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Reagan increased SS benefits? (Original Post) RobertEarl Apr 2013 OP
No. Most of the people who received SS payments during MineralMan Apr 2013 #1
Reagan increased the base benefit package RobertEarl Apr 2013 #3
My view is that people who were receiving SS then MineralMan Apr 2013 #5
Yes, those who were 65 in 1983 are now 95 and loving Reagan! Bluenorthwest Apr 2013 #2
I recall different RobertEarl Apr 2013 #4
But today's old people are not part of that group. MineralMan Apr 2013 #6
RobertEarl, we are not reliant on your memory nor mine, this is all a matter of record. Bluenorthwest Apr 2013 #8
I can go with that RobertEarl Apr 2013 #10
Young folks seem to think that today's old folks were born MineralMan Apr 2013 #7
Heh. zappaman Apr 2013 #9
I seem to remember a couple of extra SS payments MineralMan Apr 2013 #11
He had a democratic Congress, too. demosincebirth Apr 2013 #12

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
1. No. Most of the people who received SS payments during
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 03:06 PM
Apr 2013

Reagan's presidency are dead. Do the math. Even someone who started SS at age 65 during the last year of his presidency is now 89 years old.

Today's new SS recipients are Baby Boomers. I'm 67, now, and predate the baby boom by a year. I was born in 1945. Even my parents, who are no 88 years old, were not SS recipients during Reagan's presidency. Just a little later, but later.

 

RobertEarl

(13,685 posts)
3. Reagan increased the base benefit package
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 03:12 PM
Apr 2013

And everyone since then has enjoyed the increase.

Your view is a rather dim and narrow view. Are you against raising the SS benefits? Do you favor a 50% increase in benefits, or are you in favor of the current plan to reduce future benefits?

Reagan made sure benefits grew and now we have Obama wanting to see benefits shrink? Something is wrong with this picture.

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
5. My view is that people who were receiving SS then
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 03:19 PM
Apr 2013

are dead or dying. Those who started receiving it later probably didn't pay much attention to what Reagan did about SS during his presidency.

How do I feel about SS benefits? I'm receiving them, and have been since I was 62 years old. My monthly amount just manages to cover my Medicare supplement and my wife's health insurance. Would I like to be getting more? You bet! Do I expect to. Nope, except for whatever COLA increases occur. Do I like chained CPI? I remain watchful. If the COLA increases are less than they would have been, then I don't like it, but that actually remains to be seen. Even now, the increases are very modest, at best.

The real reason my SS check keeps going up every year is that I'm still working and paying into the system. Not as much as I once did, but some. Each year, I get a letter telling me how much my check will go up due to my earnings the previous year. So, that's a good thing. Since I plan to work until I drop dead, that might help.

Social Security is, indeed, something I count on. It's not going away. It's not going to be cut, either. It will just go up less with chained CPI. In a few years, my wife will begin receiving SS, based on her own earnings. In addition, she'll go on Medicare, which will reduce the cost of her health insurance dramatically. Now, that will be an increase in our usable income we can count. We'll both continue working until we cannot. We like our work.

Finally, who is proposing a 50% increase in SS payments? I have not heard that mentioned by anyone at all. Where did you hear it? What happened 30 years ago is something from the past. I'm thinking about the future these days.

 

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)
2. Yes, those who were 65 in 1983 are now 95 and loving Reagan!
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 03:12 PM
Apr 2013

Under Reagan, COLA was delayed, FICA tax was raised and no increases other than the COLA which is required by law and was delayed nonetheless.
Aside from the fact that almost all who would have gotten SS during Reagan's time are dead...oh forget it.

 

RobertEarl

(13,685 posts)
4. I recall different
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 03:19 PM
Apr 2013

I recall some elder friends of mine very happy with Reagan because he made their SS checks grow. Of course they are all dead now.

But what Reagan did was buy their loyalty. And it had great benefits for the economy.

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
6. But today's old people are not part of that group.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 03:21 PM
Apr 2013

Today's old people are from a different generation. Interesting, isn't it?

 

Bluenorthwest

(45,319 posts)
8. RobertEarl, we are not reliant on your memory nor mine, this is all a matter of record.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 03:27 PM
Apr 2013

Richard Nixon did in fact directly increase benefits by 10% and then along with Congress enacted the COLA increases to buffer the impact of inflation on benefits. Since that time, each increase in benefits has been exactly that which is dictated by the law, no more. No President since Nixon has bumped benefit amounts, and Reagan delayed the COLA increase, hiked the withholding, just as I said.
There are many sources for such information, use your Google. What you are claiming is simply incorrect. Let me add that Reagan was a monster and the worst President of my time so far.

 

RobertEarl

(13,685 posts)
10. I can go with that
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 03:38 PM
Apr 2013

You're just so sweet about it it makes it easy to swallow. (cough).

So Nixon was the one who bumped up the base and that made it so republicans somehow got painted with the label of 'Protectors of SS'.

Reagan was, in his time, the worst president. But I do recall the older friends of mine being happy with Reagan taking care of them in their old age. Goooogle notwithstanding, that recollection best fits the current progression of the way SS is viewed by the majority of people.

You say I am incorrect, well, then prove it.

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
7. Young folks seem to think that today's old folks were born
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 03:26 PM
Apr 2013

long before they actually were. It's funny. My parents were the WWII generation. Today's oldsters are the Vietnam generation. To each generation, its own war, it seems. My parents are still alive, but are 88 years old now. They started getting SS during the last year of Reagan's presidency. Not so much, though, because they're both notch babies. I never did figure that one out.

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
11. I seem to remember a couple of extra SS payments
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 03:40 PM
Apr 2013

in the past few years. About $250, they were, as I remember. I can't remember what years they happened, but they were part of a stimulus package. Very nice to get, though. I remember that really well.

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