Editor, Manteca Bulletin,

The Democrats are always saying the Republicans are trying to destroy Social Security. I will give a little story about Social Security as I did work for the agency for a few years.

It was started by Franklin Roosevelt about 1935. Not a bad idea. It has benefited a lot of people.

Here’s the ground rules laid out in 1935:

• The program would be voluntary.

• Participants would only pay 1% on the first $1400 of their annual salary.

• The money contributed would be deductible from their income taxes.

• The monies were placed into an independent “Trust Fund” rather than into the “General Fund.”

•  It would fund only Social Security Retirement Program and nothing else.

• The annuity payments would never be taxed as income.

We are now taxed on 85% of the money as income.

Which party placed Social Security into the General Fund?  It was LBJ and the Democrat controlled House and Senate.

Which party eliminated the income tax deduction for FICA withholding?  The Democrats!

Which party started taxing Social Security?  The Democrats did with Al Gore, as Vice President, casting the “tie-breaking” vote.

Which party started giving annuity payments to immigrants who had never contributed to the program?  It was Jimmy Carter and the Democrats.

For the above reasons, mainly moving monies into the general fund and giving monies to non-contributing immigrants, Social Security is becoming insolvent!

It could still be saved by stopping the raiding of the money and removing non-contributors from the program.

Dale Burnham

Ripon

Oct. 24, 2012