Entitlements

Open email to Congress:
 

   I continue to complain about the over-expenditures of the federal government and the continually mounting national debt. In this context, my obsession has been to address the problem of "entitlements".
 

   One of my Associates says that I will get nowhere in trying to convince others to give up their special interests and entitlements, as long as I retain mine. He says that in accepting Social Security and Medicare I am being hypocritical and I am choosing to empower politicians with my money in those areas.
 

    My Associate is a rather astute person, and I am rather surprised to see that he is confused on this point. I also suspect that many others may have similar confusion, including members of Congress. It is for that reason, I am addressing the subject of "entitlements". 

   I looked into the Internet definition of "entitlement" and found that it is a guaranteed right by law to receive a benefit, usually a payment. Social Security and Medicare are usually included as examples of entitlements. However, an antonym of "entitlements" is "earned". Therefore, a synonym of "entitlements" would be "unearned".
 

    On that basis, we need to reconsider government payments to individuals. Rather than lump them all together under the term "entitlements", we should distinguish between earned and unearned benefits. The reason for making this distinction is a form of economic logic. Receiving an unearned benefit is a form of charity. Receiving an earned benefit is a form of compensation; that is "something for something", for which the legal term is "quid pro quo".
 

    To be specific, I interpret my Social Security payments as earned benefits. For the many years that I worked, I paid the federal government a Social Security insurance premium. The basic contract was that after a retirement age, I would stop paying premiums, and start to receive payments based upon what I had previously paid. The "policy" condition was that I would receive such payments only as long as I lived. If I died early, I would have received few payments and the Social Security Trust Fund would have made a profit on my "policy". Since I have had the good fortune of living for many years, the Social Security Trust Fund, is likely taking a loss on my "policy". However, that is the basis of all insurance operations, whether private or government sponsored. But I repeat, the Social Security payments, which I now receive, are an EARNED benefit. I paid my premiums.
 

    Going on to Medicare, this is also a form of medical insurance. For all of the years that I worked, I paid each month an FICA fee. I still pay this on the part-time job that I hold. FICA is an acronym for Federal Insurance Contributions Act. Notice the word "insurance" in the title? The online dictionary describes FICA as a "U.S. law requiring a deduction from paychecks and income that goes toward the Social Security program and Medicare." In other words, the FICA fee, which I have been paying for years has not only been my premium payments for a Social Security policy, which I covered above, but also included my premium payments for a Medicare policy. As previously indicated, I continue to pay that based on my part-time income, but I also am required to make additional payments, apparently just because I'm a citizen. A Medicare insurance premium is deducted each month from my Social Security benefit. When I go to the doctor periodically, Medicare pays a part of the cost. However, recall that I have previously paid and continue to pay Medicare insurance premiums. Therefore, any Medicare payments to medical practitioners are an indirect EARNED benefit for me. In addition, I carry with First Health an medical insurance policy covering only prescription drugs. I pay the insurance premium monthly. In total, I have two forms of medical insurance; one government Medicare and one private First Health. I have previously paid and continue to pay Medicare and only recently pay First Health. All health monetary benefits I receive are EARNED.
 

   Let's go on to other potential government payments. These might be Social Security Disability, Unemployment, Food Stamps, Housing Subsidies, and perhaps others. I have never received a nickel from these so-called "entitlements" and well I should not, because they are not benefits, which I have earned, contrary to Social Security and Medicare. I could theoretically say that I am entitled to them as earned benefits, because I paid federal income taxes for a great number of years and for which a portion of those payments has been allocated to those unearned benefits. But this would be a stretch and is antagonistic to my basic moral integrity. The fact that the government confiscates my tax money to give to others is abhorrent to me, as a believer in private enterprise, the right of private property, and individual responsibility. But, there is not much I can do about it, except write this letter to you in the hope that your sense of responsibility and fair play will help to put these things into proper perspective.