What's Da Buzz?

Today’s topic comes as a request from a friend who has recently immigrated to the USA. What are the differences between the Philippine Social Security System and the USA Social Security System? I will do my best to answer that within two posts with a focus on the USA side with a lot of help from 3 websites. (Also, hubby helped me in researching and explaining the information to me. Salamat Goryo!)

The Philippine SSS like the USA SSS both are designed for helping an individual put money away and have it grow for their eventual retirement, sickness, maternity, disability or death. In a way, that makes it more like a form of paid for “insurance.” The Phil SSS permits you to acquire housing, business or personal loans against the amount you have contributed. The USA SSS does not.

The most important detail is this one key thing. Participation in the Phil SSS is optional. If you choose to be a member, how much money you put into it is optional.

Participation and contribution to the USA SSS is mandatory. You can opt out but you will likely not be able to be employed, acquire a loan for anything, get insurance, go to college, or pretty much function in the USA. Your whole life is tracked by the Federal government through your Social Security Number which is now being tied to a Real ID Act which forces everyone to carry an identification card or not function in the USA. To me, that sounds a lot like what I read from WWII and how you had to have your papers in Nazi Germany to exist. The Real ID Act is incredibly disturbing.

I will summarize the history of the USA SSS with the help of these three websites: Social Security Online, History of Major Changes to the SSS, and the Social Security Reform Center.

The USA SSS started in 1935 as a means for an individual to put money into a secure program for future retirement. Whether or not the US Constitution permits it is questionable. The SSNs were not permitted to be used for anything other than your SS account. Just like you wouldn’t want your bank account number readily thrown around, such was the same logic then.

Over the years, many changes were made to it. Your next of kin could have access to your benefits after your passing, those with disabilities could draw from it (even without having contributed to it), the Hmong were and still are being paid to life in the USA from the Social Security funds, and many other groups were given the ability to draw from Social Security without having paid into it. Recently, attempts have been made to extend SS benefits to illegal immigrants in what is a mind boggling disregard of the hard working Americans who sacrifice it from their paychecks.

Further, the US Congress completely betrayed the trust of the US citizens by taking and not returning $3,000,000,000,000+ from it for other non-Social Security budget purposes. There is no money in the USA Social Security Trust Fund. The Congress took it all and left worthless IOUs. It currently operates by collecting mandatory SS taxes from all to pay out the promised needs of the year.

Please scroll down to read part II after taking a break to bring you these messages post.

Thanks,

Anah