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1. Online-Marketing::What's OLD TIME RADIO?

Note: This article has been written using several techniques and methods in online-marketing.

Old time radio known as "otr" describes radio shows in the beginning of radio stations transmission. The word generally pertains to dramas, comedies, mystery shows, westerns and variety shows that were acted out by

professional actors and sent out over the airwaves. In the golden age of radio families would sit around their radio listening to the exciting shows the way we sit around our television sets watching them today.

If you would like to have advertisement in my blogs that will go out to a list of thousand then contact me at skypeme:jamesoeck22368 or at the information at the bottom of this blog. The is only $5. That is a steal, most people will charge a minimum of $10 per thousand.

OTR fans used to be those people who grew up in the 1930's, 40's and 50's but thanks to the internet a whole new generation is falling in love with OTR! Yes, young and old alike love to listen to the radio shows of yesteryear. You are never too young to appreciate the talented actors and

actresses from the golden age of radio. Old time radio cd's and old time radio dvd's as well as downloads have brought those classic programs into the high tech era.
Recognition/

For your online-marketing and MS needs visit Jims Corner Shop

| MS| James Eckburg | Online Marketing |skypeme:jamesoeck22368 | 815-493-6475



2. Online-Marketing: Disorder Modifying Treatments
Online-Marketing: Disorder Modifying Treatments

Note: This article has been written using several techniques and methods in online-marketing.

Disorder modifying treatments (DMT) might be inadequate in affected individuals with primary progressive MS (PPMS) as well as in differently abled affected individuals (EDSS >6.5) with supplementary progressive MS (SPMS) without having slips back.

Nonetheless, numerous sufferers with accelerating MS who at first experienced RRMS proceed DMT. An epidemiologic declaration research of DMT use within forty-four affected individuals with PPMS or SPMS and EDSS >6.5 was explained Doctor. Roisin Lonergan.

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Within this research, an e-mail customer survey was delivered to twenty six worldwide neurologists with MS experience concerning their method of preventing DMT in SPMS, and requirements for DMT discontinuation utilized in their nation. From the twenty six neurologists interviewed, fifteen attempted to cease DMT in SPMS without having slips back and eleven generally ongoing DMT.

For your online-marketing and MS needs visit Jims Corner Shop

| MS| James Eckburg | Online Marketing |skypeme:jamesoeck22368 | 815-493-6475



3.

Online-Marketing:1-Family Classified

Note: This article has been written using several techniques and methods in online-marketing.

Very first Family members Classified listingsClassified listings is an excellent totally free way to obtain on the internet categorized advertising and marketing for low-budget

internet marketers. In contrast to newspaper advertisements which offer only nearby coverage, 1-Family Classified listings is dispersed over the World wide web, producing your advertisement

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listings retrieveable by anybody from all over the world. There isn't any price with this service with no submitting restriction. Marketers may possibly submit as frequently when they like. This advertising and marketing ought to attract internet marketers who are attempting to generate income with out spending cash.

For your online-marketing and MS needs visit Jims Corner Shop

| MS| James Eckburg | Online Marketing |skypeme:jamesoeck22368 | 815-493-6475



4. Online-Marketing: Why Does MS Happen?

Note: This article has been written using several technique and methods in online-marketing.

Multiple sclerosis is thought to happ

Note: This article has been written using several technique and methods in online-marketing.

Multiple sclerosis is thought to happen primarily due to the damage from the myelin. Myelin a material comprised of adipose that protects the neural tissue. Aside from supplying safety for that tissue and also the neural tissue, the myelin also can serve as a facilitator in sending neural urges through the entire body.

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Multiple sclerosis instances are sluggish in advancing and do not include natural remission stages. This kind mainly impacts individuals who are forty-five many years aged and over. 20 % of individuals with several sclerosis have the persistent - intensifying kind.

For your online-marketing and MS needs visit Jims Corner Shop

| MS| James Eckburg | Online Marketing |skypeme:jamesoeck22368 | 815-493-6475



5. Online-Marketing: MS and Technologies.

Note: This article has been written using several techniques and methods in online-marketing.

MS can use technologies to preserve their wellness and self-reliance, have assistance for their existence options, and remain linked with their households, buddies, and neighborhoods. The MS Technological innovation Collaborative assists to increase attention of how current technologies can assistance individual and expert objectives, as nicely as to make info about technologies easily obtainable to the MS neighborhood. The online house, http://www.MyMsMyWay.com , functions user-submitted technologies ideas, a month-to-month column created by obtainable technological innovation specialists, and info about accessible technological innovation products and solutions, such as individuals that are inexpensive and in some instances even totally free.

For your online-marketing and MS needs visit Jims Corner Shop

| MS| James Eckburg | Online Marketing |skypeme:jamesoeck22368 | 815-493-6475



6. Online-Marketing: The MS Technological Innovation Collaborative

Note: This article has been written using several techniques
and methods in online-marketing.

The MS Technological innovation Collaborative has produced a
new way for individuals residing with several sclerosis (MS) to physical
exercise their human brain energy. The Collaborative, an connections of
Bayer Health-related Pharmaceutical drugs, Microsoft, and the Nationwide
Multiple Sclerosis Society, these days introduced the release of
MyBrainGames, a totally free collection of on the internet video games
stuffed with intellectual problems for the MS neighborhood.

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| MS| James Eckburg | Online Marketing |skypeme:jamesoeck22368 | 815-493-6475



7. Online-Marketing: Skin Lesions

Note: This article has been written using several techniques and methods in online-marketing.

MS "is likely" to trigger skin lesions inside a attribute design in the mind. But this just indicates that, when you appear at a big quantity of individuals with MS and piece all of their skin lesions, the vast majority of skin lesions will drop into this design.

In my online-marketing I have discovered this design is usually shaped section to section, but not a ideal mirror-image. Any 1 individual or any particular person with just a couple of skin lesions might have them happen in any white-colored issue area. . Even individuals with a "attribute design of skin lesions" will have some that don't drop into the ideal "areas and specific zones."

MS often is ignored simply because preliminary signs and symptoms solve automatically in most affected individuals. Slips back happen inside many months or many years. In some sufferers, nevertheless, MS has a main intensifying program from beginning.

For your online-marketing and MS needs visit Jims Corner Shop

| MS| James Eckburg | Online Marketing |skypeme:jamesoeck22368 | 815-493-6475



8. 5 myths about Social Security|Recent Articles by Liz Pulliam Weston
5 myths about Social Security|Recent Articles by Liz Pulliam Weston ...Free webpages from free-net.com>



New Document 5 myths about Social Security - MSN Money
Dow-8.99down-0.09%
10,143.81
Nasdaq+6.06up+0.27%
2,223.48
S&P+3.07up+0.29%
1,076.76
Liz Pulliam Weston

The Basics

5 myths about Social Security

System reform is a hotbed of controversy. But to move ahead, we've got to identify the myths, toss them aside and refocus on realities.

By Liz Pulliam Weston

You can't write about Social Security and not get flooded with angry e-mails representing all points of the political spectrum. From those who dub it "Socialist Insecurity" to those who hold their checks to be an inalienable right, people often have passionate and firmly held beliefs about the system.

Unfortunately, sometimes those beliefs are based on myths. In the interest of more honest debate, let's review some of these legends.

Looking for the cash hoard

Myth No. 1: There is no Social Security trust fund. You may have heard this assertion so often that you'll be surprised to learn that there really IS a Social Security trust fund that collects our payroll taxes and invests the surplus. It's called the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds.

What isn't in the trust fund is a big hoard of cash.

Three-quarters of the money that's collected in Social Security taxes goes right out the door again in the form of benefits to Social Security recipients. The surplus that isn't needed to pay benefits is loaned to the federal government to pay for other programs.

In return for this loan, the trust fund gets IOUs in the form of special-issue, interest-paying Treasury bonds. The interest isn't paid in cash, however; the Treasury issues the fund additional bonds for the interest amount. In 2006, the fund was credited with more than $102 billion in interest; the total value of the securities is about $2 trillion.

Critics often deride these bonds as "a bookkeeping entry" or a fiction, but they're real obligations of the U.S. government, said Steve Goss, Social Security's chief actuary. In the past, they've been cashed in when Social Security or its sister program, Medicare, temporarily ran low on funds. The last time was in the early 1980s.

"They're backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government," Goss said. "They're every bit as real . . . as any savings bond or Treasury bond any individual might hold in society."

The problem, of course, is that the government now owes the trust fund so much money -- and relies on its surplus so heavily -- that real problems will be created when it comes time to cash in those IOUs. Uncle Sam is going to need to find another source of income to replace the surplus (or cut spending, or borrow money from somewhere else), plus come up with cash to pay the bonds it's already issued.

Myth No. 2: Congress doesn't pay into Social Security, so it doesn't care about fixing the crisis. The idea that U.S. lawmakers don't pay into Social Security is 25 years out of date. Before 1984, U.S. representatives and senators -- like all other federal employees -- weren't covered by Social Security and didn't pay into the system. Congress passed a law in 1983, which took effect the next year, requiring all of its members (and all federal employees hired after that year) to participate in the system.

This myth is often accompanied by the assertion that Congress participates in a private pension scheme that pays them their salaries for the rest of their lives. In fact, the Civil Service Retirement System, which covered federal employees in earlier decades, was closed to new participants after 1983. The pensions available under this old system depend on the federal worker's pay and tenure with the government, but by law can't exceed 80% of the final year's pay. Benefits paid under the system are reduced by the amount of Social Security the participant receives.

The reason Congress hasn't fixed the Social Security crisis is politics. The most likely solutions -- raising taxes, cutting benefits, establishing private accounts or some combination of the three -- all face strong opposition. In addition, the people currently receiving benefits are represented by one of the strongest, most politically connected lobbies in existence: AARP. The 20-something workers who likely will pay the cost for congressional inaction don't have nearly the same clout.

Video on MSN Money

ER cash © Comstock/Jupiterimages
Social Security solutions
A debate on addressing Social Security in this country, with Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal; Robert Reich, a UC-Berkeley professor; and CNBC's Larry Kudlow.

Life expectancy and disappearing assets

Myth No. 3: Age 65 was picked as the retirement age because, when Social Security was started in the 1930s, most people were dead by then. The average life expectancy for a baby girl born in 1935 was about 63 years. For a baby boy, it was about 59 years.

 1 | 2 | next >

Rate this Article

Click on one of the stars below to rate this article from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest). LowRate it 1Rate it 2Rate it 3Rate it 4Rate it 5High
5 myths about Social Security - MSN Money
Dow-8.99down-0.09%
10,143.81
Nasdaq+6.06up+0.27%
2,223.48
S&P+3.07up+0.29%
1,076.76
Liz Pulliam Weston

The Basics

5 myths about Social Security

Continued from page 1

But those statistics reflect the higher infant and child mortality rates of the times. If you survived childhood, you had a good shot of living beyond retirement age. Men who lived to age 30 in 1935 could expect to last another 37 years. Women at 30 had a 40-year average life expectancy.

If you actually reached retirement age, your prospects for a relatively long retirement were good. Men who were 65 in 1935 could expect to live another 12 years, while women faced an average 13 more years. (Today, men of the same age can expect to live another 17 years, and women 20 years.)

In fact, about half of the 30 state pension plans that existed in 1935, and many of the private pension plans, used 65 as a retirement age. Most of the others used age 70. Social Security's creators thought 65 was the more reasonable age and believed the system could be self-sustaining if they chose that age.

Myth No. 4: Social Security will run out of money in 2041. Social Security will still be receiving payroll taxes from workers in 2041. What may have disappeared by then are the assets in the Social Security trust fund.

Even that isn't cast in stone, however. The Congressional Budget Office in June 2006 projected that the trust fund wouldn't dry up until five years later, in 2046. The CBO used different assumptions than those used by the Social Security Administration, projecting faster growth in worker earnings, higher interest rates and lower inflation.

Here's how the Social Security Administration projects the timeline:

  • In 2017, Social Security will begin paying out more than it takes in. For the first time, it will have to use the interest being paid on the securities it holds in order to meet its obligations.

  • In 2027, Social Security would have to start redeeming the securities themselves.

  • By 2041, Social Security would have cashed in the last security, and the system would have enough revenue to pay out only 75% of promised benefits. That percentage would drop over time if Congress failed to act.

Demographics and add-ons

Myth No. 5: Social Security wouldn't be having problems if foreigners weren't able to claim Social Security benefits. The number of checks sent overseas in 2002 totaled 404,640 -- a tiny fraction of the 53 million or so checks Social Security issues annually. Many of those folks may well be Americans who retired abroad. Social Security doesn't break down the overseas checks by citizenship.

In any case, foreign workers who live in the United States have to work and pay taxes into the system for at least 10 years to qualify for Social Security benefits, just as U.S. citizens do.

What will really hurt Social Security are two factors: demographics and the scope of Americans who are covered.

In 1950, there were 16 workers for every person receiving Social Security benefits. By 2015, there will be only three workers for each beneficiary. Fifteen years after that, the ratio will be down to 2.2 to 1.

Video on MSN Money

ER cash © Comstock/Jupiterimages
Social Security solutions
A debate on addressing Social Security in this country, with Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal; Robert Reich, a UC-Berkeley professor; and CNBC's Larry Kudlow.

Even that demographic shift wouldn't be such a disaster if Social Security hadn't expanded far beyond its original mandate of providing retirement benefits for workers. About 30% of Social Security's total benefits are paid to retirees' dependents and survivors and to disabled workers.

Here's a summary of the add-ons over the years:

  • In 1939, five years after Social Security began, Congress added payments for the families of workers who died, and for retirees' dependents (such as stay-at-home spouses).

  • In 1956, Congress added disability benefits for workers.

  • In 1965, Congress established Medicare to pay health-care costs for seniors.

  • In 1974, Supplemental Security Income or SSI was established as a welfare program for low-income seniors and people with disabilities.

Of these add-ons, however, only the first two -- disability benefits and payments to dependents, widows, orphans -- actually affect Social Security's bottom line.

SSI benefits are paid out of the federal government's general revenues. Medicare is paid for with its own tax and has its own trust fund.

Like Medicare, the disability insurance program also has its own tax and its own trust fund. But the disability fund's results are combined with that of the retirement system when Social Security insolvency projections are made, Goss said.

Get the latest from Liz Pulliam Weston. Sign up to receive her free weekly newsletter.

Preferred format:

5 myths about Social Security|Recent Articles by Liz Pulliam Weston ...Free webpages from free-net.com>


New Document 5 myths about Social Security - MSN Money
Dow-8.99down-0.09%
10,143.81
Nasdaq+6.06up+0.27%
2,223.48
S&P+3.07up+0.29%
1,076.76
Liz Pulliam Weston

The Basics

5 myths about Social Security

System reform is a hotbed of controversy. But to move ahead, we've got to identify the myths, toss them aside and refocus on realities.

By Liz Pulliam Weston

You can't write about Social Security and not get flooded with angry e-mails representing all points of the political spectrum. From those who dub it "Socialist Insecurity" to those who hold their checks to be an inalienable right, people often have passionate and firmly held beliefs about the system.

Unfortunately, sometimes those beliefs are based on myths. In the interest of more honest debate, let's review some of these legends.

Looking for the cash hoard

Myth No. 1: There is no Social Security trust fund. You may have heard this assertion so often that you'll be surprised to learn that there really IS a Social Security trust fund that collects our payroll taxes and invests the surplus. It's called the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds.

What isn't in the trust fund is a big hoard of cash.

Three-quarters of the money that's collected in Social Security taxes goes right out the door again in the form of benefits to Social Security recipients. The surplus that isn't needed to pay benefits is loaned to the federal government to pay for other programs.

In return for this loan, the trust fund gets IOUs in the form of special-issue, interest-paying Treasury bonds. The interest isn't paid in cash, however; the Treasury issues the fund additional bonds for the interest amount. In 2006, the fund was credited with more than $102 billion in interest; the total value of the securities is about $2 trillion.

Critics often deride these bonds as "a bookkeeping entry" or a fiction, but they're real obligations of the U.S. government, said Steve Goss, Social Security's chief actuary. In the past, they've been cashed in when Social Security or its sister program, Medicare, temporarily ran low on funds. The last time was in the early 1980s.

"They're backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government," Goss said. "They're every bit as real . . . as any savings bond or Treasury bond any individual might hold in society."

The problem, of course, is that the government now owes the trust fund so much money -- and relies on its surplus so heavily -- that real problems will be created when it comes time to cash in those IOUs. Uncle Sam is going to need to find another source of income to replace the surplus (or cut spending, or borrow money from somewhere else), plus come up with cash to pay the bonds it's already issued.

Myth No. 2: Congress doesn't pay into Social Security, so it doesn't care about fixing the crisis. The idea that U.S. lawmakers don't pay into Social Security is 25 years out of date. Before 1984, U.S. representatives and senators -- like all other federal employees -- weren't covered by Social Security and didn't pay into the system. Congress passed a law in 1983, which took effect the next year, requiring all of its members (and all federal employees hired after that year) to participate in the system.

This myth is often accompanied by the assertion that Congress participates in a private pension scheme that pays them their salaries for the rest of their lives. In fact, the Civil Service Retirement System, which covered federal employees in earlier decades, was closed to new participants after 1983. The pensions available under this old system depend on the federal worker's pay and tenure with the government, but by law can't exceed 80% of the final year's pay. Benefits paid under the system are reduced by the amount of Social Security the participant receives.

The reason Congress hasn't fixed the Social Security crisis is politics. The most likely solutions -- raising taxes, cutting benefits, establishing private accounts or some combination of the three -- all face strong opposition. In addition, the people currently receiving benefits are represented by one of the strongest, most politically connected lobbies in existence: AARP. The 20-something workers who likely will pay the cost for congressional inaction don't have nearly the same clout.

Video on MSN Money

ER cash © Comstock/Jupiterimages
Social Security solutions
A debate on addressing Social Security in this country, with Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal; Robert Reich, a UC-Berkeley professor; and CNBC's Larry Kudlow.

Life expectancy and disappearing assets

Myth No. 3: Age 65 was picked as the retirement age because, when Social Security was started in the 1930s, most people were dead by then. The average life expectancy for a baby girl born in 1935 was about 63 years. For a baby boy, it was about 59 years.

 1 | 2 | next >

Rate this Article

Click on one of the stars below to rate this article from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest). LowRate it 1Rate it 2Rate it 3Rate it 4Rate it 5High
5 myths about Social Security - MSN Money
Dow-8.99down-0.09%
10,143.81
Nasdaq+6.06up+0.27%
2,223.48
S&P+3.07up+0.29%
1,076.76
Liz Pulliam Weston

The Basics

5 myths about Social Security

Continued from page 1

But those statistics reflect the higher infant and child mortality rates of the times. If you survived childhood, you had a good shot of living beyond retirement age. Men who lived to age 30 in 1935 could expect to last another 37 years. Women at 30 had a 40-year average life expectancy.

If you actually reached retirement age, your prospects for a relatively long retirement were good. Men who were 65 in 1935 could expect to live another 12 years, while women faced an average 13 more years. (Today, men of the same age can expect to live another 17 years, and women 20 years.)

In fact, about half of the 30 state pension plans that existed in 1935, and many of the private pension plans, used 65 as a retirement age. Most of the others used age 70. Social Security's creators thought 65 was the more reasonable age and believed the system could be self-sustaining if they chose that age.

Myth No. 4: Social Security will run out of money in 2041. Social Security will still be receiving payroll taxes from workers in 2041. What may have disappeared by then are the assets in the Social Security trust fund.

Even that isn't cast in stone, however. The Congressional Budget Office in June 2006 projected that the trust fund wouldn't dry up until five years later, in 2046. The CBO used different assumptions than those used by the Social Security Administration, projecting faster growth in worker earnings, higher interest rates and lower inflation.

Here's how the Social Security Administration projects the timeline:

  • In 2017, Social Security will begin paying out more than it takes in. For the first time, it will have to use the interest being paid on the securities it holds in order to meet its obligations.

  • In 2027, Social Security would have to start redeeming the securities themselves.

  • By 2041, Social Security would have cashed in the last security, and the system would have enough revenue to pay out only 75% of promised benefits. That percentage would drop over time if Congress failed to act.

Demographics and add-ons

Myth No. 5: Social Security wouldn't be having problems if foreigners weren't able to claim Social Security benefits. The number of checks sent overseas in 2002 totaled 404,640 -- a tiny fraction of the 53 million or so checks Social Security issues annually. Many of those folks may well be Americans who retired abroad. Social Security doesn't break down the overseas checks by citizenship.

In any case, foreign workers who live in the United States have to work and pay taxes into the system for at least 10 years to qualify for Social Security benefits, just as U.S. citizens do.

What will really hurt Social Security are two factors: demographics and the scope of Americans who are covered.

In 1950, there were 16 workers for every person receiving Social Security benefits. By 2015, there will be only three workers for each beneficiary. Fifteen years after that, the ratio will be down to 2.2 to 1.

Video on MSN Money

ER cash © Comstock/Jupiterimages
Social Security solutions
A debate on addressing Social Security in this country, with Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal; Robert Reich, a UC-Berkeley professor; and CNBC's Larry Kudlow.

Even that demographic shift wouldn't be such a disaster if Social Security hadn't expanded far beyond its original mandate of providing retirement benefits for workers. About 30% of Social Security's total benefits are paid to retirees' dependents and survivors and to disabled workers.

Here's a summary of the add-ons over the years:

  • In 1939, five years after Social Security began, Congress added payments for the families of workers who died, and for retirees' dependents (such as stay-at-home spouses).

  • In 1956, Congress added disability benefits for workers.

  • In 1965, Congress established Medicare to pay health-care costs for seniors.

  • In 1974, Supplemental Security Income or SSI was established as a welfare program for low-income seniors and people with disabilities.

Of these add-ons, however, only the first two -- disability benefits and payments to dependents, widows, orphans -- actually affect Social Security's bottom line.

SSI benefits are paid out of the federal government's general revenues. Medicare is paid for with its own tax and has its own trust fund.

Like Medicare, the disability insurance program also has its own tax and its own trust fund. But the disability fund's results are combined with that of the retirement system when Social Security insolvency projections are made, Goss said.

Get the latest from Liz Pulliam Weston. Sign up to receive her free weekly newsletter.

Preferred format:

5 myths about Social Security|Recent Articles by Liz Pulliam Weston ...Free webpages from free-net.com>


New Document 5 myths about Social Security - MSN Money
Dow-8.99down-0.09%
10,143.81
Nasdaq+6.06up+0.27%
2,223.48
S&P+3.07up+0.29%
1,076.76
Liz Pulliam Weston

The Basics

5 myths about Social Security

System reform is a hotbed of controversy. But to move ahead, we've got to identify the myths, toss them aside and refocus on realities.

By Liz Pulliam Weston

You can't write about Social Security and not get flooded with angry e-mails representing all points of the political spectrum. From those who dub it "Socialist Insecurity" to those who hold their checks to be an inalienable right, people often have passionate and firmly held beliefs about the system.

Unfortunately, sometimes those beliefs are based on myths. In the interest of more honest debate, let's review some of these legends.

Looking for the cash hoard

Myth No. 1: There is no Social Security trust fund. You may have heard this assertion so often that you'll be surprised to learn that there really IS a Social Security trust fund that collects our payroll taxes and invests the surplus. It's called the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds.

What isn't in the trust fund is a big hoard of cash.

Three-quarters of the money that's collected in Social Security taxes goes right out the door again in the form of benefits to Social Security recipients. The surplus that isn't needed to pay benefits is loaned to the federal government to pay for other programs.

In return for this loan, the trust fund gets IOUs in the form of special-issue, interest-paying Treasury bonds. The interest isn't paid in cash, however; the Treasury issues the fund additional bonds for the interest amount. In 2006, the fund was credited with more than $102 billion in interest; the total value of the securities is about $2 trillion.

Critics often deride these bonds as "a bookkeeping entry" or a fiction, but they're real obligations of the U.S. government, said Steve Goss, Social Security's chief actuary. In the past, they've been cashed in when Social Security or its sister program, Medicare, temporarily ran low on funds. The last time was in the early 1980s.

"They're backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government," Goss said. "They're every bit as real . . . as any savings bond or Treasury bond any individual might hold in society."

The problem, of course, is that the government now owes the trust fund so much money -- and relies on its surplus so heavily -- that real problems will be created when it comes time to cash in those IOUs. Uncle Sam is going to need to find another source of income to replace the surplus (or cut spending, or borrow money from somewhere else), plus come up with cash to pay the bonds it's already issued.

Myth No. 2: Congress doesn't pay into Social Security, so it doesn't care about fixing the crisis. The idea that U.S. lawmakers don't pay into Social Security is 25 years out of date. Before 1984, U.S. representatives and senators -- like all other federal employees -- weren't covered by Social Security and didn't pay into the system. Congress passed a law in 1983, which took effect the next year, requiring all of its members (and all federal employees hired after that year) to participate in the system.

This myth is often accompanied by the assertion that Congress participates in a private pension scheme that pays them their salaries for the rest of their lives. In fact, the Civil Service Retirement System, which covered federal employees in earlier decades, was closed to new participants after 1983. The pensions available under this old system depend on the federal worker's pay and tenure with the government, but by law can't exceed 80% of the final year's pay. Benefits paid under the system are reduced by the amount of Social Security the participant receives.

The reason Congress hasn't fixed the Social Security crisis is politics. The most likely solutions -- raising taxes, cutting benefits, establishing private accounts or some combination of the three -- all face strong opposition. In addition, the people currently receiving benefits are represented by one of the strongest, most politically connected lobbies in existence: AARP. The 20-something workers who likely will pay the cost for congressional inaction don't have nearly the same clout.

Video on MSN Money

ER cash © Comstock/Jupiterimages
Social Security solutions
A debate on addressing Social Security in this country, with Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal; Robert Reich, a UC-Berkeley professor; and CNBC's Larry Kudlow.

Life expectancy and disappearing assets

Myth No. 3: Age 65 was picked as the retirement age because, when Social Security was started in the 1930s, most people were dead by then. The average life expectancy for a baby girl born in 1935 was about 63 years. For a baby boy, it was about 59 years.

 1 | 2 | next >

Rate this Article

Click on one of the stars below to rate this article from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest). LowRate it 1Rate it 2Rate it 3Rate it 4Rate it 5High
5 myths about Social Security - MSN Money
Dow-8.99down-0.09%
10,143.81
Nasdaq+6.06up+0.27%
2,223.48
S&P+3.07up+0.29%
1,076.76
Liz Pulliam Weston

The Basics

5 myths about Social Security

Continued from page 1

But those statistics reflect the higher infant and child mortality rates of the times. If you survived childhood, you had a good shot of living beyond retirement age. Men who lived to age 30 in 1935 could expect to last another 37 years. Women at 30 had a 40-year average life expectancy.

If you actually reached retirement age, your prospects for a relatively long retirement were good. Men who were 65 in 1935 could expect to live another 12 years, while women faced an average 13 more years. (Today, men of the same age can expect to live another 17 years, and women 20 years.)

In fact, about half of the 30 state pension plans that existed in 1935, and many of the private pension plans, used 65 as a retirement age. Most of the others used age 70. Social Security's creators thought 65 was the more reasonable age and believed the system could be self-sustaining if they chose that age.

Myth No. 4: Social Security will run out of money in 2041. Social Security will still be receiving payroll taxes from workers in 2041. What may have disappeared by then are the assets in the Social Security trust fund.

Even that isn't cast in stone, however. The Congressional Budget Office in June 2006 projected that the trust fund wouldn't dry up until five years later, in 2046. The CBO used different assumptions than those used by the Social Security Administration, projecting faster growth in worker earnings, higher interest rates and lower inflation.

Here's how the Social Security Administration projects the timeline:

  • In 2017, Social Security will begin paying out more than it takes in. For the first time, it will have to use the interest being paid on the securities it holds in order to meet its obligations.

  • In 2027, Social Security would have to start redeeming the securities themselves.

  • By 2041, Social Security would have cashed in the last security, and the system would have enough revenue to pay out only 75% of promised benefits. That percentage would drop over time if Congress failed to act.

Demographics and add-ons

Myth No. 5: Social Security wouldn't be having problems if foreigners weren't able to claim Social Security benefits. The number of checks sent overseas in 2002 totaled 404,640 -- a tiny fraction of the 53 million or so checks Social Security issues annually. Many of those folks may well be Americans who retired abroad. Social Security doesn't break down the overseas checks by citizenship.

In any case, foreign workers who live in the United States have to work and pay taxes into the system for at least 10 years to qualify for Social Security benefits, just as U.S. citizens do.

What will really hurt Social Security are two factors: demographics and the scope of Americans who are covered.

In 1950, there were 16 workers for every person receiving Social Security benefits. By 2015, there will be only three workers for each beneficiary. Fifteen years after that, the ratio will be down to 2.2 to 1.

Video on MSN Money

ER cash © Comstock/Jupiterimages
Social Security solutions
A debate on addressing Social Security in this country, with Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal; Robert Reich, a UC-Berkeley professor; and CNBC's Larry Kudlow.

Even that demographic shift wouldn't be such a disaster if Social Security hadn't expanded far beyond its original mandate of providing retirement benefits for workers. About 30% of Social Security's total benefits are paid to retirees' dependents and survivors and to disabled workers.

Here's a summary of the add-ons over the years:

  • In 1939, five years after Social Security began, Congress added payments for the families of workers who died, and for retirees' dependents (such as stay-at-home spouses).

  • In 1956, Congress added disability benefits for workers.

  • In 1965, Congress established Medicare to pay health-care costs for seniors.

  • In 1974, Supplemental Security Income or SSI was established as a welfare program for low-income seniors and people with disabilities.

Of these add-ons, however, only the first two -- disability benefits and payments to dependents, widows, orphans -- actually affect Social Security's bottom line.

SSI benefits are paid out of the federal government's general revenues. Medicare is paid for with its own tax and has its own trust fund.

Like Medicare, the disability insurance program also has its own tax and its own trust fund. But the disability fund's results are combined with that of the retirement system when Social Security insolvency projections are made, Goss said.

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New Document 5 myths about Social Security - MSN Money
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Liz Pulliam Weston

The Basics

5 myths about Social Security

System reform is a hotbed of controversy. But to move ahead, we've got to identify the myths, toss them aside and refocus on realities.

By Liz Pulliam Weston

You can't write about Social Security and not get flooded with angry e-mails representing all points of the political spectrum. From those who dub it "Socialist Insecurity" to those who hold their checks to be an inalienable right, people often have passionate and firmly held beliefs about the system.

Unfortunately, sometimes those beliefs are based on myths. In the interest of more honest debate, let's review some of these legends.

Looking for the cash hoard

Myth No. 1: There is no Social Security trust fund. You may have heard this assertion so often that you'll be surprised to learn that there really IS a Social Security trust fund that collects our payroll taxes and invests the surplus. It's called the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance Trust Funds.

What isn't in the trust fund is a big hoard of cash.

Three-quarters of the money that's collected in Social Security taxes goes right out the door again in the form of benefits to Social Security recipients. The surplus that isn't needed to pay benefits is loaned to the federal government to pay for other programs.

In return for this loan, the trust fund gets IOUs in the form of special-issue, interest-paying Treasury bonds. The interest isn't paid in cash, however; the Treasury issues the fund additional bonds for the interest amount. In 2006, the fund was credited with more than $102 billion in interest; the total value of the securities is about $2 trillion.

Critics often deride these bonds as "a bookkeeping entry" or a fiction, but they're real obligations of the U.S. government, said Steve Goss, Social Security's chief actuary. In the past, they've been cashed in when Social Security or its sister program, Medicare, temporarily ran low on funds. The last time was in the early 1980s.

"They're backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government," Goss said. "They're every bit as real . . . as any savings bond or Treasury bond any individual might hold in society."

The problem, of course, is that the government now owes the trust fund so much money -- and relies on its surplus so heavily -- that real problems will be created when it comes time to cash in those IOUs. Uncle Sam is going to need to find another source of income to replace the surplus (or cut spending, or borrow money from somewhere else), plus come up with cash to pay the bonds it's already issued.

Myth No. 2: Congress doesn't pay into Social Security, so it doesn't care about fixing the crisis. The idea that U.S. lawmakers don't pay into Social Security is 25 years out of date. Before 1984, U.S. representatives and senators -- like all other federal employees -- weren't covered by Social Security and didn't pay into the system. Congress passed a law in 1983, which took effect the next year, requiring all of its members (and all federal employees hired after that year) to participate in the system.

This myth is often accompanied by the assertion that Congress participates in a private pension scheme that pays them their salaries for the rest of their lives. In fact, the Civil Service Retirement System, which covered federal employees in earlier decades, was closed to new participants after 1983. The pensions available under this old system depend on the federal worker's pay and tenure with the government, but by law can't exceed 80% of the final year's pay. Benefits paid under the system are reduced by the amount of Social Security the participant receives.

The reason Congress hasn't fixed the Social Security crisis is politics. The most likely solutions -- raising taxes, cutting benefits, establishing private accounts or some combination of the three -- all face strong opposition. In addition, the people currently receiving benefits are represented by one of the strongest, most politically connected lobbies in existence: AARP. The 20-something workers who likely will pay the cost for congressional inaction don't have nearly the same clout.

Video on MSN Money

ER cash © Comstock/Jupiterimages
Social Security solutions
A debate on addressing Social Security in this country, with Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal; Robert Reich, a UC-Berkeley professor; and CNBC's Larry Kudlow.

Life expectancy and disappearing assets

Myth No. 3: Age 65 was picked as the retirement age because, when Social Security was started in the 1930s, most people were dead by then. The average life expectancy for a baby girl born in 1935 was about 63 years. For a baby boy, it was about 59 years.

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5 myths about Social Security - MSN Money
Dow-8.99down-0.09%
10,143.81
Nasdaq+6.06up+0.27%
2,223.48
S&P+3.07up+0.29%
1,076.76
Liz Pulliam Weston

The Basics

5 myths about Social Security

Continued from page 1

But those statistics reflect the higher infant and child mortality rates of the times. If you survived childhood, you had a good shot of living beyond retirement age. Men who lived to age 30 in 1935 could expect to last another 37 years. Women at 30 had a 40-year average life expectancy.

If you actually reached retirement age, your prospects for a relatively long retirement were good. Men who were 65 in 1935 could expect to live another 12 years, while women faced an average 13 more years. (Today, men of the same age can expect to live another 17 years, and women 20 years.)

In fact, about half of the 30 state pension plans that existed in 1935, and many of the private pension plans, used 65 as a retirement age. Most of the others used age 70. Social Security's creators thought 65 was the more reasonable age and believed the system could be self-sustaining if they chose that age.

Myth No. 4: Social Security will run out of money in 2041. Social Security will still be receiving payroll taxes from workers in 2041. What may have disappeared by then are the assets in the Social Security trust fund.

Even that isn't cast in stone, however. The Congressional Budget Office in June 2006 projected that the trust fund wouldn't dry up until five years later, in 2046. The CBO used different assumptions than those used by the Social Security Administration, projecting faster growth in worker earnings, higher interest rates and lower inflation.

Here's how the Social Security Administration projects the timeline:

  • In 2017, Social Security will begin paying out more than it takes in. For the first time, it will have to use the interest being paid on the securities it holds in order to meet its obligations.

  • In 2027, Social Security would have to start redeeming the securities themselves.

  • By 2041, Social Security would have cashed in the last security, and the system would have enough revenue to pay out only 75% of promised benefits. That percentage would drop over time if Congress failed to act.

Demographics and add-ons

Myth No. 5: Social Security wouldn't be having problems if foreigners weren't able to claim Social Security benefits. The number of checks sent overseas in 2002 totaled 404,640 -- a tiny fraction of the 53 million or so checks Social Security issues annually. Many of those folks may well be Americans who retired abroad. Social Security doesn't break down the overseas checks by citizenship.

In any case, foreign workers who live in the United States have to work and pay taxes into the system for at least 10 years to qualify for Social Security benefits, just as U.S. citizens do.

What will really hurt Social Security are two factors: demographics and the scope of Americans who are covered.

In 1950, there were 16 workers for every person receiving Social Security benefits. By 2015, there will be only three workers for each beneficiary. Fifteen years after that, the ratio will be down to 2.2 to 1.

Video on MSN Money

ER cash © Comstock/Jupiterimages
Social Security solutions
A debate on addressing Social Security in this country, with Steve Moore of the Wall Street Journal; Robert Reich, a UC-Berkeley professor; and CNBC's Larry Kudlow.

Even that demographic shift wouldn't be such a disaster if Social Security hadn't expanded far beyond its original mandate of providing retirement benefits for workers. About 30% of Social Security's total benefits are paid to retirees' dependents and survivors and to disabled workers.

Here's a summary of the add-ons over the years:

  • In 1939, five years after Social Security began, Congress added payments for the families of workers who died, and for retirees' dependents (such as stay-at-home spouses).

  • In 1956, Congress added disability benefits for workers.

  • In 1965, Congress established Medicare to pay health-care costs for seniors.

  • In 1974, Supplemental Security Income or SSI was established as a welfare program for low-income seniors and people with disabilities.

Of these add-ons, however, only the first two -- disability benefits and payments to dependents, widows, orphans -- actually affect Social Security's bottom line.

SSI benefits are paid out of the federal government's general revenues. Medicare is paid for with its own tax and has its own trust fund.

Like Medicare, the disability insurance program also has its own tax and its own trust fund. But the disability fund's results are combined with that of the retirement system when Social Security insolvency projections are made, Goss said.

Get the latest from Liz Pulliam Weston. Sign up to receive her free weekly newsletter.

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