Hasta La Vista, Social Security
Investor's Business Daily, Inc.
Thu Jan 4, 7:00 PM ET
Thu Jan 4, 7:00 PM ET
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Entitlements: About to become law is an agreement allowing illegal aliens to get
Social Security benefits after only 18 months of employment in the U.S., further burdening a system on the brink of collapse.
Surveys have shown that more Americans believe in the existence of unidentified flying objects than in the promise that they'll ever get back what they've put into the Social Security system. It also is against current law for employers knowingly to hire individuals who are in this country illegally.
So it must be somewhat disconcerting for them to find out that about to become law is an agreement signed on June 29, 2004, between the U.S. Commissioner of Social Security and the director general of the Mexican Social Security Institute that allows illegal aliens to collect Social Security benefits if they have as little as 18 months of employment history. U.S. citizens must show 10 years, or 40 quarters of job history, to collect benefits.
The first public copy of the U.S.-Mexico Totalization Agreement has been obtained, and, no, it wasn't on the first page of the New York Times. It was obtained after three years of wrangling and a Freedom of Information Act request by the TREA Senior Citizens League (tscl.org) which represents more than 1 million seniors. And, as the saying goes, the devil is in the details
Entitlements: About to become law is an agreement allowing illegal aliens to get
Social Security benefits after only 18 months of employment in the U.S., further burdening a system on the brink of collapse.
Surveys have shown that more Americans believe in the existence of unidentified flying objects than in the promise that they'll ever get back what they've put into the Social Security system. It also is against current law for employers knowingly to hire individuals who are in this country illegally.
So it must be somewhat disconcerting for them to find out that about to become law is an agreement signed on June 29, 2004, between the U.S. Commissioner of Social Security and the director general of the Mexican Social Security Institute that allows illegal aliens to collect Social Security benefits if they have as little as 18 months of employment history. U.S. citizens must show 10 years, or 40 quarters of job history, to collect benefits.
The first public copy of the U.S.-Mexico Totalization Agreement has been obtained, and, no, it wasn't on the first page of the New York Times. It was obtained after three years of wrangling and a Freedom of Information Act request by the TREA Senior Citizens League (tscl.org) which represents more than 1 million seniors. And, as the saying goes, the devil is in the details
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The agreement, which awaits President Bush's signature, can take effect without Congress' approval. All the Democratic Congress has to do is nothing. It doesn't have to vote to approve it -- it has only 60 days to disapprove it, which isn't likely because they likely support allowing it to become law.
The agreement would drain more billions from a system with a $14 trillion liability and assets of only $3.5 trillion, according to a 2003 report by the Center for Immigration Studies. TREA notes, "Ominously, these assets include not only the trust's current reserves ($1.4 trillion), but also the present value of the taxes that current workers will pay for the rest of their working lives ($2.1 trillion).
Totalization agreements are common -- the U.S. has them with 20 countries. And their goal is legitimate -- to avoid double taxation when employers assign their employees to work temporarily in another country. Totalization was not designed or intended to cover millions of illegals sneaking past the U.S. Border Patrol from what is a borderline Third World country.
The agreement, which awaits President Bush's signature, can take effect without Congress' approval. All the Democratic Congress has to do is nothing. It doesn't have to vote to approve it -- it has only 60 days to disapprove it, which isn't likely because they likely support allowing it to become law.
The agreement would drain more billions from a system with a $14 trillion liability and assets of only $3.5 trillion, according to a 2003 report by the Center for Immigration Studies. TREA notes, "Ominously, these assets include not only the trust's current reserves ($1.4 trillion), but also the present value of the taxes that current workers will pay for the rest of their working lives ($2.1 trillion).
Totalization agreements are common -- the U.S. has them with 20 countries. And their goal is legitimate -- to avoid double taxation when employers assign their employees to work temporarily in another country. Totalization was not designed or intended to cover millions of illegals sneaking past the U.S. Border Patrol from what is a borderline Third World country.
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posted by jillosophy at 1/24/2007 10:13:00 AM
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