Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray. I'm w BZY Boston's Radio.
Speaker 2: All right, thanks very much, Dan Watkins. As we move
Speaker 2: into our first talk hour of the week, we had
Speaker 2: a guest scheduled for tonight. Who's going to join us
Speaker 2: tomorrow night. I'm a little disappointed, but suffice it to
Speaker 2: say there were some travel issues, and tomorrow night, I
Speaker 2: think all of you will be really enjoy my guest,
Speaker 2: Boston Attorney James Roosevelt. Jim Roosevelt, who I've known for
Speaker 2: a long time. He is a lifelong Democrat, the grandson
Speaker 2: of the late great President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who actually
Speaker 2: signed the Social Security Act into law back in nineteen
Speaker 2: thirty five at the height of the Great Depression. Also,
Speaker 2: Jim Roosevelt has served as an Associate Commissioner of the
Speaker 2: Social Security Administration during the Clinton administration in the nineteen nineties.
Speaker 2: And we'll see what his perspective on this is. There
Speaker 2: was a great piece today, I thought in the Boston Globe,
Speaker 2: and I think you know all of you know that
Speaker 2: there are days in the Globe when I'm not as
Speaker 2: thrilled with it as normal. But Sean Murphy wrote, I
Speaker 2: thought a really great piece today on the Business Section,
Speaker 2: front page of the Business Section, which is the D section,
Speaker 2: digging into social security, and Sean dealt with some of
Speaker 2: the concerns that people have with sole security and a
Speaker 2: lot of it is really interesting to me. And I
Speaker 2: just want to hit a couple of the highlights from
Speaker 2: Seawan's article, and I'd like to invite a conversation. Know
Speaker 2: that there's a lot of people who are trying to
Speaker 2: raise this as a political issue. I don't see it
Speaker 2: as a political issue, nor should it be a political issue.
Speaker 2: I don't know what success Elon Musk and his band
Speaker 2: of merry people will have. I do know that Musk
Speaker 2: was at an event yesterday in Wisconsin. There's a fairly
Speaker 2: heated political race going on in Wisconsin, and Elon Musk
Speaker 2: made some comments, and we have some of those comments
Speaker 2: which which we're more than happy to share with you
Speaker 2: to get the conversation going. We also have some some
Speaker 2: other articles which which again we can we can get to.
Speaker 2: So for example, Musk yesterday, we're I here, yeah, let
Speaker 2: me this was Elon Musk yesterday talking about well this
Speaker 2: is this is Musk cut number twenty two and before
Speaker 2: before we go to that. Let me let me just
Speaker 2: say this Social Security I have a view of it.
Speaker 2: Some people call it an entitlement program. I think it's
Speaker 2: an entitlement program at one level. But it's also a
Speaker 2: contract between people like me and you. I'm taking SO
Speaker 2: Security benefits, uh, because they spent my entire life contributing
Speaker 2: to Social Security and through SO Security to medicure and
Speaker 2: all of that has accounted for, you know, tens of thousands,
Speaker 2: if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. If you look
Speaker 2: at your paychecks, h or if you look at your
Speaker 2: your your W two's, or if you keep your W
Speaker 2: twos from you years past. Uh, if you are on
Speaker 2: Social Security, that's a contract. Uh. It's not a contract
Speaker 2: like signed by a baseball player or a movie star.
Speaker 2: It's a contract or that the union head signs on
Speaker 2: behalf of a union. It's a contract that exists between you,
Speaker 2: an employee who has paid your taxes and has contributed
Speaker 2: to this SO security system. And the contract essentially says this, look,
Speaker 2: you contribute during your working life. Now there are others
Speaker 2: who will benefit from it, and Sean Murphy, you know,
Speaker 2: certainly talks about those today. You know, individuals who find
Speaker 2: themselves being disabled, they can benefit from social security. Children
Speaker 2: of people who have passed away early, they can contribute.
Speaker 2: They can benefit from social security. But when you think
Speaker 2: of people with you know, people with disabilities, et cetera.
Speaker 2: So we can we get all of that, okay u.
Speaker 2: But the backbone of social security is the money that
Speaker 2: working Americans had paid. Now, when so security first started
Speaker 2: in nineteen thirty five and people were eligible in nineteen
Speaker 2: thirty five to retire it, I assume it was the
Speaker 2: age of sixty five. There weren't a lot of people
Speaker 2: making into the age of sixty five. Life expectancies were
Speaker 2: a lot shorter than in this country. But those who
Speaker 2: did make it were able to take get a SOB
Speaker 2: security check. It wasn't a big check, but it was something,
Speaker 2: particularly in the midst of the Great Depression that eventually,
Speaker 2: I think historians would argue, and maybe I would argue,
Speaker 2: was the Depression was ended sadly by the onset of
Speaker 2: World War I two. But that story for another day.
Speaker 2: So those of us who baby boomers who are now
Speaker 2: coming into the security system, we've paid in a long
Speaker 2: long time. You have to pay in for the equivalent
Speaker 2: of ten years four quarters. Okay, I think everybody knows that. Now,
Speaker 2: if you're somebody who is in a different category and
Speaker 2: you have disabilities, yeah you're gonna be You're gonna be
Speaker 2: taken care of by SO Security. Again, you're not going
Speaker 2: to become a millionaire. I don't think there's anyone who
Speaker 2: thinks that. But at least you won't be out on
Speaker 2: the street, you know, in lines looking looking for apples.
Speaker 2: So I view it as a contract, and if you've
Speaker 2: paid into it, yeah, you your benefits should not and
Speaker 2: will not be cut. This is what Elon Musk said yesterday.
Speaker 2: Cut number twenty two, Please rob cut number twenty two.
Speaker 3: I guess it'll be helpful because so I just stated
Speaker 3: as crisply and clearly as possible that those will well
Speaker 3: absolutely ensure that people get their Social Security, make sure
Speaker 3: they get the Social Security, make sure they get the Medicaid,
Speaker 3: and will not be cutting any legitimate payments whatsoever.
Speaker 4: Crystal Claire, Yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Mean, look, SO Security third rail of American politics. Whenever
Speaker 2: a politician has said that he or she wants to
Speaker 2: cut Social Security, they lose a lot of very reliable
Speaker 2: and dependent and dependable voters. Okay, do I think that
Speaker 2: they may raise, as they have in the past, raise
Speaker 2: through time and age for so security by a couple
Speaker 2: of months. Yeah, yeah, they could happen. Do I think
Speaker 2: that there could be some other things that are done
Speaker 2: around the margins? Maybe? Maybe, But I just think that
Speaker 2: to whip people into a frenzy on this is unfair.
Speaker 2: Now there will be again if you haven't had a
Speaker 2: chance to look at the column written by Sean Murphy,
Speaker 2: who does a great job. He talks about there will
Speaker 2: be an effort to make people get an identification verification process. Unfortunately,
Speaker 2: that's if we want to keep the system solvent. I
Speaker 2: think we got to go through that, and there has
Speaker 2: to be a way in which organizations and communities can
Speaker 2: help citizens who do not have access to the internet
Speaker 2: to do that. In the column today he talks about that,
Speaker 2: talks about a number of things. I just want to
Speaker 2: open up the conversation if you have a concern or whatever.
Speaker 2: I think Sean Murphy has laid it out and I
Speaker 2: want to give him every credit for having done this,
Speaker 2: because we're going to quote from his column and tomorrow
Speaker 2: we'll have Jim Roosevelt with us at nine o'clock. But
Speaker 2: in the meantime, it's me in you six one, seven, two, five,
Speaker 2: four ten thirty six one seven, nine three one ten thirty.
Speaker 2: Raise a question. I'll try to give you a straight answer.
Speaker 2: If I can't give you a straight answer, I'll tell
Speaker 2: you I don't know the answer and we'll be able
Speaker 2: to pick it up tomorrow Night with Jim Roosevelt. Social Security. Look,
Speaker 2: let's not freak people out. People who are on SO
Speaker 2: security and who are depending upon SO security. We're all
Speaker 2: dealing with increased prices, and we have been dealing with
Speaker 2: increased prices for a couple of years now dramatically. Okay,
Speaker 2: So let's let's try to calm some people down. And
Speaker 2: if you want to join the conversation, your SO security
Speaker 2: check next month will arrive in April, it will arrive
Speaker 2: in May, It'll arrive in June, July, August, and September,
Speaker 2: and there won't be reductions, and there will be a
Speaker 2: col increase, a cost of living adjustment next next October.
Speaker 2: Will there be some economies affected, Yes, some offices closed, yes,
Speaker 2: some employees laid off. Yes, join the conversation. My name
Speaker 2: is Dan Ray and this is Nights. I'd love to
Speaker 2: have you join us.
Speaker 1: It's Night Side with Dan Ray Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: So we're talking about social security and I'd like to
Speaker 2: talk about it in a rational way in which people
Speaker 2: are not And again I highly recommend reading Sean Murphy's
Speaker 2: piece in the Boston Globe today. I thought it was
Speaker 2: very clear you're going to have to probably at some point,
Speaker 2: if you're going to become a new soci security recipient,
Speaker 2: your identification is going to have to be verified. Now again,
Speaker 2: they have made some exceptions for people pop who are
Speaker 2: elderly or are disabled. They still be able. It says
Speaker 2: some current recipients may be able to do so without
Speaker 2: verifying their identity by using their banks automatic enrollment service.
Speaker 2: When this identification verified, identity verification required. According to Sean Murphy,
Speaker 2: when you first apply for your benefit, you must verify
Speaker 2: your identity. That's not new, and of course makes perfect sense.
Speaker 2: If you're a current recipient, you may have to verify
Speaker 2: your identity if you change your direct deposit banking information.
Speaker 2: Some current recipients, however, may be able to do so
Speaker 2: without verifying their identity by using their banks automatic enrollment service.
Speaker 2: So again, all of this, I think all of this
Speaker 2: is going to be Okay. The goal here is to
Speaker 2: eliminate people who might be receiving Social Security benefits inappropriately.
Speaker 2: If feel like join a conversation, feel free six point
Speaker 2: seven two five thirty or six one seven thirty, then
Speaker 2: we go first to fill in Boston. Fill you at
Speaker 2: first this hour on nights side. Welcome.
Speaker 5: I don't dan. I'm surprised social Security is lostes this long.
Speaker 5: I mean, but then maybe it's moument. And you mentioned
Speaker 5: court the age. The age goes up months at a time.
Speaker 5: And I'm probably wrong in this situation, but I understand
Speaker 5: you pay social Security if you work forty, if stay
Speaker 5: fifty forty sixty grand a year or whatever. But if
Speaker 5: it may have over one hundred and twenty five thousand dollars,
Speaker 5: they don't take any more social Security audio only. That
Speaker 5: doesn't make sense. Why don't we raise that amount of
Speaker 5: you know, try that if you wake one hundred seventy
Speaker 5: five thousand dollars a year, you pay those security taxes
Speaker 5: on the one five to the one seventy five.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Well, well that's something that Congress could certainly do,
Speaker 2: and what Congress has done in the past. Social Security
Speaker 2: for many many years was capped at a certain level,
Speaker 2: and then as inflation kind of came along. In the
Speaker 2: nineteen eighties, they there was a big so Security Reform
Speaker 2: Act with Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neil, and one of
Speaker 2: the things is they did raise the cap a little bit,
Speaker 2: so security recipients now are paying Medicare tax. There comes
Speaker 2: a point in time where the tax has become unreasonable.
Speaker 2: So security has been funded. It's gonna it's it's solvent.
Speaker 2: I believe through at this point twenty thirty four, they
Speaker 2: you know, they have enough money. And sometimes what you
Speaker 2: have to do is look at it and say, they're
Speaker 2: never going to raise the retirement aged at like seventy
Speaker 2: five or eighty. So don't worry about that, Okay, I
Speaker 2: think right now, and I could be wrong. I see
Speaker 2: them to be correct that I don't have it in
Speaker 2: front of me. I think it's like sixty seven or
Speaker 2: sixty six and ten months or something thing like that.
Speaker 2: But Americans are living longer, so that's one thing you
Speaker 2: can you could raise. You could say, anybody that makes
Speaker 2: more than a million dollars a year, let's take all
Speaker 2: of their excess money and and and and can make
Speaker 2: make it contributed to social security. I don't think that
Speaker 2: Congress has the stomach for that, and I don't think
Speaker 2: the American people do either.
Speaker 5: How many people may go over one hundred twenty year,
Speaker 5: I mean a lot.
Speaker 2: There are a lot of people. Well, let me ask
Speaker 2: you this. Think about it. Do you ever watch a
Speaker 2: sporting event on television like a basketball, hockey, football, or
Speaker 2: a baseball game, every one of those individuals making more
Speaker 2: than a half a million. I think the major league
Speaker 2: minimum now is somewhere around six hundred thousand dollars, and
Speaker 2: that's the lowest minimum in the country. So you can
Speaker 2: take all the pro athletes, I mean, but you can't
Speaker 2: do that. You can't say we're going to tax all
Speaker 2: the pro athletes everything in excess.
Speaker 5: I'm not.
Speaker 2: You know, you'll you'll be Okay, how old do you feel.
Speaker 5: For this way? I was. I was in Latin school
Speaker 5: and yet the time you were going there.
Speaker 2: Okay, are you retired?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 2: Are you getting so security?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: What do you mean?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: You either you are? You are? Did you work? Did
Speaker 2: you to get Social Security as a retirement? You have
Speaker 2: to work what they call ten quarters? It worked forty quarters?
Speaker 2: Excuse me, basically contribute for ten years. I assume you did.
Speaker 4: That right, Yeah?
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, And did you did you get an increase
Speaker 2: in your SO security a couple of years ago when
Speaker 2: inflation was running in about nine percent?
Speaker 5: I work a little bit.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you've got a big increase. You get it. You
Speaker 2: get a nine percent increase, whether you know it or not.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, you know. So.
Speaker 2: I mean, it's okay, You've got to be okay. I
Speaker 2: just I think a lot of people are worrying about this,
Speaker 2: you know, I do you do you think there's any
Speaker 2: fraud in social security?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Oh, I don't want to see quarter on the I
Speaker 5: mean yeah, I would think those fraud and everything else. Yeah.
Speaker 2: So if they can find some fraud and get rid
Speaker 2: of it, you know, I want to see the proof.
Speaker 2: Don't get me wrong, but I think that Hey, let's
Speaker 2: see what happens. I am not worried about them taking
Speaker 2: my SO security check away, and you shouldn't either, though.
Speaker 5: Okay, No, First of all, did thank you for talking
Speaker 5: to me. I'll let you go one lo comment you
Speaker 5: said it wouldn't it be? Just man, I don't want
Speaker 5: to confuse the issue. If you make one hundred and
Speaker 5: twenty five thousand dollars, Yeah, there's a cutoff perviot here. Well,
Speaker 5: you can make a hound. They don't touch one of those.
Speaker 5: Every said they don't tach within in a month. But
Speaker 5: shouldn't that be kind of I don't even a congos,
Speaker 5: and I don't want to keep feeding myself, but shouldn't
Speaker 5: that be kind of a little I have one thing
Speaker 5: between the age and you know, I.
Speaker 2: Guess they'll they'll raise that up a little bit. That's
Speaker 2: going to get raised up. But if you're making one
Speaker 2: hundred and twenty five thousand dollars and all of a
Speaker 2: sudden you make one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, you
Speaker 2: know your federal taxes are going to probably whack you
Speaker 2: for about a third of the difference. So you probably
Speaker 2: go from one twenty five to one fifty. I'll bet
Speaker 2: you that's an increase of eight thousand in federal taxes.
Speaker 2: So now you get back another couple of thousand dollars
Speaker 2: dollars on for sold security. I mean, making one hundred
Speaker 2: and twenty five thousand dollars or one hundred fifty thousand dollars,
Speaker 2: you're not going to become a millionaire.
Speaker 5: Fill I mean on that side, I unfortunately I understand
Speaker 5: that I finally got it out right. Thanks for that,
Speaker 5: I guess style audios.
Speaker 2: Thanks, touch to you later, good night, take a quick break,
Speaker 2: I'm not I don't want to short change Rick and Dover.
Speaker 2: He's up next. And then I got Joe and Lynn.
Speaker 2: I got some room for you both at six one, seven, two, five,
Speaker 2: four to ten thirty and at six one, seven, nine
Speaker 2: three one ten thirty. The purpose tonight is to basically
Speaker 2: calm people down. I mean, I could be a lot more.
Speaker 2: I guess scary uh and tell you well, you never know.
Speaker 2: They might elimitate No, no, they're not going to eliminate
Speaker 2: Social Security. I don't think that any benefits that people
Speaker 2: are receiving now legitimately are going to be taken away
Speaker 2: from them. And I hope that if there are new
Speaker 2: people who are going to have to get a certified
Speaker 2: new people signing up certified federal account, that it's done
Speaker 2: in such a way that it's relatively easy. And look,
Speaker 2: every politician, if they're smart, no, none of them, most
Speaker 2: of them really aren't. But every politician could could volunteer
Speaker 2: to set up Saturday sessions at public libraries in their
Speaker 2: districts in which they would have people there to help
Speaker 2: people who need that help in lieu of social Security offices.
Speaker 2: We'll see this is this is there are there are
Speaker 2: options here joined the conversation back right after the news
Speaker 2: at the bottom of the hour.
Speaker 1: It's nice with Boston's news radio.
Speaker 2: All right, let's get back to the call. It's going
Speaker 2: to go to a Rick in Dover. Rick, welcome back.
Speaker 2: How are you sir?
Speaker 6: Hey? How you doing?
Speaker 2: Dah doing great? What's what you're taking all of this? Rick?
Speaker 6: I gotta say, this is the first time I enjoyed
Speaker 6: your opening and the comment of a first call. You're
Speaker 6: a spot on as far as I'm concerned.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you. I appreciate that.
Speaker 6: It was great hearing it.
Speaker 2: I wish I wish that that was not that there
Speaker 2: have been other times, but that's okay. I just uh,
Speaker 2: I think we're putting people into a bit of a panic.
Speaker 2: And did you reach n Murphy's piece in the Globe
Speaker 2: today by any chance or no? Now?
Speaker 6: But I'm on Social Security and I got to go
Speaker 6: in and I prove I'm alive in the next couple
Speaker 6: of days.
Speaker 2: Well, let me ask how long have you been on
Speaker 2: Social Security?
Speaker 7: Oh?
Speaker 6: Probably five years?
Speaker 2: Five years and you never got you never got your
Speaker 2: identification verified.
Speaker 6: I had to go in like one or two times.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but now.
Speaker 6: All of a sudden, it's a new thing. And I
Speaker 6: called them because I read the White House, you know,
Speaker 6: press release and stuff. And first it says that you
Speaker 6: don't have to come in if you're already getting it.
Speaker 6: Da da da da da, unless it's a regular schedule review.
Speaker 6: They do those like every two years. But then at
Speaker 6: the bottom it said, oh, yeah, but you've really got
Speaker 6: to prove your live though. So I called him and
Speaker 6: you know, question him. And first the person that answered said, oh,
Speaker 6: you don't have to come in. You know you're you're good.
Speaker 6: And then I said, well, why is it say this
Speaker 6: down on the press release, and then she went and
Speaker 6: talked to the supervisor. I guess it made me an appointment.
Speaker 6: So I'm going in the next couple of days to
Speaker 6: prove them alive and breathing and who I am. And
Speaker 6: of course from firstus here to get every form idea.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll tell you I was able several years ago,
Speaker 2: and I'm not the smartest guy. On terms of the computer,
Speaker 2: I was able to essentially upload a driver's license or
Speaker 2: I forget if it was a birth certificate from my
Speaker 2: phone or from my computer. I guess it was UH.
Speaker 2: And I also took a picture of myself and I
Speaker 2: have a SOB security number. I've never had to go
Speaker 2: through this. I did it electronically about four or five
Speaker 2: years ago. I'm surprised that that you didn't do it
Speaker 2: back then. Let me ask you this, do you have
Speaker 2: a SOB security account? Like can you go on to
Speaker 2: you know, so security dot gov?
Speaker 6: And I tried that every time it wouldn't let me
Speaker 6: do it. But I mean I got to check every month,
Speaker 6: no no review.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but there's let me see if I can help
Speaker 2: you out here for a seconds, just for for for
Speaker 2: for second here, Okay, I'm not the smartest guy in
Speaker 2: terms of so in terms of computers. I want you
Speaker 2: to know that I I don't get the lingo or
Speaker 2: anything like that. I'm probably something either. Yeah, I mean, so,
Speaker 2: so I go to uh an item here a website
Speaker 2: which is s s a dot gov slash my account.
Speaker 5: Right?
Speaker 2: Have you have you tried that that website or not?
Speaker 6: I tried. I tried it and then they said, oh
Speaker 6: I got a duplicate or count or something, so it
Speaker 6: wouldn't let me log in, because supposedly when I try
Speaker 6: to log in once, it wouldn't let me do it,
Speaker 6: and now won't let me do it at all. I'm
Speaker 6: gonna try to fix it in the next couple of days.
Speaker 2: Okay, so let me tell you again, if you if
Speaker 2: you well, if you write this down, it might help
Speaker 2: you a little bit. I don't know what what office
Speaker 2: are you going to? Are you living Dover? So how
Speaker 2: far do you have to go?
Speaker 6: I'm only going to Portsmouth, so it's not a big deal.
Speaker 2: Okay. So so you know you're in You're in Dover,
Speaker 2: New Hampshire, right, Okay, I thought you were in Dover, Massachusetts. Okay,
Speaker 2: so it isn't a big deal.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 2: So if you go s s a dot gov, slash
Speaker 2: my account. Okay, there's a sign in button. So I
Speaker 2: clicked the signing button, uh, and it says I can
Speaker 2: sign in with log in dot gov or I can
Speaker 2: sign in with I d dot me or signing with
Speaker 2: my SoC security user game okay, user name. So I
Speaker 2: I go to.
Speaker 6: I'm trying it.
Speaker 2: Okay, Well when I go to all right, now I
Speaker 2: get it. I go to secure dot log in dot gov.
Speaker 2: Here's my email address, and my password is right there.
Speaker 2: It says show password. I know what my password is,
Speaker 2: so they they've kept my password and I submit it
Speaker 2: and all of a sudden, they want to send me
Speaker 2: a one time code. Okay, and my phone is across
Speaker 2: the room here.
Speaker 6: Uh so hold on, Rick, I don't worry about it.
Speaker 2: I know I'm going to help you out. Man. I'm
Speaker 2: going to help you out. I want to.
Speaker 6: I'm gonna have them do that because I'm going over there.
Speaker 8: Okay.
Speaker 2: So I went, I grabbed my phone, which I was charging.
Speaker 2: You're still there, Rick, yeah, good, Okay, So I got
Speaker 2: a log in number here. I'm not going to tell
Speaker 2: you what the log in number is, but I'm going
Speaker 2: to put it in. It's a six six number code.
Speaker 2: Boom boom boom boom boom. Okay, I got my code.
Speaker 2: Here we go, okyeah, yep, uh huh okay. Do not
Speaker 2: use spaces or capital letters. Okay. Okay, so that.
Speaker 6: Any is in capital and.
Speaker 4: Oh my god, oh yeah, this is.
Speaker 2: Why they did that. I don't know. Okay, well you
Speaker 2: might be right. So now I okay, now my one
Speaker 2: time code, here's another one.
Speaker 8: Here we go, uh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, point no, no, no, I'm proving you point. Here
Speaker 2: we go.
Speaker 7: Oh my god, go ahead, I'm in.
Speaker 2: I agree to terms of service. Just a little check.
Speaker 2: I agree. Next, Here we go next, and I'm looking. Welcome, Daniel.
Speaker 2: You last signed in on January seventh, at twelve twenty
Speaker 2: five pm Eastern time. I got my benefits summary, I
Speaker 2: got my SO security payment here. I'm not on Medicare
Speaker 2: because I have my wife's coverage and I'm enrolled in
Speaker 2: medica here. You got to enroll in Medicare when you
Speaker 2: turn seventy, right, believe me on that. And then if
Speaker 2: i'd like, I can get my Social Security statement, which
Speaker 2: is going to tell me that I can look at
Speaker 2: everything that I have contributed to my SO security you know,
Speaker 2: how forever, how long I've worked. Okay, Yeah, so here's that.
Speaker 6: Which one? Which one? Are they talking about cutting Medicare
Speaker 6: or Medicaid.
Speaker 2: There's no cut on Medicare. Musk just said that. And again,
Speaker 2: now you know, if you want to assume that the
Speaker 2: guy is a uh, you know, total liar, Okay, and
Speaker 2: again I'm looking at.
Speaker 6: A scheme last week.
Speaker 4: But.
Speaker 2: Uh, he has said that in the past, Okay, and
Speaker 2: what what I believe he meant by that? Was if
Speaker 2: you pay you to so security Rick for your entire life,
Speaker 2: and you die at sixty five before you've taken so security,
Speaker 2: you know you're you don't get the door because you're dead. No,
Speaker 2: look right, you know so so to some extent there
Speaker 2: Now conversely, there was one year, you know, when George
Speaker 2: Steinberner died when there was no estate tax. So Steinberner's
Speaker 2: estate was not taxed. So there are those sort of anomalies.
Speaker 2: But anyway, look, I wish you're best of luck. Do
Speaker 2: me a favor. Let me know how you make out tomorrow. Okay,
Speaker 2: I thanks Dan, thank you, thank you very much, my friend.
Speaker 2: We'll talk to you later.
Speaker 6: Good night, bye bye, good night.
Speaker 2: I'm just here to try to help, that's all. Let
Speaker 2: me go next to Joe. Joe joins us from Lynn Joe.
Speaker 2: Next time, Dan, Joe.
Speaker 8: It's crazy. Yeah, I get so security. I worked a
Speaker 8: little bit but the company folded. But I get it
Speaker 8: from my father who died. I'm his you know, disabled son.
Speaker 8: Now I don't know whether I have to go.
Speaker 2: In at what at what age did your dad die?
Speaker 2: How old were you?
Speaker 8: Uh see, it was how he died and I was
Speaker 8: no How.
Speaker 2: Old were you Joe, Joe, Yeah, just tell me how
Speaker 2: old you were.
Speaker 8: I think I was.
Speaker 2: A prosimately, Joe would work. Were you six or seven?
Speaker 2: Were you fifteen? Were you twenty? How old were you?
Speaker 8: No, he died a few years ago. When he died, I.
Speaker 2: Was in my Joe, this is a real simple question, Joe,
Speaker 2: This is a really simple question. Yeah.
Speaker 8: I just told you I was in my seventy if
Speaker 8: he died around nineteen ninety.
Speaker 2: Okay, So you were in your seventies and nineteen nineties,
Speaker 2: so now you what one hundred?
Speaker 8: No, I'm seventy eight. I was. I probably got the
Speaker 8: dates mixed up. Nineteen ninety okay, So what's okay?
Speaker 2: So you have been on Social Security? You're for most
Speaker 2: of your life because because you're you've been disabled. Correct
Speaker 2: you're blind?
Speaker 4: Yes?
Speaker 2: Yes, Now do you get You don't get a big
Speaker 2: check for that, I assume, But what does it help you?
Speaker 8: No? I only get like thirteen hundred a month, that's all.
Speaker 2: Okay. Have you ever worked and contributed to Social Yes?
Speaker 8: I did when I was in Philadelphia for about a
Speaker 8: couple of months and the company folded.
Speaker 2: Okay, so you've worked for two months. You worked for
Speaker 2: two months so how much money do you think you
Speaker 2: contributed to Social Security in those two months?
Speaker 8: God, I honestly don't know. That was in the seventies
Speaker 8: of sixties. I really don't know.
Speaker 2: Fifty bucks, fifty bucks, sixty bucks.
Speaker 8: Maybe about hundred bucks. Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2: So you've been on so security now disability for a
Speaker 2: little over fifty.
Speaker 8: Years, yeah, around that, yeah, okay, and you're.
Speaker 2: Making thirteen hundred a month, so that probably works out
Speaker 2: to about I don't know, fifteen thousand a year.
Speaker 8: Yeah, you know, around that, yes, Lily, proximately.
Speaker 2: Okay, So if you've been on it for fifty years,
Speaker 2: you probably made you probably had about three quarters of
Speaker 2: a million dollars in benefits, which, again, over the course
Speaker 2: of a lifetime, you've got a whole lot of money.
Speaker 2: But you if you paid in like maybe two hundred
Speaker 2: dollars and you've benefited about seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Speaker 2: So there's a lot of folks who and so security
Speaker 2: is kind of an insurance system. I never suffered from
Speaker 2: a disability, and I would never trade places with you,
Speaker 2: my friend.
Speaker 8: Okay, but I know you've said that to me before.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well I believe it. I mean, I can't of
Speaker 2: imagine how difficult your life has been. You know, I
Speaker 2: know you're doing a fighter and I'm not patronizing you.
Speaker 2: All I'm just telling you is that this is a
Speaker 2: little bit of an insurance program when it basically says
Speaker 2: to us, Look, if something happened to me, if I
Speaker 2: fell off a roof, you know, fifty years ago or whatever,
Speaker 2: I would have been in your situation. But so I
Speaker 2: probably contributed more to Social Security than I've taken get out,
Speaker 2: and if I live long enough, maybe I'll end up
Speaker 2: taking out a little bit more. But obviously they've had
Speaker 2: the use of the money. So it's there's an insurance
Speaker 2: aspect to it, there's a retirement aspect to it, and
Speaker 2: do me a fav I just don't want you to
Speaker 2: be worried you're so security better, No I'm not.
Speaker 8: Because I've heard Eli. I heard him say that the
Speaker 8: Social Security should increase. I just hope he does it
Speaker 8: right and get gets rid of the fraud, because a
Speaker 8: lot of those calls are fraud. I know I called
Speaker 8: in a few years ago when I had to switch
Speaker 8: my bank, and I don't know about now. If I
Speaker 8: ever have to switch a bank, I may have to
Speaker 8: go into the office. I don't know. I hope not.
Speaker 8: So that's a that's a lot of work.
Speaker 2: Okay, all right, I'm going to let you go. I
Speaker 2: thank you for calling and uh and thank god we
Speaker 2: have so security for folks.
Speaker 8: And good and good luck dealing with I want to
Speaker 8: wish Rick good luck. I hope he gets it straightened out.
Speaker 2: Absolute thanks, Joe, appreciate it. Thank you much. We'll be
Speaker 2: back right after this quick break on nightside. Feel fraid
Speaker 2: to join the car. I can carry this into the
Speaker 2: next hour if you want, but that's your decision. The
Speaker 2: audience decides what we talk about. Six one, seven, two, five, four,
Speaker 2: ten thirty six one seven, nine, three, one, ten thirty.
Speaker 2: If you have a question, I'll try to help you.
Speaker 2: I would really suggest that if you get a moment today,
Speaker 2: go onto the Boston Globe website and look up the
Speaker 2: article written by Sean Murphy, who's he really writes great
Speaker 2: stuff for the Globe. And his article is the byline
Speaker 2: is what's called the fine print that says digging into
Speaker 2: social Security, and he did dig into it. And tomorrow
Speaker 2: I will have Jim Roosevelt on the grandson of Franklin
Speaker 2: Roosevelt who signed President Franklin Rosevelt, who signed the Social
Speaker 2: Security Bill. I just want people. I don't want people
Speaker 2: to go to bed. There's enough things to worry about.
Speaker 2: You can worry about nuclear war, you can worry about
Speaker 2: a lot of things, but don't worry about social security
Speaker 2: at this point. Okay, Trump maybe in many respects a
Speaker 2: little out there, but he's not going to mess with
Speaker 2: soil security in my opinion and by basically his statements,
Speaker 2: unless he wants to prove himself. He has said repeatedly,
Speaker 2: and Elon Musk has said repeatedly, they're not going to
Speaker 2: mess with social security or medic here. Back on Nightside
Speaker 2: after this, You're on.
Speaker 1: Night Side with Dan Ray on Boston's news Radio.
Speaker 2: By the worry, By the way, I also received an
Speaker 2: email from so Security telling me that I had just
Speaker 2: signed into my account and if if someone else had
Speaker 2: signed it in my account, I should notify them again.
Speaker 2: If if it wasn't, you weset your password, uh and
Speaker 2: change your authentication methods immediately.
Speaker 8: It worked.
Speaker 2: Don't have to do that. Next up, let's go to
Speaker 2: Paul and Need and Paul and You are next on Nightside. Welcome,
Speaker 2: Thanks very much, for checking in and go ahead, Paul, Oh.
Speaker 4: You Dan, I know you, I know you have a
Speaker 4: lot of listeners that are retire and city state government
Speaker 4: workers and they get pensions from the government or the
Speaker 4: city of the state.
Speaker 2: Yep.
Speaker 4: And are you aware of the recent social security fairness.
Speaker 2: That that has just been changed in March. As a
Speaker 2: matter of fact, I have a good friend of mine
Speaker 2: who worked for the City of Boston, one of the
Speaker 2: facilities in the City of Boston, and that has that
Speaker 2: has been changed and there was some back back social
Speaker 2: security payments given by the government. Yes.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's Bill h R. Eighty two and it was
Speaker 4: passed on January fifth, and it's the Social Security Fairness
Speaker 4: Act which eliminates the windfall petition. Yes, correct, Yeah, the
Speaker 4: years teachers, police officers.
Speaker 2: And anyone anyone who worked. Yeah, they they got. The
Speaker 2: argument was that they they they probably had qualified for
Speaker 2: a state pension or and they should not get a
Speaker 2: second pension. But if they had worked ten quarters in
Speaker 2: the private sector, I think they they certainly should need
Speaker 2: to get two pensions.
Speaker 4: The government worker was penalized in other words.
Speaker 2: Well he was he or she was, assuming that they
Speaker 2: had that they had also worked the requisite number of quarters,
Speaker 2: which I believe is forty quarters or ten years correct
Speaker 2: in the private sector. So if somebody worked for let's
Speaker 2: say the MBTA and they retired at the age of fifty,
Speaker 2: they got it. You know, they could get a pension
Speaker 2: at the NBTA, by the way, as early as forty
Speaker 2: two back in the day, they retired at the age
Speaker 2: of fifty, and then they went and worked in another
Speaker 2: job for ten years they had they could only get one.
Speaker 2: One was offset against the other. No, I agree with that,
Speaker 2: gled you pointed that out.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's a wonderful thing that that passed. I know
Speaker 4: John Kerry when he was in the Senate, he worked
Speaker 4: hard on that to try to get that eliminated, the
Speaker 4: windflaw petition. But I think there was the Federation the
Speaker 4: teachers that were the leader in getting this done.
Speaker 2: Yeah again it yep, it's done and it was it's
Speaker 2: it's the law and it went into effect in early March. Paul,
Speaker 2: I appreciate it. I just got to go a couple
Speaker 2: more here. I want to try to sneak you. Thank
Speaker 2: you for sharing that great, great information. Thank you. Next up,
Speaker 2: Sandy is an effort. Sandy, you were Next time nightside.
Speaker 6: Go right ahead, Well, hi Dan, how are you good?
Speaker 2: Sandy? What's your take on tonight?
Speaker 7: My take is also what you were trying to help
Speaker 7: the gentleman out as far as on making sure all
Speaker 7: your paperwork and photo it ts are verified in the
Speaker 7: government's system. I did get a notice I think around
Speaker 7: November of last year to make sure I do that
Speaker 7: by like January or something, and so I did everything right.
Speaker 7: The only challenge was trying to upload your driver's license
Speaker 7: because you have to up to upload your Social Security
Speaker 7: card and your driver slice. And I even put my
Speaker 7: image on like where I had a table met that
Speaker 7: was black because they say do it on a dark background,
Speaker 7: So that was challenging for me. Coincidentally, I don't know
Speaker 7: where where in this system, I came across an eight
Speaker 7: hundred number, called that number, and I took a chance,
Speaker 7: you know how, you're at the right place at the
Speaker 7: right time. I was there in home, and I left
Speaker 7: the voice now you know, like a callback, you know,
Speaker 7: to call me back. I'bby darn. It's a really nice woman.
Speaker 7: I forget her, asked me, but her first name is Michelle.
Speaker 7: She called me back within thirty minutes. She sent me,
Speaker 7: and she sent me in and what do you call it?
Speaker 7: And like an encrypt.
Speaker 2: Encrypted encrypted message.
Speaker 7: Yep, okay, sure, sorry, my coat's bowing on me. And
Speaker 7: I was able to upload my driver's lie and image
Speaker 7: of it that way, and I'm all set. But those
Speaker 7: who can do that or you know, find it intimidating
Speaker 7: because I'm pretty pcy literal. But those who and I'm
Speaker 7: seventy three so and I'm blessed. But those who are
Speaker 7: are unable or intimidated about uploading information or maybe not
Speaker 7: be comfortable doing that, they can actually go to the
Speaker 7: local post office that will help them upload such documentary.
Speaker 2: Well that's great information. I didn't know that. Yeah, No,
Speaker 2: that's great information. Yeah, I think that's yeah. I mean
Speaker 2: I know that you get passports now at your post office.
Speaker 2: It used to be that you had to go into
Speaker 2: the federal building downtown. So there's ways to do this
Speaker 2: and make it less stressful. And I hope that's what
Speaker 2: the Trump administration is trying to do here. It doesn't
Speaker 2: make any sense to make it tougher on people, make
Speaker 2: it easier on people who are truly eligible to be
Speaker 2: Social Security recipients, and eliminate the fraudsters. I don't have
Speaker 2: a problem with eliminating the fraudsters, and I want.
Speaker 4: To make me either else.
Speaker 2: Okay, great, Hey, thanks so much, Sandy.
Speaker 4: I got a screw it.
Speaker 2: Okay, I got the ten. Thanks so much for calling.
Speaker 2: I appreciate that. That's a good short. So we've done
Speaker 2: this hour what I wanted to do, and i'd like
Speaker 2: to continue into the next hour. I got Jack on
Speaker 2: the cape. Jack, stay there if you like it. A
Speaker 2: couple more folks want to join, we'll we'll go deeper
Speaker 2: into this into the next hour. Six one, seven, two, five, four,
Speaker 2: ten thirty or six one, seven, nine, three, one, ten
Speaker 2: thirty Back on night Side.