THE CONGRESSIONAL RETIREMENT PROGRAM

Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions during these election years?

Do most Americans know that our Senators and Congressmen (and women) do not depend on Social Security when they retire?

And of course, they do not collect much from it either as a result of their congressional service (but who does ?). And they are not dependent upon it in their old age for daily sustenance or monthly financial survival. Why not? You see, social security benefits were not perceived to be suitable (or sufficient) for persons in their positions of such rare elevation and importance in our society. They felt they should have a special plan, with special rules, that was just for them(selves).

So, many years ago they abandoned Thomas Jefferson’s vision of assuming office as a public service at great personal sacrifice, and voted in their own secret, as they certainly do not publicize this, little retirement benefits plan, just for themselves.

In more recent years, no congress-person has felt the need (and certainly not the desire) to change or repeal it. After all, it is a great retirement plan, one rarely ever matched (or even ever seen) in the history of human existence.

For all practical purposes their plan works like this:

When they retire, if they are over the age of fifty, they DON’T REALLY RETIRE AT ALL, at least NOT AS FAR AS THE MONTHLY PAYMENTS ARE CONCERNED, for you see, they continue to draw the same amount of FULL MONTHLY pay in retirement, as their salary was in time of (so-called) service, every month for the rest of their lives, for as long as they live, until they die. Oh yea, except the monthly amount paid may actually increase from time to time, for cost of living adjustments, if you can even believe that.

Furthermore, they are fully vested within this federal retirement “plan” (or theft, in my opinion) after just five years of congressional service (uh, excuse me, but that is less than one term as a Senator), and then, if they are younger than age fifty when they leave office, if they want to (and they do) they may “retire” and begin drawing FULL PAY again (that’s currently $174,000 every year) when they reach age fifty.

ESSENTIALLY, THERE IS NO RETIREMENT. They continue to draw their FULL SALARY until the day they die (for NOT working in Congress). WOW, that’s amazing, again, how many years do they have to work to accrue that level of benefit, fifty? NO, just five. FIVE YEARS. AND, AS IF THAT WASN’T ENOUGH ALREADY, - THEY GET SOCIAL SECURITY BENFITS NOW TOO !

WANT PROOF OF ALL THESE LITTLE KNOWN FACTS ? HERE IT IS !

AND DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH OUR CONGRESSMAN AND SENATORS MAKE NOW (which is the amount they will draw as their annual retirement pension after working in Congress:

Congress: $174,000

Senate: $174,000

Party Leaders: $193,400

House Speaker: $223,500

WE will be paying that COMMUNIST THIEF, Nancy Pelosi, nearly a quarter of a million dollars every year ($18,625 a month) until the day she dies. Jesus, it’s unbelievable, somebody just shoot me, please!

Did you know that during the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin considered proposing that elected government officials not be paid for their service and time in office. They should have taken him up on it, but other Founding Fathers, however, decided otherwise. From 1789 to 1855, members of Congress received only a per diem (daily payment) of $6.00 while in session, except for a period from December 1815 to March 1817, when they received $1,500 a year. Members began receiving an annual salary in 1855, when they were paid $3,000 per year.

BUT TODAY, for example, Senator Byrd and Congressman White and their wives may expect to draw $7,800,000.00 (that's Seven Million, Eight-Hundred Thousand Dollars), with their wives drawing $275,000.00 during the last years of their lives. This is calculated on an average life span for each of those (in)Dignitaries.

Other congressman and senators, who retire at an earlier age, will receive much, much more during the rest of their lives. Millions and millions, every single one.

The cost to them, and annual premium amount for this excellent and amazing personal congressional retirement plan: 0. Not one penny. NADA!!! ZILCH!!! NOTHING !!!

This little perk they voted for themselves is free to them for their entire life (after age 50). And of course, you and I pick up the tab for this little plan of theirs, because the funds for this little retirement (conspiracy) plan come directly from the General operating Funds of the United States government;

“OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK", or rather, NOT at “Work”, for NOT WORKING !!! The epitome of “ridiculous” made manifest in the American (congressional) WELFARE state.

From our own social security system, which you and I are forced to pay (or have paid) into every payday until we retire (which amount is matched by our employer), we can expect to get an average of maybe $1,000 per month after retirement (less of course, as inflation across time eats the value of the dollar).

Or, in other words, we would have to collect our average of $1,000 a month benefit for 68 years and a month to equal Senator Bill Bradley's benefits already paid to date!

If you want to fix Social Security, it can be done, and easily, if only one small change were made, that change of course, would be to Jerk the Golden Fleece Retirement Plan out from under the disgraced Senators and Congressmen and put them into the social security system with the rest of us.

Then sit back and watch how fast the program gets fixed !

If enough people read this, maybe a seed of awareness will be planted and possibly change for the better will begin to evolve.

How many people can YOU notify?

SO, HOW DO WE THEN FIX THE SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM ?

(WE STOP GIVING WELFARE CHECKS TO MILLIONAIRES !)