Learning to Love Big Brother

 

When I was in my 30's, running a small business, living not "paycheck to paycheck" because I had no paycheck, only receipts from weekly business, and I learned to set up a separate "war chest," a bank account to which I contributed weekly, to amass enough to be there on April 15th every year, when that fat account got absolutely nuked. 

Watching that account grow, month by month, I had a sense of mild success, only to crash into despondency in early Spring, on the anniversary of Lincoln's assassination, and I knew that feeling of deep loss and despondency.

Flying high and fat in January, crushed in April, the cruelest  month. 

Much of those April payments went to something called a "Simplified Employees Benefit Plan" a SEP plan, which my accountant explained to me thusly: "Either you put it away for your retirement, or you can simply hand it over to the government right now."

That government again, holding a gun to my bank account.

In those days, with my income and business in fledgling stages, we never had enough money, even with my wife working. We pinched pennies and saved up for vacations, and that tax burdens seemed really oppressive. We didn't have enough money to buy a new car, but we sent thousands to the IRS and to those IRS mandated retirement accounts. 

My auto mechanic had a sign in his shop that showed a 1099 form, and it showed a line at the top saying: Enter your income here, and right below it a line that said: Enter your tax here. Which was, of course the line above it, your entire income. That sign resonated with me.

But now, the government is depositing directly into my bank account this thing called, "Social Security," which is not enough to retire on, but it covers car payments. And then there is all this SEP money coming back in the form of some mysterious thing called "RMD's" (required minimal distribution) where the government makes you take out of your nest egg a certain amount each year so they can tax it. 

But here's the thing: It's like FOUND MONEY! I never expected to see that money again. It was just part of that annual dam rupture, where all the money in my tax account got washed away and I had to start rebuilding all over again. 

But, the thing is, it didn't just go out to sea. The government forced me to save for retirement and now, well, what do you know?

So, yes, the government was paternalistic and it made me plan for the future at a time I could not believe I'd live to see a future, and when I was dead certain I could not afford to get past the urgent needs of the present to ever make it to the future. 

Thank you FDR, Democrats, big Nanny government, Big Brother and all those other institutions which beat me up all through my penurious, money strapped youth. 

Is Social Security an "entitlement?"

You bet it is! I paid into this program when it hurt to pay into it and now, wow.