Our senators and congressmen don’t pay into Social Security, and, of course, they don’t collect from it. The reason is that they have a special retirement plan that they voted for themselves many years ago.
For all practical purposes, it works like this: When they retire, they continue to draw their same pay, until they die, except that it may be increased from time to time, by cost of living adjustments. For instance, former Sen. Bill Bradley and his wife may be expected to draw $7.9 million, with Mrs. Bradley drawing $275,000 during the last year of her life. This is calculated on an average life span for each.
This would be well and good, except that they paid nothing in on any kind of retirement, and neither does any other senator or congressman. This fine retirement comes right out of the general fund: our tax money. We who pay for it all draw an average of $1,000 per month from Social Security.
Imagine for a moment that you could structure a retirement plan so desirable that people would have extra deducted so that they could increase their own personal retirement income. A retirement plan that works so well that railroad employees, postal workers and others who aren’t in it would clamor to get in. That is how good Social Security could be, if only one small change were made. That change is to jerk the Golden Fleece retirement out from under the senators and congressmen, and put them in Social Security with the rest of us. Then watch how fast they fix it.
Arlington
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