SSI: Crackpots With Money

From the website of the Social Security Institute (SSI):

The Social Security Institute (SSI) is a national, 501(c)(4) non-profit, non-partisan seniors’ advocacy organization working to promote the retirement security of today’s seniors and the seniors of tomorrow. SSI’s top policy priorities are to stop the raid on the Social Security Trust Funds, prevent cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits, and protect seniors from health care rationing and other limitations on their access to health care.

And this is their explanation of what they mean by the "raid on the Social Security Trust Funds:"

The Administration intends to spend half the Social Security surplus during this year and next to bail out big, bad banks. The total Social Security surplus in 2009 is projected to equal $217 billion; the Obama Administration proposes to spend $125 billon of it to bail out the banks. The total Social Security surplus in 2010 is projected to equal $231.1 billion; The Obama Administration proposes to spend $125 billion of it to bail out the banks. Had enough? Mad enough? Riled up enough? Sign the petition to stop raiding Social Security and future generations to bail out big, bad banks and insurance companies.

OK, investing the Social Security trust funds in U.S. government bonds that go to pay for things that this group does not like is a "raid" on the Social Security trust funds. So, what should Social Security do with the money in the trust funds? Invest in the U.S. stock market? That doesn't look like quite as good an option as it did a couple of years ago to anyone, including this group The SSI website recommends that individuals invest in gold, foreign currencies and foreign stocks. Maybe that is how the group wants to invest Social Security trust funds.

I would guess that the SSI is quite well funded. Their website is well designed. They has at least three staff members.

By the way, the SSI website throws around the word "fascism" quite freely.

NCSSMA Newsletter

The National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA), an organization of Social Security management personnel, has issued its April 2009 Newsletter. Among other things, the newsletter includes an interview with David Foster, the new Deputy Commissioner for the Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR), and a piece written by a woman who went from working in Social Security field offices to working as a group supervisor at ODAR.

Not Likely To Happen Here

The National Post reports that a court in Ontario, Canada has held that a Canadian law that excludes alcoholics and drug addicts from receiving disability payments violates the provincial Human Rights Code.

Notices About $250 Payments Already Causing Confusion

The notices that Social Security has sent out about the $250 economic stimulus payments are already causing confusion. See the short piece in the Miami Herald. Telling people about the SSI consequences of holding onto the $250 payment for more than nine months may have been TMI (Too Much Information).

Results Of Last Week's Unscientific Poll

What Brings About Your Interest In Social Security News

I work at Social Security Central Offices (33)	16%
I Work In Social Security Field Operations (35)	17%
I Work In Some Other Part Of Social Security (36)	18%
I Am Involved In Representing Social Security Claimants (71)	35%
I Work At A Non-Profit Interested In Social Security (1)	0%
I Am Involved In Lobbying (0)	0%
I Work In A Congressional Office (2)	1%
I Work For Some Government Agency Other Than Social Security (5)	2%
I Work At A DDS (8)	4%
I Am A Social Security Claimant Or Recipient (14)	7%

Total Votes: 205

Social Security Subcommittee Hearing

The House Social Security Subcommittee has announced an oversight hearing to be held on April 28 to review Social Security's progress in implementing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) that gave the agency new funding to work down its backlogs and build a new national computer center and gave the agency new responsibilities in implementing a special $250 payment to most beneficiaries.

Is This Worth The Money?

Today's Federal Register contains an announcement that Social Security is planning to form a Financial Literacy Research Consortium (FLRC) with the idea of encouraging saving for retirement. According to the announcement:

The Financial Literacy Research Consortium (FLRC) will be an innovative, non-partisan multidisciplinary research and development (R&D)initiative to develop products to better inform the public about key financial literacy topics related to retirement savings and planning. We are interested in developing products--such as Internet tools as well as print materials--that help foster retirement and other savings strategies at all stages of the life cycle.

Encouraging people to save for retirement is certainly a good thing. However, I see little hope that the Social Security Administration can do anything to significantly encourage saving. This seems like a waste of money at a time when Social Security's budget is so tight that the agency has enormous backlogs and cannot answer its telephones. It is also a distraction from Social Security's core mission. This sounds like a Congressional earmark. Is it?

How To Spend $250?

The Social Security Administration now has a webpage that asks recipients of the $250 economic stimulus payments how they plan to spend the money. The agency plans to post some of the responses.