The Great American Ponzi Scheme

With the 65th anniversary of my birth approaching rapidly, Belle has been nudging me to get down to to the Social Security office and make sure that I am  covered.

It seems that there is this socialized medical plan that everyone has to apply for before age 65, and if you don't apply for it, there are penalties.  So, following the advice and gentle nudging from my lady, I went down today and visited the nice folks at the Social Security Administration.  It irks me as a small-l libertarian to sign up for any government program.  I earned my military retirement, and take great pride in it, but being told that I have to apply for government insurance simply irks the hell out of me.

Because of my date of birth, I also qualify for a high percentage of my full-retired SSA payment benefits, and because Medicare Part B costs money, I went ahead and signed up for that too.  They consider the piddling retirement check that I get from the State of Louisiana as a "windfall", which further reduces the mail-box money the SSA is going to send me.  (Which I also earned through lifetime of work), so how is that a "windfall"?  It sounds to me like I'm being penalized for working hard all my life and taking advantage of retirement plans that come my way.

The nice guy at SSA also told me that I could make up to $40K per year without affecting my SSA retirement check.  Really?  If I get lucky, continue to work hard, and make a decent living, that's going to cut into my mailbox money?  That doesn't sound fair.  Although it explains all those folks I know who are past 65, are self-employed, and work for cash.

At any rate, when I launched myself some 45 years ago, I never thought that I'd actually be signing up for Social Security.  I figured with dual careers in the military and law enforcement, I'd either die gloriously on a battlefield, or ignominiously in a dark alley.  But, I made it this far, against all my expectations.  I'm going to enjoy Christmas, catch my breath and start plotting my next great adventure.  I can't talk about it just yet, but it's going to be a doozy.  I promise y'all.