FORBES: How GOP Tax Plan Would Ruin Retirees, Underinsured

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

16. Social Security was intended as one leg of a three legged stool.

In my personal case, my SS is just about exactly 1/3 of my income. I have a pension that is less than 10%, and savings that make up the rest. So even though my income isn't precisely in thirds, (savings, SS, pension), my Social Security amount fits that formula. And quite frankly, were it to go away or be greatly reduced, I'd be in trouble.

As it is, my pension is less than a third of what it should be, because the company I worked for declared bankruptcy more than once, and in one of those bankruptcies was able to shed its pension obligation, turning it over to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation. Lucky for me I'd never depended on that pension. I worked for that company for some ten and a half years at the beginning of my working life, and even though I knew I was vested in the pension by the time I left, I always assumed it would be trivial. In fact, I'm getting a bit more than I'd always thought, but when I realize that it should be three times that amount (which would bring it up to nearly 25% of my income) it's a bit galling. At least I didn't work for twenty or thirty years and retire, thinking my pension would be a significant part of my retirement income. Unlike a lot of that company's employees.

Here's the thing. Many of us do exactly what we've been told over the years: work at the same job for two or three decades. Live modestly. Save money. And now the Republicans want to take it all from us. What the hell?