I got this strange mix of rebuttals after alleging that
the fact that black men die younger means that what they
get back is less than what they put in, as compared to other
groups. That's not specific to black men; it would
apply to any group of people who die younger. These gems included:
First of all, Social Security pays out to the families of those who die before 62. So dying young doesn't mean there's no payout. Besides, the life expectancy gap is closing.
Well, obviously, I never said "there's no payout", though,
in fact, there in fact IS NO payout TO the decedent. As for his
survivors and their benefits, I think they might rather have had
him around and working longer.
Second, due to the wage disparity, African Americans pay less in.
Spinning the wage disparity as somehow a good thing
here is just racist on its face.
Race remains an issue that is almost impossible to deal with on this
site in general. I was pleased about the center of gravity on the
Gates debacle, but as far as anything systemic (as opposed to
an outrageous individual incident), we have still (as a community) got a ways to go. I blame the leadership. There is now allegedly supposed to be a "community" czar. AWOL as usual on this issue.
Third, social security is almost exactly like annuities - you pay in, then it pays out at a steady rate based on the amount of credit you've built up.
This IS NOT "almost exactly like annuities"
because the amount of "credit" is NOT "the amount you've paid in".
The main difference is that social security uses the bend points to favor the poor.
Yes, SS is progressive in that way, but that (again OBVIOUSLY) DOES NOT HELP anybody WHO DIED BEFORE
the payouts started. More to the point, however, a lot of "the poor" are poor BECAUSE THEY ARE IN JOBS THAT WERE NOT COVERED by SS for MOST of their careers! Agricultural and domestic help in particular were originally exempted! Some kinds of domestic help got covered LATER but that is NOT doing a lot for any 77-yr-old black grandmother who
labored in that field for most of her career BEFORE that reform!
Fourth, social security clearly includes a component which is almost exactly like insurance - the disability and early death component.
If you want to insist that the Social Security system discriminates against black people, that says a lot more about you than it does about the system.
No, I'm sorry, this commenter is convicted of extreme racism out of his OWN mouth.
The discriminatory issue here isn't the system per se; it's how the system interacts with the institutionalized racism of the society at large. ANYthing that is a regressive tax on wages and that rewards
longevity IS OBVIOUSLY GOING to do worse by people who make less and
live shorter. SS may seem flat as OPPOSED to regressive if your annual wage is in FIVE figures, but beyond that, race STILL matters.
The benefit you get after popping the cap is certainly not going
to proportionately many black people.