THE WORK ETHIC WE INHERITED GROWING UP HAS FALLEN PREY TO THE 'WELFARE' SYSTEM


The Cato Institute released an updated 2013 study (original study in 1955) showing that welfare benefits pay more than a minimum wage job in 33 states and the District of Columbia. Even worse, welfare pays more than $15 per hour in 13 states. According to the study, welfare benefits have increased faster than minimum wage. It’s now more profitable to sit at home than it is to earn an honest day’s pay.

Hawaii is the biggest offender, where welfare recipients earn $29.13 per hour, or a $60,590 yearly salary, all for doing nothing.

Here is the list of the states where the pre-tax equivalent “salary” that welfare recipients receive is higher than having a job:

1. Hawaii : $60,590

2. District of Columbia : $50,820

3. Massachusetts : $50,540

4. Connecticut : $44,370

5. New York : $43,700

6. New Jersey : $43,450

7. Rhode Island : $43,330

8. Vermont : $42,350

9. New Hampshire : $39,750

10. Maryland : $38,160

11. California : $37,160

12. Oregon : $34,300

13. Wyoming : $32,620

14. Nevada : $29,820

15. Minnesota : $29,350

16. Delaware : $29,220

17. Washington : $28,840

18. North Dakota : $28,830

19. Pennsylvania : $28,670

20. New Mexico : $27,900

21. Montana : $26,930

22. South Dakota : $26,610

23. Kansas : $26,490

24. Michigan : $26,430

25. Alaska : $26,400

26. Ohio : $26,200

27. North Carolina : $25,760

28. West Virginia : $24,900

29. Alabama : $23,310

30. Indiana : $22,900

31. Missouri : $22,800

32. Oklahoma : $22,480

33. Louisiana : $22,250

34. South Carolina : $21,910



As a point of reference the average Middle Class annual income today is $50,000, down from $54,000 at the beginning of the Great Recession. Hawaii, DC, and Massachusetts pay more in welfare than the average working folks earn there. Is it any wonder that they stay home rather than look for a job. Time for a drastic change. America is virtually bankrupt.

Are we Nuts or what? How do we un-do this type of stupidity on the part of Americans?
This is crazy!

Salary of retired US Presidents
$180,000 FOR LIFE

Salary of House/Senate....$174,000 FOR LIFE
This is stupid.

Salary of Speaker of the House ....$223,500
FOR LIFE!
This is really stupid.

Salary of Majority/Minority Leader $193,400
FOR LIFE!
Ditto last line.

Average Salary of a teacher .. $40,065

Average Salary of Soldier DEPLOYED IN
AFGHANISTAN .. $38,000

Think about this.

Nancy Pelosi will retire as a Congress Person
at $174,000 Dollars a year for LIFE.
She has retired as SPEAKER at $223,500
a year.

PLUS she will receive an additional $193,400 a
year as Minority Leader.

That's
$803,700

Dollars a year for LIFE including FREE medical
which is not available to us .... the taxpayers

She is just one of the hundreds of Senators
and Congress that float in and out every
year!

I think we found where the cuts should be made!

Here....let me post the rest of the chain mail BS story for you, or did you think no one would check your post for accuracy.

Let’s turn to the nonpartisan research arm of Congress, the Congressional Research Service, which explains laws so even lawmakers can understand them.

• Members of Congress earn their $174,000 salaries only during their elected terms. (Nope, not for life.)

• They’re eligible for congressional pensions only after five years of service. (For a member of the House, that would mean getting elected to office at least three times.)

Those pensions can’t be tapped until retirement age — and can’t be collected while a lawmaker still gets a federal salary. So John Kerry, for example, can’t collect his congressional pension while he serves as secretary of state, according to Pete Sepp of the National Taxpayers Union.

• The size of the pension depends on years of service and the average of a lawmaker’s highest three years of salary. The exact formula depends on when they started. Meanwhile, every paycheck, lawmakers contribute to both their pensions and Social Security.

• Most congressional pensions are nowhere near a lawmaker’s salary. Under a pre-1984 retirement formula, it couldn’t be more than 80 percent of a lawmaker’s final salary, not counting cost-of-living adjustments. Under current rules, lawmakers could theoretically get more than 80 percent of their salary, but most would need to serve more than 66 years to get that.

Would House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi get "$803,700 Dollars a year for LIFE including FREE medical"?

The email writer gets a whole host of things wrong here.

The message claims Pelosi will retire as a member of Congress making $174,000 — and that she’ll earn it annually, for life, on top of her full speaker’s salary of $223,500 and minority leader’s salary of $193,400, for a whopping "$803,700 Dollars a year for LIFE including FREE medical."

Nope.

Congressional leaders do get paid more than other lawmakers. The speaker of the House earns $223,500. The House minority leader earns $193,400. That’s more than the $174,000 earned by the rank and file. But those are annual salaries that leaders earn while they hold their titles, not lifetime guarantees that get stacked on top of one another.

• First, even if her pension did equal all three salaries, they add up to $590,900, not $803,700. (Unless perhaps the writer’s suggesting the "free medical" is worth $212,800 a year. Talk about rising health care costs!)

• Second, that’s not how it works. See above.

• Third, lawmakers don’t get "free medical." They pay a portion of their health insurance premiums, co-pays and co-insurance and can face a deductible, just like a lot of workers with employer-based health care. In January, their employer-offered health insurance will be a choice of plans offered on Obamacare’s federal exchange.

Pelosi’s higher salary as House speaker from 2007-11 will boost her pension. But the congresswoman, who’s been in office since 1987, would have to work at least two more decades for her starting pension to match a regular lawmaker’s pay, much less $803,700.

She’s 73.

And, oh, by the way, lawmakers haven’t given themselves a pay raise since January 2009.

We’re not saying they’re earning their keep.

But perhaps it’ll make you feel slightly better that their salaries this year hit their lowest inflation-adjusted levels since December 1990. And that more than 200 of them were refusing pay while the government was closed.

Our ruling

A viral message claims congressional lawmakers earn their salaries "FOR LIFE," which for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi would add up to "$803,700 Dollars a year for LIFE including FREE medical."

Lawmakers don’t earn a salary after their terms end. They may earn pensions based on years of service, but those don’t start until retirement. They don’t get "free medical."

It might feel good to click Forward. But it wouldn’t make this claim any less Pants on Fire.

THE WORK ETHIC WE INHERITED GROWING UP HAS FALLEN PREY TO THE 'WELFARE' SYSTEM


The Cato Institute released an updated 2013 study (original study in 1955) showing that welfare benefits pay more than a minimum wage job in 33 states and the District of Columbia. Even worse, welfare pays more than $15 per hour in 13 states. According to the study, welfare benefits have increased faster than minimum wage. It’s now more profitable to sit at home than it is to earn an honest day’s pay.

Hawaii is the biggest offender, where welfare recipients earn $29.13 per hour, or a $60,590 yearly salary, all for doing nothing.

Here is the list of the states where the pre-tax equivalent “salary” that welfare recipients receive is higher than having a job:

1. Hawaii : $60,590

2. District of Columbia : $50,820

3. Massachusetts : $50,540

4. Connecticut : $44,370

5. New York : $43,700

6. New Jersey : $43,450

7. Rhode Island : $43,330

8. Vermont : $42,350

9. New Hampshire : $39,750

10. Maryland : $38,160

11. California : $37,160

12. Oregon : $34,300

13. Wyoming : $32,620

14. Nevada : $29,820

15. Minnesota : $29,350

16. Delaware : $29,220

17. Washington : $28,840

18. North Dakota : $28,830

19. Pennsylvania : $28,670

20. New Mexico : $27,900

21. Montana : $26,930

22. South Dakota : $26,610

23. Kansas : $26,490

24. Michigan : $26,430

25. Alaska : $26,400

26. Ohio : $26,200

27. North Carolina : $25,760

28. West Virginia : $24,900

29. Alabama : $23,310

30. Indiana : $22,900

31. Missouri : $22,800

32. Oklahoma : $22,480

33. Louisiana : $22,250

34. South Carolina : $21,910



As a point of reference the average Middle Class annual income today is $50,000, down from $54,000 at the beginning of the Great Recession. Hawaii, DC, and Massachusetts pay more in welfare than the average working folks earn there. Is it any wonder that they stay home rather than look for a job. Time for a drastic change. America is virtually bankrupt.

Are we Nuts or what? How do we un-do this type of stupidity on the part of Americans?
This is crazy!

Salary of retired US Presidents
$180,000 FOR LIFE

Salary of House/Senate....$174,000 FOR LIFE
This is stupid.

Salary of Speaker of the House ....$223,500
FOR LIFE!
This is really stupid.

Salary of Majority/Minority Leader $193,400
FOR LIFE!
Ditto last line.

Average Salary of a teacher .. $40,065

Average Salary of Soldier DEPLOYED IN
AFGHANISTAN .. $38,000

Think about this.

Nancy Pelosi will retire as a Congress Person
at $174,000 Dollars a year for LIFE.
She has retired as SPEAKER at $223,500
a year.

PLUS she will receive an additional $193,400 a
year as Minority Leader.

That's
$803,700

Dollars a year for LIFE including FREE medical
which is not available to us .... the taxpayers

She is just one of the hundreds of Senators
and Congress that float in and out every
year!

I think we found where the cuts should be made!