many young adults abandon their elderly parents and believe the government will take care of them. I believe if we returned to real charity (giving from our hearts) instead of having money confiscated from us by government (gov safety nets, SS, disability,etc) we as a society would be better off.
Bam! Exactly right. Traveling outside the US, to Latin America and many other places with different cultures the first thing I noticed was the cohesion of the family units I don't see in the US. Three generations may live under the same roof.
A typical situation would be grandparents caring for the babies while the parents go to work during the day. Not low-wage day care workers who may or may not give two hoots about the children in their care like in the US.
Then as the children age and become teenagers, young adults the parents will still be working during the day, but roles flip between oldest and youngest, the children help the grandparents navigate life, help them go out, care for, help feed. Not low-wage senior care workers who may or may not give two hoots about the seniors in their care like in the US.
I was raised as I was raised in the US to value my independence and freedom to explore the world without the obligations of caring for my family. It's hard to shift that paradigm in a society once its become set. But thinking about it logically the Latin American (and others) paradigm is healthier, more cost effective and more loving than what we have in the US today. The fact that we pay others we often don't even know to care for our most precious and important people in our lives is quite insane and somewhat depraved. I get that some people don't have family relations that could support the model I describe. But those are the exception, not the norm. Yet in the US the model is the norm, not the exception even for families with relations that are strong. Societal pressures have normalized a very fractured and unhealthy family model that's unsustainable.
There is a DOGE account on X and they are actively asking for input into areas that they need to consider for an audit. You should definitely submit your story about the Indian student.
I have opined for years that the SSA should be 'advised' by a board of NORMAL CITIZENS - like an "ombudsmen" structure. That would make it much more lucrative for retirees and 'safe' from thievery and misappropriation. Of course...that will NEVER happen...but it SHOULD!
I had to look it up on the internet and found this email address. In my opinion, Zillow is trying to manipulate the real estate market by having a new category that represents Climate. They are working with a group called FIrst Street, which recently has a headline: 12th National Risk Assessment: Property Prices in Peril estimates $1.4 trillion reduction in unadjusted real estate value due to climate-related risks.
Go back to checks as the form of payment. When the checks are scanned there is a stoppage created for all checks for people older than ____ age.
For those who are not able to make it to the bank, their Guardian(s) are required to provide proper documentation to deposit and/or cash checks.
Is it cumbersome? Maybe but prior to our current system, checks were used successfully. Overall, this will put the responsibility on the banks... where it should be.
Sending SS payment as checks would also reveal who, exactly, is cashing these checks. Don't put immediate Stop on the checks - use them to find out who is receiving these benefits illegitimately.
I thought most were done that way now....but maybe not. One way or the other, the SS records would have the deposit bank account info and if a check, they could determine if/when a check was deposited or cashed.
Bingo. Thank God Elon and his geniuses figured that out. We ( patriots) have it all. The money trail will show all the connections down the road. Pray for these people doing the work of We The People.
I had a friend who told me about how she and her financial planner were scamming SSA disability. She owned a lovely townhouse and drove an Audi. Nice work, huh?
When DOGE finally pries open that lockbox it will discover a bizillion IOUs from our "representatives" in the "United States Corporation" (ie the District of Columbia). We the people are under a different corporation to wit:the "United States of America Corporation." And from there it's corporations all the way down to your local dog catcher. Now remind me what it was Mr Jefferson said about corporations a looong time ago? Thank the Lord we no longer have "warlords" we have corporations instead.
Yes. Then divert it all back to us, taxpayers whose hard earned cash has been collecting residual interests on the dollar. Because it wasnāt theirs to claim from any of our wages, we should never have been subject to any empire- foreign or domestic. WE tell our govs what we want and need.
I would love to be getting HALF of that average amount each month, which I am not. Maybe the billions going to dead people can be divvy'd up and shared amongst the bottom half of the recipients. Then I'd be able to pay my property taxes.
States (especially Florida) need to abolish property taxes for lower income senior citizens. It truly is an injustice that Seniors in the last stage in their life have to worry about property taxes. I wish more seniors would start writing and getting active about this issue.
This is the argument we are getting in MO, which did pass legislation last year allowing for 65+ to apply for a freeze. Problem is, that just shifts the tax burden to the rest of us, and makes our taxes higher to make up for it. Ours went up $1200 last year. 65% of our property tax bill goes to the school district and their spending is out of control. Rather than freezing or eliminating for seniors (who are NOT all indigent, BTW) it makes a lot more sense to reign in spending, and look for a better way to fund local governments. Oh and all the big developers get property tax breaks in my city too. And yet people keep re-electing the same idiots.
In my county in Illinois they do have a property tax freeze for seniors, and one must qualify for it. If a senior here has plenty of income, they do not get the freeze. I have a relative who has a small farm and a couple houses here and she pays far more, like double, in property taxes than I get in Social Security in a full year.
My position on property taxes is that if a government can continually assess a tax on your property, then you never own it, they own it.
I agree - I am much more in favor of a different way of funding and getting rid of the property tax altogether. The tax breaks for millionaire developers really pisses me off. My mom lives in an assisted living place that got a break on property tax, and since she no longer owns a vehicle, pays zero property tax. And yet the facility gets the benefits of what the tax helps pay for - fire, police, EMT's, snow removal on the roads, etc. I am not sure what to replace it with but I also know that we need a DOGE in our city, county and school district as they waste way too much.
A little off topic but ... take a close look at the protein level of your mother's diet. Institutional food is some of the least nutritious out there, whether schools, hospitals, assisted living facilities, etc.
Where I live in DuPage County, Illinois, seniors need to have an AGI of less than $65,000 to qualify for the freeze. And then, it is not a freeze of their property taxes but only a freeze of their assessment. Their property taxes can still go up depending on the county multiplier--which almost invariably goes up.
Here in Shawnee Co. in KS, the county/city discovered if they raise the value of our properties every year they can raise the property taxes. This is a new thing, raising values yearly. We have an old house that needs a lot of work, what they've valued it for is utterly outrageous.
Absolutely, went through the same thing in Jackson County, MO - massive value increases. We do have the Hancock Amendment in MO which limits the windfall to taxing jurisdictions to 5% for existing property (new construction is exempt) but that is 5 % in aggregate and they use sketchy math IMHO. Jurisdictions are supposed to roll back the levy, but they still manage to put levy rate increases on the ballot from time to time (oh it's only $68 a year for the average home and look at this shiny object) that the gullible voters approve!?! Ours went up 43% in the last re-assessment. We did not appeal, as our property had been under-valued and saw little chance of winning, but there were 50,000+ appeals and 2 years later, they are still hearing cases. And even 5% per year adds up over time.
I've had to appeal my property taxes in Olathe (Kansas) each of the past 2 years. First time I won my appeal with the county, this last time I had to appeal to the State. I figure I'll be doing it again this year.
I said abolish property taxes for low income seniors -not all. Senior women that lose their husbands often have to sell their homes. š This happened to a friend of mine whose husband, a Vietnam veteran that got cancer from agent orange, passed away. She couldnāt keep her home after he passed due to the loss of income and the costs of property taxes etc. She not only lost her husband, but the memories associated with the home and the community she loved. It is heartbreaking that any senior citizen has to live in the end stage of life facing such tragedy.
It is sad, but my mom had to do the same - she could not keep up a house on an acre of land after my dad passed. Lived in an apartment for 8 years that she actually liked but in the end was a prison as she could no longer drive and most of her old friends from her church and neighborhood had passed or moved closer to kids, etc. She had one younger friend who brought her mail and newspaper every day, someone from her church visited once a week, and I came to see her and did her shopping 2-3 days a week, but she was a half hour away. (or longer depending on traffic, once after a fall, there was a major wreck and took me over an hour to get there) And never wanted to go anywhere, as 'its too much trouble' and scared of the Vid due to her CNN watching.
After a leg issue, she could no longer be alone, and after 6 months of sleeping on an air mattress at her place and using some mixed bag home health aides, my out of town sisters and I finally convinced her to move to an Assisted Living place 5 minutes from me in 2023. After sulking and being angry for a couple of months she is thriving. Making a lot of new friends, eating better, and a button on her wrist she can push for any reason. Goes to events at the place to get her out of her apt, and her outlook has improved 100%. Willing to get out occasionally and go to lunch, or a few events, although she is an introvert by nature so she still turns me down some. It's expensive, but the equity from the house, and IRA has been invested and RMDs supplement her pension and SS. Not saying for all, but there ARE some seniors who are better off selling and moving to a place with better quality of life than being basically shut-ins with little socialization. Talked to many of her 'neighbors' who admit they were overwhelmed with maintenance, paying bills, and having to hire out mowing, upkeep, or depend on family all the time, etc. and glad they sold, despite the initial resistance.
Maybe most seniors feel a duty to do their part as well as comply with the laws. What a thought! However, if waste wasnāt so profound, those taxes could be reduced significantly. The fraud being revealed: horrific.
Gov D said this a couple of days ago. He's all for ending them.
"Property taxes are local, not state. So weād need to do a constitutional amendment (requires 60% of voters to approve) to eliminate them (which I would support) or even to reform/lower themā¦
We should put the boldest amendment on the ballot that has a chance of getting that 60%ā¦
I agree that taxing land/property is the more oppressive and ineffective form of taxationā¦"
I have no answer but I do think we need to think outside the box on this. Just look at the waste in the schools. When I lived in NV 65% of the school employees were administrators. What are our most basic common needs? Let individuals pay for what they want beyond that. How about returning the power of the purse to individual?
This is one thing I donāt getā¦ Property taxes pay for a number of local services -the fire department, school district, library, etc. They are actually bonds that the citizens approved. Abolish property taxes and who pays for that? What am I missing?
Why is a consumption tax better? The fact is, with devices such as reverse mortgages, an old person can retain their home and pay their taxes. Also, typically old people get a break on property tax already.
But how many zombies helped 'approve' that bond. Also, renters are voting but not paying. Perhaps only homeowners should be allowed to vote on a bond that affects their property taxes. As a teacher in California, it is not uncommon to see multiple families living with grandma in her home. I live in central CA, farmland, not LA or SF, so home prices are not astronomical.
But renters ARE paying. It's baked into the rent. I have some friends who own a few investment properties and they actually HATE having to raise the rent, but taxes through the roof mean they are actually breaking even or worse if they don't pass at least some of the increase along. One is actually losing money renting to a long time elderly tenant who can't afford the increase, but he is definitely the exception.
Except for the apartment builders who have gotten property tax exemptions from our pathetic city council - 13 complexes in the past 4 years!! They are paying zero, except for the residents who do pay property taxes on their vehicles. It makes me furious. These folks get a pass while the rest of us pay through the nose.
Old ppl? Young ppl trying to raise a family... But aren't because they can't afford a wife? I'm kinda tired of the old ppl on a fixed income. Aren't we all. š How about fixing it so kids can take care of their families, parents?
You may not realize, but people put that income from their own paychecks aside through mandatory Social Security payments throughout their working lives, so that's their money the system collected on their behalf, not a handout from the government. They are entitled to those payments.
Also, many people do not have kids to take care of them, and many older people are now contributing to their communities in ways that keep the communities afloat. A lot of donated time and money that younger people can't afford to give.
So yes, fix the system to get rid of fake people stealing our tax dollars, but it can't be thrown out unless the government wishes to engage in massive theft from its own citizens who were required to pay all this money into the system their whole lives, and who paid enormous amounts in taxes beyond that. Fair is fair.
I hope no one is suggesting that Social Security is a handout from the government. Itās true though that young people trying to pay for a home and raise little ones deserve breaks as much as we seniors do.
Every one of my fellow seniors did just fine during Covid. Not sick. Out and about as much as we wanted within the constraints, one going to Florida for the winter and crabbing about DeSantis. We actually increased retirement income. While my SIL was on anti anxiety med and depressed because he couldnāt work at all, with my daughter dealing with that and a kid that decided she was trans, trying to make the mortgage payments. Then most oldies not caring if children suffered to save our old granny arses. Not all, of course. But never heard one make that argument against what was done to children. Iām still pissed about that.
Yeah Iām right with you there as far as what was done to children supposedly to save grandma (and teachers š) from Covid. Not to mention the older people in care homes suffered needlessly because of that tooāisolation and neglect š
I feel more for old people that suffer, and lose their homes because they cannot afford property taxes -usually because their beloved spouse died.
Most older people donāt have much longer to live and itās harder for them to start over.
I feel less for kids that had children before they were financially ready for them. They are able to cope with lifeās hardships much easier than older people in the last stage of life.
I don't know about that idea. Do not seniors make use of fire departments, roads, police, EMTs(probably more than most people for that) and plenty of other services? I could see lowering them but not abolishing them. In Florida, where there is a significant senior population, you'd be cutting the operating funds for local govts severely. A young person just getting started in their professional life with a kid on the way might say why am I paying property taxes to fund old people's wheel chair ramps, senior transportation services and the like when I can barely make ends meet? Just cause you're older doesn't mean you can now eschew responsibilities to the community.
Because we āold peopleā have paid it āforwardā and most have NEVER used anything that property taxes go for. We still drive over the same potholes as āyoung people.ā Donāt mess with āold peopleā this early in the morning.
You have a local gov't. Each of those people is paid by you. You have trash collection? Many municipalities pay for that with taxes. Same with road repair, snow clearing. I'm an old fart, as well and I see no problem with contributing to my community as long as it's reasonable. I left a high tax state because of wasteful taxation but don't expect a free ride just because I'm older now. Then we can start carving out other people from paying taxes because they work at home or their kids don't use public school and so on. When your house is on fire, you can tell them not to come because you don't want to pay for such frivilous nonsense.
A lot of us (and Iām not that age yet but will be in about a decade or so) have NEVER used public schools even though that is generally the biggest cost. Either because we donāt have kids or sent them to private school or homeschooled.
Our local public school just built a ridiculously fancy state of the art pool and indoor athletic facility plus brand new tennis courts. There are multiple levels of administrators and coaches and assistant coaches for dozens of sports. There definitely needs to be a better way of budgeting and paying for these things.
There are also lots of places where you have to pay property taxes but there is no local police force and the fire department is all volunteer.
It depends on where you live and the breakdown of where all those taxes go. My little county in MO tales a lot in taxes. Some even goes to support nursing homes! I personally think taxation is way out of hand on numerous levels. Property tax should end. It is crazy as others have stated to keep paying taxes on something you "own."
We also have to pay personal property taxes. They go to all the same places so we get dinged twice!
@Oregon Kathy- if you read each word of my comment, youāll see, āMOST have NEVER...ā I did not say, āI have...ā But now that youāve brought it up, I can say that Iāve paid more and used less than MOST home owners probably have. I volunteered daily at our childrenās school until I went to work for the school (they were tired of seeing me there every day) along with still volunteering after work, some of the āvolunteerā work being REQUIRED! But because we couldnāt afford private schools it was the best way to see what and who my children were being exposed to. I paid SS for those 23 years until I retired. I then worked another 10 years at our church again paying into SS again, working 7 days a week and on every special event.
Times called the fire department - 0
Times children used school - 12 years - 23 years that I worked = -11 years
Times used Library - 2 - I was refused a library card for each child and one for me as āthat was a lot of books to leave the library at one time,ā so I stayed until I received 4 library cards and we each checked out 15 books - the limit allowed! So you can count that as many times as youād like. The second time was our return of 60 books. I just upped the number of books we bought and kept book clubs busy and the school library.
Times called 911 - 0
Times called FPL for personal outages -0 - Times assisting FPL with power outages - 1000000000 +++ - my husband worked for FPL and we assisted every personal call for all our community to help pinpoint the problems and report to get crews to trouble area. After 60 +years of his working there, he still gets calls about outages. Donāt get me started on Hurricane Season! He paid SS for his work hour but none on volunteer hours.
I could continue if you need any more information on my use of community services covered by property taxes.
Good points. I'd only say that after many decades of paying taxes, a little break, especially for lower income folks, wouldn't be out of order. One critical piece of legislation that the Blue Leaches want to abolish in CA is Prop 13. If successful, uncountable number of old residents would IMMEDIATELY be forced from their homes due to the extreme tax hikes. This has already been happening in states without such protection, like Montana. It's sickening.
As you indicated, I think the big issue is with people on a fixed income who suddenly find themselves facing a large property tax increase. They donāt have the financial margin to account for that increase (particularly in times like these where costs on pretty much everything have gone up significantly) and they lose their home.
Loss of homes for seniors is real. What can you buy for $13 a month? For two people of 76 years of age, that my friends is our combined SS raise this year which they call cost of living. We own a mobile home but rent the the spot that it is on. Rent raises and property tax raises is our portion for being responsible and not getting evicted from our home. Signed Mad as a Wet Hen
Homes prices in CA have gotten obscenely inflated. If Prop 13 were to be abolished and long time homeowners were assessed higher, untold numbers of people would lose their homes. Predominately older people, I would guess. I've lived in my home since 1989 and paid it off long ago. I couldn't afford the property tax on its current supposed value, but I can still afford the rate based on its 1989 purchase value plus a certain amount of yearly increases over the years.
I said older, LOW INCOME seniors shouldnāt have to pay property taxes. Donāt they deserve to live their final years without worrying about losing their home?
I am a senior (paying $5,000+ a year) in property taxes. I only use the roads to drive to the store and none of the other services you mentioned.
However, it breaks my heart to see friends struggling to keep their homes because of a death of a spouse. My friend had to sell her home. At her age, she probably doesnāt have more than 10 years of life left. She lost everything she loved in just a few months and has had to start over.
Sickening to know SS money going where? And someone stole my SSN after I retired. Fortunately the IRS and SS compared notes. After getting my congressman Gary Palmerās secretary involved, I was given a person to walk me through the disaster. That still didnāt get me the first $600 given out by the government in 2020.
The person had the audacity to file under my SSN an unreal amount of income! I had to return a check to the IRS for less than $600. Crazy world! I wish they could catch those crooks!
My thought is take out all those people who donāt exist. SS wonāt go broke. Elon, find all of those dead people! Those of us alive were obligated by law to pay SS while we worked. Closer to 80 than 70 and very much alive!!!!
Now that WA former Governor left the new one with a several billion dollar deficit, part of the plan is to fund it with an insane increase in property taxes. Dem Legislators pushing a bill to allow annual increases of 3%, up from the current ceiling of 1%. They are all thieves & com
And Seniors struggling to pay the bills are not allowed to rent out a room in their house, or bake brownies and sell them, without risking losing the Homestead exemption, which is what keeps property taxes from exploding for people who qualify.
I grouse about it all the time, always vote NO on anything that will raise it, including the library, but NO ONE LISTENS. NO ONE CARES. They donāt realize that you never truly own your home because if you canāt afford the taxes, theyāll just take it.
It also drives aging property owners OUT of corrupt strongholds like... City Of New Orleans, for example. This is an net positive (for me, anyway, I couldn't wait to move eight miles away and gain a 90% DECREASE in my property taxes).
This is one thing I donāt getā¦ Property taxes pay for a number of local services -the fire department, school district, library, etc. They are actually bonds that the citizens approved. Abolish property taxes and who pays for that? What am I missing?
I donāt mind paying property taxes for services. I do mind paying for a bloated park and rec system, and for failing schools. If they were teaching kids how to read Iād be much happier paying the school district taxes. And would be happier if they used the money wisely which they donāt.
I did not have kids, why should I pay for schools? Ok, ok, we all benefit from an educated next generation, but are we getting that?
Weāre also getting a huge new library, itās an edifice. I didnāt vote for that but all the new libs in town did. Itās huge, for a population of approximately 110k in Bend proper?
Now that WA former Governor left the new one with a several billion dollar deficit, part of the plan is to fund it with an insane increase in property taxes. Dem Legislators pushing a bill to allow annual increases of 3%, up from 5ge current ceiling of 1%. They are all thieves & communists.
Man that sounds difficult Dave, prayers that you find a way to make it through it.
Younger folks, please take Dave's warning to heart. Take advantage of an employer's 401k plan, particularly if they have a matching provision, and put away at least 10% (more is better) of every paycheck. You cannot count on the government to take care of you in old age. Listen to Dave Ramsey's counsel about living below your means and saving to ensure you have a cushion later in life. I know Ramsey can come off as a crusty old Boomer, but he's absolutely right about delayed gratification, staying out of debt, and wealth building for retirement.
I just got my annual statement from Social Security. It plainly says "Social Security is not intended to be your only source of retirement income" We have been saving for retirement since we got our first jobs out of college. Our parents were both working class and they too socked a little bit away and also had pensions. My dad and father in law have both passed, but my mom and MIL are actually doing fine as they have investment income that is the result of decades of frugal living. My mom no longer drives, so I do most of her shopping and she still uses old whipped cream tubs for 'redneck tupperware' and yells at me for paying too much for jello. I am like, MOM! You can afford the jello!
LOL! She is the queen of thrift, and I inherited her tendencies. My kids make fun of me. Although I did switch to glass containers since plastic is supposed to be bad for you. Bought them for mom too but she won't use them as she has bad arthritis in her hands and has dropped some and they break, so back to the cool whip containers....
Never rely on the gov, ie Social Security, and rely on yourself by always saving each month, even if some months are a meager amount. Consider SS a bonus. Even retirement cannot be considered safe if the company goes bankrupt and your pension is not guaranteed by the company. Teach your children at a young age to save. My father and mother lived through the Great Depression, stood in milk lines, etc, and my dad preached savings every time we earned any money. For me it was babysitting as a teen for 50cents an hour. Yeah, Iām old going by that pay scale. My first full time job paid $180 a month, not a week but for a month. I also knew to save and still find it hard not to each month.
We must be about the same age. Those baby sitting gigs gave us a lot of things, some dough, lots of responsibility/learning, and taught us to save. My first part-time job was $1.65 an hour. My first full time teaching job earned me about $730 take home a month and I was happy!
We started telling our kids when they were in elementary school to save for a rainy day and don't count on social security as the gov will bankrupt it. There used to be a 'kids' mutual fund, that invested in companies kids knew, and sent educational materials a couple of times a year, that they contributed to from chores, gifts from relatives, etc, and could watch that money grow for college. Returns weren't stellar but we weren't talking big amounts anyway, point was teaching them about investing. Was discontinued when they were HS age and we flipped to an ESA. But grown adults now and despite one turning liberal, still save for retirement.
I made $1.50 an hour babysitting (70's), except one family paid $2 an hour and they were night owls, got paid to watch a lot of late night tv, lol.
Yeah same here regarding being a Ramsey fan. Listening to his show, when people in their late fifties and sixties call in and have no money though, is absolutely heartbreaking. People in their twenties should be made to listen, sort of a financial "scared straight".
The really eye-opening aspect is realizing how every aspect of our society is geared toward taking on debt as a good and normal thing. Credit cards, car loans, student loans, etc. are all portrayed as the norm rather than the road to ruin that they are.
I get stressed out just listening to some of these callers! It's no wonder people are stressed out and have mental health challenges. I would be depressed too if I was my age (59) and nothing to show for all my hard work but a pile of bills. But we drive 10 YO cars and DIY most home improvements (YouTube videos, lol) and have never had a manicure, get $20 haircuts and make coffee at home, unlike many of my broke friends. One just told me she paid $400 at a hair salon!!! And middle class. Invest that $400 and see what it is in 10 years. Hope you like the dye job!!
I like your style Donna. I was up on my roof pulling up tiles and resealing the underlayment seams over the weekend myself. Recent rains showed a few leaks and I was easily able to track them down. Replaced a bunch of cracked tiles while at it too. Worked great.
In my neighborhood a new roof can be 30 grand! No freaking way I'm paying that when I can repair it myself for a couple hundred in material. I'd much rather give that money to my kids to buy a house once they've shown they are responsible adults than some roofing contractor.
Maybe Trump should make Dave Ramsey head of some government agencies that need to trim their budgets š āRice and beans, beans and riceā for all until further notice š
My mom passed away at age 84. Her SS was $600 and her medications took half of it. Her home and car was paid for, but still had to pay insurance on both along with maintenance, food and utilities. My dad left her a savings account, but it was drained slowly after 2 decades leaving her with 15 years pinching pennies and not wanting help. Her last two years were spent in assisted living paid with from selling her home. She was somehow able to get by and still leave money to pay for her funeral. A testament to live by and I miss her every day even after 20 years.
And that large number is simply what will go out the door this year for those fraudulently on the record over 100, there are many more fraudulently on the record collecting Social Security and multiply those numbers by how many years it has been happening and itās trillions right there.
Unfortunately, we have probably two or 3 million new disability cases caused by vaccine injuries. Check out Edward Dowdās website Phinance Technologies.
I know a young lady whoās birth father received disability and when he died the disability payments went to her. Maybe because she might have been under 18 and maybe they stopped after that but I believe her Mom would mention her still receiving those payments. š¤·š¼āāļø Ridiculous for disability to be passed down. š¤
Yes, but probably corrupt, at least in part, since it's inception. The scope has only got worse through the years as it was realized that no one was looking!
You are only calculating the people over 100 years old. With the average life expectancy in the US being 79 years old, I suspect there are many people under 100 that are also dead and collecting. It seems like a simple problem for DOGE. They just write a program that compares all death certificates to SS rolls and Bingo we save billions.
I wonder if this scam was made much easier when the government switched to all EFT payments. I also wonder if there is similar fraud going on at all of the other agencies. My mind is blown by the sheer enormity of this fraud.
And to think Biden administration had the gall to hire a bunch of IRS agents for collecting more $$$ meanwhile they could have been used for the SS fraud.
Thanks for doing the math FedUp. You beat me to it. This is 1/2 trillion dollars a year in waste. Approximately $10 trillion just this century. Give or take, not taking inflation into account. Sadly, this waste is one of the reasons for our inflation. So this scandal alone will account for 1/4 of the $2 trillion a year savings Trump and Musk are looking for. It would be nice to have a daily meter of the cumulative percentage total to that $2 trillion savings. My guess is it has to be at least 25 to 50% so far? Hopefully more?
Every time a death certificate is issued, that person should automatically be removed from Social Security, disability, Medicare, and the voter registration rolls! I notified the San Diego voter registration office that the previous owner of my home died in 2006 and sent them a printout of his obituary from the local paper. They wrote back and said I need to send them his death certificate - me, who has no relation to a man who would be over 120 years old now. š¤¦š¼āāļø
Ugh such ridiculous incompetence! Or maybe purposeful š¤Ø Now Iām starting to wonder if they didnāt pursue these cases because someone in the administration was pocketing the money!! š”
The 1976 dollar figure is way off. I know of several women , some who worked for health clinics for over 25 years and they get 800. I had a bodyhsop with 5 mne and i am getting 1400. An emnployee I had that made 50k a year was getting 1800 a month . SS likes to exagerate the payout. On other hand the teachers I know are getting 80-100k per year, They have a scam where they raise the pay in last 2-3 years before retirement and then they get 75-80% of highest pay. One friend told me, he said isnt that cool? I was horrified,
DOGE is requesting public suggestions on how to make things better
The first department they were asking for assistance with is the @DOGE_USDA
I suggested
Ban big Pharma commercials and advertising.
No more GMO crops. no more dangerous pesticides, including glyphosate
No more chemtrails. They're killing the bees and the birds and making people sick.
No more immunity to liability for the vaccine industry (and no immunity liability for any chemical or pesticide company)
Take the farmland back from Chinese owned and Bill Gates owned and give it to family owned organic produce farmers. Restore the soil.
Eliminate fluoride
No mRNA vaccines for farm animals or people. Exposed the real data.
According to Dr. David Martin, There are 63 more viruses in the pipeline via gain a function research. Moratoriums need to be in place. Gain of function research needs to be illegal. (was the bird flu created in a lab for intentional harm?)
Expose the truth behind the pandemic that it was originally a US gain of function research project by Ralph Baric at the University of North Carolina funded by NIAID - Fauci in 2014
I tried to make recommendations in two of the new affiliates and they didnāt have the DM button even though they state in the description to DM them. š¤·š¼āāļø
I want some federal law that protects homeowners from losing their homes they worked their whole life to own due to outrageous real estate taxes making the State nothing but landlords. States should be forced to find another way to raise/collect the money without risking someoneās property the way they do.
My RE taxes went up close to $4000 this year. Honestly, Iām one of the lucky ones because mine was low to begin with. BUT there are so many people that have $15,000 to $20,000 and up, taxes in my area. We live in the South burbs of Chicago! Not the North Shore with multi million dollar homes or CA! Folks around here are crying but meanwhile they keep voting blue like things are going to change š¤¦š»āāļøš¤¦š»āāļø
Yep Iām here in the burbs of Chicago too, and ours went from $7,000 to $15,000 in the past 15 years. We canāt afford them anymore. We have paid over $13,000 a year for the past decade. Thatās money that could have paid down our mortgage much faster. This year they reached $15,000. And we have the smallest house in our neighborhood, nothing luxurious like what is around us but we have to pay according to their properties not our own. Itās truly highway robbery at this point when our monthly taxes are more than our mortgage.
I have relatives in Chicago, and I donāt think it is as solidly democratic as the residents think, or as the elections suggest. I suspect there is massive voter fraud in Chicago.
We had a friend who managed his families very large ranch and died suddenly in his 50ās. They had to sell the ranch due to taxes while the tax code was better before democrats got in office and changed it (side story) but I do remember his son saying that land that had been in their family for many generations was only theirs as long as they could pay the taxes on it. Then it hit me, thatās true of all of us. Now retired, we canāt keep up with the property and school taxes that go up every year. But hey we have a 10% limit per year. Wow how nice of them, in 10 years they actually be 100% from 10 years ago. When retired you donāt have the ability to grow your finances like that. At least not many of us.
In Allegheny County, PA, our property taxes were just raised 36%.
Now all of us who live in the city of Pittsburgh are holding our breath to see what happens to our school taxes. Figure the Pittsburgh Public Schools will be embolden now.
Once they make the first post under that department, then you can comment and put your suggestion. At least until the DM's become active. The USDA DM is active. But I think you can only write one paragraph at a time.? I wrote a lot and then I got locked out and had to go through a process to get back in. So I only wrote one short paragraph at a time. I sent multiple DM's.
I saw a post on Telegram about all the @DOGE_USDA [insert 3 letter agency] being used to report fraud but not your opinion of what you think needs to happen. Maybe that's why you got locked out. I can share it- not many on Telegram here and if they aren't I don't think they are able to open but happy to share.
With the high rate of flu, covid, etc. currently going through society, Iād be interested to know if hospitals are still incentivized by a covid diagnosis. I know they are in one form because the only medication they administer for it is Remdesivir.
No! No more āCovid bonusesā of which I am aware. Maybe there are some back door incentives that the upper echelons of medical administration use, I am a simple ICU RN.
As RFK Junior tells us, the only thing more profitable than war is sick children. Take autism alone. There are an estimated 4 million to 6 million in the US. Take that number and just multiply it by 1 million, which is a very conservative estimate of what it would take to feed house and treat for a lifetime. You will come up with a number with too many zeros to fit on your phone. I canāt remember what the estimated lifetime expense was from an article I read, but the number I came up with was 1.62Ć10 to the 12th power. And thatās a number which is growing all the time.
I remember I told blue cross off one time. I was so angry. I told them that since we stopped vaxxing and steroids, both my kids were healthier and getting healthier all the time. I told them to start paying for the preventive stuff and it would save us all a ton of money. Deaf ears.
The chemtrails issue is one of the biggest facing humanity and our systems we depend upon for survival. It is a military program, which Trump is the head of, so ostensibly he could shut it down. Will he? I'm worried he will not because the tech Broligarchs around him need our skies full of electric conductive materials to phase in their biometric surveillance grid.
To be objective, one has to be able to step back and view the "issue" as an outsider completely detached from involvement. Try imagining your are from another planet looking at what is happening on earth. What stands out? I see a systematic attempt to depopulate the planet to a fraction of it's current inhabitants. Out of everything that is happening, there are only two activities that are essential to this agenda: the worldwide deployment of bio-weapon injections and worldwide geoengineering/chemtrail spraying.
So far, neither of these issues has been addressed or even examined. The human race continues to be poisoned. I am waiting.
The United Nations Population Fund ā Population Control ā Kissinger Report
Posted Feb 12, 2025 By Martin Armstrong
.....The UN, USIA, and USAID are using funds to control the global population. You, as an American or a citizen of any developed nation, are paying into these NGOs with ulterior agendas. A portion of our population, a very vocal portion, believes it is essential to fund the progressive agenda. These agencies act as the brute strength. A wealthy nation could not openly meddle in such a manner, so those nations use these international agencies to promote their agendas.
The United Nations is a serious threat to our future.
So, I went to a local meeting the other day as there is a anti-geoengineering bill in the house. It doesn't have a lot of support. I learned that the TN bill that passed didn't have an enforcement mechanism, so, Kabuki theatre once again. Ours in AZ does, but now there is a new different senate bill proposed that is only one page long. I haven't had time to look yet, but I'm wondering if the original one is neutered (which does have enforcement mechanism).
If I heard correctly, over 20 states have put forth bills, which is promising, but this seems like one of those issues that is untouchable. The good news is, with enough people power, nothing is untouchable.
And man, they have been spraying the holy hell out of the skies here in N AZ the past couple of days. I went down to the valley (PHX) today and it was even worse. It was just a full blown gray haze. Maddening.
That is a huge issue. There was a segment on the HighWire where they analyzed Girl Scout cookies, and at least one variety had 300 times the EPA allowed amount of aluminum. Where did this all come from? Some of that crap they spray in the air contains aluminum, one of the most potent neurotoxins known. It was suggested that the Girl Scouts start baking their own cookies and selling them, and become young advocates for de-poisoning the food supply. The companies that make the cookies for the Girl Scouts take in nearly $900,000,000 a year. An average Girl Scout brings in $35 for her troop.
I stopped buying Girl Scout cookies years ago. Vegetable oil shortening, artificial flavor ā¦ no thanks!
Hereās the ingredients in Thin Mints:
āGirl Scouts Thin Mints made by ABC Bakers contain Vegetable Oil Shortening (palm and palm kernel oils), Caramel Color, Invert Sugar, Natural Flavor and Artificial Flavor. These cookies are banned at Whole Foods. (Source for banned ingredients: Amazon Whole Foods Web site 5/24)ā
There is no bird flu. Only bad bird flu tests. No one has isolated any bird flu. They are using bird flu as an excuse to destroy millions of healthy birds. Controlling your food supply. I'm in agreement with you on ending all liability protections for pharma. That would be the nail in the coffin to all vaccines...which is why they will not let that happen. As for Dr. Martin's viruses in the pipeline, anyone can file a patent for a virus but it doesn't mean they have them or have "engineered" any viruses. It just means someone wants to get a jump on the money if they do create such a thing.
We have our own little flock of chickens. I had a conversation with a clueless friend lately who asked if I was concerned about the bird flu. After controlling my first impulse to laugh in her face, I gave her a lecture about the entire bird flu psyop.
The problem, as many starry-eyed libertarians found out, is that there is a large group of people who will not leave us alone no matter how much we ask them too. (Trans insanity in public schools is the perfect example.) The only answer to such people is forceful resistance, and to make them pay a heavy price for their actions.
I agree. We must keep our boots on their neck or theirs will be stomping on our face.
We got into this mess by allowing the imposition itself to become the point because most of us are the "live and let live" and "leave me the eff alone" types.
But once you start self censoring or assent by silence then the former only makes the later worse.
And that's why, for the last 5 years, a lot of us have felt alone...but never so alive...just trying to get back to a place where we're comfortable just being left alone.
And thatās why we need to turn the tables and let them know that THEY need to sit down and shut up. I hope and pray that accountability for the crimes theyāve committed will happen, and soon! It appears to be building towards that but until someone goes to prison or media starts being fined huge sums for the lies theyāve told, etc. they wonāt shut up.
Dr. David Martin is key to understanding.................................
I am waiting to see if the genocidal cabal inside the DoD is rooted out by Trump. This will take time. This powerful, entrenched cabal are the ones responsible for the covid plandemic attack and the DEW/geoengineering attack upon America - indeed, the whole world. And their attacks are on-going today. The bio-weapon shot, the DEW attacks and the chemtrail attacks are still operational. This is the heart and soul of their plans to kill and subjugate us. All of the other fights going on now, they don't care about as long as they keep us distracted from shining the light on their planned genocide.
If anyone still thinks covid is a virus then you need to go back and review the revelations of Dr. David Martin. Covid is not a virus except to the extent that ALL flu was re-classified as covid as part of the psyops. Wuhan is a convenient red-herring to shield those directly responsible in the DoD. Don't buy any of it!
Until the attacks on our health and our communities are ended and the responsible parties in the DoD charged with treason and executed, we will continue to suffer from a war that goes on unrecognized...................................................
following up on your questions about dew weaponry used in the l.a. fires
is your house or car a sitting duck for hpm's? will trump expose dew's?
....A quick reminder: There are 3 primary types of DEWās; High Energy Lasers (HELās), High Powered Microwaves (HPMās, essentially, gigantic, directed microwave ovens) and Particle Beams....
I like most of your ideas. But, give confiscated farmland to "family owned organic produce farmers"? Let's not go from the leftists picking winners and losers, to this administration doing it. GIVING things should be limited to keeping people from starving or freezing to death, and even then, preferably done by non-government charities.
I don't want valuable land to be given to anybody because they appear to meet some government-issued criteria as being a "family owned organic produce farmer". That's more fraud and abuse.
Also, we need to ban folic acid supplementation in food. It's not talked about enough but the infertility crisis we're dealing with is linked, in part, directly to this issue.
Iām not sure who would disagree with this list, it seems like the only people who would defend it have money on the line.
This should be TOP priority!
Why can big pharma advertise a product that has caused death in a trial?
And cigarette companies canāt advertise?
Itās so weird- big pharma products can cause death right away, cigarettes are over time most of the time, (I think). Not saying to bring back cigarette commercials, but they are preferable to the pharma advertisements.
Itās absurd and disgusting. I despise the pharma advertisements!
Regarding Trump's quote of Napoleon I'm continually amazed at this man's brilliance. Trump knows what those of us with a few gray hairs have (hopefully) learned in life: People who cannot control their emotions make awful decisions.
He does this on purpose to inflame the emotionally-stunted leaders of the left and the ruling class. In response, they break out the smelling salts, react way out of proportion, and make terrible decisions. The most amazing part is that he does this to them over and over and somehow they never learn from it.
The good thing about the left being hedonistic, godless children is that they cannot think beyond their own selfish wants and desires, and that can be easily weaponized against them. Unfortunately none of our previous gutless conservative leaders was willing to do it before Trump. We nearly lost the country while waiting for him.
Excellent comment Jeff C... those one-liners that Trump makes are ambiguous, on purpose. All the Never Trumpers run down that rabbit hole, spend their time speculating while calling it fact-checking and ultimately they are proven wrong without ever acknowledging their ignorance.
But to those of us who love him, it is a veiled message of what is happening and how he is thinking. I took it as donāt worry Iām not going to do something stupid like breaking the law. I know what Iām doing.
A half a trillion. Yeah, nothing to see here. When we total up the fraud these bastards committed, we will find itās more than the Feds yearly take in taxes. Thus ending the need for federal income tax. Hmm.
Yup, anyone who is against booting out illegal aliens or ferreting out waste is suspect to me. Most of them are likely benefiting somehow. And the ones who arenāt, are just useful idiot tools.
Sorry, Robin, Soros already got that medal. We'll have to buy him one of those dangles you see hanging from the occasional lifted-up pickup truck trailer hitches.
Iāll bet only a small % is going to dead people. The vast majority is fraudulent. When my father passed, his SS was cut-off just days after the death certificate was processed. This can only be intentional with the SS money used to fund āfavoredā people and groups, and SSN numbers to steal elections.
Trump could cut out $1T annually out of the fed budget without breaking a sweat. As for the grifters? Every penny should be clawed back and they should all go to prison.
"I confess to feeling lately like Iām starting to overuse words like āhistoric,ā āunprecedented,ā ārevolutionary,ā and ānever seen before.ā I need more words."
Ironically, there's probably a German word for that.
I will unashamedly admit, I loved Allenās, āLast Man Standingā. The first years were the best when he was conservative and made bashing the left hysterically funny. His episode vlogs were the best. While I am trying to like his new show, āShifting Gearsā, just not quite there on it. I miss the Conservative gotchas that the old show hadā¦.
LMWC I agree! I still love to watch the LMS reruns. Good stuff. The new show is just very lacking. Not from Tim, but the writing just isn't up to par. (It is on ABC, aka Disney, afterall). And the girl playing his daughter is just awful.
My thoughts exactly. I never liked the ādaughterā on her previous show and she always seems to be like a standup comedian delivering a punch line and not very funny. Itās too bad the writing is so bad, though I had hopes for the garage idea.
Give it some time. Shows in their 1st season always take awhile to get established. Star Trek: The Next Generation took at least 3 years before it went from ho-hum to good., just as an example.
I do agree that Last Man Standing was a great show.
āAgain, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the fiery furnace; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.ā
Thank you Janice š. 21 Ā¶ āNot everyone who says to me, āLord, Lord,ā will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22 On that day many will say to me, āLord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?ā
23 And then will I declare to them, āI never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.ā Matthew 7:21-23. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:31
And it has nothing to do with what I have done! My works are like filthy rags! All of my righteous acts are done by Christ Jesus, who fulfills the law by enabling me to obey. When I obey, it is He who obeys in me. When I fail, it is not I who sin, it's sin in me. The successes are His, and the failures are mine, and the failures are forgotten and wiped clean, to the glory of the Ancient of Days, and His Son, the King of Kings!
I am ASTONISHED!
Galatians 2:20 (ESV)
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. "
Acts 17:The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, āFor we also are His children.ā ....30 Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness [v]through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.ā
Birthright citizenship. My son is a heart patient and when he was a baby, we spent nearly a year in and out of the cardiac ICU. During our time there, I noticed multiple babies without family and being visited by social workers. Often I would ask the nurses about the babies and why they didnāt have family, and they would say that they were children of illegal immigrants who had the babies and then weāre not able to care for them they became wards of the the government. That included paying 100% of their bills. I donāt need to tell anyone how expensive ICU care is, and it is multiplied when you are in a pediatric cardiac unit. Iām not saying that these children did not deserve the care because they certainly did. However, it came at the taxpayers expense while my husband and I and all of the other parents that were in there, at least most of them, were worried about how we were going to pay our bills. Itās not right and it needs to stop.
š been there. What happens to those children... In orphanages! Count the cost. And then we are creating and destroying babies like toilet tissue. Now I know why there are "unnumbered" souls in heaven.
I think God gave us free will. God is of all things from my computer to the guy taking that illegal SS payment. God is not a person and doesn't need praise. God is ALL. Like Madge used to say in her dish liquid commercial, "you're soaking in it". God doesn't need to tolerate, get angry, upset. God experiences the universe through It's creation. It all just is.
That's one of the reasons why everyone's hospital bills are so high. I have a cousin who works in a hospital and he told me this years ago. Those who pay also pay for those who don't. Kinda like Bombas socks: you buy 2 pairs One for you and one for someone else who can't pay for them. That's fine if you wan't to pay for someone else's stuff, but many citizens barely get by and then have to cover expenses for illegal immigrants.
I had a similar experience with my mother in the cardiac unit. Almost all the Mexicans and Indians were getting free treatment, one nurse whispered to me.
We were at Daytona 500 yesterday!! And let me say President Trump was the most exciting part!!! His AF 1 fly by was AMAZING! The crowd went nuts! He went around the track twice waving at us! The crowd was loud! Best experience ever. So much fun. And when we got rained out our group had to leave and everyone said it didnāt matter, āWe got to see Trumpā š
I just got my first Social Security payment, via direct deposit, which got me to wondering: when I die, what will stop those payments from just continuing ad infinitum? At least in the analog days, if checks kept coming, I wouldn't be around to cash them. In the electronic world, if nobody notifies the government that I've gone vamoose, how does the cash flow stop? I wonder how many of those 18 million are merely people whose deaths were never reported to SSA? And does SSA have a mechanism in place to check in every now and then to make sure recipients are still vertical and ventilated?
There is no excuse this side of heaven to justify what has been uncovered! Our government is completely corrupt and should be dismantled. We have the best founding documents which have been bastardized beyond recognized. Start over with a clean slate! This is so far beyond comprehension that is makes one's head spin out of control!!! The common citizen would be in prison for the rest of their life for making a mistake on their taxes!!!! Disgraceful!
It's time, again, to grab our pitchforks and march into every government office in every city, town, county, and state. We must effect wholesale changes. Immediately.
Exactly. They send them a copy of the death certificate. I believe they also notify the VA if they are aware that the person had served in the military. And all government agencies are supposed to do cross-matches for dates of death and potential duplication of benefits, but I believe (for some unknown reason) the interagency cooperation may have stopped ages ago.
Not always. Personal experience learned the hard way. And then you have to deal with the claw back when you notice that deposits have continued into a dormant account.
I thought when my mama passed away it was the executor of her estate responsible for notifying once a death certificate was issued which is around 2 weeks after. No?
When my stepson died it took 6 months to appoint the executor however the funeral home grabbed all his ID numbers and sent them to the respective government agencies. The funeral director explained that this is standard procedure.
That's interesting. My kids know I don't want a funeral home event, but a simple cremation and party. What they do with the ashes is up to them. I wonder if having a family trust, the trustee would inform the SSA....
I think for us common people they do their due diligence in making sure it's stopped. My mother's, father's, sister's and my grandparents were stopped automatically. My father died on the 1st of the month, which was his pay date, and two days later on the 3rd they took it back out of my parents' account. My mother could have used that money.
In my personal experience, itās always been the funeral home and then the SSA acts quickly to ensure checks are stopped. And the family or spouse receives $200 to help pay for funeral expenses. It sounds to me as though some other kind of scam is being perpetrated here and I canāt fathom what it would be.
@JohnS oh they absolutely know when someone dies. My mom passed on the 18th of the month and we received a letter THE NEXT MONTH demanding her estate return the per diem amount for those 12 days! When they pretend they donāt know, itās because it serves their purposes to NOT know š
As soon as my brother was notified of my dadās death in an accident (police knew my brotherāsmall town) brother took my mom up to the bank and she emptied their joint account. Within the hour. That was the only $ that was liquid.
It was a joint. That was in 1993. She had never written a check before. In 5 years the state took the rest in the nursing home. She just gave up and they over medicated her to a zombie state and she never went home.
Funeral directors are supposed to report deaths to Social Security. Alternately, survivors are. Social Security has no requirement (that I can find) to verify if recipients are alive.
Well, it is good to know that when I'm 220 I will still be getting my Social Security payment. I wonder what it will be then after the Cost of Living Adjustment?
Those may be data entry errors where the year of birth was entered incorrectly. I remember when SSA made an error on my motherās account and listed her as dead when she was still very much alive! Her original birth certificate, which was filled out by the drunken doctor who delivered her, listed her as a male child! It took US senator Bob Dole to get her information corrected. I imagine she was not the only person whose account has had incorrect information entered.
It won't be the Cost of Living Adjustment. It will be allocated towards bringing crates of earth from your burial site to Carfax Abbey, or whichever Abbey you choose, plus stagecoach fare to the polling place of your choice, as long as it's in a "blue" district. If you vote as a bat, you will be allowed to prorate the mileage to your polling place. Your "blue" polling place.
I had not heard of the "amity" angle of the citizenship decision that libs love to trot out. I wonder why?
When I was in grad school in Texas, my circle of acquaintances included a lot of first generation citizens from Mexican parents. I asked small group of them, during a softball practice, "If war broke out between the US and Mexico, on which side would you fight?" All five of them said "Mexico". Such amity.
I have a friend who came here legally whose children are us citizens. They are filing for dual citizenship in Mexico because as us citizens they canāt own property in Mexico. I havenāt looked into it,but I donāt think I can get dual citizenship. I couldnāt own property in Mexico or china for that matter. Why are we allowing that to happen in our country?
You probably could but itās more complicated if you donāt have family ties and it frequently costs a lot or you have to prove a certain income level or net worth. Also depends on the country, some are easier to get citizenship from than others.
Regarding dual citizenship, it used to be that you had to renounce your citizenship when you became naturalized but there was apparently a court case because some countries donāt allow you to renounce your citizenship so those people would be barred from citizenship. Apparently the ruling was that the policy was discriminatory so now dual citizenship is tolerated but US citizenship is supposed to be priority (for example you show your US passport when entering the country, never the other passport).
Our country should outlaw this immediately (enlisting in a foreign countryās military). Itās outrageous that this is allowed Itās only a problem today when the country one of our citizens fights for is considered to be an enemy. But it should be cause for having your citizenship rescinded, regardless of whether the country is friend or foe.
Pledge allegiance to one country. If you donāt want that to be this one, then renounce your citizenship and go to the country you want to be a sole citizen of.
1000s of Americans now have ādual citizenshipā, an overwhelming number with Israel. Hundreds of our elected representatives in Congress are believed to have dual citizenship with Israel. Every time a bill is put forth to require dual citizenship to be divulged, it can never even get out of committee.
Hundreds of Americans of military age do service with the IDF (most notably, the current governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, though he tried to walk it back when he was running for governor). See the movie āIsraelismā (Jewish American Simone Zimmermanās recent movie) where this is discussed.
I am opposed to dual citizenship for the same reason I am opposed to bigamy and polygamy. It is a privilege and honor to be an American. Make your choice. Choose wisely. If you have dual loyalty we donāt need you.
Weāve had major flooding, snow and frigid temperatures in KY the past 2 days. Now, another major snow storm Tuesday-Wednesday. Iām sick of it. Thank you, Hunga Tonga.
Part of the history of this area and I'm sure many other places, is that the downtown area which is built on a river flooded every year until dams were built on the river to control the flow of the river. Now it only happens when we have very unusually high rainfall. Small creeks would still flood but major waterways were better controlled. Course, that's why things aren't supposed to be built in flood plains. But in this area, builders are convincing city officials to allow them to build in flood prone areas which unsuspecting people don't realize are in flood zones that had traditionally only been farm land.
Itās been so cold in Chicago that the 36 lbs of beef roasts I cut into steaks and vacuum sealed have been sitting on our porch all week long. š¤£ Wonderful when the outdoors is a deep freezer. Lol
It's been a real winter Dr Linda. I've lived here in NE KS for over 40 years, and this has to be the worst of two winters horrible winters I've experienced.
So the thugocrats at SSA believe adding date of death data to SSA records would be "difficult to implement" and "of little benefit" to the Agency?
Assuming an average annual SSA benefit of $18K, multiplied by 18.1 million deceased recipients, benefits totaling $325.8 BILLION annually are being paid to ... who, exactly?
It is not possible to hate government career bureaucrats enough.
One could do this in their . . . "COVID" time off . . . by learning to code, and then ask for %1 and live very well off, and leave generational wealth to their children.
No one is over 120, and maybe 100 people are 110 or more. You can cancel out all the people over 120 with one line of code to the database. Then put your heads together to figure out the best way to go after all the super old people. Maybe you could just conditionally call them dead and say they have to present proof of life to get back on the "live" list.
ERRATA
ā "18.1" corrected to "18.8" million perennial people
Dammit Jim, I'm a lawyer, not a mathematician
Im not tired of winning yet!
Thank you God and thank you Mr President!!
And thank you to Jeff Childers for a dose of excitement and laughter with the morning news!
Every morning is Christmas morning! š
And Iāve had that excitement for the past 5 years at least out of the 9 Iāve been red pilling. Itās amazing! Like Jeff said, heās running out of words, (I had to laugh because that is what I have been saying for the past few years) I had to buy a Thesaurus! lol LIFE IS GRAND!!!
Just stop it Jessica. Also tell kara, kim, jess bots to stop it also.
You bots really don't give up easily. We've put up w/ your scams for -what-about a year now? You even put some "guy" bots on the payroll.
You're to easy to see. That's your problem.
Jessica and her ilk are so annoying š”
Go to $&@! Jessica troll bot.
It keeps getting better. I canāt get over that. Youāre also a Trekkie.
Jeff youāre the best
But of course--and Jeff Childers is also a loyal Monty Python fan...goes to his intrinsic, quirky, sarcastic wit--righto!!
@Sharon Beautiful Evening: YES!!! Love the Monty Python references as well!
WEIRD is good!! I was introduced to the "wonderful weirdness" of all things "Monty Python" by my long-time partner, Jeff, who has followed them since the 1970's. I also appreciated "Fawlty Towers" and John Cleese when he did 'solo work'. In fact, John was in PA at a local performing arts center about 2 years ago. I believe he has a home in the USA (he just married his 4th of 5th wife who is an American a few years ago, much to the chagrin of one of his fellow M.P.'ers!)
Yes! Fawlty Towers is also gut bustlingly hilarious. I think Michael Palin may have worked with John on that endeavor.
The overpriced machine that goes 'bing' and the hospital administrator skit is hilarious as well. The Ministry of Silly Walks... Their ability to satire the bureaucratic state is classic. So much to be learned from them. Way ahead of their time with their wit and humor.
I cannot think of any other comedic group that can even approach the intelligent wackery of Monty Python!
The Ministry of Silly Walks is such a classic!! šš
So many factoids, eek! But about Monty Python and friends, mind weā¦ I still laugh out loud even if recalling the episodes on my own. Just call me weird. ;)
WEIRD IS WONDERFUL! We would 'get on' well together then, Adriana--LOL!
Just thinking of John Cleese makes me LOL. š¤£
Me too! Dammit, Spock, I'm not an engineer. šš»
Jeff is referring to Bones (Dr McCoy) bitching about kirk asking him to do the "impossible"!
Start with 'Star Trek: The Original Series' and once you're a few shows in you'll understand. š
@Doctors- I STILL haven't seen that!!! I only watched Monty Python a couple of years ago. I'm way behind in pop culture.
Their half hour shows are great, but The Holy Grail movie is one of our favorites. The Meaning of Life and Life of Brian as well. Although, I do have some issue with some of it being a bit sacrilegious.
They were way ahead of the "trans" issue. In the Meaning of Life there is a five-minute scene where some of the People's Front of Judea (Eric Idle, John Cleese, Connie Booth and one other) discussing why Stan wants to be called Loreta and have babies. It is priceless and sums up everything regarding the mental illness (what it has become to push the modern agenda).
For some reason, I can handle M.P.'ers irreverence when it comes to the Lord Jesus Christ - because they are SO talented and wacky - yet tasteful with it! Never use a bunch of foul language - they do have the "hot chicks" in a lot of their skits though--LOL!
Just like Star Trek.
Thanks for the smiles and reminder.
Actually homosexuality and trans mania are mentioned in the New Testament - Paul's letters to the new Christian church (known at that time as Follows of the Way). We are truly living in the last moments of the The Last Days.
EVEN SO...COME, LORD JESUS!!
Amen!
I also enjoy going to plaid.
"Since I have a very strong feeling that we will not be receiving tax refunds for our cataclysmically misspent entitlements lavished on millions of career criminals, including those inside the government, I say burn it all down.
There is no fixing this. There is no audit big enough. There is no reform package meaningful enough. It is a soul-crushing abomination. It boils the blood. It is enraging beyond explanation. Just napalm the whole Kafkaesque apparatus and start over from scratch."
Careful how you burn it all down. I want at least what I paid into the dadgum system out of it first. I'm 61. I damn well better get at least a penny back!
When I reached 62, I made a special trip to the SS office to sing up for benefits. Several people asked me what the difference was between 62 and full 65 benefits. I told them I had no idea. I never ran the numbers. I never expected there to be any money left when I reached 62, so I was going to get anything I could as quickly as I could.
I was thinking the same, I'll be signing up this year, end of October. I did run the numbers and figured 3 years of getting a couple hundred less a month than at full retirement well out weighs waiting. I will keep my part-time UPS job which pays my insurance in full, as long as I work at least one day a week šš»
Agreed. I was not going to wait until 65. Besides, I knew too many people that didn't live very many days beyond 65. š¢ All that money confiscated by the government and they got none of it back.
I read that it's better to start early to reap the most returns
The actuarial system used (subject now to rapid changes!) is set up so the average retiree gets the same no matter what age he starts, neglecting any default or high inflation risk.
An adverse exception may exist for those retiring as early as allowed. So, unless you expect to live longer than average, the risks point to retiring early.
And if you stop working because of a long term disability, apply for disability, it is easier with advancing age; the total payout gets lower.
It makes sense, doesn't it? Like the casinos, the system is not set up to benefit you
How many years now, rolandttg?
been drawing SS for 10 years, and never looked back
This text really caught my attention this morning. I sense an uncharacteristic rage in these words. I share this rage. The entire government is a scam. Time for a tea party. What if 50 million of us just stopped paying taxes?
I pay a lot of taxes and I'm having a VERY difficult time sending in my payments as I keep finding out more and more of how they are spending our money! I don't want to give them another dime!
Cutting fraud and abuse, when illegal, is what the Executive should be doing. By slashing it, perhaps there will be enough to pay those who collect legally.
But legal order is not only required, but avoids adverse unintended consequences that detract from the goal of efficiency and maximizing savings.
In particular, there has to be Due Process, as errors do occur, and those wrongly accused are inconvenienced but not illegally gypped.
Seems like a place to start is to cut off the obviously dead recipients. How could that not be possible?
Yep! That is the part where they stick it to us, the most vulnerable among others. That would be a sad pathetic move if true accounts arenāt liquidated to their rightful owners. I believe itās against law. Stay strong and ready. God and freedom!
We will get every Penny back that is owed to us!! And itās all been done already as far as knowing the amounts we get. He just isnāt going to pay anyone until the Swamp is gone. Imagine what they would do if they knew the amounts! Anyone over 60 will get 100% of what was stolen.
The Executive has full authority to enforce the Law. Fraud is illegal, so it can be rooted out without Congressional approval.
Except: Congress has to fund (and create and authorize new if needed) tribunals to timely render Due Process; that is the Law.
DoGE should go for the biggest illegal money outlays, and the easiest to prosecute and prove first, then work downwards from there.
USAid and Education Dept. don't meet this standard. Also, pell mell chaos, as in mass firings (some later rescinded!) won't maximize efficiency or money saved.
At this time, Iād like to announce I am not deadā¦
ā¦ yetā¦
Yes... it's just a scratch!
Tis only a flesh wound!
Stop, People, Stop - your wit and breadth of knowledge are too enlivening.
Do we know that the fraudulent SSN (110+ yr olds) were being given benefits?
@Emily- good call. It's like redecorating a house: One job leads to three or more. Those benefits could very well lead down a medical fraud rabbit hole that's deeper than anyone could imagine. I'm 64 and without health insurance until October, my birth month. I could have benfeitted from one of those dead people's medical benefits.
šā
I definitely want to hear the stats on the number of 110+ year olds being given benefits. And how more 110+ year olds have been voting regularly. (And who did they vote for?)
If SS numbers were used to get a voter ID, that might possibly help..
That is complete BS regarding illegal voting. Can it happen? Sure, but the people who get fake IDs aren't people who vote or even care about voting. They will try to be as invisible as possible.
I believe the checks were cashed.
I was thinking a Prove You Are Alive or face an āauto-shut offā program run every year would clean up the roles and out some fraudsters if they complained about benefits being stopped.
Someone with knowledge of computer databases could prob figure out how to do that. Just sayinā šš
On what basis do you believe that? Evidence or hunch? You need evidence.
The returned/undeliverable checks go into a ālock boxā. The funds in question are counted in the SS fraudulent amounts.
I also read the SSA uses COBOL program language that reads/records birthdates in an atypical manner which accounts for the person on the roles who is older than our country.
That's EXACTLY the question I posed today, Emily - I found an article from the National Archives about the SSA Numident (12 pages long) but after sloughing through it--I had ZERO answers to that query. Figures, doesn't it!!
That will be mind blowing if they are
Well, just b/c the database shows likely expired old timers doesn't guarantee any fraud. All they really have to do is add a field to lock the number as invalid and ensure no benefits are paid and no validation of the number can occur.
Or they could just delete the numbers if nothing is being paid out.
I'd be a lot more concerned if Elon's tweet showed the cumulative amount of benefits paid to these vampire numbers...
They wouldn't be on the books if they weren't getting money.
Yes, I believe this to be true. My dearly departed mother was in her 104th year when she passed last October and she was still getting her monthly allotment at that time. One would have thought that the death certificate filed with the county by the funeral home would have been enough of a notification but you would be wrong. My sister had to "formally"notify SS and send them a copy of the death certificate. I am fairly certain that is often overlooked - or purposely not done.
I am glad to hear that, all this time I was thinking I would have to keep my wife in the freezer if she passed first.
@Ron- I just spit out my chili. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Love it ā¦. š
š¤
Ron. Lol
Shades of that old movie and play "Arsenic and Old Lace", eh wot!!
or voting
That's the next figure I want to see. Exactly how many dollars in Social Security retirement payments (like mine) were doled out to dead people.
Next question is WHO are the people cashing the checks!
I almost can't bear to find out.
Beyond those age 100+, all of the younger age brackets seem to have excessive numbers too. Why are so many under-62 getting benefits?
Coming soon to a theatre near you.
Boldly going where no one'd gone before............ que music!
JEFF YOU SOLVED IT! When republicans asked where the 81 million Biden votes came from? Then suddenly this election democrats ādiscovered election fraudā and were wondering how Kommila had around 20 million less votes than Biden. There are the magic 20 million votes!
There's a big discrepancy in the younger ages as well. When I used US census estimates for 2023 as a proxy for the current number of citizens, the 20-29 age group has 43,829,532 people. Musk's Social Security value is 47,995,478, a difference of 4,165,996. We did NOT have that many people in those birth years die and not have their deaths recorded. Something else is going on.
"The Supreme Court has never held that children born to illegal immigrants are citizens ā never."
So-called illegal immigration didn't exist when US v. Wong Kim Ark was decided in 1899. So the court did not address this as yet to be concept.
My own father who was born in 1914, was 14 years old when the US first had a comprehensive immigration act that prohibited foreigners from entering without permission.
The truth is that birthright citizenship existed before the United States was even a thing. We get it from our British law ancestry which had birthright citizenship for hundreds of years prior to 1789. US v. Wong Kim Ark goes into the legal historical basis in minute detail.
One of the greatest things about our nation is that everyone was welcomed. That's why Emma Lazarus's famous poem is engraved upon the base of the Statue of Liberty:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!ā
That now seems impossible in these terror-wracked times, it is sad to admit.
But until 1928, anyone could walk right in. My ancestor arrived in 1608, maybe yours in 1850, or 1910. They didn't need permission from the govt. to be here. They didn't need to hire immigration attorneys, or win an immigration lottery. They just came and were (usually) welcomed.
And once they were here, their children were automatically citizens, excepting only Indians and the children born to foreign diplomats, both of which groups were not within the jurisdiction of the US.
As Americans we used to be proud of that.
Thanks for this history. Our immigration quandary is complicated. Back then you had to make your own way and didn't receive taxpayer money just for arriving. So a lot has changed, but sometimes I wish we could go back to less complicated days. Yet even then indentured servitude was a way people came and that was pretty rough. It was basically slavery. I feel empathy for people caught up in all of this and there are no easy solutions.
Thank you.
US v. Wong Kim Ark has been settled case law since 1899.
The 14th Amendment (and case law and history long before it) plainly established so-called birthright citizenship.
Wong Kim Ark was born in San Francisco to non-citizen Chinese parents who returned to China. When Wong was denied reentry, the Supreme Court ruled that he was a natural born citizen and therefore entitled to return.
If we want to add an exception that prohibits birthright citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants, we will have to amend the Constitution to change that.
But consider this: there's nothing in the law that requires us to allow illegals to remain in the US. Deport the illegal parents and they will likely take their child with them.
And then, when the US citizen the child is an adult, he can return just like Wong Kim Ark.
Birthright citizenship is nothing to be proud of. It is the act of a tyrannical government claiming possession of a subject, not citizenship. Our Republic was founded on the idea of mutual consent amongst We the People. Breaking our laws to enter our country is an act of theft, not consent. A government colluding with this thievery usurps the authority of We the People.
WRONG it has ALWAYS been the law in the US.
Born here?
Then you are a US citizen, no matter how high or low born your parents are.
High or low is irrelevant. The test is whether they are born here and under the complete jurisdiction of the USA.
The child is not guilty of his parent's law
breaking. Our Constitution prohibits laws that punish the child for his parents wrongdoing.
My sister was born in the U.K. in 1958 during the time we lived there while my Air Force father was stationed there. I remember she had to get some sort of naturalization form approved despite having two American parents. Something must have changed at some point with the process, because my son was born in 1986 in Saudi Arabia and all we had to do was get a U.S. Embassy form that verified an American citizen's birth in a foreign country. It was just a simple paperwork thing, although we had to show our son's Saudi birth documents and our American passports as the parents.
I believe it was Thomas Sowell who said we could either have a welfare state or open immigration, but not both.
Yep. Pick one.
I don't believe that's the case. I have read that people were sent back if it was thought they were unlikely to be contributing members of society.
Also, consider that there was no welfare state then.
Immigration laws - some restricting the entry of immoral or unhealthy people - began to take shape in fits and starts in the later 1880s as the European flood began. (I believe the high point of immigration was ca. 1910-ish.)
But most people don't realize we didn't have a comprehensive immigration legislation (covering not just one race, or situation) until 1924 (which didn't take effect until 1928.)
In other words, there was no law preventing foreigners from coming in. As the European deluge started in the mid-1800ās they realized they had to have some processing stations like Ellis,and yes there were a few others I believe.
But these were regulating the flow, not stopping it.
Maybe it's my age, but 1928 seems much more recent to me. It was in the living experience of my own father after all. I remember him telling me of his own experiences near the Texas border with his grandfather (often on horseback, because the terrain was too rough for automobiles of the day.)
Don't get me wrong - I'm not advocating for open borders as we once had. That's far too dangerous in these times.
Well I wouldnāt say they could walk right in, exactly. They still had to go through questioning and processing and a health screening. It was for sure much less complicated than it is nowadays, but travel was also much more difficult then, and potential immigrants couldnāt just fly over to this country in a matter of hours. Also the authorities would have a shipās manifest, at least, for information on the people arriving. And when my relatives came over, during the crossing on the ship they were introduced to American culture and language through a kind of newsletter distributed to passengers daily. Not sure when this began or how long it lasted but it was definitely a thing at one point (I have copies of the newsletters). It was a very different time and circumstances were different. I think we need to account for those differences in whatever future reforms we may make to the immigration process. Certainly at this point it is expensive and byzantine, with all of the bureaucracy and paperwork.
You're probably referring to the Ellis Island immigrants. That was a NY State policy not a federal one.
At most places, there was absolutely zero screening or border control - even in major port cities .
While my Dad was a boy it was common (and perfectly legal) for Mexicans to cross the border and go back and forth on a daily basis. My grandfather hired them as day laborers for his oil leases.
Again, no regulation, no procedures, and all perfectly legal.
With the only exception of the anti-Chinese laws that targeted only that race, it wasn't until 1924 that Congress passed immigration laws that applied to everyone coming in. Those laws didn't even take effect until 1928.
America was always until then wide open.
It seems like the difference was, the people not coming through the land borders were coming here to stay and become citizens. From what you said, Mexicans who crossed over just came to work or visit then went home. I imagine it was similar for Canadians. Not so long ago you could go back and forth to Canada from, say, NY state with just a drivers license as ID.
Things are so much different now with air travel and also government programs. Not to mention the cartels.
PS although many people aren't aware of this, entering the United States illegally is only a misdemeanor, not a felony. See 18 USC 1325
I believe there was more than Ellis Island but yes, not all immigrants had to go through that. Interesting about the Mexican border. Iām not sure what youāre arguing (or maybe youāre just informing). Do you think we should go back to that? No regulations or procedures? Should states regulate immigration? It would seem to fit better with federal though (foreign relations)?
We can't go back to the open border situation. I think that is a little sad, but as you've pointed out, the cartels, the terrorism, etc. make that impossible.
Just another way life has permanently changed. Oh well.
Thank you, Fre'd - really elucidating information.
Fred, the HUGE difference is that in earlier centuries, arrivals became self-supporting. They had to, to survive. Had to work, earn a living.
Across the west now, for years, thereās a totally different dynamic: people arrive, illegally, from dozens of countries, no-one knows who they are, whether theyāre running from justice, & the citizens in each western country are made to support them.
You canāt argue for an immigration free-for-all in the contemporary context where illegal arrivals are given a claim on citizensā cash & services.
Iām against open immigration.
I'm just adding some historical context. People wrongly assume weāve always had immigration restrictions but in fact we haven't.
Points always - always - awarded for Star Trek references.
LMAO!!!
LOVE the Star Trek humor!!!
Like it matters.........the numbers, not your mathematical prowess.
Jeff,
Worth noting for all those in Oregon, not just Portland, the State's total population is less than those over 140 years of age, according the the Gov't SS records.
The question remains, how many of those 4.2mm+ Oregonians are on the monthly SS payroll?
At a ripe age of 185 (and I mean 'really' ripe), the average high IQ (too much fluoride I suspect) has voted democrat now in the last 41 Presidential elections (once they turned 18)........even though the state wasn't entered into the Union until 1859, 166 years ago on Valentine's day (isn't that sweet).
LOL!
The average monthly social security benefit in 2025 is expected to be $1976 per month. Multiply that by 12 months in a year and 18.9 M fraudulent people (likely more but these are only the ones over 100) and you get $448,157,000,000. Youāre right, this much money is simply chump change and not worth pursuing (sarcasm). Every person involved in making the decision that amount of money wasnāt worth pursuing better be fired immediately if not yesterday.
Apparently social security really isn't underfunded. They just need to get rid of the fraud and all will be good to go.
But but but doing that would end the Dems' repeated pre-election mantra, "The Republicans want to cancel your social security!!"
We can't take away their mantra! Let's just fine tune it. "The Republicans want to cancel dead people's social security!!"
Yes, I like that!! šš
It is so important for us to speak back about the subject. This is the number one thing that is used to frighten people into voting Democrat.
Exactly Roger. Dems never want to actually "solve" any issue, just use it is a sledgehammer against their opposition. If they actually solved a real problem, they would put themselves out of a 'job', i.e. their gravy train system. War on "poverty" is the best example (how many trillions have we spent LBJ's war began? and there is more poverty now than before), but you also through in all the other undeclared wars Dems and RINOs like to wage like the "war on drugs", which only strengthened the State's power and reduces the individual's freedom.
We can get Machiavellian, too. We say nothing, keep them on the books long enough to pay off the national debt, and in the meantime, build enough political capital to shrug off lies like that.
Employers pay 6.2% social security tax. Employees pay another 6.2% to SS on top of that. Self-employed individuals pay the full 12.4%. The amounts we pay into this fraudulent system are non-trivial to say the LEAST...
As this new admin, with DOGE taking the lead, expose decades of fraud, we're going to continue to see the Overton Window shift MASSIVELY (i.e. "Do we even HAVE any gold in Fort Knox?"). The tides are turning to where more people will understand that it's not really Left vs Right - it's We The People Vs. The Deep State.
What a time to be alive - LFG.š„š„š„
Yeah things are going to get very interesting when we learn how much gold is actually in Fort Knox
We need to place bets. Idk whether itās closer to two bars bc theyāve squandered it all away or itās closer to trillions bc theyāre hoarding it all until
they vaccinate us into
oblivion.
Clarification
Employees pay the full 12.4% as well
Yes I know the law decrees that your employer shall pay half.
I'm talking about the actual reality of the situation.
As far as employer is concerned, the $10 an hour you are 'paid' might as well be $10.62 an hour. More in truth because of other gov imposed costs, but you get the idea.
Ahemā¦itās 15%
Years and years of fraud that there's no getting back. š” At the very least get it right moving forward!
Perhaps start prosecuting some of these fraudsters and the others will quit.
Perhaps? Prosecution, and subsequent seizure of assets, of these fraudsters could get at least some of it back and should be mandatory AND a priority.
Can it be clawed back from people who received it fraudulently? I know, already spent, but some sort of accountability needs to happen,
How about prosecuting the people who have been fraudulently receiving the social security of their dead relatives/friends??
Bingo!
šÆ
RIGHT?!!!!
Great point!
we deserve a RAISE!
Hopefully DOGE can track down where all that money is actually going.
I had a roommate in 2017 from India. She was in medical school. I began noticing mail for her from Social Security every month, same time.
I never opened it or asked her about it, she was a good roommate. But it never sat right with me. Why would someone on a student visa be getting monthly (or biweekly, I forget) mail from SSA? I don't know that it was benefits, but what else could it be?
DOGE should poke around that tree, is Social Security being used to pay foreigners to come to the US and get an education, even for expensive medical school, that isn't even available to US citizens? Is it not just the work visa issue of taking high skill jobs from Americans, but also paying for the higher education to train them, through Social Security no less?!?! A trust fund with a lock box that Americans pay into for their retirements, separate from general fund, ostensibly?
DOGE?
SSA was actually never set up to be a separate fund. It is raided all of the time. There is no lock on the account SSA. The lie they sold the American public was that it would be like a retirement account. I can't remember which politician disclosed this information, but it was eye-opening.
What about the money from those who died before receiving any or all of *their invested money* and no survivors were āeligibleā to receive it ādue to ageā? If that money had been put into a private retirement account instead, it would be an inheritance for their families at a better interest rate most likely.
Both of my parents passed before they were "eligible" and all that money went back into the "general fund". No one in our family saw it.
And yet somehow it's still underfunded? š¤
Yeah somethingās definitely not right about all of this š”
That has been the "lying mantra" of politicos since the 1950's--IT'S A RABID LIE!!
Yes. Imagine 12 % of your pay being invested every year. That's what rankles me when some otherwise good conservatives call SS an entitlement. No it's not. We paid into it all of our lives, unlike the first batch of recipients.
Yeah I agree, it isnāt an entitlement when people are forced by the government to give up their money and then get it back later. This should be considered separately from welfare programs.
That is terribly sad Kitkat
Yes, weād be much better off with our own private accounts. I want my money back with interest and then āburn it down.ā
Of course. We know this. But that's how it's billed. The lockbox reference written with AlGore's voice in my head for comedic effect :)
And who could forget that Al Gore "invented the internet" and his other major grift for Climate Change. What a LIAR and Self Serving man!
SNL's skewering of AlGore's lockbox:
(40-second clip)
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hC2poPYv--4
Freedom. I can still hear weird Al say the lock box thing. Lying sack of ā¦.
Impossible to hear or type the word without hearing him...or the impressionist of him saying it.
Exactly. It is not a separated account, it is a Ponzi scheme where incoming funds are used to pay those who've reached a certain age.
It's not our money. It's a complete scam. In fact, you'd be prosecuted if you tried to do it yourself.
Ask Bernie Madoff.
It was a separate fund, up until Carter started the raid.
Jimmy Carter did so much harm to our country in so many areas. The Panama Canal, the DOE, etc. Almost as much damage as Joe Biden.
I always thought he was a well meaning naive but decent politically incompetent clown. I was so wrong. He was a globalist through and through who did horrible damage to this country.
Carter was also a major player in facilitating the downfall of the Shah of Iran and letting the religious fanatics take over in 1979.
LBJ in 1968...
I stand corrected.
Unfortunately, another reason why LBJ is on the top five worst/most destructive presidents of all time, is his raiding of the SS system, and putting the SS funding into the general fund.
It was always a Ponzi scheme from the beginning, with the system relying on having enough replacement workers to pay for those on their SS benefits. Add to that the growth of the system from a simple retirement system to what it is now, then throw in the debt generating by Congress and we have a complete mess.
Yup, it is all just creative bookkeeping.
There's a good reason why they were so resistant to the idea of saving to your OWN retirement account at least as an alternative to paying into SS.
The government steals from you for 40 years. They hope you die before you collect one cent of that money theyāve stolen and now we find out that not only do our children benefit from the thousands and thousands of dollars that we had forcibly taken from us, but theyāre giving it to millions and millions of people who shouldnāt be getting it. Itās f**king infuriating. Iām thrilled with what DOGE is uncovering but Iām so angry that weāve been lied to and ripped off for our entire lives. I honestly cannot recall the last time. I have been this angry on a daily basis.
They not only āhopeā you die before collecting benefits, they actively create environments - created pandemics, poisoned addictive food supplies, deliberately poisoning our skies - etc., that are designed to shorten your life. And letās not forget the child vaccine scheme designed to shorten or at the very least weaken our childrenās lives.
My prayer is that DOGE totally OBLITERATES the cushy, non-performing bureaucratic positions and those parasites that occupied those 'jobs' will have to do what you and I have had to do our ENTIRE LIVES. HIT THE PAVEMENT AND FIND ANOTHER JOB!! They will have a HUGE awakening experience!
Not sure if you have unemployment benefits in the US?, but anyone fired should not be eligible for unemployment assistance.
Oh sure - unemployment is the domain of the STATES not the Feds. If you are 'laid off' or considered 'unessential to the operation' of a business...THEN you CAN collect unemployment - usually for at least (6) months after termination from your previous employment. Our state of PA extends that unemployment benefit for up to ONE YEAR - the last (6) months are at "half rate" of the FIRST (6) month period.
May I suggest, for your soul, that you not be angry on a daily basis, but thankful the Lord is revealing the truth. "And the truth will set you free" (from the captivity of lies and sin). The truth informs and gives us the resolve to look past the narrative of what they want us to believe, to what is really going on. I do not trust our government. It is not working for our wellbeing. It is funding regime changes in parts of the world we haven't heard of for the benefit of the politicians (kickbacks) and their donors.
So true Debra! I am shocked at the scope of the corruption but I donāt get angry about it because I canāt do anything to change it. Anger is a negative emotion. I trust in God that He has His plan and this revelation is part of that plan. Praise be to God that He has given us leaders who are showing us what has been going on. We need to turn back to God and give Him our allegiance and He will set things right with His justice.
I know your words to be true. Yet righteous anger does often well up inside me despite knowing this. It is one of the greatest struggles in my personal relationship with God. Trusting his plan without allowing righteous anger to fill the moments of doubt. There's a bit of St. Michael in me, a fighter for God. That can be fueled by righteous anger. I know I'm not as faithful a servant of God as his example is to hold others accountable without holding myself accountable. But the struggle is real.
About 20 years ago, talk show host Michael Medvid had a huge interest in history (maybe he was originally a history teacher or some such). He wrote a book and also a DVD series on the subject of God's Hand on America. When I look at things now, I can't help but remember what he said about seemingly amazing and almost unexplainable great things over the last 200 years that saved this country, things as unlikely as Trump almost being killed but turning his head at just the right moment. Medved's view was that God did have a hand in protecting America from time to time in our history, because we are the country that was needed to rescue the world from its idiocy.
I'm with you. In my case my husband passed when I was 62 and I was still working. I waited 4 years to start collecting and because my husbands income was higher for years I took survivors benefits. I will never see a dime of what the govment took from me for over 40 yrs as I stayed home when the kids were little for 10 yrs and had lower benefits by a few hundred. I did an estimate at one point and checked SS and over the years they collected somewhere around 75K from me. Could sure use that now. The govment should pay out what we paid in in situations like mine. Now finding out they are paying out to fraudulent accounts it really pisses me off.
SSA will send statements that include what you paid in. It could shock you. The total very likely is more than 1.5 times a year's salary if you worked without interruption.
Yes, like they also encourage you to take it later.
I still give the chances of my satanic communist jab happy nasty piece of work older sister in law seeing the light as somewhere around zero.
Drinking time, Cindy!
When SS was set up, life expectancy was a lot lower than it is now, and they undoubtedly calculated that a great many people would never collect, or at least, they wouldn't live enough enough to get much money.
I read thousands of Indians over the age of 65 are here on student visas.
I worked with international students in higher ed. When they were hired as a āstudent employeeā they had to apply for a SS# in order to receive a paycheck in the collegeās system.
I shudder to think how many of those former student employees are now receiving SS benefits just by virtue of having had a number but never paying into the SS system.
At the very least, seems like the SS system would show almost no work history and very low earnings, so how could the payment be much. In fact, would they even meet the quarters worked requirement?
And taking a spot in medical school from an American student who speaks English!!
I have many Indian friends like my old roommate. Very nice people. But they are typically very obedient. And don't rock the boat. Especially when they know their place on the boat is tenuous as an immigrant on visa. Placing Indian doctors into the medical system ensures a very obedient medical system. That forces everyone, including asthmatics into masks, injecting every Big Pharma concoction into every arm, dangerously and unnecessarily irradiates us, tests, probes, perform every procedure - necessary or not - they are directed to perform. And sets the stage for a medical system that's already very compromised to repeat this very ugly history:
Why did so many German doctors join the Nazi Party early?
International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, October 3, 2012
https://sci-hub.se/http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijlp.2012.09.022
"During the Weimar Republic in the mid-twentieth century, more than half of all German physicians became early joiners of the Nazi Party, surpassing the party enrollments of all other professions. From early on, the German Medical Society played the most instrumental role in the Nazi medical program, beginning with the marginalization of Jewish physicians, proceeding to coerced āexperimentation,ā āeuthanization,ā and sterilization, and culminating in genocide via the medicalization of mass murder of Jews and others caricatured and demonized by Nazi ideology. Given the medical oath to ādo no harm,ā many postwar ethical analyses have strained to make sense of these seemingly paradoxical atrocities. Why did physicians act in such a manner? Yet few have tried to explain the self-selected Nazi enrollment of such an overwhelming proportion of the German Medical Society in the first place."
FF - Is this the reason so many Indians are populating our medical schools and are becoming overrepresented in our medical system today? That "investment" by the Social Security administration to bring down costs of the baby boomer population bomb hitting benefit eligibility age? Hmmm?
Hmmm?!
Now you can report that on the newly created DOGE SS site.
There is the little issue of Musk supporting the visa programs for high skill workers, his DOGE initiative poking around high skill student visas receiving Social Security benefits? An objectivity concern.
Steph, THAT'what makes me mad. Spitting mad!
I believe so. I am banned from X for some unknown reason but, someone shared that in a group i belong to.
Social security site? Please share said doge site.
U.S.
@DOGE
launches 13 new accounts to report waste, fraud & abuse in the Government:
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@DOGE_GSA
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@DOGE_STATE
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@DOGE_SBA
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@DOGE_DOI
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@DOGE_HUD
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@DOGE_NPS
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@DOGE_SSA
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@DOGE_OMB
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@DOGE_ED
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@DOGE_OPM
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@DOGE_DOJ
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@DOGE_NASA
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@DOGE_VA
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@DOGE_USDA
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@DOGE_FAA
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@DOGE_DOT
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@DOGE_EPA
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@DOGE_DOD
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@DOGE_FDA
@Steph- is this strictly on X?
I found the SSA Twitter account, but can't see any posts - just a huge list of people to follow.
This is a must read. It gives me hope!
https://gellerreport.com/2025/02/inside-the-doge-revolution.html/?lctg=45267116
Eko. I absolutely love this persons writing. Follow on substack Eko Loves You.
This was a delicious read. As one commenter noted, he was grinning like a lunatic while reading through it. Of course, I felt the same way, kind of the way I enjoy reading C & C. Thanks for this , CindyArizona.
Yep, I remember reading that a few weeks ago.
Don't forget that USAID paid for Al Qaeda terrorist Anwar Al Awlaki's college tuition.... how many others were there just like him?
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2025/02/11/bombshell-documents-confirm-usaid-funded-al-qaeda-terrorist-anwar-al-awlakis-college-tuition-1521951/
I like the idea of phasing out SS. Give the people their money to invest. If they fail to wisely invest their money they will have to work until they die. No "social safety net." It's above my skill set to figure out how to do this, but this joke of SS has to stop.
People who didn't invest wisely existed before Social Security. They didn't line the streets in their filth and wait to die. The role of churches in community and REAL civic volunteerism, philanthropy helped them in a much bigger way than today. That's what would happen.
We humans when left to our own devices are not selfish, cruel people who will turn away those in need. Despite what the big government "social safety net" advocates portray us as. We do a better job of charity than government ever does or could. To do what you suggest means surviving the onslaught of shrill screams, emotional blackmail and angry tirades about how selfish and cruel we are to try. We and our leaders we support must survive the onslaught and push through it.
And in doing so we must "become the change we seek." Stealing an Obamaism that is appropriate. We can't demand cuts to these "social safety nets" funded by government without challenging ourselves to step in the gap and provide for the less fortunate among us. Our individual participation and contributions to churches and civic volunteerism must match our words. Many already do. Means do more. The churches and civic organizations, philanthropies that waste charitable funds on pronouns and importing more needy should be cast aside, their funding streams dried up. Ones that harken back to days of true community and civic participation will step up and thrive. Just sayin'.
Youāre correct in that the churches helped people in need. We also took care of our aging relatives. But today, many young adults abandon their elderly parents and believe the government will take care of them. I believe if we returned to real charity (giving from our hearts) instead of having money confiscated from us by government (gov safety nets, SS, disability,etc) we as a society would be better off.
Bam! Exactly right. Traveling outside the US, to Latin America and many other places with different cultures the first thing I noticed was the cohesion of the family units I don't see in the US. Three generations may live under the same roof.
A typical situation would be grandparents caring for the babies while the parents go to work during the day. Not low-wage day care workers who may or may not give two hoots about the children in their care like in the US.
Then as the children age and become teenagers, young adults the parents will still be working during the day, but roles flip between oldest and youngest, the children help the grandparents navigate life, help them go out, care for, help feed. Not low-wage senior care workers who may or may not give two hoots about the seniors in their care like in the US.
I was raised as I was raised in the US to value my independence and freedom to explore the world without the obligations of caring for my family. It's hard to shift that paradigm in a society once its become set. But thinking about it logically the Latin American (and others) paradigm is healthier, more cost effective and more loving than what we have in the US today. The fact that we pay others we often don't even know to care for our most precious and important people in our lives is quite insane and somewhat depraved. I get that some people don't have family relations that could support the model I describe. But those are the exception, not the norm. Yet in the US the model is the norm, not the exception even for families with relations that are strong. Societal pressures have normalized a very fractured and unhealthy family model that's unsustainable.
Many have abandoned churches, too, including would-be pastors.
I agree with you, Debra. We definitely would be much better off - on many levels.
There is a DOGE account on X and they are actively asking for input into areas that they need to consider for an audit. You should definitely submit your story about the Indian student.
I have opined for years that the SSA should be 'advised' by a board of NORMAL CITIZENS - like an "ombudsmen" structure. That would make it much more lucrative for retirees and 'safe' from thievery and misappropriation. Of course...that will NEVER happen...but it SHOULD!
Post this on X to the DOGE page!
https://x.com/doge/status/1891288881674240070
I'm not on X, nor planning to be. I think there's another non-social media site that has the same, though.
Send it to: doge@mail.house.gov
I had to look it up on the internet and found this email address. In my opinion, Zillow is trying to manipulate the real estate market by having a new category that represents Climate. They are working with a group called FIrst Street, which recently has a headline: 12th National Risk Assessment: Property Prices in Peril estimates $1.4 trillion reduction in unadjusted real estate value due to climate-related risks.
Lock box ā¦ what a scam!
Send it to their website for an inquiry.
Wow!
Swiss Bank Accounts? Bahamas?
Bullion ... the gold kind, not the little beef soup cubes. Kept anywhere other than on the thieves' own real estate.
Fill up the jails
Jails are also a tremendous cost to taxpayers. Thatās not an ideal solution.
Bukele of El Salvador made us a GREAT offer... he will take our prisoners and charge only a very reasonable fee...
And their treatment will be far more appropriate to their crimes!
Well, maybe they could go to work cleaning up forests? Something useful? Cost effective? Jail, prison is not a vacation
Let's put them under the jail then. But they got to go.
I understand there is open space in the DC Jail.
Lisa, I think jail is the ideal solution. We have plenty of money to pay for the jails. If we call back some of the USAID money theyāre stealing.
a job for the Buyden 87,000 IRS agents
No, just fire them. They can learn to code.
Or work in the fields or be gardeners š
Yeah and they can carry along all the guns and ammo that was bought for them.
Good joke š
Tracking it is easy.
Go back to checks as the form of payment. When the checks are scanned there is a stoppage created for all checks for people older than ____ age.
For those who are not able to make it to the bank, their Guardian(s) are required to provide proper documentation to deposit and/or cash checks.
Is it cumbersome? Maybe but prior to our current system, checks were used successfully. Overall, this will put the responsibility on the banks... where it should be.
Sending SS payment as checks would also reveal who, exactly, is cashing these checks. Don't put immediate Stop on the checks - use them to find out who is receiving these benefits illegitimately.
My SS check is direct deposit. I think they do that to minimize theft š¤£šš¤£
I thought most were done that way now....but maybe not. One way or the other, the SS records would have the deposit bank account info and if a check, they could determine if/when a check was deposited or cashed.
Bingo. Thank God Elon and his geniuses figured that out. We ( patriots) have it all. The money trail will show all the connections down the road. Pray for these people doing the work of We The People.
Amen! In prayer I remain, while firmly in reality. :)
That would be huge to follow that fraudulent money
Who cashed those checks? are the dead people voting too ?
That would be amazing. And wouldnāt it be funny if it was going to Pelosi, Schumer, Graham etcā¦..
Iād be surprised if it isnāt.
Same.
And then, they're going to need more lawyers. Hopefully!
I had a friend who told me about how she and her financial planner were scamming SSA disability. She owned a lovely townhouse and drove an Audi. Nice work, huh?
That really burns me up š”
When DOGE finally pries open that lockbox it will discover a bizillion IOUs from our "representatives" in the "United States Corporation" (ie the District of Columbia). We the people are under a different corporation to wit:the "United States of America Corporation." And from there it's corporations all the way down to your local dog catcher. Now remind me what it was Mr Jefferson said about corporations a looong time ago? Thank the Lord we no longer have "warlords" we have corporations instead.
Yes. Then divert it all back to us, taxpayers whose hard earned cash has been collecting residual interests on the dollar. Because it wasnāt theirs to claim from any of our wages, we should never have been subject to any empire- foreign or domestic. WE tell our govs what we want and need.
I would love to be getting HALF of that average amount each month, which I am not. Maybe the billions going to dead people can be divvy'd up and shared amongst the bottom half of the recipients. Then I'd be able to pay my property taxes.
States (especially Florida) need to abolish property taxes for lower income senior citizens. It truly is an injustice that Seniors in the last stage in their life have to worry about property taxes. I wish more seniors would start writing and getting active about this issue.
This is the argument we are getting in MO, which did pass legislation last year allowing for 65+ to apply for a freeze. Problem is, that just shifts the tax burden to the rest of us, and makes our taxes higher to make up for it. Ours went up $1200 last year. 65% of our property tax bill goes to the school district and their spending is out of control. Rather than freezing or eliminating for seniors (who are NOT all indigent, BTW) it makes a lot more sense to reign in spending, and look for a better way to fund local governments. Oh and all the big developers get property tax breaks in my city too. And yet people keep re-electing the same idiots.
In my county in Illinois they do have a property tax freeze for seniors, and one must qualify for it. If a senior here has plenty of income, they do not get the freeze. I have a relative who has a small farm and a couple houses here and she pays far more, like double, in property taxes than I get in Social Security in a full year.
My position on property taxes is that if a government can continually assess a tax on your property, then you never own it, they own it.
I agree - I am much more in favor of a different way of funding and getting rid of the property tax altogether. The tax breaks for millionaire developers really pisses me off. My mom lives in an assisted living place that got a break on property tax, and since she no longer owns a vehicle, pays zero property tax. And yet the facility gets the benefits of what the tax helps pay for - fire, police, EMT's, snow removal on the roads, etc. I am not sure what to replace it with but I also know that we need a DOGE in our city, county and school district as they waste way too much.
And schools are such sacred cows, if you try to address any waste, people get alll up in arms ābut what about the chiiiillldren??!ā š
Yes! DOGE needs to do all states governments next! Get all the graft out of them, too.
A little off topic but ... take a close look at the protein level of your mother's diet. Institutional food is some of the least nutritious out there, whether schools, hospitals, assisted living facilities, etc.
That's the end point. They don't want us owning property.
Amen! Property tax is so unjust! I can't believe more people aren't aware of that.
Why is property tax more unjust than income tax, sales tax, other taxes?
Where I live in DuPage County, Illinois, seniors need to have an AGI of less than $65,000 to qualify for the freeze. And then, it is not a freeze of their property taxes but only a freeze of their assessment. Their property taxes can still go up depending on the county multiplier--which almost invariably goes up.
Exactly! If a senior who has owned his property for 50 years suddenly can't pay the property tax, he could lose his home. That is criminal.
This song lyric comes to mind "One way or another, I'm gonna find ya. I'm gonna get ya, get ya, get ya, get ya one way or another."
Here in Shawnee Co. in KS, the county/city discovered if they raise the value of our properties every year they can raise the property taxes. This is a new thing, raising values yearly. We have an old house that needs a lot of work, what they've valued it for is utterly outrageous.
Absolutely, went through the same thing in Jackson County, MO - massive value increases. We do have the Hancock Amendment in MO which limits the windfall to taxing jurisdictions to 5% for existing property (new construction is exempt) but that is 5 % in aggregate and they use sketchy math IMHO. Jurisdictions are supposed to roll back the levy, but they still manage to put levy rate increases on the ballot from time to time (oh it's only $68 a year for the average home and look at this shiny object) that the gullible voters approve!?! Ours went up 43% in the last re-assessment. We did not appeal, as our property had been under-valued and saw little chance of winning, but there were 50,000+ appeals and 2 years later, they are still hearing cases. And even 5% per year adds up over time.
Same happened here last year.
It's outrageous Donna. The other thing I'm seeing here, is homes are being bought up then fixed up, but remain empty.
Agreed, I spoke to the inspector the last time he was out.
I've had to appeal my property taxes in Olathe (Kansas) each of the past 2 years. First time I won my appeal with the county, this last time I had to appeal to the State. I figure I'll be doing it again this year.
And they managed to work around the KS state imposed windfall limits! It makes me so mad.
Help Needed, What is the basis of your appeal re: property taxes?
So when you filed an appeal, what happened?
They halted one year of raises. But my kids didn't get the same.
As a responsible Senior, I do pay my property taxes. They are above $1500 annually. They did make sure to increase taxes before this went into effect.
I, 100% agree we need to curb spending.
Holy Smokes, my daughterās taxes in Clarington, Ontario (4 bedroom house) are well in excess of $5000! You may have a good deal.
Oh dear heavens! I'll have to ask my brother what his taxes are. He is in Oshawa.
Ours is $3200, and that's not counting vehicles, which are old, so that one actually goes down every year until we bite the bullet and replace them.
Donna,
I said abolish property taxes for low income seniors -not all. Senior women that lose their husbands often have to sell their homes. š This happened to a friend of mine whose husband, a Vietnam veteran that got cancer from agent orange, passed away. She couldnāt keep her home after he passed due to the loss of income and the costs of property taxes etc. She not only lost her husband, but the memories associated with the home and the community she loved. It is heartbreaking that any senior citizen has to live in the end stage of life facing such tragedy.
I agree. There has to be a better way.
It is heartbreaking. š
It is sad, but my mom had to do the same - she could not keep up a house on an acre of land after my dad passed. Lived in an apartment for 8 years that she actually liked but in the end was a prison as she could no longer drive and most of her old friends from her church and neighborhood had passed or moved closer to kids, etc. She had one younger friend who brought her mail and newspaper every day, someone from her church visited once a week, and I came to see her and did her shopping 2-3 days a week, but she was a half hour away. (or longer depending on traffic, once after a fall, there was a major wreck and took me over an hour to get there) And never wanted to go anywhere, as 'its too much trouble' and scared of the Vid due to her CNN watching.
After a leg issue, she could no longer be alone, and after 6 months of sleeping on an air mattress at her place and using some mixed bag home health aides, my out of town sisters and I finally convinced her to move to an Assisted Living place 5 minutes from me in 2023. After sulking and being angry for a couple of months she is thriving. Making a lot of new friends, eating better, and a button on her wrist she can push for any reason. Goes to events at the place to get her out of her apt, and her outlook has improved 100%. Willing to get out occasionally and go to lunch, or a few events, although she is an introvert by nature so she still turns me down some. It's expensive, but the equity from the house, and IRA has been invested and RMDs supplement her pension and SS. Not saying for all, but there ARE some seniors who are better off selling and moving to a place with better quality of life than being basically shut-ins with little socialization. Talked to many of her 'neighbors' who admit they were overwhelmed with maintenance, paying bills, and having to hire out mowing, upkeep, or depend on family all the time, etc. and glad they sold, despite the initial resistance.
Donna, I'm glad you found a good home for your Mom and that she is enjoying life again.
IL makes me prove income (below $65k) and age each year to get the freeze.
Yes, means-tested in MO also, and donāt quote me, havenāt followed it too closely, but think it is low 6 figures.
Maybe most seniors feel a duty to do their part as well as comply with the laws. What a thought! However, if waste wasnāt so profound, those taxes could be reduced significantly. The fraud being revealed: horrific.
The sheer magnitude of the fraud is mind blowing isn't it!
Yes
Yes it is. even to a non- senior
Many seniors want to do their part but also want to keep their home instead of losing it bc of property taxes.
The poster above advocated for changing the law, which is, in fact, following it.
YES! We pay more and more and get less and less.
Gov D said this a couple of days ago. He's all for ending them.
"Property taxes are local, not state. So weād need to do a constitutional amendment (requires 60% of voters to approve) to eliminate them (which I would support) or even to reform/lower themā¦
We should put the boldest amendment on the ballot that has a chance of getting that 60%ā¦
I agree that taxing land/property is the more oppressive and ineffective form of taxationā¦"
https://x.com/GovRonDeSantis/status/1890183522037461393
Here's how the UK does it: Property tax is due only once when closing the deal. No property tax is required beyond this point.
Sadly their inheritance tax is outrageous.
I have no answer but I do think we need to think outside the box on this. Just look at the waste in the schools. When I lived in NV 65% of the school employees were administrators. What are our most basic common needs? Let individuals pay for what they want beyond that. How about returning the power of the purse to individual?
This is one thing I donāt getā¦ Property taxes pay for a number of local services -the fire department, school district, library, etc. They are actually bonds that the citizens approved. Abolish property taxes and who pays for that? What am I missing?
Any other way, such as consumption taxes.
The objective is to prevent someone who's paid off their home from being kicked out for not paying property tax.
Why is a consumption tax better? The fact is, with devices such as reverse mortgages, an old person can retain their home and pay their taxes. Also, typically old people get a break on property tax already.
But how many zombies helped 'approve' that bond. Also, renters are voting but not paying. Perhaps only homeowners should be allowed to vote on a bond that affects their property taxes. As a teacher in California, it is not uncommon to see multiple families living with grandma in her home. I live in central CA, farmland, not LA or SF, so home prices are not astronomical.
Good point about only homeowners should be allowed to vote onn a bond that affects their property taxes!
But renters ARE paying. It's baked into the rent. I have some friends who own a few investment properties and they actually HATE having to raise the rent, but taxes through the roof mean they are actually breaking even or worse if they don't pass at least some of the increase along. One is actually losing money renting to a long time elderly tenant who can't afford the increase, but he is definitely the exception.
Except for the apartment builders who have gotten property tax exemptions from our pathetic city council - 13 complexes in the past 4 years!! They are paying zero, except for the residents who do pay property taxes on their vehicles. It makes me furious. These folks get a pass while the rest of us pay through the nose.
Renters do pay. Any smart landlord increases his rents based on the increased cost of maintaining the property.
Old ppl? Young ppl trying to raise a family... But aren't because they can't afford a wife? I'm kinda tired of the old ppl on a fixed income. Aren't we all. š How about fixing it so kids can take care of their families, parents?
You may not realize, but people put that income from their own paychecks aside through mandatory Social Security payments throughout their working lives, so that's their money the system collected on their behalf, not a handout from the government. They are entitled to those payments.
Also, many people do not have kids to take care of them, and many older people are now contributing to their communities in ways that keep the communities afloat. A lot of donated time and money that younger people can't afford to give.
So yes, fix the system to get rid of fake people stealing our tax dollars, but it can't be thrown out unless the government wishes to engage in massive theft from its own citizens who were required to pay all this money into the system their whole lives, and who paid enormous amounts in taxes beyond that. Fair is fair.
I hope no one is suggesting that Social Security is a handout from the government. Itās true though that young people trying to pay for a home and raise little ones deserve breaks as much as we seniors do.
I donāt disagree. Maybe pitting each other against one another is not the way to look at this.
Most of us are on a Fixed income.
Every one of my fellow seniors did just fine during Covid. Not sick. Out and about as much as we wanted within the constraints, one going to Florida for the winter and crabbing about DeSantis. We actually increased retirement income. While my SIL was on anti anxiety med and depressed because he couldnāt work at all, with my daughter dealing with that and a kid that decided she was trans, trying to make the mortgage payments. Then most oldies not caring if children suffered to save our old granny arses. Not all, of course. But never heard one make that argument against what was done to children. Iām still pissed about that.
Yeah Iām right with you there as far as what was done to children supposedly to save grandma (and teachers š) from Covid. Not to mention the older people in care homes suffered needlessly because of that tooāisolation and neglect š
Iām with you.
Tired of old people? Is your name Gates?
You are tired of old ppl on a fixed income? What the hell are you talking about?
RJ,
I feel more for old people that suffer, and lose their homes because they cannot afford property taxes -usually because their beloved spouse died.
Most older people donāt have much longer to live and itās harder for them to start over.
I feel less for kids that had children before they were financially ready for them. They are able to cope with lifeās hardships much easier than older people in the last stage of life.
I don't know about that idea. Do not seniors make use of fire departments, roads, police, EMTs(probably more than most people for that) and plenty of other services? I could see lowering them but not abolishing them. In Florida, where there is a significant senior population, you'd be cutting the operating funds for local govts severely. A young person just getting started in their professional life with a kid on the way might say why am I paying property taxes to fund old people's wheel chair ramps, senior transportation services and the like when I can barely make ends meet? Just cause you're older doesn't mean you can now eschew responsibilities to the community.
Because we āold peopleā have paid it āforwardā and most have NEVER used anything that property taxes go for. We still drive over the same potholes as āyoung people.ā Donāt mess with āold peopleā this early in the morning.
OMA, good response! I worked 45 years in the medical field. I paid my property taxes. I used none of the above stated for old people! Hello!!
You have a local gov't. Each of those people is paid by you. You have trash collection? Many municipalities pay for that with taxes. Same with road repair, snow clearing. I'm an old fart, as well and I see no problem with contributing to my community as long as it's reasonable. I left a high tax state because of wasteful taxation but don't expect a free ride just because I'm older now. Then we can start carving out other people from paying taxes because they work at home or their kids don't use public school and so on. When your house is on fire, you can tell them not to come because you don't want to pay for such frivilous nonsense.
You havenāt sent your child to the public schools, used the library, received the reassurance that you have a fire dept?
A lot of us (and Iām not that age yet but will be in about a decade or so) have NEVER used public schools even though that is generally the biggest cost. Either because we donāt have kids or sent them to private school or homeschooled.
Our local public school just built a ridiculously fancy state of the art pool and indoor athletic facility plus brand new tennis courts. There are multiple levels of administrators and coaches and assistant coaches for dozens of sports. There definitely needs to be a better way of budgeting and paying for these things.
There are also lots of places where you have to pay property taxes but there is no local police force and the fire department is all volunteer.
It depends on where you live and the breakdown of where all those taxes go. My little county in MO tales a lot in taxes. Some even goes to support nursing homes! I personally think taxation is way out of hand on numerous levels. Property tax should end. It is crazy as others have stated to keep paying taxes on something you "own."
We also have to pay personal property taxes. They go to all the same places so we get dinged twice!
No kids. Have been to the library 1 time since moving to this county to get copies of microfiche, which I then PAID for.
No kids.
@Oregon Kathy- if you read each word of my comment, youāll see, āMOST have NEVER...ā I did not say, āI have...ā But now that youāve brought it up, I can say that Iāve paid more and used less than MOST home owners probably have. I volunteered daily at our childrenās school until I went to work for the school (they were tired of seeing me there every day) along with still volunteering after work, some of the āvolunteerā work being REQUIRED! But because we couldnāt afford private schools it was the best way to see what and who my children were being exposed to. I paid SS for those 23 years until I retired. I then worked another 10 years at our church again paying into SS again, working 7 days a week and on every special event.
Times called the fire department - 0
Times children used school - 12 years - 23 years that I worked = -11 years
Times used Library - 2 - I was refused a library card for each child and one for me as āthat was a lot of books to leave the library at one time,ā so I stayed until I received 4 library cards and we each checked out 15 books - the limit allowed! So you can count that as many times as youād like. The second time was our return of 60 books. I just upped the number of books we bought and kept book clubs busy and the school library.
Times called 911 - 0
Times called FPL for personal outages -0 - Times assisting FPL with power outages - 1000000000 +++ - my husband worked for FPL and we assisted every personal call for all our community to help pinpoint the problems and report to get crews to trouble area. After 60 +years of his working there, he still gets calls about outages. Donāt get me started on Hurricane Season! He paid SS for his work hour but none on volunteer hours.
I could continue if you need any more information on my use of community services covered by property taxes.
Good points. I'd only say that after many decades of paying taxes, a little break, especially for lower income folks, wouldn't be out of order. One critical piece of legislation that the Blue Leaches want to abolish in CA is Prop 13. If successful, uncountable number of old residents would IMMEDIATELY be forced from their homes due to the extreme tax hikes. This has already been happening in states without such protection, like Montana. It's sickening.
As you indicated, I think the big issue is with people on a fixed income who suddenly find themselves facing a large property tax increase. They donāt have the financial margin to account for that increase (particularly in times like these where costs on pretty much everything have gone up significantly) and they lose their home.
Loss of homes for seniors is real. What can you buy for $13 a month? For two people of 76 years of age, that my friends is our combined SS raise this year which they call cost of living. We own a mobile home but rent the the spot that it is on. Rent raises and property tax raises is our portion for being responsible and not getting evicted from our home. Signed Mad as a Wet Hen
I may need deliverance later.
They want us all dead, so being on the street should hurry it along for them.
Homes prices in CA have gotten obscenely inflated. If Prop 13 were to be abolished and long time homeowners were assessed higher, untold numbers of people would lose their homes. Predominately older people, I would guess. I've lived in my home since 1989 and paid it off long ago. I couldn't afford the property tax on its current supposed value, but I can still afford the rate based on its 1989 purchase value plus a certain amount of yearly increases over the years.
Really? Montana?!
Cousin Clem,
I said older, LOW INCOME seniors shouldnāt have to pay property taxes. Donāt they deserve to live their final years without worrying about losing their home?
I am a senior (paying $5,000+ a year) in property taxes. I only use the roads to drive to the store and none of the other services you mentioned.
However, it breaks my heart to see friends struggling to keep their homes because of a death of a spouse. My friend had to sell her home. At her age, she probably doesnāt have more than 10 years of life left. She lost everything she loved in just a few months and has had to start over.
Good points
Good point
Not only that but all the medical crap down there designed to rob old people
Exactly....take every last penny.
Thanks Jeff for the news.
Sickening to know SS money going where? And someone stole my SSN after I retired. Fortunately the IRS and SS compared notes. After getting my congressman Gary Palmerās secretary involved, I was given a person to walk me through the disaster. That still didnāt get me the first $600 given out by the government in 2020.
The person had the audacity to file under my SSN an unreal amount of income! I had to return a check to the IRS for less than $600. Crazy world! I wish they could catch those crooks!
My thought is take out all those people who donāt exist. SS wonāt go broke. Elon, find all of those dead people! Those of us alive were obligated by law to pay SS while we worked. Closer to 80 than 70 and very much alive!!!!
Alabama has a waver also.
I refuse to believe that they can't figure all this out. In today's connected digital world, you can track where money leaves from and where it goes.
Correction: Florida need to abolish property taxes
They do this in TN. You can apply for a waiver here.
Tennessee protects its seniors? Can you please tell me more?
Now that WA former Governor left the new one with a several billion dollar deficit, part of the plan is to fund it with an insane increase in property taxes. Dem Legislators pushing a bill to allow annual increases of 3%, up from the current ceiling of 1%. They are all thieves & com
And Seniors struggling to pay the bills are not allowed to rent out a room in their house, or bake brownies and sell them, without risking losing the Homestead exemption, which is what keeps property taxes from exploding for people who qualify.
I grouse about it all the time, always vote NO on anything that will raise it, including the library, but NO ONE LISTENS. NO ONE CARES. They donāt realize that you never truly own your home because if you canāt afford the taxes, theyāll just take it.
It also drives aging property owners OUT of corrupt strongholds like... City Of New Orleans, for example. This is an net positive (for me, anyway, I couldn't wait to move eight miles away and gain a 90% DECREASE in my property taxes).
I read DeSantis is exploring the elimination property tax on Florida. Hopefully, at least for seniors.
No. If for anyone than for everyone. Government shouldnāt get to pick winners and losers
This is one thing I donāt getā¦ Property taxes pay for a number of local services -the fire department, school district, library, etc. They are actually bonds that the citizens approved. Abolish property taxes and who pays for that? What am I missing?
I donāt mind paying property taxes for services. I do mind paying for a bloated park and rec system, and for failing schools. If they were teaching kids how to read Iād be much happier paying the school district taxes. And would be happier if they used the money wisely which they donāt.
I did not have kids, why should I pay for schools? Ok, ok, we all benefit from an educated next generation, but are we getting that?
Weāre also getting a huge new library, itās an edifice. I didnāt vote for that but all the new libs in town did. Itās huge, for a population of approximately 110k in Bend proper?
Are you in Oregon?
Yes, Iām in Bend. Grew up in the burbs of Ptld.
Now that WA former Governor left the new one with a several billion dollar deficit, part of the plan is to fund it with an insane increase in property taxes. Dem Legislators pushing a bill to allow annual increases of 3%, up from 5ge current ceiling of 1%. They are all thieves & communists.
Man that sounds difficult Dave, prayers that you find a way to make it through it.
Younger folks, please take Dave's warning to heart. Take advantage of an employer's 401k plan, particularly if they have a matching provision, and put away at least 10% (more is better) of every paycheck. You cannot count on the government to take care of you in old age. Listen to Dave Ramsey's counsel about living below your means and saving to ensure you have a cushion later in life. I know Ramsey can come off as a crusty old Boomer, but he's absolutely right about delayed gratification, staying out of debt, and wealth building for retirement.
I just got my annual statement from Social Security. It plainly says "Social Security is not intended to be your only source of retirement income" We have been saving for retirement since we got our first jobs out of college. Our parents were both working class and they too socked a little bit away and also had pensions. My dad and father in law have both passed, but my mom and MIL are actually doing fine as they have investment income that is the result of decades of frugal living. My mom no longer drives, so I do most of her shopping and she still uses old whipped cream tubs for 'redneck tupperware' and yells at me for paying too much for jello. I am like, MOM! You can afford the jello!
I love your Mom- I bet she makes a mean congealed salad from Betty Crocker!
LOL! She is the queen of thrift, and I inherited her tendencies. My kids make fun of me. Although I did switch to glass containers since plastic is supposed to be bad for you. Bought them for mom too but she won't use them as she has bad arthritis in her hands and has dropped some and they break, so back to the cool whip containers....
Glass containers which I use also, have plastic lidsā¦ reminds me of the straw debate š
Yes, but who ate that Cool Whip? Thatās bad stuff.
Never rely on the gov, ie Social Security, and rely on yourself by always saving each month, even if some months are a meager amount. Consider SS a bonus. Even retirement cannot be considered safe if the company goes bankrupt and your pension is not guaranteed by the company. Teach your children at a young age to save. My father and mother lived through the Great Depression, stood in milk lines, etc, and my dad preached savings every time we earned any money. For me it was babysitting as a teen for 50cents an hour. Yeah, Iām old going by that pay scale. My first full time job paid $180 a month, not a week but for a month. I also knew to save and still find it hard not to each month.
We must be about the same age. Those baby sitting gigs gave us a lot of things, some dough, lots of responsibility/learning, and taught us to save. My first part-time job was $1.65 an hour. My first full time teaching job earned me about $730 take home a month and I was happy!
Exactly what I have instructed my child to do. My parents were Depression kids too.
Great advice ā¦ sounds like you and I are of the same generation! šš»
We started telling our kids when they were in elementary school to save for a rainy day and don't count on social security as the gov will bankrupt it. There used to be a 'kids' mutual fund, that invested in companies kids knew, and sent educational materials a couple of times a year, that they contributed to from chores, gifts from relatives, etc, and could watch that money grow for college. Returns weren't stellar but we weren't talking big amounts anyway, point was teaching them about investing. Was discontinued when they were HS age and we flipped to an ESA. But grown adults now and despite one turning liberal, still save for retirement.
I made $1.50 an hour babysitting (70's), except one family paid $2 an hour and they were night owls, got paid to watch a lot of late night tv, lol.
Oh and love Dave, we were Dave people before Dave was cool. Debt free since 2005, thanks to our parents who passed their frugal ways on to us.
Yeah same here regarding being a Ramsey fan. Listening to his show, when people in their late fifties and sixties call in and have no money though, is absolutely heartbreaking. People in their twenties should be made to listen, sort of a financial "scared straight".
The really eye-opening aspect is realizing how every aspect of our society is geared toward taking on debt as a good and normal thing. Credit cards, car loans, student loans, etc. are all portrayed as the norm rather than the road to ruin that they are.
I get stressed out just listening to some of these callers! It's no wonder people are stressed out and have mental health challenges. I would be depressed too if I was my age (59) and nothing to show for all my hard work but a pile of bills. But we drive 10 YO cars and DIY most home improvements (YouTube videos, lol) and have never had a manicure, get $20 haircuts and make coffee at home, unlike many of my broke friends. One just told me she paid $400 at a hair salon!!! And middle class. Invest that $400 and see what it is in 10 years. Hope you like the dye job!!
I like your style Donna. I was up on my roof pulling up tiles and resealing the underlayment seams over the weekend myself. Recent rains showed a few leaks and I was easily able to track them down. Replaced a bunch of cracked tiles while at it too. Worked great.
In my neighborhood a new roof can be 30 grand! No freaking way I'm paying that when I can repair it myself for a couple hundred in material. I'd much rather give that money to my kids to buy a house once they've shown they are responsible adults than some roofing contractor.
I love him too, I am going to buy his homeschool course in personal finance to work on with my teenage son š
My kid's Christian high used it as part of their economics curriculum. Highly recommended.
Maybe Trump should make Dave Ramsey head of some government agencies that need to trim their budgets š āRice and beans, beans and riceā for all until further notice š
And pray you don't lose your business to a covid type event.
My grama had a stack of cool whip tubs and lids, and refolded tinfoil to put over the jello salad.
AND PAY THE TAXES UP FRONT!
My dad passed 5 years ago at 97 years old. His monthly SS payment was about $900.
My mom passed away at age 84. Her SS was $600 and her medications took half of it. Her home and car was paid for, but still had to pay insurance on both along with maintenance, food and utilities. My dad left her a savings account, but it was drained slowly after 2 decades leaving her with 15 years pinching pennies and not wanting help. Her last two years were spent in assisted living paid with from selling her home. She was somehow able to get by and still leave money to pay for her funeral. A testament to live by and I miss her every day even after 20 years.
So sad. No one can live off of that.
My parent were depression babies and would tell you if alive today - "Social Security was never meant to live off it. It was meant to "supplement"."
Those that don't put in much do not get much.
Anything more is "Welfare"... right?
Thatās why my dad lived with my husband and me for the last 18 years of his life.
That is approximately what I receive each month to live on.
Oh that's criminal, Dave. Something needs to be done....
Oh. Thatās rough. š
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Iām sorry. That sounds dreadful.
How wrong is that?
I'm so sorry and really hope they do that! It is beyond scandalous what they have done.
š
And that large number is simply what will go out the door this year for those fraudulently on the record over 100, there are many more fraudulently on the record collecting Social Security and multiply those numbers by how many years it has been happening and itās trillions right there.
Be great to scan for those young people with back pain, collecting disability! But that would be racisss.
I had a friend who pretended to fall off a train so he could collect sick benefits for a "bad back" while he went to Acapulco in the 70s to recover.
Unfortunately, we have probably two or 3 million new disability cases caused by vaccine injuries. Check out Edward Dowdās website Phinance Technologies.
Yes thatās true š
Also Disability should have never been funded from Social Security, which is for retirees.
It should be separately funded. And seriously half the people on it are scammers.
I know a young lady whoās birth father received disability and when he died the disability payments went to her. Maybe because she might have been under 18 and maybe they stopped after that but I believe her Mom would mention her still receiving those payments. š¤·š¼āāļø Ridiculous for disability to be passed down. š¤
People with genuine disabilities have a heck of a time getting disability too! Most people have to go through the privĆ©es and appeal multiple times from what Iāve seen.
excellent comment
the real question for me is how much that's been over, let's say, the last 40 years?
I suspect it's astronomical
Yes, but probably corrupt, at least in part, since it's inception. The scope has only got worse through the years as it was realized that no one was looking!
You are only calculating the people over 100 years old. With the average life expectancy in the US being 79 years old, I suspect there are many people under 100 that are also dead and collecting. It seems like a simple problem for DOGE. They just write a program that compares all death certificates to SS rolls and Bingo we save billions.
Or ask all recipients to confirm proof of life with an ID and /or a doctorās note if incapacitated.
I wonder if this scam was made much easier when the government switched to all EFT payments. I also wonder if there is similar fraud going on at all of the other agencies. My mind is blown by the sheer enormity of this fraud.
Absolutely happening. Wait until DOGE hits Medicare! š¤Æ
I'd bet the farm there is A LOT more.
And to think Biden administration had the gall to hire a bunch of IRS agents for collecting more $$$ meanwhile they could have been used for the SS fraud.
Right?????
Given that dead people are also quite disabled, I wonder if any of them are double-dipping.
Thanks for doing the math FedUp. You beat me to it. This is 1/2 trillion dollars a year in waste. Approximately $10 trillion just this century. Give or take, not taking inflation into account. Sadly, this waste is one of the reasons for our inflation. So this scandal alone will account for 1/4 of the $2 trillion a year savings Trump and Musk are looking for. It would be nice to have a daily meter of the cumulative percentage total to that $2 trillion savings. My guess is it has to be at least 25 to 50% so far? Hopefully more?
Every time a death certificate is issued, that person should automatically be removed from Social Security, disability, Medicare, and the voter registration rolls! I notified the San Diego voter registration office that the previous owner of my home died in 2006 and sent them a printout of his obituary from the local paper. They wrote back and said I need to send them his death certificate - me, who has no relation to a man who would be over 120 years old now. š¤¦š¼āāļø
Ugh such ridiculous incompetence! Or maybe purposeful š¤Ø Now Iām starting to wonder if they didnāt pursue these cases because someone in the administration was pocketing the money!! š”
Cee, the man you spoke to at the voter registration office used the information from your obituary to get a check sent to himself.
Thatās why he refused to take it off the rolls .
it it isnāt even 18+ million. Itās 64 million. (Iām rounding, Jim.)
I canāt even do that math bc I am
a product of the DoE.
Staggering.
The 1976 dollar figure is way off. I know of several women , some who worked for health clinics for over 25 years and they get 800. I had a bodyhsop with 5 mne and i am getting 1400. An emnployee I had that made 50k a year was getting 1800 a month . SS likes to exagerate the payout. On other hand the teachers I know are getting 80-100k per year, They have a scam where they raise the pay in last 2-3 years before retirement and then they get 75-80% of highest pay. One friend told me, he said isnt that cool? I was horrified,
Yes. Name some names. The nameless, faceless Social Security honchos responsible for the decision need to be outed and shamed.
How many under 100 are also dead??
Especially after the kill shot.
DOGE is requesting public suggestions on how to make things better
The first department they were asking for assistance with is the @DOGE_USDA
I suggested
Ban big Pharma commercials and advertising.
No more GMO crops. no more dangerous pesticides, including glyphosate
No more chemtrails. They're killing the bees and the birds and making people sick.
No more immunity to liability for the vaccine industry (and no immunity liability for any chemical or pesticide company)
Take the farmland back from Chinese owned and Bill Gates owned and give it to family owned organic produce farmers. Restore the soil.
Eliminate fluoride
No mRNA vaccines for farm animals or people. Exposed the real data.
According to Dr. David Martin, There are 63 more viruses in the pipeline via gain a function research. Moratoriums need to be in place. Gain of function research needs to be illegal. (was the bird flu created in a lab for intentional harm?)
Expose the truth behind the pandemic that it was originally a US gain of function research project by Ralph Baric at the University of North Carolina funded by NIAID - Fauci in 2014
Sent from my iPhone
I tried to make recommendations in two of the new affiliates and they didnāt have the DM button even though they state in the description to DM them. š¤·š¼āāļø
I want some federal law that protects homeowners from losing their homes they worked their whole life to own due to outrageous real estate taxes making the State nothing but landlords. States should be forced to find another way to raise/collect the money without risking someoneās property the way they do.
My RE taxes went up close to $4000 this year. Honestly, Iām one of the lucky ones because mine was low to begin with. BUT there are so many people that have $15,000 to $20,000 and up, taxes in my area. We live in the South burbs of Chicago! Not the North Shore with multi million dollar homes or CA! Folks around here are crying but meanwhile they keep voting blue like things are going to change š¤¦š»āāļøš¤¦š»āāļø
Yep Iām here in the burbs of Chicago too, and ours went from $7,000 to $15,000 in the past 15 years. We canāt afford them anymore. We have paid over $13,000 a year for the past decade. Thatās money that could have paid down our mortgage much faster. This year they reached $15,000. And we have the smallest house in our neighborhood, nothing luxurious like what is around us but we have to pay according to their properties not our own. Itās truly highway robbery at this point when our monthly taxes are more than our mortgage.
And when you add on homeowners insurance it gets even worse.
I have relatives in Chicago, and I donāt think it is as solidly democratic as the residents think, or as the elections suggest. I suspect there is massive voter fraud in Chicago.
We had a friend who managed his families very large ranch and died suddenly in his 50ās. They had to sell the ranch due to taxes while the tax code was better before democrats got in office and changed it (side story) but I do remember his son saying that land that had been in their family for many generations was only theirs as long as they could pay the taxes on it. Then it hit me, thatās true of all of us. Now retired, we canāt keep up with the property and school taxes that go up every year. But hey we have a 10% limit per year. Wow how nice of them, in 10 years they actually be 100% from 10 years ago. When retired you donāt have the ability to grow your finances like that. At least not many of us.
That's insane!
Elections have consequences!
See my comment above and check out these conversations. https://www.youtube.com/@realestatemindset
In Allegheny County, PA, our property taxes were just raised 36%.
Now all of us who live in the city of Pittsburgh are holding our breath to see what happens to our school taxes. Figure the Pittsburgh Public Schools will be embolden now.
And they still can't read or do math!
Elections have consequences!
Check out the discussion of school board tax fraud here. https://www.youtube.com/@realestatemindset
Once they make the first post under that department, then you can comment and put your suggestion. At least until the DM's become active. The USDA DM is active. But I think you can only write one paragraph at a time.? I wrote a lot and then I got locked out and had to go through a process to get back in. So I only wrote one short paragraph at a time. I sent multiple DM's.
Thank you for doing that.
I saw a post on Telegram about all the @DOGE_USDA [insert 3 letter agency] being used to report fraud but not your opinion of what you think needs to happen. Maybe that's why you got locked out. I can share it- not many on Telegram here and if they aren't I don't think they are able to open but happy to share.
Look at Doge.gov website.
Medical industrial complex needs to be gutted. These bonuses for poisoning kids and adults to make more lifelong pharma customers is atrocious
With the high rate of flu, covid, etc. currently going through society, Iād be interested to know if hospitals are still incentivized by a covid diagnosis. I know they are in one form because the only medication they administer for it is Remdesivir.
And the hospitals are hiding the use of Remdesivir by using the trade name which is Veklury.
Make sure you warn people.
No! No more āCovid bonusesā of which I am aware. Maybe there are some back door incentives that the upper echelons of medical administration use, I am a simple ICU RN.
As RFK Junior tells us, the only thing more profitable than war is sick children. Take autism alone. There are an estimated 4 million to 6 million in the US. Take that number and just multiply it by 1 million, which is a very conservative estimate of what it would take to feed house and treat for a lifetime. You will come up with a number with too many zeros to fit on your phone. I canāt remember what the estimated lifetime expense was from an article I read, but the number I came up with was 1.62Ć10 to the 12th power. And thatās a number which is growing all the time.
Schools get paid a lot more money per student for students with autism (and disabilities in general)
I remember I told blue cross off one time. I was so angry. I told them that since we stopped vaxxing and steroids, both my kids were healthier and getting healthier all the time. I told them to start paying for the preventive stuff and it would save us all a ton of money. Deaf ears.
The chemtrails issue is one of the biggest facing humanity and our systems we depend upon for survival. It is a military program, which Trump is the head of, so ostensibly he could shut it down. Will he? I'm worried he will not because the tech Broligarchs around him need our skies full of electric conductive materials to phase in their biometric surveillance grid.
To be objective, one has to be able to step back and view the "issue" as an outsider completely detached from involvement. Try imagining your are from another planet looking at what is happening on earth. What stands out? I see a systematic attempt to depopulate the planet to a fraction of it's current inhabitants. Out of everything that is happening, there are only two activities that are essential to this agenda: the worldwide deployment of bio-weapon injections and worldwide geoengineering/chemtrail spraying.
So far, neither of these issues has been addressed or even examined. The human race continues to be poisoned. I am waiting.
The United Nations Population Fund ā Population Control ā Kissinger Report
Posted Feb 12, 2025 By Martin Armstrong
.....The UN, USIA, and USAID are using funds to control the global population. You, as an American or a citizen of any developed nation, are paying into these NGOs with ulterior agendas. A portion of our population, a very vocal portion, believes it is essential to fund the progressive agenda. These agencies act as the brute strength. A wealthy nation could not openly meddle in such a manner, so those nations use these international agencies to promote their agendas.
The United Nations is a serious threat to our future.
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/corruption/the-united-nations-population-fund/
Thank you, Phil. I agree. For five years I've been saying "do not comply. they want us dead." I don't look up at the sky anymore though (sarcasm).
Agreed.
So, I went to a local meeting the other day as there is a anti-geoengineering bill in the house. It doesn't have a lot of support. I learned that the TN bill that passed didn't have an enforcement mechanism, so, Kabuki theatre once again. Ours in AZ does, but now there is a new different senate bill proposed that is only one page long. I haven't had time to look yet, but I'm wondering if the original one is neutered (which does have enforcement mechanism).
If I heard correctly, over 20 states have put forth bills, which is promising, but this seems like one of those issues that is untouchable. The good news is, with enough people power, nothing is untouchable.
And man, they have been spraying the holy hell out of the skies here in N AZ the past couple of days. I went down to the valley (PHX) today and it was even worse. It was just a full blown gray haze. Maddening.
I saw an article that FLA was considering a law that would put the pilots of chem trails in jail - any one have an update
It has a few more committees to get through
That is interesting. Those poor schmucks are "just following orders".....cut off the head of the snake.
That is a huge issue. There was a segment on the HighWire where they analyzed Girl Scout cookies, and at least one variety had 300 times the EPA allowed amount of aluminum. Where did this all come from? Some of that crap they spray in the air contains aluminum, one of the most potent neurotoxins known. It was suggested that the Girl Scouts start baking their own cookies and selling them, and become young advocates for de-poisoning the food supply. The companies that make the cookies for the Girl Scouts take in nearly $900,000,000 a year. An average Girl Scout brings in $35 for her troop.
I stopped buying Girl Scout cookies years ago. Vegetable oil shortening, artificial flavor ā¦ no thanks!
Hereās the ingredients in Thin Mints:
āGirl Scouts Thin Mints made by ABC Bakers contain Vegetable Oil Shortening (palm and palm kernel oils), Caramel Color, Invert Sugar, Natural Flavor and Artificial Flavor. These cookies are banned at Whole Foods. (Source for banned ingredients: Amazon Whole Foods Web site 5/24)ā
No more windmills
Except the traditional windmills used by the Amish. They were never stupid enough to put them all over the place. Just enough to pump the well.
At first I read that as treadmills. Ban them too.
I hate treadmills so much I ran outside in below zero windchills this morning šš
Yeah, me too. 6Ā° where I am.
6 with -8 windchill here also.
Where would I hang my clothes?ššš
š
Except for fat dogs.
There is no bird flu. Only bad bird flu tests. No one has isolated any bird flu. They are using bird flu as an excuse to destroy millions of healthy birds. Controlling your food supply. I'm in agreement with you on ending all liability protections for pharma. That would be the nail in the coffin to all vaccines...which is why they will not let that happen. As for Dr. Martin's viruses in the pipeline, anyone can file a patent for a virus but it doesn't mean they have them or have "engineered" any viruses. It just means someone wants to get a jump on the money if they do create such a thing.
We have our own little flock of chickens. I had a conversation with a clueless friend lately who asked if I was concerned about the bird flu. After controlling my first impulse to laugh in her face, I gave her a lecture about the entire bird flu psyop.
Reminds me of "henny
penny" the sky is falling.
Thankful for local eggs š„ š³
No more factory farming. Animals need sunshine, fresh air, and organic food.
Really this needs to be a priority for our society.
If they would stop vaccinating all commercial chicken, you wouldnāt see this problem, my opinion.
So basically; Leave Us The Eff Alone.
Pretty sure that's the wing of the populist party we're all in.
The problem, as many starry-eyed libertarians found out, is that there is a large group of people who will not leave us alone no matter how much we ask them too. (Trans insanity in public schools is the perfect example.) The only answer to such people is forceful resistance, and to make them pay a heavy price for their actions.
I agree. We must keep our boots on their neck or theirs will be stomping on our face.
We got into this mess by allowing the imposition itself to become the point because most of us are the "live and let live" and "leave me the eff alone" types.
But once you start self censoring or assent by silence then the former only makes the later worse.
And that's why, for the last 5 years, a lot of us have felt alone...but never so alive...just trying to get back to a place where we're comfortable just being left alone.
And thatās why we need to turn the tables and let them know that THEY need to sit down and shut up. I hope and pray that accountability for the crimes theyāve committed will happen, and soon! It appears to be building towards that but until someone goes to prison or media starts being fined huge sums for the lies theyāve told, etc. they wonāt shut up.
The Greta Garbo party āI want to be left alone.ā š
Burn every bio lab to the ground and bury it under concrete.
You nailed it š š
This sounds like a good start to me
I forgot that one. I'm compiling another list. The offshore windmills are killing the whales.
Trump said he wants to be a whale whisperer. He is concerned about the whales too.
Absolutely!!!!
Dr. David Martin is key to understanding.................................
I am waiting to see if the genocidal cabal inside the DoD is rooted out by Trump. This will take time. This powerful, entrenched cabal are the ones responsible for the covid plandemic attack and the DEW/geoengineering attack upon America - indeed, the whole world. And their attacks are on-going today. The bio-weapon shot, the DEW attacks and the chemtrail attacks are still operational. This is the heart and soul of their plans to kill and subjugate us. All of the other fights going on now, they don't care about as long as they keep us distracted from shining the light on their planned genocide.
If anyone still thinks covid is a virus then you need to go back and review the revelations of Dr. David Martin. Covid is not a virus except to the extent that ALL flu was re-classified as covid as part of the psyops. Wuhan is a convenient red-herring to shield those directly responsible in the DoD. Don't buy any of it!
Until the attacks on our health and our communities are ended and the responsible parties in the DoD charged with treason and executed, we will continue to suffer from a war that goes on unrecognized...................................................
following up on your questions about dew weaponry used in the l.a. fires
is your house or car a sitting duck for hpm's? will trump expose dew's?
....A quick reminder: There are 3 primary types of DEWās; High Energy Lasers (HELās), High Powered Microwaves (HPMās, essentially, gigantic, directed microwave ovens) and Particle Beams....
https://secularheretic.substack.com/p/following-up-on-your-questions-about
Right on girl. Keep pushing it forward.
Thank you for using the tools offered.
Wonderful list.
I like most of your ideas. But, give confiscated farmland to "family owned organic produce farmers"? Let's not go from the leftists picking winners and losers, to this administration doing it. GIVING things should be limited to keeping people from starving or freezing to death, and even then, preferably done by non-government charities.
I don't want valuable land to be given to anybody because they appear to meet some government-issued criteria as being a "family owned organic produce farmer". That's more fraud and abuse.
Also, we need to ban folic acid supplementation in food. It's not talked about enough but the infertility crisis we're dealing with is linked, in part, directly to this issue.
Agree with everything 100 percent.
Iām not sure who would disagree with this list, it seems like the only people who would defend it have money on the line.
This should be TOP priority!
Why can big pharma advertise a product that has caused death in a trial?
And cigarette companies canāt advertise?
Itās so weird- big pharma products can cause death right away, cigarettes are over time most of the time, (I think). Not saying to bring back cigarette commercials, but they are preferable to the pharma advertisements.
Itās absurd and disgusting. I despise the pharma advertisements!
Regarding Trump's quote of Napoleon I'm continually amazed at this man's brilliance. Trump knows what those of us with a few gray hairs have (hopefully) learned in life: People who cannot control their emotions make awful decisions.
He does this on purpose to inflame the emotionally-stunted leaders of the left and the ruling class. In response, they break out the smelling salts, react way out of proportion, and make terrible decisions. The most amazing part is that he does this to them over and over and somehow they never learn from it.
The good thing about the left being hedonistic, godless children is that they cannot think beyond their own selfish wants and desires, and that can be easily weaponized against them. Unfortunately none of our previous gutless conservative leaders was willing to do it before Trump. We nearly lost the country while waiting for him.
Excellent comment Jeff C... those one-liners that Trump makes are ambiguous, on purpose. All the Never Trumpers run down that rabbit hole, spend their time speculating while calling it fact-checking and ultimately they are proven wrong without ever acknowledging their ignorance.
Yep as Jeff Childers said re Bill Kristol going straight for the Hitler reference. These people are retarded!
But to those of us who love him, it is a veiled message of what is happening and how he is thinking. I took it as donāt worry Iām not going to do something stupid like breaking the law. I know what Iām doing.
We need to Thank GOD for saving him and using him to spare the country and the world from this satanic mafia.
Iām continually doing that!!
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Yes! Daily prayers for President Trump!
Brilliant observation.
Trump says āLook! Over here! A shiny thing!ā And they run right for it.
Great point about Trump using their emotions against them.
He keeps breaking their OODA loop for narrative control.
āSSA ultimately decided not to proceed because the "ā¦ . . options would be costly to implement, would be of little benefit to the agency,ā
Once again, if anyone of us did this, we would be in jail.
A half a trillion. Yeah, nothing to see here. When we total up the fraud these bastards committed, we will find itās more than the Feds yearly take in taxes. Thus ending the need for federal income tax. Hmm.
It looks like it's heading that way.
Is it possible that SSNs are being transferred from dead ppl to undocumented migrants?
Absolutely! Many illegals have fraudulent SS numbers that are taken from dead people.
More than likely. These bastards are shameless.
Yes, used for employment and EITC and etc.
Like Obama.
Exactly what I said.
Is it any wonder the Dems are out on the streets screaming at media.... they're watching their sugar daddy die.
Yup, anyone who is against booting out illegal aliens or ferreting out waste is suspect to me. Most of them are likely benefiting somehow. And the ones who arenāt, are just useful idiot tools.
As an aside, when lib women can no longer use their body as currency, they scream the loudest.
"Women's lib" is slavery to the flesh.
āOf no benefit to the agencyā seems really telling to me. Almost like they ARE benefiting from the fraud and waste š¤š
Who taught these people math? I know, the crappy public schools.
As cynical as I am, I am having a hard time accepting all that money is being sent to dead people.
Will we be able to fond out where it actually went?
I keep thinking nothing will surprise me, yet, daily these days something disclosed on C&C does, in fact surprise me.
This is a job for Big Ballz!
Can we give that guy a medal?
Made of brass. I know how it'd be shaped. š
Have a ceremony at the Kennedy Center.
hahaha
Sorry, Robin, Soros already got that medal. We'll have to buy him one of those dangles you see hanging from the occasional lifted-up pickup truck trailer hitches.
It's no longer a dozen but a hundred plus of them.
ššš
Iāll bet only a small % is going to dead people. The vast majority is fraudulent. When my father passed, his SS was cut-off just days after the death certificate was processed. This can only be intentional with the SS money used to fund āfavoredā people and groups, and SSN numbers to steal elections.
Trump could cut out $1T annually out of the fed budget without breaking a sweat. As for the grifters? Every penny should be clawed back and they should all go to prison.
Once it is discovered who got it, we can get it back!
Let's hope so.
Maybe a job for a young DOGE employee. Start following the money. Drill down to where itās landing. Fun to know.
My thoughts exactly. It's like you were reading my mind. I typically think of the small scale fraud by individuals, but this blew my mind.
Agree. Just because they are listed as ānot deadā does not necessarily mean that they are receiving a monthly check. Stillā¦
"I confess to feeling lately like Iām starting to overuse words like āhistoric,ā āunprecedented,ā ārevolutionary,ā and ānever seen before.ā I need more words."
Ironically, there's probably a German word for that.
What it really is, is a hostile takeover of the government by We The People.
Trump wears the tool belt but he gave us the tools in the belt so we can get the job done.
POWER TO THE PEOPLE!!!
A take back, rather than takeover imho.
Yes. Better word choice
Power to the People! Hey, haven't I heard that before somewhere??? Um...
Notably, the tool belt is Bat Man's superpower.
Call this the "Tim Allen" government restructure: "more power!".
I will unashamedly admit, I loved Allenās, āLast Man Standingā. The first years were the best when he was conservative and made bashing the left hysterically funny. His episode vlogs were the best. While I am trying to like his new show, āShifting Gearsā, just not quite there on it. I miss the Conservative gotchas that the old show hadā¦.
LMWC I agree! I still love to watch the LMS reruns. Good stuff. The new show is just very lacking. Not from Tim, but the writing just isn't up to par. (It is on ABC, aka Disney, afterall). And the girl playing his daughter is just awful.
My thoughts exactly. I never liked the ādaughterā on her previous show and she always seems to be like a standup comedian delivering a punch line and not very funny. Itās too bad the writing is so bad, though I had hopes for the garage idea.
Give it some time. Shows in their 1st season always take awhile to get established. Star Trek: The Next Generation took at least 3 years before it went from ho-hum to good., just as an example.
I do agree that Last Man Standing was a great show.
She was awful in exactly the same way in Two Broke Girls. One acting style. Kat somebody.
Beispiellos!
I think Andrew meant a German word for when you need more words . . . But I don't want to put the need for more German words in his mouth.
I seem to use the word āunbelievableā a lot.
I had to quit. I just have permanent jaw drop.
And whiplashā¦
Inconceivable - Princess Bride...š¤£
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āYou keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.ā
āYou keep using that wordā¦.ā Gets me to laughing every time š
There is also probably a German word for when there is a German word for something more complicated.
Umpfreulingkantendimpsungheit.
š¤£
And itās probably 38 letters long š
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āAgain, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the fiery furnace; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.ā
ā Jesus, Matthew 13:45-50 LSB
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I thought of Elon Musk having more money than anyone in the world. Only when he comes to Jesus will he be truly rich.
Thank you Janice š. 21 Ā¶ āNot everyone who says to me, āLord, Lord,ā will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
22 On that day many will say to me, āLord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?ā
23 And then will I declare to them, āI never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.ā Matthew 7:21-23. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Hebrews 10:31
And it has nothing to do with what I have done! My works are like filthy rags! All of my righteous acts are done by Christ Jesus, who fulfills the law by enabling me to obey. When I obey, it is He who obeys in me. When I fail, it is not I who sin, it's sin in me. The successes are His, and the failures are mine, and the failures are forgotten and wiped clean, to the glory of the Ancient of Days, and His Son, the King of Kings!
I am ASTONISHED!
Galatians 2:20 (ESV)
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. "
Amen
Acts 17:The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; 25 nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; 26 and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, 27 that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; 28 for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, āFor we also are His children.ā ....30 Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, 31 because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness [v]through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.ā
Birthright citizenship. My son is a heart patient and when he was a baby, we spent nearly a year in and out of the cardiac ICU. During our time there, I noticed multiple babies without family and being visited by social workers. Often I would ask the nurses about the babies and why they didnāt have family, and they would say that they were children of illegal immigrants who had the babies and then weāre not able to care for them they became wards of the the government. That included paying 100% of their bills. I donāt need to tell anyone how expensive ICU care is, and it is multiplied when you are in a pediatric cardiac unit. Iām not saying that these children did not deserve the care because they certainly did. However, it came at the taxpayers expense while my husband and I and all of the other parents that were in there, at least most of them, were worried about how we were going to pay our bills. Itās not right and it needs to stop.
š been there. What happens to those children... In orphanages! Count the cost. And then we are creating and destroying babies like toilet tissue. Now I know why there are "unnumbered" souls in heaven.
God is only tolerating this because of His mercy and grace toward those who would still worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.
I think God gave us free will. God is of all things from my computer to the guy taking that illegal SS payment. God is not a person and doesn't need praise. God is ALL. Like Madge used to say in her dish liquid commercial, "you're soaking in it". God doesn't need to tolerate, get angry, upset. God experiences the universe through It's creation. It all just is.
That's one of the reasons why everyone's hospital bills are so high. I have a cousin who works in a hospital and he told me this years ago. Those who pay also pay for those who don't. Kinda like Bombas socks: you buy 2 pairs One for you and one for someone else who can't pay for them. That's fine if you wan't to pay for someone else's stuff, but many citizens barely get by and then have to cover expenses for illegal immigrants.
I had a similar experience with my mother in the cardiac unit. Almost all the Mexicans and Indians were getting free treatment, one nurse whispered to me.
We were at Daytona 500 yesterday!! And let me say President Trump was the most exciting part!!! His AF 1 fly by was AMAZING! The crowd went nuts! He went around the track twice waving at us! The crowd was loud! Best experience ever. So much fun. And when we got rained out our group had to leave and everyone said it didnāt matter, āWe got to see Trumpā š
So fun!!!! š¤©
I just got my first Social Security payment, via direct deposit, which got me to wondering: when I die, what will stop those payments from just continuing ad infinitum? At least in the analog days, if checks kept coming, I wouldn't be around to cash them. In the electronic world, if nobody notifies the government that I've gone vamoose, how does the cash flow stop? I wonder how many of those 18 million are merely people whose deaths were never reported to SSA? And does SSA have a mechanism in place to check in every now and then to make sure recipients are still vertical and ventilated?
There is no excuse this side of heaven to justify what has been uncovered! Our government is completely corrupt and should be dismantled. We have the best founding documents which have been bastardized beyond recognized. Start over with a clean slate! This is so far beyond comprehension that is makes one's head spin out of control!!! The common citizen would be in prison for the rest of their life for making a mistake on their taxes!!!! Disgraceful!
It's time, again, to grab our pitchforks and march into every government office in every city, town, county, and state. We must effect wholesale changes. Immediately.
Time for a tea party. If 50 m people decided to stop funding this nonsense.....
The funeral homes are the ones who report the deaths.
PS, if you bury grandpa out in a field without funeral home services or a minister the SS cheques will keep coming.
Exactly. They send them a copy of the death certificate. I believe they also notify the VA if they are aware that the person had served in the military. And all government agencies are supposed to do cross-matches for dates of death and potential duplication of benefits, but I believe (for some unknown reason) the interagency cooperation may have stopped ages ago.
Not always. Personal experience learned the hard way. And then you have to deal with the claw back when you notice that deposits have continued into a dormant account.
I thought when my mama passed away it was the executor of her estate responsible for notifying once a death certificate was issued which is around 2 weeks after. No?
When my stepson died it took 6 months to appoint the executor however the funeral home grabbed all his ID numbers and sent them to the respective government agencies. The funeral director explained that this is standard procedure.
Thanks. Good to know.
That's interesting. My kids know I don't want a funeral home event, but a simple cremation and party. What they do with the ashes is up to them. I wonder if having a family trust, the trustee would inform the SSA....
There's a cheap cremation place here, but they do say they inform the SSA. Clearly not all have though.
I think for us common people they do their due diligence in making sure it's stopped. My mother's, father's, sister's and my grandparents were stopped automatically. My father died on the 1st of the month, which was his pay date, and two days later on the 3rd they took it back out of my parents' account. My mother could have used that money.
Same with my mom. Dad died on the 30th of the month. They took his money back. Yes, mom could have used that.
Because the funeral home notified SSA.
I think funeral homes have a duty to report a death.
Anyone know for sure who does the reporting?
In my personal experience, itās always been the funeral home and then the SSA acts quickly to ensure checks are stopped. And the family or spouse receives $200 to help pay for funeral expenses. It sounds to me as though some other kind of scam is being perpetrated here and I canāt fathom what it would be.
Try getting that $200. After my mother died, I contacted SSA for two years to no avail. They weren't happy that she and I have different last names.
I don't know but can we have a class for government employees called "the difference between the living and the dead?" Needs 100% on exams.
Best comment today!!!!
My father passed away in September. The funeral home does the reporting to SS by law. Maybe varies by state?
Funeral Home Directors. If there is no funeral home, itās the familyās responsibility:).
This is correct. I believe the funeral homes also inform VA if the person had military service and then that information is entered into their system.
@JohnS oh they absolutely know when someone dies. My mom passed on the 18th of the month and we received a letter THE NEXT MONTH demanding her estate return the per diem amount for those 12 days! When they pretend they donāt know, itās because it serves their purposes to NOT know š
I believe the funeral home contacts SS.
The bank is supposed to notify them. Banks get a daily report of deaths.
If you die, doesn't your bank account close? Where would the money be deposited? In some other account that nobody knows exists?
As soon as my brother was notified of my dadās death in an accident (police knew my brotherāsmall town) brother took my mom up to the bank and she emptied their joint account. Within the hour. That was the only $ that was liquid.
If it's a joint checking it shouldn't be closed, just renamed to the survivor.
It was a joint. That was in 1993. She had never written a check before. In 5 years the state took the rest in the nursing home. She just gave up and they over medicated her to a zombie state and she never went home.
Estate account but not sure what happens if there are no near next of kin.
Funeral directors are supposed to report deaths to Social Security. Alternately, survivors are. Social Security has no requirement (that I can find) to verify if recipients are alive.
Well, it is good to know that when I'm 220 I will still be getting my Social Security payment. I wonder what it will be then after the Cost of Living Adjustment?
It's the 369 yr old that had me scratching my head.... so 304 years ago the SS department had an office... where!!!! That's insane LOL!!!
Those may be data entry errors where the year of birth was entered incorrectly. I remember when SSA made an error on my motherās account and listed her as dead when she was still very much alive! Her original birth certificate, which was filled out by the drunken doctor who delivered her, listed her as a male child! It took US senator Bob Dole to get her information corrected. I imagine she was not the only person whose account has had incorrect information entered.
OMG!
Probably voted for the Whigs.
LMAO
kek
You will owe THEM no doubt!
Hahaha.
It won't be the Cost of Living Adjustment. It will be allocated towards bringing crates of earth from your burial site to Carfax Abbey, or whichever Abbey you choose, plus stagecoach fare to the polling place of your choice, as long as it's in a "blue" district. If you vote as a bat, you will be allowed to prorate the mileage to your polling place. Your "blue" polling place.
So, a Cost of Undead-ness Adjustment.
I had not heard of the "amity" angle of the citizenship decision that libs love to trot out. I wonder why?
When I was in grad school in Texas, my circle of acquaintances included a lot of first generation citizens from Mexican parents. I asked small group of them, during a softball practice, "If war broke out between the US and Mexico, on which side would you fight?" All five of them said "Mexico". Such amity.
I have a friend who came here legally whose children are us citizens. They are filing for dual citizenship in Mexico because as us citizens they canāt own property in Mexico. I havenāt looked into it,but I donāt think I can get dual citizenship. I couldnāt own property in Mexico or china for that matter. Why are we allowing that to happen in our country?
I work with a guy whose children are citizens (he is not). At their school graduations, all they fly are Mexico flags. US educated them but, hey.
You probably could but itās more complicated if you donāt have family ties and it frequently costs a lot or you have to prove a certain income level or net worth. Also depends on the country, some are easier to get citizenship from than others.
Regarding dual citizenship, it used to be that you had to renounce your citizenship when you became naturalized but there was apparently a court case because some countries donāt allow you to renounce your citizenship so those people would be barred from citizenship. Apparently the ruling was that the policy was discriminatory so now dual citizenship is tolerated but US citizenship is supposed to be priority (for example you show your US passport when entering the country, never the other passport).
I have duel citizenship, so do five of my eight children. USA/NZ. The three that don't, I simply haven't applied for their NZ citizenship.
Of the duels, three are US citizens born abroad.
Our country should outlaw this immediately (enlisting in a foreign countryās military). Itās outrageous that this is allowed Itās only a problem today when the country one of our citizens fights for is considered to be an enemy. But it should be cause for having your citizenship rescinded, regardless of whether the country is friend or foe.
Pledge allegiance to one country. If you donāt want that to be this one, then renounce your citizenship and go to the country you want to be a sole citizen of.
1000s of Americans now have ādual citizenshipā, an overwhelming number with Israel. Hundreds of our elected representatives in Congress are believed to have dual citizenship with Israel. Every time a bill is put forth to require dual citizenship to be divulged, it can never even get out of committee.
Hundreds of Americans of military age do service with the IDF (most notably, the current governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, though he tried to walk it back when he was running for governor). See the movie āIsraelismā (Jewish American Simone Zimmermanās recent movie) where this is discussed.
I am opposed to dual citizenship for the same reason I am opposed to bigamy and polygamy. It is a privilege and honor to be an American. Make your choice. Choose wisely. If you have dual loyalty we donāt need you.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2011/09/02/is-it-legal-for-americans-to-fight-in-another-countrys-army/
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Wow š³š”
There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven't yet met.
~William Butler Yeats
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Morning friends ā¤ļø
Good morning from below freezing Mid-Missouri
Good morning from snowy freezing cheating SW Pennsylvania.
Still cheating? Have they learned nothing?
At least we now have Scott Presler trying to fix things.
Illinois needs a Scott Presler. Or maybe three of them. *Sigh*
Baby steps
Idaho, here. Not perfect but no serious complaints.
Good afternoon from the cheating snowy mitten. Itās beautiful outside.
Weāve had major flooding, snow and frigid temperatures in KY the past 2 days. Now, another major snow storm Tuesday-Wednesday. Iām sick of it. Thank you, Hunga Tonga.
I saw the flooding in little Rives, it's heartbreaking.
Part of the history of this area and I'm sure many other places, is that the downtown area which is built on a river flooded every year until dams were built on the river to control the flow of the river. Now it only happens when we have very unusually high rainfall. Small creeks would still flood but major waterways were better controlled. Course, that's why things aren't supposed to be built in flood plains. But in this area, builders are convincing city officials to allow them to build in flood prone areas which unsuspecting people don't realize are in flood zones that had traditionally only been farm land.
Itās been so cold in Chicago that the 36 lbs of beef roasts I cut into steaks and vacuum sealed have been sitting on our porch all week long. š¤£ Wonderful when the outdoors is a deep freezer. Lol
Lol bonus freezer! š
It's been a real winter Dr Linda. I've lived here in NE KS for over 40 years, and this has to be the worst of two winters horrible winters I've experienced.
Freezing here in Indiana too! š„¶
š¾ššŗšGood morning šššŗš¾
So the thugocrats at SSA believe adding date of death data to SSA records would be "difficult to implement" and "of little benefit" to the Agency?
Assuming an average annual SSA benefit of $18K, multiplied by 18.1 million deceased recipients, benefits totaling $325.8 BILLION annually are being paid to ... who, exactly?
It is not possible to hate government career bureaucrats enough.
It could be 90% accomplished with a fairly mid level database insert and a script.
One could do this in their . . . "COVID" time off . . . by learning to code, and then ask for %1 and live very well off, and leave generational wealth to their children.
I think they still use those long punch cards.
I just read that first line again. One of the options was "adding presumed death information . . ." WTF is PRESUMED death information???
"Hey Bill, what do you think about this guy?"
"Ah, he's probably dead."
"Got it, dead he is, I'll add that."
Mostly dead š
(Another Princess Bride reference for this morning! š)
LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!
"Did you poke him with a stick?"
Or insert a large prune-like object into his mouth!!!
Maybe he's just pining for the fjords.
No one is over 120, and maybe 100 people are 110 or more. You can cancel out all the people over 120 with one line of code to the database. Then put your heads together to figure out the best way to go after all the super old people. Maybe you could just conditionally call them dead and say they have to present proof of life to get back on the "live" list.
A 1% bounty on waste would be money well spent . . .