Social Security Benefits as "Handouts"

This morning I sent the following e-mail to Neil Cavuto of Fox News.

Neil,

I hear commentators on TV - even on "Cavuto on Business" this morning - speak of government "handouts" many times. Social Security benefits and Medicare benefits seemed to be lumped into that category by one of your commentators. (You were absent on that show)

The other day I was shredding old pay stubs. I was shocked when I saw that I was paying several hundred dollars in Social Security and Medicare taxes every two weeks. That does not even include my employer’s matching payments. I worked for over 40 years and had no choice but to pay these taxes.

There are many appropriate examples of handouts. My favorite one is the earned income credit where one who qualifies does not pay income taxes but gets a check back from the IRS. (better called welfare) Social Security payments and Medicare benefits are not examples of handouts.

Characterizing these payments as "handouts" is like calling a person who saves their hard earned money in a bank, a bank robber, when they draw out their own money.

Now that I receive a very modest Social Security payment, (now taxed as income), and find that my wife and I must pay several hundred dollars a month for Medicare Part B, characterizing such benefits as "handouts" is adding insult to injury.

PS - I watch your afternoon show almost everyday. Please consider addressing this in one of your editorials.

CFLs and Reading by Firelight

We have a couple of the new compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs). I have a hard time reading with them so I've stockpiled the old fashioned kind for reading.

Now it seems the best idea is to just don't turn them on in the first place.

According to a new report, "the bulbs should not be left on for extended periods, particularly near someone’s head, as they emit poisonous materials when switched on."

Read about it here.

Not sure what I'll do when my old light bulbs become unlawfull. I'll have to take a lesson from ole Abe, and read by the fireplace at night. Might get kind of hot in the summertime, but a lot better than getting poisoned.


"Firelight will not let you read fine stories but it's warm and you won't see the dust on the floor." ~Irish Proverb