Looks like it is the illegal immigrants who are supporting us Americans. Should we be so eager to deport them?The contributions by unauthorized immigrants to Social Security -- essentially, to the retirement income of everyday Americans -- are much larger than previously known, raising questions about the efforts in many states and among Republicans in Congress to force these workers out.In response to a research inquiry for a book I am writing on the economics of immigration, Stephen C. Goss, the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration and someone who enjoys bipartisan support for his straightforwardness, said that by 2007, the Social Security trust fund had received a net benefit of somewhere between $120 billion and $240 billion from unauthorized immigrants.
That represented an astounding 5.4 percent to 10.7 percent of the trust fund's total assets of $2.24 trillion that year. The cumulative contribution is surely higher now. Unauthorized immigrants paid a net contribution of $12 billion in 2007 alone, Goss said....
"If for example we had not had other-than-legal immigrants in the country over the past," Goss e-mailed me, "then these numbers suggest that we would have entered persistent shortfall of tax revenue to cover [payouts] starting [in] 2009, or six years earlier than estimated under the 2010 Trustees Report."
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Sep 3, 2010
Illegal Immigrants And Social Security
From Edward Schumacher-Matos writing on the Op Ed page of the Washington Post:
Puerto Rico-issued Social Security numbers are quite distinctive -- the "cinco-ocho" numbers. Many of my Puerto Rican clients have earnings posted to their records from the midwest or the NY/NJ/PA area that are not theirs. A worker with a Hispanic surname or appearance just picks out one of these numbers (or buys a card) and uses it as their own. Some migrant farm crew leaders do this. Sometimes this causes trouble for my client (earnings after onset). Sometimes the credited earnings are to their benefit (boosting the PIA). Social Security has all but given up trying to straightern out these "earnings discrepancies."
ReplyDeleteThat's BS. How many U.S. citizens are out of work because illegals took jobs at lower pay that U.S. citizens could be doing.
ReplyDeleteU.S. citizens doing jobs at higher wages means even more tax revenue.
Illegal is illegal, regardless of how much tax revenue is collected from them.
Plus how much of the wages paid to illeagals is sent out of the country and not used here.
Feel free to apply for their job picking lettuce.
ReplyDelete"Feel free to apply for their job picking lettuce."
ReplyDeleteIf they didn't do it for such low wages a U.S. citizen, maybe Summer work for students could do it.
I did answer the SSA 800# at one time and if given the choice, I rather pick lettuce. LOL
Anon #3, it's not just picking lettuce. Have you been to any fast food restaurants lately? I don't know about where you live but I haven't seen a single non-Hispanic worker in any fast food joint in years. I can remember when I was a teenager, not too long ago, and everybody I knew worked in fast food for 8 bucks an hour. Now, it's all minorities and by working in this job I know for a fact most of them make less than the kids I knew 10 years ago.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's not just fast food, either. It's the entire food service industry and it's everywhere you look. Even landscaping. Remember when you could have a conversation with all the guys who were caring for your lawn?
These are all jobs that used to be filled by Americans.
Well, various concerns here. If there are scrambled earnings or discrepancies, the CR's job when taking and processing the DIB claim is to straighten them out. Period. Now, maybe people don't do that anymore because of the press of work, but if the person is insured with the earnings, you have to post the E/R correctly. Perhaps someone who is still in claims will speak to this.
ReplyDeleteAlso, just because the worker is here unlawfully doesn't mean s/he doesn't get credit for the work. If and when the worker returns to his country of origin and files a claim for any RSDI benefit at the American embassy, we process it. While the person is here unlawfully, no checks.
But, once s/he's home, we pay them and their spouses and dependents too. If you're undocumented and you want to stay here and get your checks too, no problem. You have the check sent to your foreign address and your foreign bank issues a cash debit card and sends it to you. DIO (PC8) processes foreign claims to completion. But, obviously, they can't pick up on the debit card scam. It's a good one.
Point is people who work here 40 quarters or even less in some cases are going to get benefits more likely than not. Some won't. But, I think the supposed unclaimed wages idea is mainly bunk.
Remember, my name is Ortiz. I used to process those claims for a living and am familiar with the basic process. If SSA is just letting this go, the lawyers in this audience oughta get on the stick and do something about it. This is a perfect class case if there ever was one. NO
Let's be honest,there are a few americans dreaming of an all white america...That will never happen again.
ReplyDeleteSome illegal immigrants should be legalized many should not based on what america need at this point in time.
"Let's be honest,there are a few americans dreaming of an all white america."
ReplyDeleteMaybe, but most just want a country where everyone speaks English and are supposed to be here.