Still Negotiating Totalization Agreement With India

You may think this is a minor issue but I get a ton of hits whenever I post anything about it. It's a really big deal in India. This totalization agreement negotiation with India has been going on forever. From Rediff.com:

India on Friday asked the United States to move ahead with an agreement which would exempt professionals from payment of [Social] security taxes to mitigate the impact of a visa fee hike last year.

Both the sides are negotiating Bilateral Totalisation Agreement (BTA), which once signed, would benefit lakhs of Indians who are working in America and paying social security but are unable to get any benefit out of it.

By the way, lakhs means hundreds of thousands in the Indian dialect of English. India has the second largest population of English speakers on the planet. I think they're entitled to add a few words of their own to the English language.

Disability Fraud Ring In Seattle

From KING:

Nine members of one Seattle area family who allegedly collected over $700,000 by filing false mental disability claims and using fake identities were indicted on federal fraud charges Friday.

The defendants "claimed mental impairments prohibited them from working, when in fact they were working in various car sales businesses," according to a Department of Justice press release. ...

The defendants allegedly manipulated the Social Security disability program, also known as Supplemental Security Income, by faking disabilities at interviews, misrepresenting their work history and assets and using multiple social security numbers and numerous drivers licenses.

 

Early Reports On E-File Access At The Appeals Counci -- It's Not Working

I have heard from several attorneys who have tried to access e-file at the Appeals Council. No one seems to be able to access e-files there.

Congressional Hearing On Social Security Funding

 The House Social Security Subcommittee held a hearing yesterday on Social Security's finances. 

Stephen Goss, Social Security's long time Chief Actuary, testified about the underlying cause of Social Security's long term financing problem:

... [T]he real reason for the rising cost of Social Security over the next 25 years is the aging of the population, not principally because we are living longer or because of the post-World War II baby boom, but because of the drop in birth rates since the baby boom. ...

The fact that overall birth rates dropped from 3 to 2 children per woman in the United States has led directly to the change in the age distribution of our population that presents a financial challenge not only to Social Security and Medicare in the future, but also to every aspect of our economy. ...

Goss also addressed the question of whether the Social Security trust funds have any real significance:

Perhaps the strongest evidence of the importance of the trust funds is constraint they provide on program financing. History clearly shows that Congress is moved, even forced into action anytime a trust fund approaches exhaustion.

Thus, while Social Security has run a cumulative surplus of $2.6 trillion since it started collecting taxes in 1937, the rest of government has run up a debt now over $14 trillion and rising.

 Will this argument convince those who believe that the Social Security trust funds are a meaningless abstraction? Of course, not. They would be arguing that it's a meaningless abstraction even if the trust funds were completely invested in gold ingots.

The Subcommittee also heard from: 

• The Chief of Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, whose written remarks are about as tedious as one would expect from someone in his position.
• Someone representing a group of state and local employees who don't want to be covered by Social Security. Are you really sure given what's happening to public employee pensions?
• Alex Brill (who testified that if we raise the FICA tax, we should do it by extending it to employee benefits, which means that he's arguing for a middle class tax increase instead of an increase in taxes just on the wealthy) and Andrew Biggs (who recommended lowering benefits -- but not on poor people), both of whom work for the American Enterprise Institute and are thereby indirectly on the payroll of the Koch brothers.
• Mark Warshawsky, formerly a Bush Treasury appointee whose main job at the time seemed to be promoting Social Security privatization. He is now on the Social Security Advisory Board. He almost literally pleads in his written remarks that we not increase Social Security taxes on the wealthy. The first reason he gives is that this group has not "seen particularly large gains in earnings." His argument is that those earning between about $100,000 and $215,000 haven't had big earnings gains. It's those earning above $215,000 who have had the big gains! That's your best argument?

Randomization Of SSNs

A notice from Social Security:

Effective June 25, 2011, SSA [Social Security Administration] is changing the way Social Security Numbers (SSNs) are issued. This change is referred to as "randomization." The SSA is developing this new method to help protect the integrity of the SSN. SSN Randomization will also extend the longevity of the nine-digit SSN nationwide.

If you are a conspiracy theorist, you already know the dastardly reasons for this change.

You Want A Fight?

“You want a fight? ... If anybody in this building wants to take on Social Security — privatize it, change the benefits by altering the consumer price index or by any other method — know this: You’ve got a fight on your hands.”

Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) quoted in The Hill

Why Am I Not Surprised?

From Bloomberg News:

Cutting U.S. Social Security benefits for seniors and the disabled may cause steeper spending declines in House districts controlled by Republicans, hurting local businesses, a Bloomberg Government study found. 

Republicans are likely to represent districts with more residents collecting Social Security checks for retirees or benefits for the disabled, compared with Democrats, according to the study. Curtailing the federal aid would give recipients less spending money, said Jason Arvelo, the Bloomberg Government labor analyst who wrote the report released today. ...

Republicans control eight of 10 House districts -- in Florida, Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania -- with the most Social Security retirement benefits to seniors and survivors per resident. Democrats hold the 10 districts in Illinois, California, New York, Texas and Arizona with the lowest average benefits....

Reducing benefits would cause the biggest economic impact in West Virginia, Florida, Pennsylvania and Michigan, according to the report by Arvelo, formerly a senior analyst at economic consulting firm Compass Lexecon LLC, a subsidiary of FTI Consulting Inc. based in West Palm Beach, Florida. 

West Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas and Alabama top the list of states that would be likely to be hurt by bills curtailing disability benefits.

Passing Of Mark Lassiter

From: ^Commissioner Broadcast
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 5:28 PM
To: Undisclosed recipients
Subject: COMMISSIONER’S BROADCAST--06/22/11

A Message To All SSA And DDS Employees

Subject:  The Passing of Mark Lassiter

It continues to be a tough week as we deal with the sudden loss of our Press Officer, Mark Lassiter, who passed away on Monday, June 20 at the age of 57.

Mark began his career with Social Security in 1976 as a claims representative in the Portsmouth, Virginia field office, near his childhood home of Hampton.  Over his 35 years with the agency, Mark’s talent and ability enabled him to rise through the ranks, assuming jobs of increasing responsibility in the Philadelphia Region, including five years as the District Manager in Petersburg, Virginia.  Mark’s distinguished career brought him to Social Security Headquarters twice – working in the Office of the Commissioner from 1992 to 1995 and in the Press Office from 2003 until his death. 

Mark’s untimely passing reminds us of just how precious life is.  He spent Father’s Day weekend with those he loved most – Nancy, his wife of 35 years; his son Tyler and his daughter Brooke, who is also an ODAR employee.  Please keep them in your prayers as they join with family and friends for a memorial service in Hampton tomorrow.  At the request of his family, memorial contributions in Mark’s honor may be made to the American Heart Association , P.O. Box 5216, Glen Allen, Va. 23058. 

Michael J. Astrue

Commissioner

The Baltimore Sun also has a piece on Lassiter's death.