John Kasich to seniors who want to keep their Social Security: “get over it”

[happyslug]

128. And any State can drop out of Social Security.

Last edited Sun Apr 3, 2016, 01:51 PM - Edit history (1)

People forget that when Social Security was set up there was a question if the Federal government could set it up or was it a power reserved to the States? To get around that issue Congress wrote Social Security as a State program, with each state giving its power to set up social security program to the state.

Now the U.S. constitution clearly gives Congress the power to tax, thus Congress did not need nor asked the states to give the Federal government that power. On the other hand it was questionable if the federal Federal government could set up a social security program payout on its own.

Thus the Social Security Act had the Federal Government set up a Social Security TAX, but then required every state to give the state's power to set a social security payout program to the federal government. Every state did do, for without the grant of power to the federal government no one in the state could get Social Security but everyone in the state still had to pay the Social Security Tax.

That remains the law today. Every state can withdraw its grant of power to the federal government and this stop anyone within the state from getting Social Security, but the Social Security Tax will still be collected in that state.

Given the support you have for Social Security in the middle class no state will ever forbid its residents from collecting Social Security as that program is set up today but each state retains that power. If you separate the middle class from ever having to rely on Social Security, and Social Security becomes a welfare program for the poor, I do see states withdrawing its permission for the federal government to send Social Security to its residents in an effort to get the poor to move out of state. The states have cut welfare and justified such cuts as an effort to prevent the poor from other states from moving into their state do to what the right wing called "to generous welfare grants" of that state (you read of this extensively in the 1980s and early 1990s as one reason for "welfare reform&quot . The "to generous" amounts could to be as high as $174 a month (yes that is $174 a month, and $68 dollars for each additional child, many states paid and pay even less).

Sorry if you mean test Social Security you will kill it by making it a welfare program and then every state will be looking for a way to drive recipients out of they state. In effect you kill Social Security and that is the plan of the GOP elite.