Headcount Continues To Decline

     The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has posted updated figures for the number of employees at Social Security. Here they are, with earlier numbers for comparison purposes.

•  March 2012 65,257
• December 2011 65,911
• September 2011 67,136
• June 2011 67,773
• March 2011 68,700
• December 2010 70,270
• June 2010 69,600
• March 2010 66,863
• December 2009 67,486
• September 2009 67,632
• December 2008 63,733
• September 2008 63,990
• September 2007 62,407
• September 2006 63,647
• September 2005 66,147
• September 2004 65,258
• September 2003 64,903
• September 2002 64,648
• September 2001 65,377
• September 2000 64,521

A New Form Of Slavery

     From Huffington Post:

Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) on Sunday called Social Security "a form of modern, 21st century slavery." ...

This isn't the first time he's compared U.S. social programs to slavery. Last week, he said that President Obama "does not want you to have the self-esteem of getting up and earning, and having that title of American ... he'd rather you be his slave."

Fee Payment Numbers

      The Social Security Administration has posted updated numbers on payments of fees to attorneys and others for representing Social Security claimants. These fees come out of the back benefits of the claimants involved. Social Security is merely the conduit. These payments are a great analogue for how quickly or slowly the agency is getting benefits paid to claimants after a favorable decision on their claims.

Fee Payments
Month/Year	Volume	Amount
Jan-12	29,926	89,749,312.99
Feb-12	43,946	134,207,416.10
Mar-12	47,376	139,571,577.57
Apr-12	38,239	113,225,483.07
May-12	37,648	112,446,283.39
June-12	43,816	128,559,225.66

Out Of Control Government?

     Council 220 of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the union local that represents most Social Security employees, has posted its June 2012 newsletter, which includes the graphic posted above.

Country Music and Social Security

     Social Security has a country music fan among its public relations staff.

Cashing A Dead Woman's Checks For 26 Years

     From Huffington Post  :

Willie Mae Shaughnesy died in 1984, according to Texas state records. But that didn't stop the government from sending her Social Security checks, and allegedly, it didn't stop her son from cashing them. 

Last week, a U.S. attorney in southeast Texas charged Kline Fisher Budd, an 80-year-old man believed to be Shaughnesy's son, with theft of government property  . ...

The whole thing began to unravel in 2010 when someone at the Social Security Administration decided to check up on Shaughnesy after noticing that she would have been more than 104 years old at that point. By then, according to the U.S. attorney's office, the SSA had paid more than $231,000   into Shaughnesy's account following her death.

Andy Griffith: 1926 -2012

     I am sorry to note the passing of another fellow North Carolinian, Andy Griffith, a man who was widely and rightly beloved, particularly for his performance as Sheriff Andy Taylor on the Andy Griffith show.

     North Carolinians were and are proud of Andy Griffith and his body of work. To give you an idea, the Carolina Hurricanes NHL Hockey team, based in Raleigh, was in the 2002 Stanley Cup finals against the Detroit Red Wings. Yes, a North Carolina team in the Stanley Cup finals is incongruous and a  Detroit sportswriter referred to Raleigh as that time as Mayberry. Were we insulted? Hell, no. We were quite proud of the reference. T-shirts were printed. Of course, Raleigh is not a tiny town but we're quite happy to embrace Mayberry values and so is the rest of the state. Who wouldn't be? We're proud that the show was set in the fictional town of Mayberry, NC. Andy Griffith's home town of Mount Airy, NC (which, incidentally is near the geographic feature of Pilot Mountain -- does the name Mount Pilot ring a bell?) especially embraces its association with Mayberry. By the way, although the Hurricanes lost in the Stanley Cup finals in 2002, they won the Stanley Cup in 2006.

Happy 4th Of July!