the wonders of social security

Just received a "Social Security Statement" in the mail today. Basically this waste of taxpay--er, government--paper and money tells me what my benefits would be if I become disabled. (It also has spouse/child survivors' benefits but that doesn't mean anything to guys like me.) If I become disabled right now, my estimated benefits would be in the neighborhood of $1,000 per month. That's right, taxpayers, if I am suddenly get injured and were unable to return to work, you get to pay me that much per month to sit on my @$$ for the rest of my life. And at my age that could be a while. Stepping in front of an oncoming bus sounds like a pretty good career move. Hey, if you're going to cash in, why not cash in early, right? Ain't Social Security great?

And how about this: "Your benefit amount may be affected by military service, railroad employment or pensions earned..."

Uhh, railroad employment? How'd that snake its way in there? Sounds like some effective lobbying from the railroaders to me.

I have a better idea for that money: How about the government give me everything in my "account" (as if it's somehow mine and I somehow have access to it), blacklist me for any SS benefits for the rest of my life, and let me put that money someplace where it will actually multiply*? Actually, why doesn't the government just quit taking it from me in the first place? Save us both a lot of trouble.

Robbery, I tell you.

*A caller on C-SPAN Radio (yeah, the radio stations around here suck that bad) recently pointed out that the Dow Jones was at 680 in 1965 and just recently closed at over 10,200. For you mathematically challenged folks, it's gone up 1,500% in the last 40 years. Think your SS interest could do that well? Does SS even have interest?