Dead Zone: Obama's plan to steal your Social Security by piratenews

REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

Dead Zone: Obama's plan to steal your Social Security

POSTED BY: PIRATENEWS
UPDATED: Thursday, March 11, 2010 14:37
SHORT URL:
VIEWED: 1572
PAGE 1 of 1

Monday, March 8, 2010 5:39 AM

John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!

Quote:
Wall Street Took Your House and Your Retirement, Now They're After Your Social Security. Wall Street tycoon Pete Peterson wants to bring IMF-style economic insanity to the U.S. The scary part? He might get away with it.

http://www.alternet.org/story/145896/wall_street_took_your_house_and_y
our_retirement,_now_they%27re_after_your_social_security

My mom's husband died last month at age 57, before getting his SS pension.

Now Social Security Administration says MY MOM is dead, and refuses to correct that mistake. SSA has cheated her out of $4,000 so far...

If SSA is like the Veterans Administration, employees get paid a cash bonus for every person they rob.

I won my Social Security disability appeal. It only took 12 years, winning a trial in fed court that got the SSA ALJ judge fired, and a 2nd SSA ALJ trial with a new judge. SSA still refuses to pay...

NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Tuesday, March 9, 2010 11:08 AM

PIRATENEWS

John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!

Not only does SSA say my mom is dead -- while she's sitting in the SSA office and claiming she's alive -- but SSA has cancelled her Medicare insurance, since dead folk don't need healthcare.

She has Parkinsons, and now she can't go to a doctor and get medicine.

Obamacare will be 10 times worse. Ask the soldiers how the Veterans Administration treats them, with govt employees paid cash bonuses for denying claims...

NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Wednesday, March 10, 2010 8:20 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Ohhh, I see...and all this is Obama's fault, and it's an Obama conspiracy, and, and, and...

My sympathies to your family, and to you for it taking so long to get disability. I was one of the lucky ones, got it within a month, but I know of many who had to fight. At least you'll get BACK PAY for all the years since you first filed, that should be fun.

How about the Republicans' consistent fight to DO AWAY with Social Security (and Disability)? They've wanted to get rid of it for decades, and they never stop trying. Guess that would make you happier, NOTHING to fight for.

Lessee, everything you're ranting about happened under the current bureaucracy, or for 11 years before Obama came along, but it's OBAMA's conspiracy...sigh...I give up, you're batting zero lately, surely you can do better.

"I'm just right. Kinda like the sun rising in the east and the world being round...its not a need its just the way it is." The Delusional "Hero", 3/1/10

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Thursday, March 11, 2010 10:17 AM

OUT2THEBLACK

What Niki seems to have missed , directly from PN's cited article :

Wall Street Took Your House and Your Retirement, Now They're After Your Social Security

'...What the president seems to have missed is that all of our money except coins now comes into the world as "red ink," or debt. It is all created on the books of private banks and lent into the economy. If there is no debt, there is no money; and private debt has collapsed. This year to date, US lending has been contracting at the fastest rate in recorded history. A credit freeze has struck globally; and when credit shrinks, the money supply shrinks with it. That means there is insufficient money to buy goods, so workers get laid off and factories get shut down, perpetuating a vicious spiral of economic collapse and depression.'

http://www.alternet.org/story/145896/wall_street_took_your_house_and_y
our_retirement,_now_they%27re_after_your_social_security

For Folk as permaybehaps don't know , 'alternet' is a decidedly Left-leaning news source , not to say that theirs is not a fair assessment in this instance...

What makes it the more notable is that Folk with views more to the Right are also saying the same sort of things right now , on the subject of Monetary Reform...

Unfortunately , Ron Paul's effort to require accountability at the Federal Reserve is being vehemently opposed by Monetary PTB ; the Fed is a Private Bank
run for the benefit of the Banksters and their political cronies , and not " Of , By , or For THE PEOPLE..."

Lawful Money is Gold and Silver Coin...Reference the Constitution and the Coinage Act of 1792...'Legal Tender' Paper "Money" is F.R.A.U.D.--Federal Reserve Accounting Unit Dollars...

There is no TRUTH in partisanship...And no partisanship in TRUTH...

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Thursday, March 11, 2010 10:31 AM

GINOBIFFARONI

Quote:
Originally posted by Niki2:
Ohhh, I see...and all this is Obama's fault, and it's an Obama conspiracy, and, and, and...

My sympathies to your family, and to you for it taking so long to get disability. I was one of the lucky ones, got it within a month, but I know of many who had to fight. At least you'll get BACK PAY for all the years since you first filed, that should be fun.

How about the Republicans' consistent fight to DO AWAY with Social Security (and Disability)? They've wanted to get rid of it for decades, and they never stop trying. Guess that would make you happier, NOTHING to fight for.

Lessee, everything you're ranting about happened under the current bureaucracy, or for 11 years before Obama came along, but it's OBAMA's conspiracy...sigh...I give up, you're batting zero lately, surely you can do better.

PN attacked Bush equally while he was in

I think he tends to focus on the idiots who are in, unlike the blame Bush while Obama doesn't do anything to fix it crowd.

Obama is in charge, he has had a year to show folk something... and sure maybe the Repubs started somethings, maybe they have their agendas... but now by not dealing with the issues Obama owns those same positions now.

You sarcastic remarks aside Niki, PN makes plenty of points... and your comments here carry nothing towards the conversation.

Either you Are with the terrorists, or ... you Are with the terrorists

Life is like a jar of Jalapeño peppers.
What you do today, might Burn Your Ass Tomorrow"

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Thursday, March 11, 2010 10:49 AM

OUT2THEBLACK

The Future Of the United States , from news issued just minutes ago...

" Greece hit by strikes, clashes over austerity plan...

ATHENS, Greece – Clashes between riot police and rock-throwing, masked youths broke out during a demonstration Thursday in central Athens by tens of thousands of striking workers protesting austerity measures that the Greek government has said it has no choice but to implement.

The debt-ridden country is under intense pressure from both markets and the European Union to reduce its deficit from 12.7 percent of economic output in 2009 to 8.7 percent this year. Last week, Greece introduced a harsh $6.5 billion austerity package that cut civil servants' wages, froze pensions and raised consumer taxes."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100311/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_greece_financial_cr
isis

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Thursday, March 11, 2010 10:59 AM

OUT2THEBLACK

Using Cashy Money ?

You may be a Terrorist...At least your 'neighbours' are encouraged to think so :

' Use Cash And Enjoy Privacy? You’re A Terrorist

A new government commercial currently running on one of Britain’s most popular radio stations is selling one thing – fear – by encouraging Londoners to report their neighbors as terrorists if they use cash, enjoy their privacy, or even close their curtains.'

Straight Outta 1984

http://www.prisonplanet.com/use-cash-and-enjoy-privacy-youre-a-terrori
st.html

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Thursday, March 11, 2010 11:01 AM

JONGSSTRAW

Quote:
Originally posted by GinoBiffaroni:
You sarcastic remarks aside Niki, PN makes plenty of points... and your comments here carry nothing towards the conversation.

FWIW, I respect what Niki posts 1000 times more than any of PN's stuff. And we're generally on opposite sides of political and cultural issues. Yeah, once in a while a PN post will tickle my vast intellectual fancy, but as a rule, not so much. I respect Niki because she tries very hard to be honest.....probably more than most here. PN makes no such effort.

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Thursday, March 11, 2010 11:04 AM

OUT2THEBLACK

"...The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years.

These nations have progressed through this sequence:

From bondage to spiritual faith;

from spiritual faith to great courage;

from courage to liberty;

from liberty to abundance;

from abundance to selfishness;

from selfishness to complacency;

from complaceny to apathy;

from apathy to dependence;

from dependency back again into bondage."

Sir Alex Fraser Tyler: (1742-1813)

Scottish jurist and historian

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Thursday, March 11, 2010 11:10 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...

Quote:
You sarcastic remarks aside Niki, PN makes plenty of points... and your comments here carry nothing towards the conversation.

I still periodically click on a thread I didn't realize was PN's, but usually not. By far I find his material grossly and aggressively ugly, and I'm sorry, but it's my right to say so.

I don't care who he goes after; the way he does it is what carries nothing toward any conversation, as far as I'm concerned. His thread titles are vicious, usually inaccurate, and often so far out they're incomprehensible.

And I got news for you: Given the few times PN has EVER responded to me have been filled with vitriol, far worse than whatever I said, and accused me of being a "Jew terrorist" or words to that effect, I owe him no respect. I respect others here even when we disagree, and try to engage in discussions/debates as civilly as I can manage, but PN is NEVER civil that I've seen, and I see no such thing as "conversation" with him possible on any topic.

That's how I feel and will continue to. Most of the time I ignore him; occasionally his idiocy is jsut TOO over the top so I snark at him. I respect your disagreement; would be nice if you respected my opinion, but you're as free as I am to say what you think.

"I'm just right. Kinda like the sun rising in the east and the world being round...its not a need its just the way it is." The Delusional "Hero", 3/1/10

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Thursday, March 11, 2010 11:22 AM

OUT2THEBLACK

Naked partisanship can scarcely be considered intellectually 'honest'...Nor can the chronic personal attacks that are levied against Folk with whom she doesn't happen to agree...Being a 'go-along to get-along' doesn't enhance anyone's intellectual prowess , either .
What goes around also comes around...

Admittedly , some sifting of data must be accomplished with the posts that are brought to this forum by just about anyone ; it's not an issue particular to PN , despite the apparent populist consensus to the contrary...

Meanwhile , there are more important matters than just the personal :

'...The “Enemy Belligerent, Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010,” introduced by Senators John McCain and Joseph Lieberman on Thursday with little fanfare, “sets out a comprehensive policy for the detention, interrogation and trial of suspected enemy belligerents who are believed to have engaged in hostilities against the United States by requiring these individuals to be held in military custody, interrogated for their intelligence value and not provided with a Miranda warning,” writes the Atlantic’s Marc Ambinder.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/03/a-detention-bill-y
ou-ought-to-read-more-carefully/37116

The full bill can be read here (PDF):

http://assets.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/politics/ARM10090.pdf

A close reading of the bill suggests it would allow the U.S. military to detain U.S. citizens without trial indefinitely in the U.S. based on suspected activity.

The bill does not distinguish between U.S. citizens and non-citizens, and states that “suspected belligerents” who are “considered a “high-value detainee” shall not be provided with a Miranda warning.”

A person is considered a “high value detainee” if they fulfil one of the following criteria.

(1) poses a threat of an attack on civilians or civilian facilities within the U.S. or U.S. facilities abroad; (2) poses a threat to U.S. military personnel or U.S. military facilities; (3) potential intelligence value; (4) is a member of al Qaeda or a terrorist group affiliated with al Qaeda or (5) such other matters as the President considers appropriate.'

Meanwhile , Folk are being screened to detect 'MAL-intent' :

http://www.infowars.com/dissenters-to-be-detained-as-enemy-belligerent
s/

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Thursday, March 11, 2010 11:53 AM

GINOBIFFARONI

Quote:
Originally posted by Niki2:
Quote:
You sarcastic remarks aside Niki, PN makes plenty of points... and your comments here carry nothing towards the conversation.
I still periodically click on a thread I didn't realize was PN's, but usually not. By far I find his material grossly and aggressively ugly, and I'm sorry, but it's my right to say so.

I don't care who he goes after; the way he does it is what carries nothing toward any conversation, as far as I'm concerned. His thread titles are vicious, usually inaccurate, and often so far out they're incomprehensible.

And I got news for you: Given the few times PN has EVER responded to me have been filled with vitriol, far worse than whatever I said, and accused me of being a "Jew terrorist" or words to that effect, I owe him no respect. I respect others here even when we disagree, and try to engage in discussions/debates as civilly as I can manage, but PN is NEVER civil that I've seen, and I see no such thing as "conversation" with him possible on any topic.

That's how I feel and will continue to. Most of the time I ignore him; occasionally his idiocy is jsut TOO over the top so I snark at him. I respect your disagreement; would be nice if you respected my opinion, but you're as free as I am to say what you think.

You are free to say what you want, sure

just saying it would better better to throw a point in, rather than just snark...

as I tried to by saying pointing at Bush or the repubs when some is critical of Obama, is not really a defense of Obama

is that not true ?

we ( all of us ) tend to get off message everytime the snarking starts... PN hasn't been over the top it this thread, I think he has points to be made here as he is relating personal experience and not barraging us with crap links...

We all know by now your objections to PN, I have similar ones to AURaptor... but I don't post snarks everytime he says something

I would say the same to PN, but I don't think he would accept the point I'm trying to make... I think you might

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Thursday, March 11, 2010 12:53 PM

FIVVER

OTB, I've always loved that quote. Here's the full version of it:

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage."

Wonder where we are now...

NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Thursday, March 11, 2010 2:03 PM

PIRATENEWS

John Lee, conspiracy therapist at Hollywood award-winner History Channel-mocked SNL-spoofed PirateNew.org wooHOO!!!!!!

Defaulted Loans May Haunt Seniors Thanks to Obama, Demoratic Congress and Kosher Banksters

Wall Street Journal

A little–noticed law could soon result in smaller Social Security checks for hundreds of thousands of the elderly and disabled who owe the U.S. money from defaulted loans and other debts more than a decade old.

Social Security benefits are off–limits to creditors, such as credit–card companies and banks. But the U.S. can collect debts to federal agencies by "offsetting," or withholding Social Security and disability payments.

The Treasury currently withholds benefits of 3.1 million Social Security recipients to recover defaulted student–, farm– and small–business loans, unpaid income taxes, amounts veterans owe for health care, and other debts to the government.

Previously, the U.S. hasn't been able to withhold Social Security payments to recover most debts delinquent for more than ten years.

But a provision in the 2008 Farm Bill lifted the ten–year statute of limitations on the government's ability to withhold Social Security benefits in collecting debts other than student loans—for which the statute of limitations was lifted in 1997—and income taxes, where the limit remains 10 years.

This means that a person who defaulted on a small–business loan in 1995, for example, and who is receiving Social Security could be notified that his benefits may be reduced each month until the debt, with interest, fees, and penalties, is paid. The Treasury can withhold 15% of the benefit, though it can't be reduced to below $750. Tax debts have no floor.

The change will add more than $6 billion to the $75 billion in delinquent debt individuals owe the government, according to the Financial Management Service, the Treasury's debt collection unit.

A Treasury spokesman says the new legislation "allows Treasury's Financial Management Service to collect older debts and levels the playing field so that all eligible debts, regardless of age, are subject to debt collection. Treasury expects this legislation will result in increased collections of $10 million per year in delinquent federal non–tax debt."

Though no one argues that people shouldn't repay their debts, the change is coming at a challenging time for older Americans already pinched by mortgage woes, pension cuts and spiraling medical costs.

The shift applies to debtors of all ages, but Social Security recipients will bear much of the brunt. A Wall Street Journal analysis of Treasury Department data shows that Social Security recipients comprise a large and growing percentage of people from whom the Treasury recovers debts.

For years, most debt the Treasury collected through its "Offset Program," came from withholding income–tax refunds. But with an aging population and growing unemployment, roughly 10% of the $4.3 billion in debts collected by the Treasury came from Social Security benefits in 2008, the latest figures available. That's up from 1.6% in 2001, according to Journal computations that the Treasury confirms.

Though the law has expanded the age of debts that can be recovered, it hasn't addressed the sometimes–Kafkaesque process debtors can face when challenging the validity of a claim.

Consider the predicament of Dr. Robert Steinberg, the founder of Scharffen Berger chocolates, who spent more than six years and thousands of dollars in legal fees appealing the Social Security Administration's claim that he owed it more than $28,000.

Dr. Steinberg received disability benefits in the early 1990s while undergoing chemotherapy for lymphoma, a condition that ultimately claimed his life. Dr. Steinberg returned to work sporadically at a free clinic before co–founding the chocolate company.

Year later, the Social Security Administration notified Dr. Steinberg he was overpaid in the 1990s. In May 2002, with the matter still unresolved, the agency turned the debt over to the Treasury for collection.

In Oct. 2002, administrative law judge Gary Lee found that the Social Security Administration had never established the amount of the overpayment; had dismissed an earlier appeal "for spurious reasons"; had misinformed Dr. Steinberg and mishandled his later appeals; and had lost his file. He noted that Dr. Steinberg was "without fault," and told the agency to stop its collections efforts.

Dr. Steinberg died in 2008, at 61. His lawyer, Peter Young, a former staff attorney for the Social Security Administration, has handled more than 100 overpayment cases, "very few of which were accurate," he says. "Most people can't find or afford help, and give up very quickly and end up with painful offsets on a fixed budget."

An agency spokeswoman says mistakes can happen, but "over all, the process works."

A Treasury spokesman says the new regulations require agencies seeking to recover debts more than a decade old to give debtors the right to review and copy their files, make payment arrangements, and apply for disability and hardship waivers.

But a recent dispute about a student loan shows that even with these rights, a person challenging an old debt can face hurdles similar to homeowners in foreclosure trying to modify a loan that has been resold.

In 2003, the U.S. began withholding $173 a month in Social Security benefits from Annie Brown, a paralyzed 75–year–old widow living in a nursing home to repay a defaulted $8,823 student loan the Education Department says she took out in 1989. The offset reduced Mrs. Brown's benefit to about $980 a month.

Mrs. Brown said a granddaughter had forged her signature on a loan application. Her daughter and a lawyer spent more than four years disputing the debt with the owner of the loan, United Student Aid Funds, a student–loan guarantor that also was acting as one of the Education Department's 21 debt collectors. USA Funds itself farms out various debt–collection activities to others, which it did in Mrs. Brown's case.

Between 2003 and 2008, Mrs. Brown's daughter and Lynn Drysdale, a legal–aid lawyer in Jacksonville, Fla., corresponded numerous times with USA Funds and two other debt–collection companies it hired. One letter from USA Funds warned that unless documents were received "within 30 days from the date this letter was generated...your case will be closed." The letter was undated. Another letter required Mrs. Brown to refer to an attached document. There was no attachment. "I don't know how a lay person could maneuver through this process," says Ms. Drysdale. "Nobody seemed to know what was needed."

In 2007, USA Funds denied Mrs. Brown's claim, citing a recently passed federal rule requiring people claiming identity theft on student loans to obtain a criminal court verdict of the crime. That was impossible for Mrs. Brown; a statute of limitations for bringing a case had passed years earlier. In any case, she wasn't alleging identity theft, but forgery.

Robert Murray, a spokesman for USA Funds, agrees that Mrs. Brown's signature was forged. "It's absolutely a forgery," he says, "It \[the loan\] should never have been made."

But he says that USA Funds couldn't discharge the loan as a forgery because Mrs. Brown didn't return a required form in 2005, and that USA Funds must rigorously defend claims. "There are borrowers who want to get out of a legitimate debt," he says. "By the same token, we want to work with individuals who have a legitimate issue."

Ms. Drysdale, the legal–aid lawyer, finally sought to obtain a disability waiver for her client. That process took more than a year, and was achieved only after Ms. Drysdale asked for help from the Social Security Administration's ombudsman, who declined to comment.

In August 2009, the Education Department agreed that Mrs. Brown is permanently disabled, and discharged her obligation to repay the loan she never took out. The Treasury returned her withheld benefits in December.

http://finance.yahoo.com/retirement/article/109011/defaulted-loans-may
-haunt-seniors?mod=retire-planning

THIS IS HOW THE VETERANS ADMINISTRATION STOLE MY WIFE'S ENTIRE RETIREMENT PENSION FROM THE US MILITARY, TO "OFFSET" HER V.A. DISABILITY PENSION PAYMENTS.

NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

Thursday, March 11, 2010 2:37 PM

OUT2THEBLACK

Quote:
Originally posted by fivver:
OTB, I've always loved that quote. Here's the full version of it:

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves money from the public treasure. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most money from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage."

Wonder where we are now...

Thanks for the reminder...I've always loved it , too !

It's even more meaningful with the addition of the additional context...Thanks for bringing it here !

NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | TOP | HOME

YOUR OPTIONS

SHARE THREAD

NEW POSTS TODAY

USER	POST DATE

USER

POST DATE