From an alumni obit
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John M. Conrad, Sr., 64, a resident of Hopewell Junction for 12 years and formerly of Mount Vernon, died unexpectedly on Saturday, December 23, 2006 at Vassar Brothers Medical Center, Poughkeepsie.. He was a graduate of Manhattan College. He was employed as a real estate manager for IBM, White Plains for 30 years until his retirement in 1991. He was currently working as a certified real estate appraiser for Trans Union of Albany and Buffalo.
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No, it’s not in the wrong category. This is really about Liberty.
Here’s an example of the tyranny of government.
DO you think this fellow would have paid 15% of his lifetime earnings into an insurance policy that was an annuity that didn’t payoff anything if he died?
Nah!
While it is true that the widow can collect “on his record” which gives her the greater of her benefit or his benefit. Either of which is enough for “dog food”.
I bet his IBM pension covers his spouse in full. That is that there is no nonsense about discount.
And, it is true that there is a small disability benefit during his working years. But you don’t think those ads in the paper by lawyers offering to sue for your social security insurance disability benefit are there because it’s easy to claim that benefit?
And, if I sold you an annuity that had no guaranteed payout or no value if you died before collecting anything, then I bet I’d be in jail for theft. If you look at the sites of those who sell insurance, you’ll find that you can’t buy that type of policy without a ton of paperwork. Some require the notarized signature of the spouse “waiving” the option. And, they require an attorney, paid for but not retained by the insurance company to represent the buyer’s interest. Some don’t even offer the option at all.
So, why do we permit political thugs to rob us? Enslave us? Make us poorer? It’s like being a slave.
Reinke Faces Life 
Well see that’s a problem too. First, that gang of thugs in Washington have no right to rob you in the first place. Second, they can’t “invest”. Social Security Investments would be the biggest shareholder in a company; when the government runs companies that’s Fascism. Third, when they’d “invest”, all sorts of politics would get in the way (i.e., social responsible investing aka crony-ism). Cato had some good stuff about how Chile got out of their “social security” disaster. But, despite it was done by an American educated economist, the lesson never migrated here. It’s the ONLY country without a demographic time bomb.
p.s., be careful what you wish for. it’s gonna be one ugly baby. only my mother will love it.
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I agree completely about the theft of SS dollars. It would be different if they had only ‘managed’ our SS “investments” instead of squandering them by throwing them into the general budget fund. I am still steaming from the fact that they never have kept that money separate and invested it (like we would have done!). I read an article once that said someone calculated how much SS money would still be in the ‘fund’ if they had kept it separarte and even mildly invested it. It would still be sound and no need for talk of continually raising the SS tax! The more I read your blog, I am becoming a ‘Repubertarian’.
Thanks for all the blogging, I am looking forward to the 2006 ‘Reinke Faces Life’ first edition!
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