Well, greetings YouTube subscribers, followers, and friends. Harold Cameron here, chief of helping people at Haroldsays and consumer advocate here.

I got a question from someone on YouTube regarding their Social Security disability claim. They filed all the paperwork, went through the process and they were denied. And they got a lawyer and it’s been a few months and the lawyer has all the medical documentation and paperwork and they were a little frustrated because they hadn’t heard anything. They were wondering why weren’t they getting a phone call or some kind of action from their lawyer.

Well, the good news is if the attorney is a Social Security benefits lawyer, that is, they represent people who are trying to get a Social Security claim… they’re doing their job. Here’s the problem: there is a backlog of cases before administrative law judges – they’re called ALJs – there’s a backlog of cases of appeals that, in some cases, extend as far as 12 to 18 months. So what that means is from the time you filed your appeal, it could be up to 18 months before you will have a hearing. So don’t get discouraged from the standpoint of ‘your attorney is not doing his or her job.’ They can’t move any faster than the wheels of progress grind at the Social Security Administration in the division where they do the hearings.

So, what do you do? Well, who was it that said, “Let them eat cake”? It was Marie Antoinette, I think, or somebody, when the little people didn’t have any bread and it was in France and she living high on the hog and so what do the little people do? “Let them eat cake”. Well, there was no cake. That’s kind of the attitude of some people in political circles: “Well, they’re little people, poor people. You will always have the poor with you, you can’t help everybody.”

Now this is not the attitude of the people I’ve worked with in Social Security Administration and the law judges. It’s not their attitude. It’s not the attitude of a most of the lawyers that I’ve ever communicated with. The problem is not the people; the problem is the system. And the problem is that there are just not enough judges to handle the backlog of cases and get them processed quickly.

Because this isn’t merely and simply looking at one or two sheets of paper and making a decision. Oh no, no. There are files and files and records that they have to go through. So, it’s a long process. It’s a difficult process. It you don’t have any money or any income, apply for state benefits while you’re waiting, apply for food stamps, apply for energy assistance; whatever benefits you can.

And I’ll share one other very, very important thing with you that always, always, always is important, no matter what challenge you’re facing, no matter what experience you’re going through, and as hard as it is, don’t fret and anguish over what you haven’t got. Rather, be appreciative and grateful for what you do have, express gratitude for what you do have. Express gratitude whenever and wherever you can. Express positive thoughts, say positive things, watch funny movies, listen to positive music. In other words, do everything that you humanly can to encourage your brain and your heart to hold on, to think positive and to be grateful and to express gratitude and you will be surprised. You will be surprised, pleasantly so, at the results.

I know. I know from first hand and personal experience. So although the road may be long and the challenge may seem formidable, though the foe may seem as though Goliath, hang in there. Fight the fight. Be positive, be grateful and appreciative and be persistent. And in so doing if your cause is just and right, in time I know your battle will be won.

If you have any questions or thoughts for me feel free to reach out to me and I’ll be delighted to respond to you as I can. Thanks for watching and I do hope that you enjoy a positively terrific day today. Thank you and bye for now. And remember – I forgot – love wins. I’m out.

I wanted to make a video for people who had agoraphobia and wanted to get Social Security or SSI. I know some people in whom agoraphobia develops overnight, just like it did for myself, and in some people it takes years to get to that point where they are full-blown agoraphobic. So maybe they’ll have a little bit of doctor records and stuff under their belt. For people like me who never got treated for anxiety or depression or anything like that, prior to developing agoraphobia, now we’re stuck in a situation where if we’re going to leave our home, we know we need a doctor. But what are people like us to do who develop agoraphobia overnight and can’t find a doctor or anybody who wants to support us, but yet we need money to support our family?

Well, I’ll share some of the things that I did. If you go to my website, there is a link on there called “Social Security and Me” that talks about my little journey with Social Security and what happened to me in 2007. Basically, I signed up for Social Security in November of 2007, I got my doctor in November 2007, she was a psychologist. Basically she came to my house, and the first mistake that I made … and make sure that if you get a doctor that she will support your claim … because I came to find out that she wouldn’t give Social Security my medical records once I asked her to. And basically she was anti-Social Security and I couldn’t get her to give up my records. So that is a major problem to say the least because the thing about it is when you tell people you got a problem they say, “Well, sign up for Social Security or SSI”. And what a lot of people don’t think about, apparently, is that you need proof; just like in a court of law you need proof to make your claim. That’s the same thing for Social Security or SSI; you need proof. I would say at least 6 months to a year.

If good solid proof of going to a psychologist, psychiatrist – whatever it is under your belt – before you should even file a claim. And make sure that this psychologist or psychiatrist or general practitioner or whoever you are going to, will give up your records. Make sure you have that conversation before you even call Social Security or go to the Social Security office.

Yes, you can call Social Security and sign up over the phone. You can do your interview over the phone where they ask you what is wrong with you and all that good stuff. Another thing that you might be worried about is: “What if I don’t have enough medical records and they want to send me to a doctor?” And the common misconception even with Social Security themselves is … because when I had my interview on December 3rd of 2007, I told the lady that did the interview “Look, I won’t be able to go to a doctor even if they send me” because she said, “You don’t have many medical record to they’re going to most likely send you to a doctor. Will that be a problem?” I said, “Yeah, it will be because I have agoraphobia”. And she said, “Well, you’re pretty much screwed”. I said, “I bet you I’m not” and come to find out in the end I was right. They sent a psychologist to my house to do my evaluation. It can be done. Don’t let anybody tell you any different. One way to make sure this happens is to call your DDS examiner. Your DDS examiner is the person who handles your claims. Social Security doesn’t handle your claims. They let somebody who’s called a DDS examiner handle your claims; that’s the “Disability Determination Service”. Those are the ones that determine whether you’re disabled or not for Social Security. So make sure that when you get the letters in the mail that says, “This person is your examiner or case worker”, you call him every now and then and ask him, “What’s going on with your case, do you need anything?”. And if you send him paperwork ask him, “Was that good enough, do you need more?” Because the only thing this will do is speed up your claim and it keeps you in contact with your DDS examiner.

99% of people apparently don’t even do this; they just sign up for Social Security and they wait for Social Security to send them a letter in the mail saying “We need this” and then they send it back. They don’t even know if Social Security got the letter or not. So, keep in contact, keep in contact, keep in contact with your DDS examiner. Call them. I cannot stress that enough.

One time, when I signed up Social Security that day and I had that lady telling me, “You will not be able to get Social Security because you won’t be able to go to a doctor for evaluation”. I called a lawyer; I got a lawyer even before I got denied for Social Security, because the lawyer knew over the phone they would deny me. So basically what happened was everything that got sent to me had to go through my lawyer to Social Security. So basically what happened was one day they needed a letter from my doctor. My doctor did an evaluation of me and I called her to give it to me telling her I need it for a medical card, when actually I was going to send it to Social Security and try to get a medical card. So she gave me this big evaluation saying, “He cannot work right now. He’s got Generalized Anxiety Disorder, GAD” and all that different stuff. Which was the truth; she didn’t lie. She gave me two copies; I sent one to my lawyer. About a week later I called my DDS examiner – which a lot of people don’t do – and I asked, “Did you get that?” and she said “No”. I called my lawyer, they said they haven’t received it. And then the lawyer said “We haven’t even received it”. So from that point on I skipped the lawyer. I sent the DDS people the paperwork myself. In the end, the lawyer might not have paper work that the DDS examiner might have that they don’t have, but they can always get it themselves. Right now I’m worried about myself. That lawyer wants just $2,500 whenever it goes to court.

But right now I’m just worried about myself. So make sure you call. That’s an example; she wouldn’t even have got that, and that was a really important part of my case, and I handled it myself. So anyway, I got turned down and the reason why I got turned down was I didn’t have any evidence, I didn’t have anything to backup my claim. And people tell you, when you get denied, even if you have evidence, file it. Yes, that’s true. File it. l file it. If you have a doctor, file it if you have somebody who will back you up and say, “He is messed up in the head, he cannot work for at least a year”. You need your doctor to be able to say “For at least a year”, not 6 months or 8 months. That is one of the conditions that in order to get Social Security disability you have to be disabled for at least a year. The doctor has to put on that letter, “I think for the next year he will be unable to work.” And so those are a few tips.

If you have any more questions be sure to write to me, check out my website www.anxiety-agraphobia.com. The link on there is called “Social Security and Me“. It tells a little bit more about documents that Social Security sent me that I have on my website. Even what the denial letter said. So if you’re curious about any of that, why not check it out. If you have anxiety or some kind of other anxiety disorder, or if you got agoraphobia in particular, be sure to check that out.

Bob: Hi everybody. Bob here with another version of “What The Heck?” This is episode 8. Today we’re going to talk about Social Security, and specifically about disability. If you think the regular Social Security system is screwed up, you haven’t seen anything yet. I’m going from experience here. I’ve been dealing with these people for 19 years, so I know something about this.

Okay, I’m going to give you the exact situation we’ve been in. My wife, Mary, suffered from several brain tumors 19 years ago. They removed four of them with no problems. The fifth one did damage coming out. It actually killed her and they had to bring her back. She suffers from short term memory loss, she has some severe balance problems, she has some vision problems, and she has a decent case of Bell’s palsy as well. And she had a lot of radiation therapy, a lot of chemo therapy. And when all this happened, the insurance company pulled pre-existing clause. Fortunately, the hospital actually sued the insurance company on our behalf, and they won. So they got paid. We made a deal with the hospital that as long as we testified on their behalf, they would never come after us, which is good because that was over a million dollars’ worth. My wife was in the hospital for several months. She actually was in a coma undergoing surgery on our first anniversary. But we’re going to go back to Social Security disability.

We originally filed for Social Security disability not too long after this all happened. About a month later we get an appointment to go see a doctor. Okay, they’re going to evaluate her. He just asked a couple of questions, took one look at her and said, “Okay, thank you” and then we left and we got a denial notice in the mail. Okay, we accepted it and went on with our merry way. I felt, “Hey, I was working, I had insurance, so what the hell. It didn’t really matter”.

So, about two years later my wife gets into a traumatic brain injury program, and there is a social worker there. I can’t, for the life of me, remember her name. I think Mary probably would remember it. But she asked us why Mary wasn’t getting Social Security disability, and we told her she was denied. She asked, “How many times did you appeal it?” I asked, “Appeal it? You can appeal them? I had no idea”. So she put all the paper work together, she had all the doctor’s paperwork from the TVI programs she was in, we pushed it through, and we got her disability.

Now, remember we got denied in our first attempt? Turns out that’s standard operating procedure. They do that to eliminate the people who are doing it fraudulently. Unless you are in a coma, you will get denied; plain and simple. Your first attempt will be denied. Always appeal, that’s the one lesson we learnt: always appeal. Because if you win your appeal, however long it takes, you’re still accumulating money. You see, your money accumulation starts the day you apply.

So if it takes 2 months to get to you, they owe you 2 months’ back checks. With us, it was 2 and a half years. They had to send us 2 and a half years of back checks. They sent to us all in one check. It was like $10,000 at the time. No, it wasn’t $10,000, it was like $8,000 at the time. But we got about 2 years’ worth of back checks. That was quite nice; that brought me a car. But always appeal it, and if your first appeal doesn’t go through for some reason, get a lawyer. A lawyer costs you nothing. Appeals lawyers for Social Security disability make a set amount. They’re paid by the government, win or lose. Let me say that again – Social Security disability lawyers, win or lose, are paid for by the government. Not paid for by you, although they are your attorney, they are your advocate; they are paid by the government. And it’s not as an employee of the government, it’s the government pays their fee, win or lose. So they’re obviously going to be on your side, because they want you to win. That’s why these people do it. And you see the advertisements on TV every once in a while that say, “Oh, we went all the way up to Alaska to help this guy”. Yeah, because you’re billing the federal government. They get paid a fee. And it’s different for every lawyer, they submit a bill to the federal government, the federal government decides “we’re going to pay you this much,” and they take it. But after the first appeal if you’re still not getting it, get a lawyer.

Now, you’re going to be re-evaluated every 3 years. What they do is they tell you that you have to go to this doctor at this point in time if you want to keep getting your benefits. No matter what, you’ll still keep getting it up until the day they say you’re denied. But it’s called a re-evaluation and usually it’s just a formality. Once you get a number of years in, like we have, I believe after 12 years or 15 years they don’t even bother re-evaluating anymore. We should have had 2 evaluations that we haven’t had. So it might be after 12 years. We should have had re-evaluation last year and we didn’t, and then we should have had a re-evaluation 4 years ago, and we didn’t. So I think they just give up after that.

That’s Social Security disability in a nutshell. Remember these two rules: 1) always appeal and 2) after the first appeal, get a lawyer. And you’ll do fine. To be totally honest, though, on the first appeal you’ll probably get it. Unless you utterly do not deserve it anyway, you’ll probably get it. Because that first denial is just to get rid of the frauds. That’s all.

My name is Bob, this has been “What The Heck?” and if you have opinions different than mine, or if you agree with mine – whichever – please go ahead and comment. I’d love to see your comments and you may just be the one to change my mind. You all have a great day now.

This is not an error but an actual policy of Social Security. It wasn’t always that way; the new rule took effect in June 1982, as a result of PL 97-35, The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 (enacted 8/13/81). [thanks to Larry]

Multiplied by 50 million SS recipients, the amount not paid out because of this rule amounts to approximately $300 million per year. What happens to this money? It’s simply not paid out and therefore remains available for future payouts. But some people are worried that somebody else might be collecting their missing cents, which is a pretty reasonable concern, but fortunately not true.

“I got a fifth-grade math problem for Social Security. The question is, I was told that I will get a benefit of $685.90 by their letter to me. But I have been getting only $685. They shortchange me by 90 cents. So my question is what happened with 90 cents? I don’t know. So I called and I was told that they just drop off 90 cents. It just disappears. I don’t know where, but it just disappears. Now, I was taught that when you round to the last one dollar, you’re supposed to round up if it’s more than 50 cents, so that makes sense that I should get a check for $686 and not $685. But they gave me $685 and they’re saying 90 cents they just drop off. They don’t worry about it.

Well, somebody is collecting those 90 cents. Now, the simple same typical math problem, we can extend that, too. Today there are 50 million people collecting Social Security checks every month. So on the average, they’re collecting 50 cents for every Social Security recipient per month and there are 50 million people so they are collecting $25 million per month times 12, that’s $300 million per year. What happened to those $300 million? Why can’t we get that back? Why are these other people, Citigroup, Bank of America, they are still getting… “

David Kessler M.D.: You can protect yourself from the flu by taking a few simple steps. First, cover your month and nose when sneezing or coughing and encourage those around you to do the same. Next, wash your hands often with soap and water. And most importantly: get a flu shot.

Patty Duke: If you want to do business with Social Security, but don’t wanna visit an office, you can go online to socialsecurity.gov

David Kessler M.D.: Take some precautions during this flu season.

Patty Duke: Go online!

Ed Sarkies: Hello, my name is Ed Sarkies. I work for the Social Security Administration. I’m a field representative at the local Kingston, New York Social Security office. One of the questions that were frequently asked at Social Security, and you know it’s an issue that’s before the public on an ongoing basis and that is, “Ïs Social Security going to be there for me when I’m ready to retire? I’m 55 years of age now and from what I read in the newspapers, Social Security is in desperate financial straits at the present time or in the near future, it’s possible that maybe there’s no money available for me when I reach age 62 or when I reach age 66? So what’s the story on that topic?”

Well, I can start here and say that Social Security in a historical sense has existed making payments since January of 1940. It was passed into law in 1935. It started payments in January of 1940 and it has not missed any payments since that date to the present time. So it’s a program of long longevity. It’s probably the most successful government program that’s ever been in existence. To make payments from 1940 to the present without missing a payment shows a substantial significant successful program. The government is not going to let Social Security flounder financially.

Changes definitely have to be made with Social Security. In fact, the financial outlook for Social Security if no changes are made in the way Social Security payments are presently being sent out, that is if no legislative changes are made, Social Security is going to not be able to pay all its beneficiaries by the year 2037. At that point, what will happen if no legislative changes are made, if no changes are made in the Social Security System, only 75 percent of the people receiving Social Security benefits will be able to receive their benefits. There is going to be a shortcoming or shortfall of about 25 percent at that time.

So, of course, the system can’t work. It can’t continue to exist if that dire outlook exists. But what’s going to have to happen is there is going to have to be a consensus, a political consensus, to make the important changes in Social Security.

What those changes may be? I don’t know, but it’s going to be basic things like either reduction in the amount of the Social Security benefit payments, changes into who these benefits are payable to, or on the other side of the coin, an increase in the amount of the Social Security taxes. Whatever it may be, Social Security is going to need some changes. It’s going to need some legislative attention soon, and so at that point, when these changes, these necessary changes are made, Social Security, I’m sure, will continue on as it has been since 1940, again, being the most successful government program that’s ever existed.

Bret Baier: We told you last week that there will be no cost of living increase next year for more than 50 million Social Security recipients because of an absence of inflation, but the Obama administration wants to send seniors a check for $250 anyway. Well, apparently, the rules of how to actually get that check have just come out.

Voice: In these tough times, President Obama is pleased to offer America’s seniors $250 bonus. To receive your money, simply go to 250bonus.gov and print out the six-page form. Upon completion of the form, hand-deliver it to Social Security headquarters in Washington, Room 740 7th Floor. Sorry, no elevator access. You’ll be given a unique 17-digit code, which you enter at the US Treasury’s toll-free number when you hear the prompt. Please listen carefully as the 24 menu options have recently changed. You’ll receive Form SP-250 within 6 to 8 weeks. Complete the form, have it countersigned by your local postmaster, then just scan it, convert it to a PDF file and send it as an email attachment to your nearest Federal Reserve Bank. That’s all there is to it.

Bret Baier: Thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. That’s it for Special Report; fair, balanced and unafraid.

Reporter: This morning on today’s Fountain of Youth: Maximizing Social Security Payouts. More than 52 million Americans who draw Social Security will not see a cost of living increase next year. But according to US News and World Report’ Fall Money Issue, there are ways to pump up your benefits. Sharon Epperson is the MSNBC’s personal finance correspondence. Sharon, good morning.

Sharon Epperson: Good morning.

Reporter: First, before we get to the ways to pump up your benefits, let’s talk about why no cost of living increase this year.

Sharon: No cost of living increases because it’s tied to consumer prices and consumer prices have been going down. This is the first time that there’s not going to be a cost of living increase since 1975. But President Obama is trying to urge Congress to have a $250 one-time fee paid to retirees.

Reporter: To compensate for that.

Sharon: To compensate for that, but there’s a lot of debate.

Reporter: But that may or may not pass.

Sharon: It may or may not pass.

Reporter: Okay, so let’s talk about what we need to do, then we’ll know what we need to do in terms of pumping up our benefits. You talk about delay claiming benefits and we’ve got a graphics here to tell you why it’s so important.

Sharon: Well, a lot of people maybe thinking, “I’m really strapped right now. I want to get the money as soon as I can.” But keep in mind if you delay your benefits, you can get a lot more money. If you take it at age 62, you will get 25 percent less money in your monthly check than if you wait until full retirement age at 66. So that will be $750, let’s say, for one payout example versus $1,000. You wait until age 70, for each year that you wait up until age 70, you’ll get an 8 percent increase. You can get as much as $1,320 on this example.

Reporter: And hand in glove with that is if you want to pump up your benefits, you should be working longer, right?

Sharon: That’s right. You should be working longer because what the Social Security Administration counts is your 35 highest paying years, so where you earn the most money. So if you are in your 60s and you’re making more money than you ever made before, you want to continue working.

Reporter: Okay, now, also there is a way to take spousal benefits and keep working. What is that about?

Sharon: Well, there are two ways that you can get benefits if you’re a couple. One is you can get a spousal benefit. That’s 50 percent of your spouse’s benefit or you can get your own benefit. You can’t get both, but you can get one or the other and you probably want to take whichever is higher.

Reporter: Okay, and couples can maximize just simply doing what?

Sharon: Well, they can maximize it by taking a look at what their retirement age is. Hopefully, they’re going to wait until full retirement age, but the reality is some couples may not be able to do this. So if you’re the lower-earning spouse, you want to take it early, but wait for the person who is making more money to take their benefit after retirement age, if possible.

Reporter: So then one or the other should be delaying retirement, right?

Sharon: If possible.

Reporter: Depending on who is making the most?

Sharon: If possible.

Reporter: Okay, also, life expectancy is a major factor. What’s your best advice on how we should factor that in?

Sharon: Well, everyone is going to say, “Wait a minute. I don’t know if I’m going to live until 70. I really want to take this money now.” It really depends on your genetics, on your parents’ life expectancy per se, and your health.

Reporter: You’re going to make a guess.

Sharon: You have to make a guess, but a good way to make an educated guess is to go to Livingto100.com, a very good calculator to help you figure out what your life expectancy is going to be.

Reporter: Well, Sharon Epperson trying to help us in our waning years.

Sharon: That’s right.

Reporter: Thank you so much.

Mike Kilburn: A much bigger problem than healthcare in this country is the financial stability of our Social Security program. Social Security is the program that needs to change. We need to look at the retirement age. We need to look at how we fund Social Security. You know, you only pay Social Security premiums on the first $100,000. You know, anyone making over $100,000 doesn’t pay any premium on that last end of their salary. So if we would revise that, I’m sure we could put Social Security back on a good footing. But we’ve got to get on top of it or people aren’t going to get those benefits they worked so hard and expected to have when they retire.

Bill: Joining us for more on this is Dina. So does the government have anything left now to sweeten the pill for those on Social Security?

Dina Gusovsky: Indeed they do. Now millions of Social Security recipients, as you said, will not see an increase in their monthly payments next year, because the cost of living has decreased. But, the federal government says it’s going to give them a onetime payment of $250, which of course will cost the government billions of dollars, considering how many seniors there are. So, is this really warranted, and how much is it going to contribute to the national debt?

Well, joining me is Gerald Celente from the Trends Research Institute. Mr. Celente, thank you so much for speaking to me. So, help me understand this – if the cost of living is decreasing, then why are seniors getting anything at all?

Gerald Celente: Well, first of all, the cost of living isn’t decreasing. What they are doing in Washington is the same thing they do on Wall Street. They cook the book. What they’ve done is they’ve cooked the cost of living. For example, one time it used to be a fixed basket of goods. Now it’s a variable basket of goods. So let’s say that the price of gasoline goes up, they say, “Oh, no no. It really didn’t go up. The quality of air went up, so therefore, the cost of gasoline went down.” They’re doing everything they can to shortchange the people. So it’s going to cost the government 13 billion dollars to give the people a couple of bucks that they will hardly feel at all.

Dina Gusvsky: Well, that’s another thing I wanted to ask you. Where did they come off with this figure? What’s $250 going to do?

Geralnd Celente: Well, they’re just making something up, just like they make up the numbers. These numbers have nothing to do with reality. The reality is that what they’re measuring now is a declining standard of living. So let’s say at one time they measured you going into a retail store and buying some clothes. Now they’re going to measure you going into a discount store, or a dollar store, to buy your goods and services. They didn’t even take into account the rising prices of housing. The way they measure it is, “How much can you rent your house for? Even though, let’s say, you are paying $4,000 a month for that mortgage, you can only rent it for $1,500, so therefore the cost didn’t go up, it went down.” They’re cooking the books just like they do on Wall Street.

Dina Gusvsky: So is this essentially a political move, because these payments are going to be issued just before the mid-term elections. Is this kind of a bribe, would you say, because politicians rely on seniors to vote?

Gerald Celente: Of course it is. The people are seething from the tens of billions of dollars that executives are getting in pay, and the Wall Street bonuses that were given to them, via the people, through the bailout programs. So they’re throwing the people a couple of crumbs to keep them quiet and to say, “Hey, we’re in your corner and we’re doing the best we can to help you”. It’s political jive talk.

Dina Gusvsky: Is this a second stimulus then? Because the government has been very careful about how it words this. What do you think?

Gerald Celente: Well, it’s not a stimulus. But what it is doing is that the effect is the same. Follow the dollar and follow gold prices. Gold prices are hitting historic highs. The dollar is now worth 16% on year, and what it is doing is it is devaluing the dollar and a continuation of very, very irresponsible Federal Reserve policies. It’s just building up more debt, that’s all it’s doing.

Dina Gusvsky: Well, speaking about that, how does Barack Obama plan to finance this? He hasn’t been clear on that, either.

Gerald Celente: Same way they finance everything, by just selling more debt. They’re monetizing debt, and so that’s all we’re seeing, again. The results can be seen on the markets. Current events form future trends. You know, they’re talking about the DOW hitting 10,000. Well, the DOW first hit 10,000 ten years ago. Since that time, the dollar has lost 36% against the Swiss franc and the euro. Ten years ago an ounce of gold was selling at $280/ounce, not $1,050/ounce as it is today. And ten years ago, a barrel of oil was going for under $17, not nearly $77 a barrel. So you can see what they’re doing; devaluing the dollar. The cost of living index is really just chasing America’s lowering standards of living.

Dina Gusvsky: That’s a very interesting point, Mr. Celente. I want to thank you for your analysis, as always. And right now I’m going to throw it back to you in Moscow, Bill. But we will be here in just one hour bringing you another live up-to-date report.

Bill: Thanks very much indeed, Dina. And as Dina says…

Senator Bernie Sanders: On October 15th, it is expected that social security administration will announce for the first time in 35 years that seniors will not receive a COLA. Based on the formula, that by law they are obliged to use, they came to the conclusion that there is no inflation this year for seniors, and in fact their understanding is that prices for seniors have declined.

In my view, that is a wrong formulation. And I believe that it simply does not accurately reflect the purchasing habits of seniors. Seniors right now – I know this will come as a great shock – are not rushing out to discount stores to buy laptops, computers or iPods. What seniors now are purchasing, what they need, is health care prescription drugs. And the evidence is overwhelming that seniors spend a disproportionate percentage of their limited incomes on health care and prescription drug needs. And those costs, sadly, are not declining. They are, in fact, going up.

Rep. Peter DeFazio: As Senator Sanders noted earlier, a much more accurate measurement of the poverty level for seniors would show that it’s twice what we measure it at. We don’t have a good measure of what the inflation rate is for seniors. But we do know that pharmaceutical costs continue to escalate, medical care costs continue to escalate. Their rents or mortgages haven’t gone down. Their utilities have likely gone up. You know, nothing else that they have to consume has gone down in price over the last year. So, this modest $250 one-time payment to seniors would be basically equivalent to a 2% cost of living adjustment. It would help them meet some of those bare necessity costs.

Barbara B. Kennelly: And I am here today to deliver a 120,000 petitions saying “Hey, guess what? We need a COLA! Guess what, we’ve got some problems! We are the seniors of the United States. We are the seniors that built this county to be the country it is.” And I’m so delighted that these gentlemen are right behind that.

Let me give you the facts – 43% increase in Part A since 2000, 50% increase in Part B since 2000. Part D – now listen to this – Part D has a 130% increase. Those are prescription drugs.

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse: In Rhode Island, our seniors have a bigger proportion of their income come from social security than almost any other state. And we have seen, with real impact, what the other speakers have described. Which is – seniors seeing electric utility rates go up, seniors seeing pharmaceutical costs go up, seniors seeing all the real costs of their living go up. And with no real help in sight.

Senator Bob Casey: The least that we should do in the midst of the terrible recession, for older citizens and for families all across the country, is to make sure that we can provide some measure of relief that this legislation provides. That’s why we support it, no matter when it would come up, but especially in the midst of this economic darkness that so many families, so many older citizens have had to endure.

Rep. Maurice Hinchey: A failure to provide a Social Security COLA in 2010 for seniors would be a very critical mistake and have a very negative impact on them. And also, given the economic circumstances our country has faced over the course of this past year – actually, over the course of past two years – this economic downturn has pushed a decline in the standard of living of many seniors. Many have seen their home values drop, their pension funds severely decline, and their savings, in many instances, undermined and disappearing.

Estelle Lenet: My name is Esther Lenette and I am a resident of Montgomery county, Maryland. I’m 91 years old, and blessed to still be living independently. My only source of income is Social Security and I want to say that without Social Security, I don’t know where I’d be today. I really don’t. Getting a COLA next year doesn’t mean I’m going to be able to live extravagantly, but it means that I can keep up with my financial responsibilities and pay for the basics, especially the medical care that helps me stay independent. My thanks to the members of Congress for working to pass a COLA for seniors. Thank you!

Law Does Not Provide for a Social Security Cost-of-Living Adjustment for 2010

With consumer prices down over the past year, monthly Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits for more than 57 million Americans will not automatically increase in 2010.  This will be the first year without an automatic Cost-of-Living Adjustment (COLA) since they went into effect in 1975.

“Social Security is doing its job helping Americans maintain their standard of living,” Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security said.  “Last year when consumer prices spiked, largely as a result of higher gas prices, beneficiaries received a 5.8 percent COLA, the largest increase since 1982.  This year, in light of the human need, we need to support President Obama’s call for us to make another $250 recovery payment for 57 million Americans.”

The Social Security Act provides that Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits increase automatically each year if there is an increase in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) from the third quarter of the last year to the third quarter of the current year.  This year there was no increase in the CPI-W from the third quarter of 2008 to the third quarter of 2009.  In addition, because there was no increase in the CPI-W this year, under the law the starting point for determinations regarding a possible 2011 COLA will remain the third quarter of 2008.

Some other changes that would normally take effect in January 2010 based on the increase in average wages also will not take effect, even though average wages did increase.  Since there is no COLA, the statute prohibits an increase in the maximum amount of earnings subject to the Social Security tax as well as the retirement earnings test exempt amounts.  These amounts will remain unchanged in 2010.  The attached fact sheet provides more information on 2010 Social Security changes.

Information about Medicare changes for 2010, when available, will be found at www.Medicare.gov.  The Department of Health and Human Services has not yet announced if there will be any Medicare premium changes for 2010.  Should there be an increase in the Medicare Part B premium, the law contains a “hold harmless” provision that protects about 93 percent of Social Security beneficiaries from paying a higher Part B premium, in order to avoid reducing their net Social Security benefit.  Those not protected include higher income beneficiaries subject to an income-adjusted Part B premium and beneficiaries newly entitled to Part B in 2010.  On September 24th, the House passed legislation by 406-18 that would, on a fully paid-for basis, prevent abnormally large premium increases.  The President is calling on the Senate to enact this legislation before it becomes too late for the Social Security Administration to update its computer systems to implement this needed change.

For additional information about the 2010 COLA, go to www.socialsecurity.gov/cola.

Nancy Pelosi: Medicare is our solemn pledge, a pledge of stability for our seniors. They paid into the system and we want them to get everything they deserve out of it. What we are promising with our new legislation is the following: better benefits, closing the doughnut hole and lowering drug costs, ensuring free preventive care and better primary care. Number 1 is better benefits. Number 2 is guaranteed access to your doctors for our seniors. Eliminating the 21% pay cut your doctor was facing for Medicare reimbursements, ensuring that these doctors will be able to care for our seniors, especially in rural areas. And third, extended financial stability of Medicare.

Extending the solvency of Medicare trust fund for 5 years. Cutting waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare, and re-investing those savings in benefit improvements. And focusing healthcare dollars on care and benefits, instead of overpayments to private insurance companies.

John Dingell: This is the gavel I used when I presided over the House when we passed Medicare in 1965. I want to reintroduce some of the comments that my Republican colleagues were making when I was sitting up in the chair using this gavel. Here is what Carl Curtis, senator from Nebraska, said about Medicare: “It is not needed, it is socialism. It moves the country in a direction which is not good for anyone, whether they’re young or old. It charts a course from which there will be no turning back. It is not only socialism, it is brazen socialism.” Sounds a little like what they’re saying about the health bill that we’re pushing.

Barbara B. Kennelly: I stand here as a senior, absolutely appalled at what I’ve heard all summer. Absolutely appalled. Max Richmond, my vice-president is somewhere here. We have gone around the country and done townhall meetings with members of Congress. And I hear things that are absolutely wrong, and all that din and all that noise doesn’t tell what Speaker Pelosi’s bill does. And so that’s why I am here today, to make sure that seniors understand what is going on right now. And you know, here is the big problem. Seniors think, and they’ve been told, if we don’t have healthcare reform that they can have the status quo. Well, they can’t. Because healthcare costs are increasing. We all know about how much all healthcare costs are increasing.

Martin Heinrich: We know, as you’ve heard before today, that the status quo is unsustainable. American seniors included simply can’t afford to keep paying the rising costs of health insurance, and our seniors shouldn’t have to choose between necessary prescription drugs and paying their utility bills. The house bill does a great deal for seniors. It weighs deductibles and co-pays for preventative care. It improves quality and lowers costs, extending the solvency of the Medicare program, and cracks down on unscrupulous companies who would take advantage of our seniors. Significantly, the bill will reduce and eventually eliminate the prescription drug doughnut hole. There is no issue that I hear more about from my seniors than closing the doughnut hole in Medicare Part D.

Gerry Johnston: I’m Gerry Johnston, and I’m a causality of a medicare doughnut hole. Last year, as I was refilling a prescription, I was told that I owed a hundred dollars. I thought, “They must be mistaken”, since I had been asked to pay that much before. But no, I was told I was in the doughnut hole and if I wanted to get my pain relief for my back, I would have to pay the $100. It was a terrible surprise because I didn’t have room in my budget to pay for the medicine that allows me to manage my chronic back pain. I was torn between going without the prescription and coping with the pain of putting the charge on my credit card, and hoping I could work out something later. I’m glad to be here today to speak for the millions of seniors who understand that we can’t reform Medicare and solve the doughnut hole problem unless we address the healthcare reform bill overall. Most seniors are on fixed incomes, as myself, and don’t have a lot of options when it comes to paying their rising health costs bills. We need reform now. Thank you so much.

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced that for the first time since 1999, the agency has ended the year with fewer disability hearings pending than in the prior year. Social Security ended fiscal year (FY) 2009 with 722,822 hearings pending compared to 760,813 hearings pending at the start of the year, a reduction of more than 37,000 cases. Over the same period, the average processing time for these cases improved from 514 days in FY 2008 to 491 in FY 2009.

“Our backlog reduction plan is working, and progress is accelerating,” Commissioner Astrue said. “Even in the face of a significant increase in our workloads as a result of the worst recession since the Great Depression, we have reduced the hearings backlog for nine consecutive months. Thanks to the efforts of thousands of hardworking Social Security employees and the additional funding we received from President Obama and the Congress, we have exceeded our backlog reduction goal for this year.”

To achieve its backlog reduction goals, the agency has embarked on the largest expansion in decades of its capacity to hear disability appeals. This year, the agency hired 147 new Administrative Law Judges (ALJs) and 850 support staff and plans to hire 226 additional ALJs plus support staff in FY 2010. To provide flexibility to assist the most backlogged hearing offices, the agency opened three new National Hearing Centers (NHCs) in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Baltimore, Maryland; and Chicago, Illinois. The agency also has aggressive plans to open 14 new hearing offices and 4 satellite offices by the end of next year with the first of those new offices opening in Anchorage, Alaska in the next few months.

In addition to reducing the number of cases awaiting a hearing decision, the agency again targeted the oldest and most difficult cases for processing. Beginning in FY 2007 with 65,000 cases that were 1,000 days old or older, the agency has continually attacked its “aged” cases. This year, the agency targeted 166,838 cases that were 850 days or older and virtually eliminated this entire universe of cases. The goal in FY 2010 has been reset again to eliminate cases over 825 days old.

Social Security’s ALJs also continue to increase their productivity. The agency averaged 570 dispositions (2.28 per day) per available ALJ in FY 2009, an upward trend that has continued for the last three years.

For more information about Social Security’s hearings process and backlog reduction initiatives, go to www.socialsecurity.gov/appeals.

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced the establishment of a new Financial Literacy Research Consortium (FLRC), made up of research centers at Boston College, the RAND Corporation, and the University of Wisconsin. The FLRC, supported through five-year cooperative agreements, will develop innovative materials and programs to help Americans plan for a secure retirement.

“We have a responsibility to help the public understand the role of Social Security benefits and the need for them to save as they plan for their future,” said Commissioner Astrue. “Consequently, we have launched a research initiative to better inform the public about retirement saving options.”

The FLRC will tailor materials for Americans at different stages of their working lives – new workers, mid-career professionals, near-retirees, and those who have already left the workforce – to address the different challenges these individuals face. The FLRC also will help traditionally underserved populations better understand the path toward a secure retirement.

“The consortium constitutes an impressive collection of expertise and resources with a deep understanding of issues related to financial literacy,” Commissioner Astrue said. “We look forward to building a strong partnership with the FLRC as well as with other federal agencies with similar missions. In these challenging economic times, this partnership will help Americans to solidify their financial future.”

What is your experience? Are your costs of living going up? Should COLA be redefined so that it is more consistent with reality?

Mr. Shepard Smith: For many, many years, some would argue when it’s politically expedient to do so, critics on both sides of the aisle have claimed that Social Security was going to go completely bankrupt. I mean, bankrupt, it’s over, unless the entire system is drastically overhauled. We’ve all heard it.

Well, today, there’s a preview of things to come again. For the first time since the 1970s, the Federal government will not be giving seniors a cost of living increase (COLA). The amount on the checks will instead stay the same, but as healthcare costs rise, what this basically amounts to is a smaller Social Security check for seniors. I mean, if you look at it, that’s what it is.

Complicating matters, millions of babyboomers are now preparing to become senior citizens and it’s the babyboomers that we’ve known all about for decades and all of a sudden, it’s a crisis. With us now is financial consultant and money manager, Rodney Anderson. Rodney, it’s great to see you. Thank you.

Mr. Rodney Anderson: Thanks, Shep.

Mr. Shepard Smith: It’s not as if we didn’t know that babyboomers were about to get older, they are. We’ve known it for decades that it was coming. I mean, please don’t tell me this is the end of Social Security because we all know better. Every time they say it, they just find more money for it and make it work. Otherwise, they’d get voted out of office, right?

Mr. Rodney Anderson: Well, the decision to freeze Social Security is like putting a band aid on a compound fracture. We’re seeing where seniors are having their benefits cut and their cost of healthcare go up. We’re seeing them where they’re having their investments, which are the 401ks or IRAs just plummet down but not only that, we’re seeing their investments such as their CDs and their savings rates go down and this is where they lived off of. But many of these seniors through healthcare are having to finance their debt, debt that they’ve never had to finance before and that is being taken on by credit cards and then we have the banks raising everybody’s credit card rates and it’s killing the seniors and that’s why more and more are going into bankruptcy right now.

Mr. Shepard Smith: Well, it’s killing everybody to bankruptcy. And quite frankly it’s killing the seniors, but I don’t know… I don’t know how that leads us to say that this is the beginning of the end of Social Security because I’m not going to listen to it for a long time anyway because I’ve been hearing it for so many decades and it never happens. I mean, why would it happen this time?

Mr. Rodney Anderson: Well, in 2016, we don’t have enough money going into Social Security to fund it. But in the year 2037…

Mr. Shepard Smith: Yeah, well, in the previous administration, it was a different year, then in the administration before that, it was different year. It doesn’t matter if you have an R or a D after your name. They say this every few years, here it comes, and then we fund it. I mean, what’s different? Help me.

Mr. Rodney Anderson: Well, what’s different this time is truly because this healthcare crisis is going out of control that they have two major crises in front of them; one of them is healthcare. We’re hearing about it every day every minute of the day. The next one is Social Security. They keep wanting to print money, but pretty soon, Shep, the money is not going to be printed anymore.

Mr. Shepard Smith: And so because we’re not printing anymore money, Social Security is going to go away?

Mr. Rodney Anderson: No, Social Security will not go away, but what seniors will see is they’ll see no cost of living adjustment and what they’ll see is those paychecks, those monthly checks go down.

Mr. Shepard Smith: So…

Mr. Rodney Anderson: It may not go away, but it’s just going to be like Medicare where the benefits are cut every year.

Mr. Shepard Smith: So are you saying that an overhaul of the healthcare system is urgent and must happen to keep Social Security from falling apart? We’ve got the cost down?

Mr. Rodney Anderson: I think it’s a must happen… yeah, it’s a must happen. We have to get the costs down because seniors are being hurt from every side right now.

Mr. Shepard Smith: Well, it sounds like the President agrees with you on this, right? He’s the one who said we got to get the costs down. We’ve got to overhaul. We’ve got to overhaul the whole healthcare system and we’ve got to have a government option in there, that is what he used to say. Is that your sense that that would help save Social Security?

Mr. Rodney Anderson: Well, yeah, I think it will help Social Security in a lot of ways, Shep. But here’s what’s going to happen. I talked to my mom on my way here and mom knows best and mom says, “People can’t even or buying food right now, instead of buying medicine. It is a problem and right in my own family, because the fact of the matter is none of us or we’re all living older and that’s going to bankrupt Social Security.”

Mr. Shepard Smith: Well, I’m not well. We’ve known this was coming. This is not brand new information. We’ve known babyboomers were going to get older. We’ve known it forever. Now, all of a sudden, it’s a crisis. Well, yeah, it is. Babyboomers, they’re getting older. We got to do something about it. The President says he has a plan and the Republican say it’s a bad plan and we’ll see what happens. Rodney Anderson, let’s hope something happens. It’s good to see you. Thank you.

Even if the SS trust fund runs out of money, the government can always print more money to send out Social Security checks.

The only question is, will the money still be worth something? The more money they put out there, the faster its value goes down. And once other countries (like China) recognize that the dollar is losing its value, they will stop buying the US government’s debt.

But even then Social Security doesn’t have to fail. A Ponzi scheme can last for a very long time if it’s supported by a government that can print new money as it sees fit.

The result might well be hyperinflation. In such a scenario, Social Security checks won’t increase every year, but every month. They just won’t buy a whole lot.

If we are to be angry, who should be the target of our wrath?

Mr. Neil Cavuto: Senior citizens are already upset about the direction of healthcare reform and just when you thought they couldn’t get angry, now millions of elderly face shrinking Social Security checks. Trustees who oversee the programs say that the payments will not rise for the first time in a generation. So do seniors have a right to be riled up? Tom, what do you think?

Tom: Absolutely, Neil. They definitely should be angry. There’s a couple of things to look at here. The cost of living adjustment (COLA) is pegged to inflation, which is negative this year. However, the basket that is used to calculate that adjustment is actually calculating things such as the price of DVDs, movie tickets, BluRay machines. They’re now looking at spending patterns that seniors are actually using and that is… there should be a separate basket that is used to calculate that adjustment. That just not there yet.

Mr. Neil Cavuto: But Jonathan, I mean, many of these little rules are going in, right? This is how we’re going to calculate. Now, the two-year thing might be a new deal, but by and large, we always knew we’re going to keep this attached pretty much to the CPI and with very little variation, it’s been working just fine, so what changes things now?

Jonathan: Well, I don’t know, if it’s been working so fine. I mean, Social Security accounts are 20 percent of federal budget. All the entitlements, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security account for 75 percent of all federal spending. I think what’s….

Mr. Neil Cavuto: No, really, my point is that we knew this math was there and now when it turns up that it’s not generous enough, we want to change it.

Jonathan: Right, well, what it does is it pits one generation against the next, right? So those who paid into the system, of course, feel that they’re entitled to get what they deserve out of it. So we have this multi-generational Ponzi schemes essentially that have no end and if you’re frustrated about your Social Security being cut, just wait until the government gets ahold of your healthcare.

Mr. Neil Cavuto: Liz.

Liz: Yeah, I agree. Jonathan is absolutely right. You know, I feel like that people who really should be riled up are the babyboomers. Boomers should be having their own town halls. They’re not going to see this Social Security benefits like the seniors are getting and you know, Social Security, when it was built in the 30s, the life expectancy was 65, and that meant you’re like, you know, you wouldn’t get any pension benefit from Social Security. Now, you know, babyboomers are expected to work until they drop dead and they’ll take a load off of Social Security and won’t get their benefits and you know, what the seniors are expecting, I get it.

But Medicare too was built in the 60s when we didn’t have MRIs, PET scans, CAT scans, all sorts of cancer treatments. Now, the taxpayer is paying for all sorts of those kinds of treatments and also all sorts of advances in stem cell research and neurology and the like. I think the reality check has bounced a long time ago with this.

Mr. Neil Cavuto: Mike, what do you think?

Mike: You know, I bet Jonathan is one of those people that wanted to give Social Security to Wall Street geniuses, so they can lose 50 percent of the money within two years as soon as they got it. I can just hear it. Government doesn’t have a place, but here’s the point, all of this is about, it’s about the fact that the drug…

Mr. Neil Cavuto: By the way… by the way, Mike, you might be surprised to learn that Jonathan was against all the bailouts in the last administration’s rescue.

Mike: Well…

Mr. Neil Cavuto: He wouldn’t rescue his own grandmother. So I’m telling you. I’m telling you he’s been very consistent on this.

Mike: I’m not saying this…

Mr. Neil Cavuto: So that’s an unfair shot, but continue.

Mike: All right. All right. Well, the AAR people better be pleased that government is still in control of Social Security. Here’s the problem. Here’s what happened. The drug industry can charge people whatever they want and because of that, you have something called the Medicare Prescription Drug program. That’s the only thing that has been affected here because the drug industry is able to charge…

Liz: Mike, Mike. Let me ask you. Before…

Mike: Is able to charge the elderly $50 for two…

Liz: Yeah.

Mike: Wait, let me finish what I’m saying. They were able to charge the elderly $50 for a $2 pill and what that does is raise his premiums.

Liz: Right.

Mr. Neil Cavuto: It’s okay. Jonathan, let me ask you.

Jonathan: Right. Right, well, I mean, you want to blend the drug industry and this industry in this business.

Mike: Give it to Wall Street. Orchestrate it. Give it to Wall Street.

Jonathan: And give it to Wall Street. But let me ask you, Mike.

Mike: Yeah.

Jonathan: Are there any of these big entitlement programs that you love so much that aren’t broke? I mean, this isn’t me. This is CBL. This is an estimate all of those that or eat Medicare. Are there any that are not broke?

Mike: Yeah, I would say. What do you think of the VA? What do you think of the VA? What do you think… what do you think of VA? Do you think VA works?

Jonathan: Social Security, Medicare, Mediaid.

Liz: Mike, you know, Mike…

Mike: You know, maybe Social Security is broke is because your GOP took $1.6 trillion out of Social Security while you were saying give the program to Wall Street. Let the elderly invest the money with Wall Street.

Mr. Neil Cavuto: Right, okay.

Jonathan: I’m saying… all I’m saying is…

Liz: You know, Mike, you know, again, the history lesson, the Democrats let the Congress to get their needs on Social Security for the first time in the 60s.

Mr. Neil Cavuto: All right. All right. All right. I wish we have more time. Thank you for talking over one another. Let’s save a hell of a lot of time; otherwise, we’ll have moments of proverbial break.

“This year, through Compassionate Allowances and our Quick Disability Determination process, over 100,000 Americans with severe disabilities will be approved for Social Security disability benefits in a matter of days rather than the months and years it can sometimes take,” said Commissioner Astrue. “We are now looking to add more diseases and impairments to these expedited processes. With today’s hearing, we are expanding our focus from specific rare diseases and cancers to look at subgroups of much broader conditions. Early-onset Alzheimer’s disease is a rapidly progressive and debilitating disease of the brain that affects individuals between the ages of 50 and 65 and clearly deserves our consideration.”

In October 2008, Social Security launched Compassionate Allowances to expedite the processing of disability claims for applicants with medical conditions so severe that their conditions by definition meet Social Security’s standards. To learn more and to view a web cast and pdf testimonies of today’s hearing, go to http://www.socialsecurity.gov/compassionateallowances/hearings0729alt.htm.

“With the aging of the baby-boomers, we are beginning to see more, younger working Americans diagnosed with this devastating disease,” Commissioner Astrue said. “I want to thank the Alzheimer’s Association and their staff, particularly Harry Johns, President and CEO. Their help has been invaluable and many of the witnesses are here at their suggestion. Together, we hope to identify the most severe cases that can be included in our Compassionate Allowances process.”

Dr. Peter Holmes: And good morning and welcome. I’m Dr. Peter Holmes, an orthopedic surgeon and host of your program, Ask the Doctor. My guest this morning is Dr. Byron Limmer. Dr. Limmer is a dermatologist. If you have any question for Byron in the future and my other guest, two ways to reach us, it’s through the foundation and it’s www.kneedfoundation.org or fax, 696-9012.

I’d like to talk about pyramid schemes and your health. Recently, we heard on the news is a gentleman named Madoff who made the news because he bilked some $50 billion off of investors and he did it through what they call a pyramid scheme.

Now, folks, what a pyramid scheme is it’s just that, it’s shaped like a pyramid. You get one person to put money in and he gets notice that his portfolio is worth something and then you get other people to put money in later and you pass some of their money off to the first investor, but for the most part, you spend everybody’s money.

So the person on top is getting a little bit of money, but the key is you have to keep bringing in more and more investors and the pyramid gets wider and wider at the bottom, that’s why it’s called a pyramid.

The money is all gone; it’s just on paper. So the net result is this: you now have this vast fortune of zero. In other words, there’s no money. It’s worth nothing, yet everybody thinks it’s worth something. Any money again going to the top is strictly transferred from new money coming in the bottom.

It sounds pretty ludicrous, doesn’t it? Well, guess what? We have a pyramid scheme in this country and most of you are part of it. It’s called Social Security and Medicare. There is absolutely no difference. You pay your Social Security and Medicare taxes in. That money is being spent in the general budget. It is then put down in the ledger, much like Mr. Madoff, that says “I owe you” (IOU). In other words, the trust fund is owed money by future taxpayers.

So what we have here basically is the money is spent. We have the people retiring now, on Medicare now, and new people coming in the bottom paying to the top. In other words, it is a generation to generation direct transfer of tax revenue. There are zero funds in this trust fund. It’s zero, same as Mr. Madoff’s, nothing.

All we have in the Social Security and Medicare trust funds are IOUs. Now, the problem with this pyramid scheme is that it’s really not a pyramid. What’s happening with the ageing babyboomers as we get older and there are fewer workers below, the pyramid is beginning to look more like a diamond, which is unsupportable in any sort of pyramid scheme.

Your healthcare and your Social Security depends now on a pyramid scheme and they’re both going to collapse. These are my opinions. If you have any comments, two ways to reach me, go to the foundation at www.kneedfoundation.org or fax 696-9012 to Ask the Doctor.

Barack Obama: “I think we’re in a position to be able to, either at the end of this year or early next year, start laying out a broader picture about how we are going to handle entitlements in a serious way. It may start with Social Security because that’s, frankly, the easier one.”

Lady Narrator: On the next Destination Casa Blanca, a large number of Latinos admit not to know anything about retirement saving plans and most of them expect to retire solely on the Social Security funds. But will this money be enough?

Male Speaker: Social Security from the very beginning was not meant to be your retirement plan.

Steve Guss: Exactly. Social Security was intended to provide sometimes referred to as fore-protection upon which people were expected to be building.

Michael Tanner: Every dollar that the government consumes is a dollar that’s not available in the private sector to increase economic growth, to hire people, to make businesses grow, for people to save and invest on their own. There is a cost to doing that.

Lady Narrator: What’s more? Will it even exist?

Male Speaker 2: There is not a long-term Social Security crisis, but there very much is a long-term healthcare crisis.

Michael Tanner: Cutting Social Security benefits angers seniors who are the most powerful voting block there is. Raising taxes on top of all the tax increases we’ve got coming is not good for the economy.

Lady Narrator: Join us for this new edition of Destination Casa Blanca, Thursday, July 2nd, 9 PM, Eastern Time and 6 PM, Pacific Time with an encore at 12 midnight Eastern Time, Pacific Time. Only on HITN educates and entertain.

Lady Narrator: While the economy worsens, the future of Social Security remains uncertain. As many baby boomers approach retirement age, the funds are shrinking and expected to vanish. At the Covello Senior Center, many retirees share their concerns about this problem.

Milagros Ruiz: You know, we need that check. What are we going to live for? I will be in the street because how would I afford gas, electricity and other bills. How else would I be if not for that? Maybe I will have to live in a shelter.

Lady Narrator: Some economists say the future problems Social Security faces are due to the spending and lending of the $1.5 billion in surplus it had into the less people paying taxes after all baby boomers retire. Those who depend on that monthly check talk about what it would be like without it.

Maria Rivera: It will be very difficult for me to survive without those benefits because it helps you, you know. It’s part of all the years in the labor force. It’s money that we have worked for and the help we receive here is very important and very essential because without it, life would be even more difficult for us.

Lady Narrator: Keeping in mind the not too positive future the next generations will face when they retire, some of these seniors made a recommendations based on their own experiences.

Jorge Rivera: I wish I would have had a better job when it was time to retire. If I had known, I would have prepared to have a better job and to save money, so that I would have had something set aside for my golden years.

Milagros Ruiz: There are many people who didn’t think and spent all their money instead of saving it for their retirement. They just spent it all, but you should save. That’s why people no longer went to retirement early because they don’t have enough money and they would get less benefits, so they rather work until the last days, but the sad thing is, that those who work the longest, usually die the soonest.

Lady Narrator: By the year 2016, Social Security will spend more than it collects in taxes. This gloomy forecast has many wondering if they will get any money once they retire. Although Andres Vido is only a few years away from retiring, he shares this concern.

Andres Vido: In this situation, I would have to continue working. One comes to this country to work and progress to find a better way of life. We hope this new president will take care of this. God help him, so he could be able to defend us. If not him, who will?

Lady Narrator: He is among the 78 million baby boomers eligible for early retirement benefits at the age of 62. Although he still has three years left, he is afraid to lose his job before then.

Andres Vido: In my job, they have let go of 80 percent of the workers. They have been laid off and right now, we are only working four days.

Lady Narrator: The good news, he says, is that he has done enough not to depend solely on pension benefits.

Andres Vido: I have been working my way up to save money, here and there, with the goal that I don’t face any problems in the future.

Lady Narrator: And thinking about the future is what he says he has done since he came to this country from the Dominican Republic.

Andres Vido: Since I came to this country 15 years ago, I had bought one of my lots 9 months after I got here. I bought a house through the bank and the other ones I had to work so hard for to build them.

Lady Narrator: But not every future retiree is as prepared as Vido, that’s why there was a push for a reform and the options being weighed into saving Social Security include raising the full retirement age from 65 to 67 and raising the cap on wages, so the higher-earning workers pay more. Even though experts say baby boomers have their money secure, only time will tell if Social Security benefits will last for generations to come.

Lady Speaker: All right, Brian. Thank you. Do you think your Social Security number is safe? Well, you might want to think again. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have found a way to correctly guess your Social Security number just by knowing your state and your date of birth.

Male Speaker: That is frightening. Alessandro Acquisti co-authored a study published in the proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Good morning to you, Alessandro. This is frightening stuff for the people out there.

Alessandro Acquisti: Good morning.

Male Speaker: Because we thought this was somewhat random and people could not predict them. You found otherwise. Tell us how easy this is, to find out someone’s Social Security number.

Alessandro Acquisti: Well, it’s quite easy. It’s too easy in a way. The accuracy of the prediction changes with the state of birth and the year of birth of the person you want to predict. It can go from very low to very high. For instance in certain cases, we can predict first five digits with 90 percent accuracy, meaning 90 percent of the SSN issued in a certain year and state can be predicted with just one attempt. As you can see on the last…

Lady Speaker: All right. Let’s look at one of those examples, Alessandro, so that people get a sense of what you’re talking about.

Alessandro Acquisti: Yes.

Lady Speaker: So if you were born July 8th in Wyoming in 1993, then the first five digits you would automatically know?

Alessandro Acquisti: Then you are not very lucky… yeah.

Lady Speaker: So how do you know automatically the first five digits are 52031?

Alessandro Acquisti: Well, because you… what we discovered is that you can combine information which is publicly available about the assignment scheme, together with other information, also publicly available from the so-called Death Master File, which is the database with the SSN of people who are dead, and you can find patterns of issuance, which allow you to estimate also the SSN of people who are still alive. So by using statistics and data mining, you can predict these digits. So the state and year you were mentioning has a very high accuracy of prediction.

Male Speaker: Alessandro, you say that if it’s a small state or if you’re born after 1988, it’s particularly easy. Why is that?

Alessandro Acquisti: That’s correct. There are two reasons for that. A smaller state has a lower population. Lower population implies fewer births in a given day. Fewer births imply slower transition for the assignment scheme and a slower transition means it’s easier to predict and it’s easier to follow. The other reason is the year. What happened was that for the 1980s and in particular at the end of the 1980s, there were some initiatives which made it more likely that the SSN would be applied for a birth. Once upon a time, you could apply for the SSN at any time of your life.

Lady Speaker: Right. Right.

Alessandro Acquisti: Usually when you start working. After 1987 and 1989, because of the process called EAB, Enumeration at Birth, most of the newborns in the US get their SSN at birth because the parents applied for them. Ironically, these initiatives were intended to decrease identity theft, to avoid fraud.

Lady Speaker: Interesting.

Alessandro Acquisti: These are non-intended consequences, which are creating irregularity, which can be exploited for the kind of reference we showed to be possible.

Lady Speaker: Yeah, well, hopefully, there aren’t many scientists out there as smart as you to figure this system out because otherwise, we’re all in trouble for identity theft.

Male Speaker: Yeah. Yeah.

Lady Speaker: But if you’re born in New York, Dave. You have an advantage because there’s so…

Male Speaker: We have a little more an advantage, but it’s still frightening. Hopefully, we do something about this, Alessandro. We appreciate your time this morning.

David John: The problem is that while I agree that these are “full faith and credits” securities and we haven’t defaulted since sometime in the 1770s or so and we have no plans to do so now, what is actually there is paper and it is a first call on tax revenues. Now, those are tax revenues that are going to come in from income taxes and various other things and, yes, it will all go to the Social Security system.

But at the same time, we still have a problem with healthcare and healthcare is running massive deficits as Mike mentioned, and we have problems with the economic measures we’ve taken in the last six months or so that deal with the economy and unfortunately, we have a lot more demand coming for that tax money than we’re going to have tax money coming in.

Ray Suarez: So when you say “first call on tax money,” after those two trends pass each other and we’re paying out more than we’re taking in.

David John: Right. Right.

Ray Suarez: The Social Security recipients in the 2020s of which I hope to be one, I think.

David John: Me, too.

Ray Suarez: As I hope to be… I mean, in that number, too.

David John: Right.

Ray Suarez: We will also be taking money, not only from people paying Social Security tax or working, but from the general tax revenues of the United States.

David John: Absolutely. And the fact is that we keep taxes to the same level historically, about 18 percent of the economy, the three programs that Mike mentioned, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, are going to suck up every single dollar of that tax revenue starting around 2050 or so and unfortunately, if we could put healthcare issues off to the side and say, “We’ll deal with you later,” Social Security probably would be fairly a simple problem to fix, but we can’t. It’s all coming in together.

Ray Suarez: Well, the same people who are going to want that Social Security check are also going to want the healthcare.

David John: Exactly.

Ray Suarez: Again, all of us getting old and sitting around this table this morning.

David John: Right.

Ray Suarez: So what’s the solution in simple terms? I mean, obviously, you either got to increase the money you collect or say to the people who are hoping to get Social Security checks, “You’re going to get less.”

David John: That’s it.

Ray Suarez: Those are you choices, right?

David John: That’s the bottom line with it when it comes down to it. You can try to make your money work harder by increasing private savings and things like that and the Obama administration is working on that in increasing opportunities for retirement savings and that’s a very crucial element of this whole thing.

We really can’t look at Social Security separately from overall retirement income. But as far as Social Security goes, either we raise taxes and there are costs to that because it makes hiring somebody more expensive and that’s especially true with younger people and lower-skilled workers, or we’re going to have to go through, which is what I think is going to happen is to change benefits. We’re probably going to have raise the retirement age, probably up to 68, 69, something like that, and we’re going to have to focus the money that we got coming in to Social Security even more than we do now on those who need it most.

The biggest misconceptions I hear about Social Security cases are:
“If my doctor agrees I can’t work, surely I will receive benefits”, or “I’m disabled because I can’t return to my old job”, or “It shouldn’t take long to find out if I qualify for disability”.

The truth is that that it doesn’t really matter what your doctor thinks; it’s what he can prove. You must be unable to do any work, not just your old jobs. And it’s going to take up to 2 years if you have to go before a judge.

I believe the biggest mistake made by people applying for disability is that they fail to go to a doctor to obtain the proof they need. The problem is that most people who are disabled can’t afford ongoing medical care.

Because of these mistakes and misconceptions, I have written the book, ‘The Truth About Your Social Security Disability Claim’. This book gives guidance from the first application to the final decision. The book can be downloaded from our home page, or they can call our 1-800 hotline number and request a hard copy. Both of these are free.

Harold Cameron: A lot of people have been messaging me about applying for Social Security disability benefits, either SSI or SSDI, and I’ve had some questions, so I’m going use another message here, if you will, another video to try to help maybe keep it real simple for you as to the process in what the requirements are for you to be eligible for Social Security, that’s SSI or Social Security Disability Income benefits.

SSI is a needs-based disability payments program. In other words, you haven’t paid in enough money because of work, you have no assets and limited means, you would then apply to what’s called SSI. If you have an extensive work history and you have paid into Social Security, then your application will be for SSDI, Social Security Disability Income, that’s based on work history and earnings and Social Security benefits paid in.

So what do you do? The first thing you do is, of course, you get a diagnosis that you’re disabled from a medical doctor or medical practitioner. Youget a very clear medical diagnosis and opinion that you’re disabled. Once you get that opinion that you’re disabled, you can do a couple of things. One, you can go online to www.ssa.gov and you can apply online for your benefits and they’re going to ask you questions about your work history, your education. They’re going to ask you questions about your disability and how it affects you, your diagnosis. They’re going to ask you like what hospitals and clinics and doctors you’ve seen, so they’re going to ask you a lot of different types of questions that relate to your disability and how your disability affects your ability to work, but they’re also going to be asking you about your past history; medical records, clinical records, tests, and all that type of stuff.

So you’re going to want to get together and make a list of the doctor’s you’ve seen, the medications you’re on, the hospitals, the tests, and all that type of information. If you don’t do the application online, you can call your local Social Security Administration Office. You call your local Social Security Administration Office or their 800 number and you schedule an appointment and they can do an intake over the phone if you can’t get into the office, so they’ll schedule a phone appointment with you and then they’ll ask you some basic questions you’ll be able to answer and they’ll need like your birth certificate and they’ll need some other documentation as well based on work history and those types of things. They’ll need your medical records.

So you will want to, if you can, get together copies of all your medical records and reports. Get it all together yourself and make sure you have that available for the Social Security Office. So once you go through the phone process, you might be asked to fill a form out that looks something like this, it’s a green form.

Okay? It’s an adult disability report, adult form, and it’s SSA-3368-BK. They’re going to ask you to fill that up. That will be one type of form that they might require you to fill out and you fill it out very carefully. In other words, you didn’t do it online, so you’re doing it as a result of your phone call and they’re going to ask for information about your condition, your work history, and they’re going to want to know… here is like some things they’re going to need to know; on your jobs, how much did you watch, stand, sit, climb. How heavy things lifted. Okay? And they want to know again about the clinics and hospitals you’re visiting and the medications you’re on and the tests you had done, educational background. So they’re going to want to know that.

Once you filled that out, your information is sent to a State Office of Disability Determination. It’s a state office where a claims adjustor gets your case and reviews your case, then they’re going to send you another lengthy form to fill out and in that form, they’re going to ask you how your disability affects you on a day-to-day basis. You know, do you have pets? Do you care for pets? Do you cook your own meals? Do you bathe yourself? Do you take walks? You know, can you take care of yourself? What about medications? Do you pay your bills? Can you pay your bills? Do you live with somebody else? They’re going to ask you a lot of questions about your day-to-day routines.

Be as honest and as thorough as you possibly can and then you’re going to fax and mail that back to the State Department of Determination Services Office. They’re going to continue to review your claim. Now, if you have got them all of you medical records and reports, if you have all of that information for them, that is going to help you with your claim because you’re not going to have to wait 2, 4, or 6 weeks for doctors and hospitals to respond. So if you can get all that information together, that will be helpful to your claim. It’s very important. They might call you. They might want to talk to you about your claim, your claims adjuster that is from the State Office. They might even send you for one their own medical evaluations and that’s not a bad thing. That’s a good thing.

They want one of their doctors or professionals to evaluate you and evaluate your disability and the nature of your claim and then eventually, they’ll make a final decision. They’ll make a decision, yes or no. Then you have 60 days to appeal. Okay, you have 60 days to ask for a reconsideration. If you wait past your 60 days, then I’ll address this in another issue and another video on what you have to do at that point.

But to reiterate, you can start first, get your proof of disability, a doctor or a medical professional who says you’re disabled. Two, go to www.ssa.gov and fill out both applications online and send it or call their toll-free phone number, which is on the website, and set up an appointment and you can either have a appointment by phone or you can go visit them at your local Social Security Administration office where they’re going to take a general overview and history. Make sure you have your birth certificate with you and, you know, like your proof of address and photo ID and all of that, then after that, and again, get your medical records. Have your medical records with you at that time. Take them with you. Get copies made of those. Have them make copies. Send them along with all the other information to the State Determinations Office and then you’ll start getting the forms back to fill out and as you get them back, fill them out completely and honestly and thoroughly, document everything and send it back and then at some point, they’ll make a decision, yes or no. You have 60 days to appeal and if you’re denied, then we can go from there as far as the next step.

However, I want you to know, not all claims are denied automatically. It’s not an automatic thing. It’s based on your doctor’s reports, your doctor’s statements and based on the nature of your disability and whether it meets their standards of disability.

I hope that this video has helped clarify some issues for you more clearly. If you need help with your claim, you need help and your claim is out there and you’re not sure what’s going on, you have questions about your claim, e-mail me, message me, let me know and I’ll be glad to help you in whatever state you’re in. I’ll be glad to help you with the process. I don’t charge and I don’t ask for any personal information. I just do this to volunteer to help you, so I hope this video has helped you. Again, if you have any thoughts or questions, message me and I’ll be glad to respond. Thank you for watching and I do hope that you have a wonderful, wonderful day. Thanks and bye for now.

–

Thanks Harold for the great advice!

Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security, today announced that the agency plans to open a new teleservice center (TSC) in Jackson, Tennessee, which will be the first new call center opened by Social Security in more than a decade. The Jackson TSC will employ about 175 people once it is fully operational.

“Social Security is facing an unprecedented wave of people needing our services as baby boomers retire,” Commissioner Astrue said. “Response times have been improving significantly, and the new Jackson TSC will help us provide even more timely service to the 60 million Americans who call our toll-free number each year.”

Social Security currently has 35 TSCs operating in locations all across the country. All TSCs take calls from throughout the U.S. and provide service via Social Security’s national toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213 (TTY 1-800-325-0778). Live service is available from 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Automated service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

More than two-thirds of the calls to Social Security’s 800 number come from the Eastern and Central time zones. Jackson was chosen as the site for a new TSC because of the additional capacity needed in these time zones to handle calls. In addition, with four colleges and universities in Jackson and several others within a short commute, the Jackson area will provide Social Security with a highly-skilled and well-educated workforce.

“Social Security consistently ranks as one of the top federal agencies to work for,” noted Commissioner Astrue. “With President Obama having called a new generation of Americans to public service, I am confident that Social Security will become the employer of choice in Jackson.”

Social Security will be working closely with the General Services Administration to facilitate the process for opening the new TSC. The process provides for open competition and normally takes 18 to 24 months to complete.

Hi, this is Don Jorgensen again with MySocialSecurityAttorney.com and this… today’s topic is going to be Social Security Disability Benefits, SSDI vs. SSI, what’s best for me?

Now, in order to understand Social Security, or SSI vs. SSDI, let me take a step back. Social Security, everyone knows or most people know about Social Security retirement. What most people don’t know is that there’s a whole other area of Social Security which is for disability. It’s a safety net for society and that safety net is broken up into two different parts. One is SSI Disability and one is Social Security Disability Insurance benefits.

Now, what’s the difference? From a disability standpoint, they’re exactly the same. In other words, the proof required for SSI is the same as SSDI, but the non-medical proof is what they’re different or where they differ.

Let’s start with SSDI or Social Security Disability Insurance benefits. Now, again, we’re not talking about the medical proof, we’ll talk about it in a minute. It’s the non-medical proof that we’re talking about.

SSDI, if you as an employee have been working fulltime for five out of the last 10 years, then your employer has been paying into the Social Security for you and what’s been happening is you’ve been purchasing essentially an insurance policy in the event you become disabled, and now that you’re disabled, now that you can’t work, that’s when that insurance policy is due and you can collect on it.

Here’s the catch, once you stop working, your insurance policy only continues for five years. Once that five years is up, you no longer are insured.

SSDI offers monthly income based on how much money you paid into the system. It could be anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars all the way up to, you know, more than $2,000 depending on how much you’re paying over the last, you know, five to ten years of your career.

You also can be eligible for Medicare. Now, with Medicare, you have to be found disabled for two years before you would receive the medical insurance portion of SSDI. Other than that, you know, those are the main things you receive, the monthly income and the medical insurance. But if you’re like most people, what you really want is good medical insurance and enough money to survive each month. That’s what SSDI will offer you. So if you’ve paid into this system, then you would qualify non-medically.

Now, step away from that for a minute. What is SSI? SSI stands for Supplemental Security Income. It’s just that, it’s a supplement and so if you have income coming in from somewhere else, then the amount of money SSI pays would be an offset, in other words, you would receive that much less from SSI. So let’s just say, for example, you’re receiving child support of $500 a month, well, that would be $500 less per month you’ll receive in the event you’ll receive SSI because it’s a supplement.

Okay, but how do you qualify for SSI? For SSI, it’s a need-based program and if you have no income or very little income and your assets, your wealth is less than $2,000 for an individual or, if you’re married, less than $3,000, then you probably qualify for SSI benefits on a non-medical.

So what’s better for you, SSI or SSDI? Well, when you go down to Social Security Administration to apply, if you qualify for SSDI, then they’re going to apply you… they’re going to do an application for SSDI. If you qualify for SSI, they’ll give you an application for that. If you qualify for both, they’re going to apply you for both.

So you don’t really have to make that determination, but the problem comes when you have assets and you have maybe a little bit of income and you make your application, then the person with Social Security will only apply you for SSDI, but then if your situation changes while you’re waiting for the decision and now you have no income, you’ve sold everything, then now you would qualify for SSI if you applied.

If your situation changes, in other words, then you need to make sure and go down to Social Security Administration and make sure they have an SSI claim pending for you also and you can have both claims going at the same time. You can have one denied and one approved, that’s not uncommon, but the big difference is with SSDI, you’ll receive monthly income based on the amount of money you put into the system and after two years of being disabled, you’ll receive Medicare.

Now, SSI, you’ll receive your monthly income and Medi-Cal, which is California’s version of Medicaid. Now, if you’re living outside of California, then if you’re receiving SSDI, you would receive your monthly income and Medicare, but if you’re SSI, you’ll receive your monthly income and Medicaid.

I know there’s little distinction, but California does some of its own programs, but those are the big differences with SSI vs. SSDI. If you have any further questions, please visit our website at www.mysocialsecurityattorney.com or you can look at the side information panel, you can get our website and our phone number. We’re happy to answer any questions and that we’re here for you. We really do want to help you directly or indirectly.

Just yesterday we read a heartbreaking SS disability story by PASMdude, and there are surely other people out there who want to tell their story of being denied or having to struggle to get their Social Security Disability benefits.

Tell us your story below for the benefit of all our readers!

What about you? Did you receive your stimulus check? Or are you still waiting?

If you did get your Social Security recovery payment, what did you do with it? Paid some bills, went shopping, set it aside for a rainy day?

Interviewer: Now, what do you think about the proposal of Barack Obama about national health care?

Chris Simcox: It is just another opportunity for Obama to nationalize private industry in this country. Federal government has no business getting involved in health care beyond what they already have done and again, we’d go back to… just make Medicare and Medicaid work. Let’s make the state programs work. Let’s keep Obama out of it.

The private sector will deal with health care. Whatever we do, we keep the government out of it and we provide incentives for people to save for their own health care and their savings cannot be taxed and to provide perhaps incentives for business, which they already have as private enterprise. It’s their choice whether they want to provide health care to their employees or not.

Interviewer: What is, in your opinion, Barack Obama’s national health care plan?

Chris Simcox: The wrong idea. Obama or Congress has no business nationalizing again private industry. We need them out of it. We need them to focus on fixing Medicare and Medicaid and getting those bureaucracies cleaned up with waste, fraud and mismanagement. That’s where Obama should be focusing his attention right now. Let’s fix what we already have and the incentive will come from businesses and from the private sector or the Federal government saying, “We’re not going to tax your private health care savings plans.” I think that’s the best way to go.

But more than anything, we must stop nationalization of our free enterprise system in this country. It will kill the industry and it will ensure that we have less than the best health care that we can provide Americans and everyone in the world. We have the best system now. Nationalizing it will only make it worse.

A good health care system will include access by everyone to health care. We have that now; emergency rooms, you cannot be denied health care. So we have access for everyone. Affordability, the cost is something that the free market will bear, and the more people that get into health care, the more profitable it will be for businesses and thus that will drive down costs, okay? So we need incentives.

The quality also is what matters to most people and I’m very satisfied with the health care, the quality of health care that our doctors and nurses and professionals provide. By far, there’s no debate. We have the best quality health care that we provide to our citizens and also to others who are attracted to our shores to enjoy the benefits of that health care.

Nationalizing our health care system will ensure that the government controls competition, which will destroy the quality. It will destroy the affordability and it will destroy the free enterprise system of health care that we have in our nation.

Interviewer: The only real issue is the affordability issue.

Chris Simcox: Well, the affordability, in the sense that when the government nationalizes it and there’s only X amount of dollars going in to provide that, sooner or later in the fourth quarter of every budget cycle, the government is going to say, “Sorry, we’re out of money. If you need a heart transplant, we can’t afford it.” And so we get into rationing health care and perhaps discriminating against a 50-year-old man versus a 30-year-old man who may need a heart transplant. The 50-year-old just may already have been used up and just not considered a worthwhile investment for a government national health care program.

Interviewer: Okay, so let’s talk about Social Security and Medicare. We have an ageing population in the United States. How are we going to pay for Social Security in the future?

Chris Simcox: Well, first, I think we need to create a whole new paradigm. Let’s get the government out of it. Let’s get personal responsibility back into it. From the time you’re 16 and you take your first job, your first paycheck; you’re investing in your personal retirement plan that will reap benefits over the long term as we’ve all seen. What we have now is a Ponzi scheme where basically the government is taking money that’s supposed to be there to help our ageing population, but they’ve spent it on other programs.

This way we can ensure that those savings are there and will be directed for one thing and one thing only, that’s to take care of me when I retire, not the government. It’s about personal responsibility and it’s about planning your life from the first day that you start getting your paycheck. Instead of the government taking it out, let’s have private individuals invest in their own retirement savings accounts and I think they can manage their money much better than the Federal government has managed our Social Security System to this day.

Let me add on, though, where I think our government should be responsible for Social Security and health care and that would be with our veterans. Every veteran who has served this country should have lifetime health care and a lifetime Social Security guarantee. We’re shortchanging our veterans and they are the ones that are at the bottom of the barrel, so if we have Social Security or a national health care plan, yeah, let’s build that around those who served this country and preserved our freedom.

PASMdude: Since I am on Social Security disability I’ve been asked basically how the process works. It is very, very difficult and there’s a huge bureaucracy that has manuals this thick, on how to deny you and you can almost be certain that you’re going to get denied the first time. You’re probably going to be denied the second time. You’ll probably actually have to see a judge to actually get your disability.

They normally just try to find any technical reason they can to deny you and they hope you will eventually give up. But, anyway, during this process you cannot work. So you have to have somebody that is willing to support you for a year to a year and a half while you’re trying to get disability or you’re just screwed. You’re probably not going to be able to get it. Another thing is you’re going to have to have worked twenty quarters out of a certain number of years to be eligible. So if you are a housewife that hasn’t worked much, you’re probably really just out of luck.

Some of the technicalities they use to disqualify you are… the main one that I remember is failure to have documented medically what’s wrong with you. For instance, I was just covered… I mean, I was just one huge gaping sore and I just two pictures of me laying there, you know, with a 103 degree fever and they turned me down for my skin disease, because I had not documented that I had been to a doctor consistently for 12 months and the treatments had not worked. So this is the kind of rationality that they will try to use to deny you. I once ran across the official manual – I wish I could find it but I can’t – that shows the criteria you need to get disability, and it’s a huge pain, believe me. You may have trouble getting disability even if you deserve it, I don’t think you have to worry very much about somebody faking it, it’s pretty much impossible.

If you think that you are going to end being disabled, the first thing you need to do is you need to start documenting it. You need to go to the doctor once a month for this problem and just keep going and try everything that they throw at you, try every medicine and make sure you have documented that you have done everything you can do for your condition under the supervision of a physician and that has not worked. That’s the first thing that I would suggest.

You’ll go through a lot of interviews, they’ll probably send you to some doctors and they’ll evaluate you and that will all end up in your record. But still, even if you have x-rays, like I had of my hands and my back, my hip, they still asked, “Did you go to a doctor for 12 months and try everything they had to make your back okay?” Well, no I didn’t, so I was denied there. I ended up having to go before a judge and practically beg. I was fortunate enough that the lady that applied for my disability for me really believed in me and she represented me in court for no charge and she worked for Social Security. So apparently they took her at face value that I really should be on disability. And now it’s up for review again and I’m really nervous about that because they’re going to go through this entire process again, trying to find some way to kick me off.

They sent me a huge package of papers. I filled them out and sent them off, got another package of papers from a totally different place asking almost exactly the same questions that I got to get mailed off and I’ll probably end up getting kicked off, or probably have to file an appeal, or probably have go to before a judge again or something like that. Or else pay an attorney more money than I can afford to represent me. But anyway, the process is pretty crazy. I wouldn’t rely on it if I were you because, like I said, first of all you have to have somebody that’s willing to support you because you will not be able to work during the process when you are being considered. So somebody asked me if they should get disability insurance at work and yea, I think I would consider that.

My sister did not have any quarters to qualify for Social Security disability. She’s actually out on her company’s disability which pays her for like, you know, five years or something. She has no idea what she is going to do after that. Believe me, it’s a complicated process and I hope that you never have to go through it, but if you really think you’re going to have to end up having to apply for disability, you’re going to need some parents or somebody that’s going to support you for the time it takes go get approved. And you’re going to need tons of medical records and document every fucking thing. Go to the doctor every goddamn day if you need to. Go to the ER, but make sure that when you do come up you have more medical records that they’re even willing to look for.

That will be my advice to anyone that thinks they might become disabled.

Tom Lewis: So, the issue I want to discuss tonight is Social Security. I just started a new job in addition to my current job. So I’m a 1099 employee at my second job with a private contractor in real estate. I’m not making a lot of money but I’m doing well. So I just thought about paying off some debt and what not. But, before I went through this money I wanted to figure out how much I should set aside for taxes, what am I going to be hit with when next April comes. Everything I looked at pointed to about 25% or maybe some more. 25% is a lot, especially let’s say you take $1000 that’s $250 taken off, that’s a lot. That means basically 25% of the time you’re working for the government, but that’s not what I looked into there.

What I did look into and saw was 6.2% of that 25% was going to Social Security and 11% is going to Medicare. I don’t really care about that right now, that’s another issue for another day. But, then I said, ‘Okay, if start working at the age of 22 and worked up to the age of 65, how much will I pay into Social Security over that time period?’ And I figured the math that I did raised over a year and the final number came to $180,000 which would be paid out. And, by the way, if you want to see this chart email me, I’d be happy to share my data with you.

So, $181,000… let’s just say that over the year I had $181,000 in my savings account or a high interest yielding account, which got me 3%. That would be another ridiculous sum of money that I could add on top of that $180,000, it would be like $300,000 if my math was correct. That would be the total amount between my savings account and the initial investment of the money I pay into Social Security. That’s $300,000 that when I am 65 I can get that with no questions asked. That is a lot of money. Inflation is probably not going to be as much by the time I turn 65 as it is now.

So it got me thinking that the average sees about a $1000 a month in Social Security checks when they reach the age of 65. I’ll maybe see more than that, but when I see everything that I’ve put in… probably not. Let’s say I die by the time I’m 70, I won’t see any of the money that I invested. I would not enjoy the fruits of my labor and I’ll tell you I’m really working hard. I mean, putting in almost 12 hour days and weekends, I’m not complaining, I love it. But I want to see some return on my investment. I want to see a return on that sweat that I am putting in. And, you know, I’m exercising responsibility and my reward is my paycheck. So, the bottom line is why can’t I decide where that 6.2% goes, I’ll deduct the other taxes later. That 6.2%… why can’t it be my decision to decide to maybe allocate it to an investment fund. And maybe the way to go about this…and I’ll propose a solution too… is when kids are in high school let’s start with educating them there about stocks and bonds and savings accounts and funds and so on and so forth, 401Ks and what they mean. And maybe when they hit the age of 18 or 17 when they are working a job, they can start managing that stuff they can start to invest that 6.2%, you know. Hey, as opposed to putting in Social Security here is your other choice. Maybe we can give them reedom of choice. This country is all about freedoms and I think they’re depriving us of our freedom to earn money by taking this money away from us. And the government is taking away personal responsibility, and I thought we were supposed to be all about personal responsibility. Yet, the government is going to handle it for us with our Social Security. So why not say, ‘Hey, as opposed to putting that 6.2% into Social Security here’s your other choice; put it into an investment fund’.

What happens when every 18 year old and 30 year old and 25 year old … every person in this country… invests in some kind of portfolio, invests in a stock, invests in a fund. What happens? It means there is lot more money out there to work with. And yes, some funds are going to bomb; absolutely. But that’s why you have a diversified program, that’s why you need to understand what they are doing before you get into this. That begins with education and I believe we can spend some tax dollars on that and accomplish something much greater, and that’s investing in our own country. That’s as opposed to just giving money to the government, letting them take it off their hands for 25, 30 years. You start working with that money now and making it grow so that in that 25 or 30 years it’s even more than what the government could have given back to you. And you can buy a boat, you can buy whatever you want. If you are responsible and if you tracked it for those 35 years, the sky is the limit. And that’s why we need to stat realizing that through personal responsibility and through education we can be a greater society than we are today.

The American work ethic is just lost. People are more and more looking for handouts and assistance. And instead of teaching a man to fish so he eats for a lifetime, our government keeps handing us the fish. The next thing you know is free healthcare and this and that and other things. And it’s all government managed. What do we have to worry about other than going to work and coming home and going on our vacations? But I want an elaborate vacation, as does the guy whose, you know, working at the lowest paying job. Everyone wants that. And it’s the dream of having that that drives me every day. That dream of one day retiring and living the great life is what gives me my drive. That makes me sacrifice time with my girlfriend, and that makes me sacrifice time with my friends right now. Because I know that working hard now pays off far greater in the future if I’m wise and if I invest wise.

And that’s been a life lesson too, not just from the classroom. So, everyone starts investing the 6.2% into the country and the next thing you know, maybe some science groups are benefiting and we have greater products out there and greater ingenuities. You start thinking about what 6.2% spread over millions of people can do. I mean, it could grow our economy substantially, and I think that’s worth its weight in gold, I think that’s better than any Social Security payment that we do right now and I hope that people start to realize that. If you don’t know what taxes you’re paying, or you know the percentage, really look at the salary you’re supposed to have.

You’re supposed to have a $60,000 salary. Figure out how much is really being taken out as taxes each year. That % of the time you’re working for the government. Sure, sometimes you see roads fixed and other things, but the way you look at things anymore, I mean is government really effectively operating with our money? We’re running up a deficit that is just astronomical. So, they want us to continue to give them 6.2% when they demonstrated to us that they can’t manage it by running up this astronomical bill. And it’s not just Republicans and it’s not just Democrats, it’s Americans that are not caring anymore. We’re not engaging our government. We’re just handing over responsibilities and that’s the call to action. Start being more responsible.

Take an interest in your finances, taking interests in your job. If you don’t like your job then go look for another one. The economy is bad but there’s always work to be had. You may not get the salary you want, but if you work hard and if you believe in your work, I promise you it will pay off. I love my two jobs. The one job I have I think it got it by a lot of hard work and it was recognized and that’s why I’m here today. And I’m continuing to work hard, and I love my other job in real estate and I show up to work and the hours are awful, but I love it and I love the idea that I am making money, I love the idea that I am investing in my future, paying off my debts and I’m getting to enjoy some luxuries that I wouldn’t get to enjoy if I didn’t work this hard.

But, I would also like to enjoy that money that I am making as opposed to paying approximately 25% of it to the government and never really seeing that 25% in action. Politicians will stand up and say, ‘Well, I created three jobs here on this transportation project in some obscure town in Alaska’. Well, okay that means what to me? Let’s starting asking accountability from out politicians and from our finances.

Thank you and have a good night.

Heather Boushey: “Why do we need paid family and medical leave?

We need paid family and medical leave because our world has changed. One of the biggest transformations over the past half century has been the movement of women out of the home and into the labor market. So now it’s the case that most families no longer have someone at home to provide care for a sick kid or an ailing grandparent. And since everyone is at work, everyone needs paid time off when they have these family emergencies.

What would a paid family and medical leave program look like?

Well, the best kind of paid family medical leave program would be one that covers everyone, every single worker here in the country, and make sure that workers at all stages of their career, both new workers, and not only young workers entering the work forces, but also older workers can access the program and it provides a decent amount of income support while the person is on leave.

An easy way to do this would be to add paid family medical leave to our Social Security system. The Social Security System already provides not only the retirement benefits that we hear so much about, but also benefits for the disabled and survivors benefits. We could use those programs to expand the overall Social Security system to cover family and medical leaves as well.

And that way we would be addressing the most significant changes that we’ve seen in our labor market over the past half century, which is the fact that families no longer have someone at home.

Can we afford a paid family and medical leave program?

A paid family and medical leave program simply isn’t that expensive. Research done for the state of Massachutas when just that state implemented that kind of program, found it would only cost a $120 per worker per year. If we would add this amount into our Social Security system, that would mean adding about 1 to 3/10th of a percent to the payroll taxes that we already pay. It’s simply not that expensive. But it is very important to workers and their families.

So while it’s a small outlay in cost, the benefits the families get, especially during these stressful times when someone is sick or they have a new child, can be very significant. So the benefits far outweigh the costs.”

Good afternoon, friends. I want to talk to you a little bit about Social Security today. The White House under Obama has announced that Social Security is going to become insolvent in 2037. While the Obama administration promises total transparency, which has not been fully realized to say the least, but even that tradition I call upon the Obama White House to ask the OMB, the Congressional Office of Budgetary Management, to count up all the money and all the times that the Congress has raided the surplus of Social Security since at least the 1960s or 1970s.

Add it all up, get a total on it and the Congress and Senate need to come up with a plan on how they’re going to pay all that money back to the Social Security fund between now and 2037. If they would just give us back the money they have stolen to balance the budget or to spend it on projects that they wanted, then we wouldn’t be in such bad shape.

Of course, you know when the New Deal stated there were 7 people supporting each one recipient, but now it’s more like 2 or 3 and it may slip down to 2 very shortly because of the baby boomers.

But anyway, I say let’s come up with a plan on how to pay back all this money to the Social Security trust fund by 2037 so we’ll be whole, and then to come with a plan on how to keep it going from there. It’s certainly going to take some tough decisions. It’s going to be very unpopular, but honestly Social Security is going to have to turn into something that only pays the people who really need money and the rich, you know, they don’t need to be drawing Social Security now. There has to be some concessions made to the rich for this, and maybe a window of time where the rich in between getting money and not getting money, maybe the rich can get paid back what they put in. There should be a window there so that people do not get ripped off and their whole lives changed and if they’re like 60 right now they’re fixing to retire 62 or 65 and they want to draw on Social Security, to have it stolen from them without any warning of this kind is not in the interest of the United States and not something that we would want to do because that was called the New Deal, and it was a promise to Americans.

But, at the same time, an order to save the fund we’re really going to have to make a situation where instead of keeping on upping the limit, of what you got to pay in, maybe people whose asses are over the limit… I’m not talking about their homes, I’m talking about liquid assets like cash, businesses and that sort of things… their home and their car or a couple of cars could be excluded. But if their net worth is over $91,000 or if their income is say a certain percentage, maybe what the amount of their check would be or something that they wouldn’t receive.

You kind of get one to saying, I don’t really know how to work it out, whether or not if their income is over $91,000 or if their income or assets is over $91,000, and then as they have to spend on their own medical needs and different things and give to their children as their assets fall below $91,000 then they would be able to receive benefits.

But, first things first. You’ve ripped us off, the Congress and the Presidents past, and please count it up and let’s go over the program to pay it back by 2037, we’ve got like 28 years. And let’s see what the outlook would be then and then export these other measures that I am talking about.

I thank you very much.