Good ‘ole ssa.gov and other Federal Agencies

If you’re like me, it occurs to you every once in a while that you might like to know what your Social Security Retirement Benefit might be, in case the govt. (I researched to verify that SSA is an Independent Agency under the Executive Branch) doesn’t really blow it up??! Well, for those who haven’t noticed, the 2011 statement did not arrive. And for those who already know or care to know, you won’t be receiving one of those due to “budget cuts”. You mean, “that budget that hasn’t been passed by this Administration and congress??

Yes, you see they can still spend $millions on salaries & benefits of federal agencies to PREVENT permits to drill for oil or re-open those “Shut down” refineries, but American workers would no longer have access to their earnings history or annual Social Security benefit statements. This was supposed to be a temporary thing from April through September 2011. However, at last check their website hints at ‘indefinitely’. By the way, the latest budget proposed by our president would not cut any federal agencies in layoffs or paycuts, but only our military would be subject to cuts and lesser benefits. I won’t even get started on this brilliant idea…

You may still access an “estimated” benefit statement online, or even mail order a personalized estimate of your future retirement benefits, but it won’t contain the detail and earnings history of that physical statement you had been receiving.

So now we get to pay dearly at the pump, or buy a Chevy Volt, or ride “high-speed, govt-subsidized rail/trains”, but don’t try to check on your earnings history any time soon. This is just a reminder that you need to keep your tax returns in case you need to prove your earnings on which you did PAY OASID taxes! We still live in the greatest country on earth, God help us.