$1,000 a month check from SS...? Wow.

[RobertEarl]

That's $250 a week.

That's about what a minimum wage earner takes home every week.

Imagine if we had no SS... our economy would be a lot less proficient.

Imagine what our economy would look like if SS checks were at least double the $1,000. There would be a whole lot more easy money in the economic system. SS is a huge driver of our economy.

[hobbit709]

1. I get $938/mo.

I know people that get less than that.

[RobertEarl]

4. What would you do with an extra $938/mo.

Would you spend it or hoard it?

[hobbit709]

5. Probably spend most of it doing things I've been putting off.

[madamesilverspurs]

6. I'm jealous!

I'm at $793. It would be liveable, if they'd quit raising my rent and utility rates and the price of gas and cost of meds and the price of milk . . .

I've learned to just shake my head and walk away from those who accuse Social Security recipients of causing the debt with our lavish lifestyle.

[OwnedByCats]

10. Lavish lifestyle? LOL

Yeah I know, what a joke right?

The only people I know living well who recieve SS have other provisions, like pensions from their jobs they retired from and those lucky enough to have invested in the right places, or they were able to save money throughout their working years.

[CountAllVotes]

7. yes your are very right

Someone close to me gets $453.00 after the Medicare deduction.

WOW!

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. I get less than that...considerably less.

When the economy closed down the job market for me, I took what WAS good advice at the time, and went on Soc. Sec. at 63.
The advice was that COLA's would add to the check a bit every year.
There was no advice about Medicare Plan B increasing to the exact amount of any COLA.
And then we know what happened to the CPI when it was made into a meaningless measurement.

[RebelOne]

12. Fortunately, I am receiving $1378 a month,

after my Medicare deduction, but I find it hard to live on that. I am lucky that I live in a mobile home and my expenses are low. But that monthly check only covers my immediate expenses and I have no extra money. My neighbor is working after a year of unemployment and only brings home $900 a month. My sister and her husband are living on his disability of $1300 a month and are supporting 3 people, plus they have a house payment.

I guess I can consider myself lucky that I only have to support me and my dog.

[hobbit709]

13. If it wasn't for my VA medical I wouldn't make it.

The house is paid for but I need to set aside $200/mo for taxes and insurance.

[SoCalDem]

20. Mine is only $852.00

I have a measly little pension of 366.05.

My husband has no pension at all..


We will have SS and our savings/IRAs/401-k..and that's IT.

[JDPriestly]

21. But remember, that $1000 per month is at the end of a life of working

and setting aside a percentage of what you earn in the Social Security Trust Fund.

The only people who have improved their incomes and their lifestyles since Ronald Reagan are the very, very rich.

Minimum wage should be raised. No question. It should not be cut. And Social Security should be raised also. I would estimate that over 1/3 of Social Security recipients receive $1000 OR LESS. That is unacceptable.

If you earn only minimum wage and don't always get 40 hours per week, chances are you need foods stamps, government subsidized medical care and possibly housing assistance.

Administering all those programs costs the government a lot of money. It would be better to raise the minimum wage and shift the costs for those programs to the private sector.

It would be better to leave Social Security benefits where they are in the public sector and as they are so that Social Security recipients do not have to join the long lines in the offices for food stamps, housing assistance and aid to supplement their Medicare.

That the minimum wage is too low does not justify cutting Social Security benefits. In fact, it supports maintaining Social Security benefits just as they are.

[FogerRox]

22. Average is just under 15k per year. IIRC

[Octafish]

2. Excellent idea. It'd be better spent than sitting offshore in Switzerland or the Cayman Islands.

Which is where the 1-percent would put it, along with the rest of the loot they've accumulated through Voodoo Econ.

[RobertEarl]

14. It would buy a lot of votes

If i remember correctly....

Ronald Reagan made sure SS checks increased a pretty good bit.

If the Democratic party would start demanding bigger checks for the people who most need it and who would most spend it, the republicans would either go along or go extinct.

And people could put more food on their plates.

[still_one]

3. and the fact remains a large segment of the population depend on that just to survive

[xtraxritical]

8. Utopia if I can last that long...

[jcboon]

9. Get some money to the people who need it???

sounds like John Kenneth Galbraith.

[Bluenorthwest]

15. The current average check is 1238

Some get less, some get as much as 2513. All of it should be increased.

[RebelOne]

23. Fortunately, my social security is over $1400 a month,

but after Medicare deduction, I receive $1378 a month, so I guess I am better off than a lot of other SS recipients, but it is still not a living wage.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

16. These will be remembered.....

As the good ole days!!

[southernyankeebelle]

17. I get less than $700 a month and thats before they take out medicare. I don't know

what I would do without my husband still working. He is younger than me. I know there are people worse off then me.

[840high]

18. I get $503.

[southernyankeebelle]

19. Wow, I bet it's a worry every month.

[840high]

24. Yes. I do private

duty when available to supplement.

[southernyankeebelle]

25. It's sad you have to do that. Good luck to you. My sister is also retired. She gets a pension

from her civil service job and less then $300 a month in social security. She has medicare. She is working part time in a office for a contractor. So that helps her out. It is sad because she is single and 65.

[geckosfeet]

26. Imagine if all the Wall street financial execs gave up one $100 lunch a week

and donated that money to the SS administration.


Why are we afraid to tax the fuckers. $100 a week is chump change to them.

[Babel_17]

27. Your basic point will likely get discussed more and more

It makes no sense to drive those on SS to having to use other government services.

Becoming homeless, malnourished, lacking in medical treatment, are things that come with a real impact to the bottom line that gets so much attention.

The mental anguish that cruel cuts bring to those using SS is another story.

And that brings to mind another thing. Being so mean, in the classic sense of the word, being so mean about SS payments is doing bad things to the zeitgeist. We are trying to get out of a depression. Climbing out on the faces of those using SS is no way to do it.

Crying extreme poverty when there is none is destroying morale.

[madrchsod]

28. a little south of 600 for me...

good thing my wife is working...

[Historic NY]

29. I'm lucky perhaps because I had many more credits than the minimum....

[golddigger]

30. I guess I'm fortunate to get

$1601.00 a month. I know I paid in quite a bit of money to FICA at my job in the 80's and 90's. My wife works for a hospital, so we have excellent medical and dental coverage. Plus I have VA medical.

Now I see why when my friends and relatives found out how much I make a month they seemed a little upset. Asking my wife why I'm getting so much a month. She had to explain that the more money you put in, the more you get. As for me, I thought everyone got around the same amount I did. I was scared and nervous for a long time thinking they made a mistake at the SSA office and I would have to pay back the money.