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[quote=”kwhite1″] The sad part is that the system has become way to easy to work. I have had employees quit, file for un employment, we have a hearing, I submit a copy of thier resignation, and they still are able to claim un employment against me. The win everytime, I have a 0% win ratio for un employment claims when the person quits…amazing.
I am all for helping people that need it but the system is broken, my wife’s mother has MS, cannot get around without a walker, she was denied disability benefits, but go to any Wal Mart USA and take a poll, 2/3 of the people in there are on disability while shopping and getting around just dandy.[/quote]
My wife was denied by SS twice. SS is then required to set up a meeting with an administrative law judge.
She had her complete medical records with her at the meeting and the ALJ approved her SS.
I had the same thing happen to me when I was on SSD in the 1980’s. I had several surgeries for arthritis in my hands that lasted two years before I could get back to work. I was still in a cast from fingers to shoulder when I met the ALJ and he immediately approved me.
The SS is in the practice of denying benefits as long as they can. They do not want to see you and everything is done by telephone.
Fight for your mother-in-law. Get the ALJ involved and have her medical records for the meeting.
[quote=”davidd”]Waggoner
question. how does one who never contribute to social security are able to recieve benefits
I know 6 people that are now recieving SS benefits that have never worked on the books.. or worked when they were kids.. that are getting SS benefits
let me be more specific. 2 are on disability of some sort so they are getting SS benefits early.
these range from $800 to $1500 per month in payments
I know these people since I was a kid growing up in NYC..
thanks [/quote]
That is a question that you will have to ask your “friends”.
I would like to know the answer to that myself.
It is incumbent on all of us to report people who you suspect are receiving benefits that they do not deserve.
If you are familiar with them, see if they seem capable of working at any type of employment even if it requres retraining.
Our taxes also pay for the needed retraining and they should be required to do the training on our dime.
My wife had to take SSD because of documented, legitimate health issues but she paid into SS for 40 years while she was able to work.
There was a story about a guy who was drawing California state disability but someone sent the disability department a copy of a video of him doing something he was supposedly incapable of doing. He was terminated from the disability program and required to repay his entire benefit.
It’s up to us.
[quote=”rosiemaji”] That is good information to know. I will leave our second signed copies with a friend here in Costa Rica just in case we don’t get an email confirmation. We are leaving for a few months in the states next week and we won’t be back until after the due date.[/quote]
Good idea for all of us to keep a copy of the filled out form just in case.
We do know how things go in Costa Rica.
[quote=”martam”]
Has anyone else heard of this? Does it seem reasonable to assume that everyone who drives in Costa Rica has an email address and reads the Gaceta faithfully?[/quote]
I had not heard of this but my Tico friend has confirmed that [b]it is true[/b]. 😥
I would not have been aware without this post.
Thank you martam 😀
[quote=”kwhite1″]
Kinda stinks knowing that SS won’t be there for me when I am of age. Been paying into it for 25 years, and have another 20 before I can get some back. Does anyone really think it will still be viable in 20 years? If so I will sell mine now at a discount! $.60 on the dollar!! Don’t pass it up!![/quote]The Social Security Investment Trust holds 18% of the Federal debt. SS is not broke; the Federal government has a problem in redeeming SS requests to be redeemed. Right now SS has funding adequate for about 15 years.
The issue is that “our congressional representatives”, as well as anyone who keeps up with economic issues, has been aware of the dual problems of the baby boom and our ever-extending lives since the early 1950’s.
Congress in its infinite ineptitude has continually kicked the can down the road for more than 60 years by applying band-aid fixes to the issues rather than to find a permanent solution.
Write your representatives, as I have, and tell them that the problems with SS are the fault of congress to pass a permanent fix and if they vote to approve the [b]chained CPI[/b] that they will lose your vote in the next election.
The fixes at this late date are far more drastic than they would have been years ago. Where my generation should have been paying into SS at a higher rate when we were working, congress decided that increasing our premiums would be unpopular.
Here are some of the things that can be done:
1 ~ Both my wife and I receive SS and we are willing to take a 5% cut in our benefits to help alleviate the problem.
2 ~ Raise the SS monthly premium by 1% for both employee and employer.
3 ~ Raise the age to qualify for SS by an additional year. [b](Congress increased our retirement age by two years while we were employed and we didn’t complain.)[/b]
4 ~ Raise the level of income that is subject to SS premiums.
I am sure other options that I have not thought of but there are solutions.You are about the same age as our children and we want to see that all of you get your. The same applies to Medicare.
The baby boom situation is temporary, lasting until about 2042. After that it evens out. Our extending life-spans are another issue.Like everywhere else in the world inflation and the cost of living is increasing and it is no worse here than it is in the States.
Everyone complains about the taxes because new taxes are being legislated. In the past 5 years we have seen a “luxury” new tax on property and a corporate tax on the corporations to hold your property, the corporation being necessary to protect that asset.
All-in-all the taxes we pay are far lower than they are in the States.
Where I paid $1,500 for a 1000′ home on a 6,000′ lot I pay a total of $67 for a 2500′ home on an acre of property here.
I, for one, can not complain.Cost of groceries is rising at about the same rate as in the States.
Cost of gasoline has been in the $5 to $5.75 range since 2008. We pay the true cost of fuel at the pump rather than a lower price at the pump and additional in the form of taxes in the States.It will remain far cheaper to live in Costa Rica than in the States. You can still live on the guaranteed $1,000 monthy income if it is necessary. 😀
[quote=”davidd”]Wagooner
I guess we just have different values and lifes experience.. which is a wonderful thing actually and this keeps the world from being such a bore 🙂
life is a grand adventure 🙂
[/quote]
[b]In the end every parent is responsible for making sure that their children are taught the values that the parents believe in.
It can not be done without the help of the community and you choose the community that hold the same values that you do.[/b]
When they become adults their life experiences will affect their poit of view.
When I was growing up neither my parents nor I could never have envisioned what my life has been now nor what I have experienced or the people I have met.
I am not sure whether my parents would totally agree with the point of view that I now hold but my point of view has been a process of living my life. Looking back there is nothing I would have changed.
I am sure that you feel the same way.
[quote=”Scott”]A question for our retired US Citizens/VIP members who are living here with Social Security as a big part of their monthly income…
The quote below is taken from: [url=http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article34541.htm]Obama’s Social Security Cuts Are Our Wake-Up Call.[/url]
“How big is the President’s chained-CPI cut? For someone who retires at 65, it would be:
a 3.7 percent cut at age 75;
a 6.5 percent cut at age 85;
and a 9.2 percent cut at 95.What about the dollar cost of the President’s cut? For the average earner, cumulative benefits would be cut by:
$4,631 – more than three months of benefits – by age 75;
$13,910 – nearly a year of benefits – by age 85;
and $28,004 – more than a year and a half of benefits – by age 95.Unless the President’s budget excludes the chained CPI from IRS calculation, it would also lead to tax increases for all income except that in the highest tax bracket. So his Social Security cut would also be a middle-class tax hike.”
================================
[b]If this did happen to your Social Security, how would this affect your living standards in Costa Rica?
[/b][/quote]
IF IT HAPPENS!!! We will have to go with the flow AND it will hurt.
We belong to several organizations who are fighting this idea and I do not mean AARP. I have very little usse for AARP since they took a stand to allow the wealthy to continue receiving what was oricinally intended to be a support system for the elderly, among other things.
We contact our senators in California, Barbara Boxer and Diane Feinstein and our representative Linda Sanchez regularly on issues that affect us. All are Democrats and all have agreed to fight the idea of chained CPI.
[quote=”davidd”]waggonner
I have come to admire and respect some people on this board by their previous posts and you are one of them.
and the way you propose this makes kind of sense on a the idea that everyone shares the same set of value’s as you and that the government is there to help you. :D:D:D
we all know this is not the case
I would never phrase something as the kids do NOT belong to you or your family. they belong to a collective
when they say collective do you mean something like this???
http://youtu.be/WtGrp5MbzAI ??? imagine [/quote]
Why is it that Fox News is so frequently referred to by conservative thinkers who do not seem to be able to broaden their view of the world. You do not have to answer that I already know that all they are looking for is confirmation of what they want to believe.
[quote=”davidd”]a personal example off the top of my head..
I do NOT believe in homosexuality. Now I don’t wish any homosexuals any harm and I want them to do whatever floats thier boat.. you know whatever makes them happy as long as they don’t force thier ideals on anyone.. god speed
does this make me a homo phobic???
or.. the fact that this goes against what I believe I should allow my kids to be taught by someone of influence who is homosexual??
when I was living in a small community we had a large church and we found out by the pastor coming out that he was gay??
to me this was unacceptable to the event of exposing my children to this lifestyle. so without any fan fare we just left the congregation and found one better suited to our values.
parents are the first line of defense against the liberal moral decay in our society. and who else will take care and protect them. school teachers??? 😯 the things that go on in public schools today are just a form of incompetence and indoctrination.
now when my children become adults they can make their own decisions and as adults they will also be responsible for their actions.
but in the mean time my kids are my kids and will learn to THINK for themselves
so I do think first is to find a community of likeminded people. self reliant and independant
then surround yourself with like minded people that can support each other and become stronger as a unit.
like the spartans 🙂 Metaphorically speaking of course :)[/quote]
That was a poor metaphor to use since most of the Spartan warriors were lovers of each other.
I would think that any news reporter would have a better handle on the English usage than she did. Her comment was poorly stated, leave it to Fox to make the most of her misstep.
As to homophobia I do not have the intense hatred or fear of homosexuals or homosexuality that you seem to be expounding. I have had friends of all races and, yes, a few gays in my apparently wider experience and have found them to be just people trying to make their way in the world like the rest of us. They did not display their sexual orientation in public nor even in front of those of us who they considered friends unlike those who make the news in their gay pride antics.
I will end that subject since it has little to do with my original post. I just thought it proper to respond to such rhetoric.
I brought my sense of community with me when I moved to Costa Rica.
We have a Tico family of ten who live with us in our home.They provide us with a Tico face in Costa Rica and assure that we are not taken to the cleaners by others who think all Gringos are flush with cash.
They also have a wide knowledge of where we can purchase quality items that we need rather than the cheap get by items that most Ticos work with.
In return we finance the education of their children in order to guarantee them a better life than their parents had.
Quid pro quo. We are a community.
[quote=”davidd”]why would you comment on a deleted topic??? just curious?
[/quote]Apparently there are some who believe that the community spirit does not apply.
The spirit of the information contained in the post was that “you cannot do it alone”. It is as true today as it ever was.
The post falsified the spirit of the information.[quote=”barbara ann”]
All of theabove should give you the ammo you need to oppose Obamacare. Please send this information on to all of your email contacts.[/quote]It would pay for Barbara Ann to download copies of the legislation and check for herself.
Lies, lies, lies.
Our property is on two levels.
The home is built on a cut into the hill and sits on solld ground but the upper part of the property is built up with subsoil to make about 1/3 acre level and a part of that has gone down the hill.We are in the process of building a retaining wall and will refill that.
It’s pretty easy to tell what is where by seeing the old growth on the original land and younger growth on the built up areas.
[quote=”beansandbooks”]Let’s all hope that the Big O isn’t bringing a copy of the 2700 page health care bill, that nobody in the US understands, along with him as a gift to the Costa Rican President. Now that would set CAJA back a bit. :D[/quote]
Every time I see a reference to that legislation the number of pages goes up and [b]up[/b] and [size=200]up.[/size]
I have a copy of the legislation and when you throw out the pork attached, it amounts to a little over 900 pages.
[quote=”agarcia”]Much ado about nothing. Move on and find a real cause in life. You could find much better ways to spend your time don’t you think?[/quote]
The birthers stay on this issue because they can’t find anything better to do. 😆
