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Has Anyone Heard of "The Golden Fleece Retirement Plan "
Social Security 2004 Election Issue
This must be an issue in "04". Please! Keep it going.
SOCIAL SECURITY:
(This is worth the read. It's short and to the point.)
Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions during election years. Our Senators and Congress men & women do not pay into Social Security and, of course, they do not collect from it.
You see, Social Security benefits were not suitable for persons of their rare elevation in society. They felt they should have a special plan for themselves. So, many years ago they voted in their own benefit plan.
In more recent years, no congressperson has felt the need to change it. After all, it is a great plan.
For all practical purposes their plan works like this: When they retire, they continue to draw the same pay until they die, except it may increase from time to time for cost of living adjustments. For example, former Senator Byrd and Congressman White and their wives may expect to draw $7,800,000.00 (that's Seven Million, Eight-Hundred Thousand Dollars), with their wives drawin g $275,000.00 during the last years of th! eir live s. This is calculated on an average life span for each.
Their cost for this excellent plan is $00.00. Nada. Zilch. This little perk they voted for themselves is free to them. You and I pick up the tab for this plan. The funds for this fine retirement plan come directly from the General Funds - our tax dollars at work!
From our own Social Security Plan, which you and I pay (or have paid) into every payday until we retire (which amount is matched by our employer) -- we can expect to get an average $1,000 per month after retirement. Or, in other words, we would have to collect our average of $1,000. monthly benefits for 68 years and one (1) month to equal Senator Bill Bradley's benefits!
Social Security could be very good if only one small change were made. That change would be to jerk the Golden Fleece Retirement Plan from under the Senators and Congressmen. Put them into the Social Security plan with the rest of us ... then sit back and watch how fast they would fix it.
If enough people receive this, maybe a seed of awareness will be planted and maybe good changes will evolve.
How many people can YOU send this to?
Laissez les bon temps rouler! 
Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes you a car.** a 4 day work week & sex slaves ~ I say Tyt for PRESIDENT! 
Not to be taken internally, literally or seriously ....Suki ebaynni IS THAT BETTER ?
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04-24-2003 10:08 PM
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I was also shocked to learn that my FIL who has been retired since he was in his fifties gets as much social security as my mother and my father died at age 70. He worked until his death. Social security has a cap on it and it doesn't matter if you paid more into it than the other guy, you won't receive more out of it. Does this make sense?
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None of it makes sense to me, but the plan sounds like the one all the presidents get, they get paid the same as though they are still in office plus the secret service and all that paid for by us. If you break down the word politics it means poli (poly many) tics (blood sucking creature) Oh well!
Ignorance is bliss but the question is can we afford it?
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None of this is true, but thx for trying to make us aware anyways!!
From snopes.com (it actually comes from a variation of the same email that's making the rounds as well)
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/pensions.htm#add
Claim: Members of Congress receive lavish pensions but are not required to contribute to the Social Security fund.
Status: False.
Example: (removed to save space)
Variations: (also removed to save space)
Origins: This piece has been circulating on the Internet since April 2000. So much of it is outdated, inaccurate, or misleading, it's difficult to know where to begin.
It is not true that Congressmen do not pay into the Social Security fund. They pay into the fund just as everyone else does.
It was true prior to 1984 that Congressmen did not pay into the Social Security fund because they participated in a separate program for civil servants (the Civil Service Retirement System, or CSRS), but that program was closed to government employees hired after 1983:
In 1983, P.L. [Public Law] 98-21 required Social Security coverage for federal civilian employees first hired after 1983 and closed the CSRS [Civil Service Retirement System] to new federal employees and Members of Congress. All incumbent Members of Congress were required to be covered by Social Security, regardless of when they entered Congress. Members who had participated in CSRS before 1984 could elect to stay in that plan in addition to being covered by Social Security or elect coverage under an 'offset plan' that integrates CSRS and Social Security. Under the CSRS Offset Plan, an individual's contributions to CSRS and their pension benefits from that plan are reduced ('offset') by the amount of their contributions to, and benefits from, Social Security."
It is not true that Congressmen "continue to draw their same pay, until they die." The size of their pensions is determined by a number of factors (primarily length of service, but also when they joined Congress, their age at retirement, their salary, and the pension option they chose when they enrolled) and by law cannot exceed 80% of their salary at the time of their retirement.
The figures given as an example for Senator Bradley ($7,900,000 over the course of his and his wife's lifetime, culminating in a top payout of $275,000) are simply outrageous amounts with no basis in reality. There is no conceivable way Senator Bradley could draw anywhere near that amount of money though his pension plan.
It is not true that Congressmen "paid nothing in on any kind of retirement," and that their pension money "comes right out of the General Fund." Whether members of Congress participate in the older Civil Service Retirement System or the newer Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS), their pensions are funded through a combination of general tax provisions and contributions from the participants. Right now, members of Congress in the FERS plan must pay 1.3% of their salary to FERS and 6.2% in Social Security taxes.
As of 1998, the average annuity for retired members of Congress was $50,616 for those who retired under CSRS and $46,908 for those who retired under FERS. Not bad, but not the highway robbery this piece makes it out to be.
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Banned
I found this on a website I am not sure what it is called. My address bar doesn't show up for some reason.
Members of Congress and Congressional Employees
Members of Congress receive an unreduced annuity at age 50 with 20 years of service, or at any age with 25 years of service. Congressional employees must meet the age and service requirements explained in the Basic Benefit Plan section.
If you are a Member of Congress or a Congressional employee, with at least 5 years of Congressional service, your annuity will be:
1.7% of high-3 average pay
times
years of Congressional service up to 20
plus
1.0% of high-3 average pay
times
any other service.
A Special Retirement Supplement is payable from the Minimum Retirement Age to age 62. If you have earnings from wages or self-employment that exceed the Social Security annual exempt amount, your supplement will be reduced or stopped.
Cost-of-Living-Adjustment's (COLA's) are payable to Congressional retirees before age 62 only if they retire for disability.
Members of Congress and Congressional employees contribute an additional .5% of pay to the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS).
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