...and just disappear? what will I [and all my fellow elderly folks who have no other income] do if no ss checks go out next month! what will happen to us when we can't pay the rent or buy food? and why has no one in the media or congress ever even asked this question? it really nice to be part of the 1/6 [!!!] of americans who are invisible and don't matter at all to the government and the media!
I've heard many people rant about this where I live, so I know what's going on.. I Agree with you Maia. It's not fair, the elders need to get the respect they deserve. The Social security checks need to go out. Some people are too sickly or disabled to get out and work and rely on s.s to live. When I heard about this it really shocked me.
I don't know the ins and outs of this, but that sounds terrible. The elderly seem to always be one of the first to get picked on. My mother is a care worker for our borough council, and they've already closed down a load of care homes and day centres for the elderly as a way of cutting costs. The place she works at is also under threat, including her job. The outcome of this is that the elderly - many of whom can't walk or need special help- are forced to stay inside, sometimes going weeks without seeing anybody. It's heartbreaking. I guess this is why we'll always need volunteers...At least some of them will have someone come in and do their cleaning, or take them out for a while, or just be there to chat to. Some people are really, really unfortunate in that they don't even have family to keep them company. But taking your money, too? I can't even begin to imagine how catastrophic that would be. That'd take away the independance of the elderly who are still perfectly capable of looking after themselves. It's like they're herding them all into a pen...
I agree entirely ashleigh. Some people have NO family what so ever. Or they're battling with a sickness that could be fatal or will eventually end up fatal, and they're relying on that S.S money to get the medicine and treatment they need, the food they need to survive, clothing and everything. Some people rely on it for their very own survival. It's very heartbreaking. they seem to always pick on the elders Always. I guess they think they're the weakest and won't say anything. I don't get it though. It's horrible
lemex... haven't you been following the news about the financial crisis in the us government?... in effect, it's being said that if an agreement isn't reached between the right and the left by aug 2, there won't be enough money in the treasury to issue social security checks for august... meaning elderly folks like me and the disabled who have no other income won't have a penny to pay the rent and utilities, or buy food and other life-sustaining stuff... in my case, i'll have only a few dollars left from this month's check, with no way to get any, thus be unable to pay the rent or buy food, medicines and such... i've no tangible assets or anything else to sell, no relatives who'd help out [i've actually been helping my sister, who's in worse shape than me], so can only hope my new landlady [i only moved in 3 weeks ago] will wait to see if the situation is resolved and we get our back checks [and the next ones]... and i'm only one of millions facing the same fate... just imagine what will result to the overall economy if much of those 55 million ss recipients have no money to spend... landlords will be short of their income, as will all businesses that we old folks contribute our dollars to... the domino effect will be significant... something none who are haggling over the budget, or are reporting on it seem to be considering... or care about...
I have to be honest: no. The Norwegian massacre and the situation in Libya has been taking up a lot of the BBC airplay lately and I guess it either hasn't been widely reported or I just missed it. Sorry if I've seemed unsympathetic though. I am. I'm sorry to hear about your situation.
i've been following bbc too and especially the norwegian massacres... they have been reporting on the us debt crisis, since it will affect the whole world's economy, but not in as great detail as us news media...
Then I guess I just missed it. I have not been able to watch a lot of news lately anyway, I've been bed ridden, so it's hardly surprising stories are escaping my attention.
I've been reading up a bit and the BBC haven't mentioned at all that SS payments won't be going out. If that's the case it's awful, they should be one of the last things to go :s I know we're in difficult times, but you would have thought the government would have prioritised those who need their help the most? I really hope things improve for you soon- the only way is up, stay strong!
If the debt ceiling isn't raised, the whole US government grinds to a halt, including SS payments. From my perspective across the channel, Congress seems to be playing stupid political games with people's lives, particularly the Tea Party politicians who won't even consider tax rises for the richest.
Maia, from what I understand SS checks would go out for Aug, and maybe september too however after that if they still have not figured it out well then get ready to eat a whole lot of roman noodles. Persoanly I am sick of our Gov, every last one of them has forgoten who they work for and what we stand for. Everyone is out pushing their own agenda and stomping on the little guy... with no little ppl this SH*T just DON'T work period.
Raising the debt celing won't help matters really, all that means is that they can borrow more $ from China(ex) thus increasing the national deficet... this is not how our country should be run! Stop sending cash to Pakistan, Africa,etc... and kick the crack heads off walfare, that should save a tidy sum right there, then go out and demand that every country that owes us cash start repaying it post haste. Fun fact only 1 country has ever repayed us the $ they borrowed... That along with intrest should pull us just about even. Then run through and trim the fat in the GOV it's self, starting with the prez's 400K pay all the way down to the janitor(s). When that is done then go though and fix the tax system so that people are taxed equaly and fairly, no more tax shelters, off shore banking etc etc. when that is done then tell all importers that they have two yrs to set up shop with in our borders because we are disallowing imports from now on. IF we do not start making jobs here we will be over run by someone else very soon! tht would bring back more jobs than we could fill, we would have to import imigrants by the truck full to fill all the open jobs... sounds like a win win to me.
You can't really believe SS checks aren't going to go out. They'll go out. This is a scare tactics both sides are using to try to force the hand of the other.
Steerpike, SS checks won't go out if there is no money to draw from. Yes, they will go out for Aug, but Sept and Oct are highly unlikely unless funding is found. I also fail to see how things could continue on if the federal government is unable to pay bills (salary at the very least). That said, if things came down to it, I suspect Obama would enact the gray-area provision of the 14th amendment that says Us Debt-worthiness shall not be questioned. The move will anger a great number of far right-wing citizens (Tea-partiests) and constitute possible political suicide, but avoid collapsing thins on everyone's heads.
There is more than enough revenue to pay SS. Note that the government has missed the debt ceiling deadline in the past, most recently in 2002 where they missed for three or four months. Did all of this nightmare scenario come to pass? I think not.
OMG seriously ppl clam down! the media and the GOP/Dems have really got ppl whipped into a frenzy. We are not going to defalt, this whole thing is about who will blink first. one party hopping the other will fudge up and ruin the 2012 election for themselves...
We WILL default if the ceiling is not raised. 40% of federal operating costs come from borrowing. If we had plenty of money laying around, why would they borrow in the first place? And the 2002 'miss' was not months long, it was 7 days, only a partial default (it was only one security type), and added $19,000,000/year to our operating costs: Look at global markets for the last week, if we cannot get our poop in a pile, there will be dire consequences.
This is incorrect. I just saw two newspaper articles on this over the course of the morning. One said they missed by three months in 2002. The other just said "months." The unfortunate thing is that so many are so readily manipulated by politicians and most people take in single-track news, dumbed down and packaged for their pre-existing viewpoint.
That 1/6 is at least represented by the AARP, which has quite a lot of political clout. But it isn't only the most senior portion of the population that is invisible to the politicians. It is everyone outside of their little circle of power brokers. They don't even fear the voting public, becasue the entire candidate pool is equally despicable. So votes will go, by name recognition, to the most disreputable and infamous scumbuckets on the ballot.
True. And people are also easily manipulated against one another. The best thing that ever happened to politicians was the blind allegiance and "we're good, they're bad" mentality that so many people have when it comes to political parties.
i'd like to see where those of you who claim the checks will definitely go out for august [and possibly september] are getting your information... i certainly have not seen or heard any reports offering such assurances... and believe me, i've been looking! and no, i don't just believe scare tactics blindly, since i've been around in this world long enought to have acquired a substantial amount of wisdom, but as one who can't survive without my monthly ss check, i'm sure not going to disbelieve 'em with no proof they can't have some truth in there... the truth will be known on aug 3 when the first batch of ss and ssi checks either go out or don't... mine isn't due till the fourth wednesday of the month, but you can bet i'll have bitten my fingernails down to the second knuckle by then... along with millions of others!
Sorry, I haven't really been following this on the news so I'll have a little look about it later. However, is it just the elderly and disabled who will not be recieving their money, or also single mothers, people on sick leave/incapacity benefits, the unemployed, and everyone else who are currently recieving benefits? If it is just the elderly and disabled, then yes, it is very wrong when government's take things from the people who have less power. That being said, as I understand it the "grey vote" in Britain has a substaintial amount of influence, making up a larger proportion of the voters than the population, although I'm not sure how it works in the US.
