fewer workers


	In January, 1940, Ida May Fuller, a 65 year old retiring legal secretary from Ludlow, Vermont, received the first Social Security check. It was for $22.54 and Ida May lived another 25 years drawing a total of $22,889 from the supplemental retirement system after having paid into it for only three years prior to her retirement. No one tells us what Ida May made as a legal secretary in those days so we don't know how much she contributed to the system, but it certainly wasn't as much as she got out of it. And if a lot of other people had lived to be 100 in those days, maybe Social Security would have been in trouble. But they didn't. Nor do they today. Politicians profiting from Social Security surpluses, and those out to destroy the only system in government that functions the way it's supposed to, will tell you that when Ida May Fuller drew her first check there were 44 or some such high number of workers contributing to her welfare. They will then quickly point out that there are only about three workers for each retiree today and soon there will only be two. What these fear mongers do not tell you is that the workers contributing to Social Security from 1937 until 1950 were only kicking in one percent of their earnings capped at $3,000 annually and there was nothing coming in from the self employed. Witness the facts:



	Sorry the table isn't up to date. We are still paying 15.3 percent (employer included) but the cap is at $87,900 (as of 2004) in annual salary and the age at which people may draw full retirement is going up.