To the editor:
I would like to respond to comments made in a column by Lee Hamilton in the Nov. 1 edition (“An issue U.S. can no longer ignore”). He made reference to entitlement programs and included Social Security. I have heard several other politicians and writers refer to Social Security as an entitlement program.
I have a problem with this due to the fact that I pay into this program every week, as does my employer. So in essence, that money belongs to me since this is what the government years ago set this up for. All people who pay into this program are supposed to get it at retirement. It is not an entitlement, it is a fund we have contributed to.
However, it has been misappropriated through the years and given to people who have never contributed to it.
If the government and people such as Mr. Hamilton want, they can give that money to us taxpayers and we can then invest it into our 401Ks or Roths or whatever other retirement plan most of us have. At that point they can also quit taking that money out of our checks each week or deposit it into our retirement accounts.
The problem here is accountability, and our government is coming up short because they have used this money as a rainy day fund, thinking some day they would return it. Guess what? They can’t, and now they want to downplay it as an entitlement. I myself find this very offensive considering my pay stubs say different.
Jim Teague
Whiteland
