Your Tax Dollars … Hard At Work

Posted on by under Political commentary, Rants, Social commentary

A blogging friend posted something yesterday that caused my jaw to literally hit the floor.  I will not share her post, for it is personal, but I will share the situation, for it is one that potentially affects all of us.  Her husband recently signed up for Social Security on the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) website.  They checked the website each day, only to see the message “Your application is in process”.  After three weeks, unable to contact the SSA through the website, they paid a visit to the nearest Social Security office. SSA-Logo-and-TaglineA young lady took them into her office almost immediately, asked one or two questions and told them it would be processed ‘now’.  My friend asked her why it wasn’t already processed, as it had been ‘in process’ for three weeks.  Now comes the jaw-dropping part, so I advise you to sit down before reading further …

“The new Administration has cut jobs and there is no one monitoring the website applications.”

My friend asked what would have happened if they hadn’t paid a visit in person, and the answer was “absolutely nothing”, as in, their application would have remained in limbo for all eternity, presumably, or at least until we get a responsible government. The young staffer at the SSA ended by saying, “I really wish someone would take charge in Washington. That idiot is gonna screw us all before too long.”

skeleton-at-computerI want you to stop and think about this one for a few minutes, folks.  The Social Security Administration, the agency tasked with collecting 7.65% of our gross wages every pay period and then seeing that we receive a certain amount each month upon our retirement or disability, has a website but nobody is monitoring it.  How many people are, right this very minute, checking the website, hoping to see that their application to receive their own money, has moved from “in process” to “approved” status?  Hundreds?  Thousands?

What other government agencies have websites where “the lights are on, but nobody’s home”?  What about the Veteran’s Administration?  HUD offices?  What the Sam Hell are we paying taxes for?  Oh yeah … so Trump can keep going to his golf games accompanied by an obscene number of Secret Service agents, wasting fuel on Air Force One, and eating more food in one day than I can put away in a month!

And hey … republicans, listen up … guess what?  This affects YOU every bit as much as it affects anybody else.  You might want to use a bit of your ‘insider’ influence to let your members of Congress know that this is totally irresponsible and unacceptable!

SSA question markThis administration has committed many atrocities, and this is only one more in the ever-growing stack of ‘WTF’ items, but it is a crucial one.  Be advised that in all likelihood, not a single one of the government’s websites are being administered in the manner they should be, and by all means, if you need something from the Social Security Administration, your best bet is to show up on their doorstep.

Just another example of “your tax dollars hard at work”.

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21 thoughts on “Your Tax Dollars … Hard At Work”

          • I stumbled into an international problem here that worked in my favor. I couldn’t find a way to notify Social Security about becoming a widow as I’ve been unable to phone the Philippines which is my contact place for India. I called the American Consulate in Mumbai to check and hung onto a recording until someone answered. I was notified to send an email to them with all my information and they would then send the info to the Phillippines. I figure the President there is not at all happy with the U.S. and has stopped calls from its citizens. I followed the instructions and was in turn emailed from my rep in the Phillippines Social Security office. I followed instructions as given and all was straightened out properly. Thankfully it didn’t run into that bottleneck in the U.S. —- Suzanne

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            • You were lucky indeed! Even before the current administration with all their screw-ups, I often felt the reason we have to jump through so many hoops is to deter us from applying at all! I got lucky also for when I retired, it took only one call to the Social Security office … I was fortunate enough to connect with the nicest, most helpful woman and I only had to make one call, send in some paperwork and Voila! A done deal. But I have seen some of my clients ready to pull their hair out trying to jump through the hoops.

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  2. Dear Jill,

    What’s worse is that President Trump is probably getting kudos from his fellow wealthy friends and their bought and paid for GOP lawmakers. Having government not work for those who are getting supposed entitlement monies that they paid for during their entire working lives is perfectly fine.

    the GOP thinking: Let’s just place one more burden on average hard working folks.

    Hugs, Gronda

    Liked by 2 people

    • I often wonder who they think will be building their fine houses and fancy cars, making all those gadgets and toys they so love, once they kill us all off? I strongly suspect their day of reckoning will come … soon, I hope!
      Hugs!!!

      Liked by 1 person

  3. I wonder why the president thinks he can reduce administration and the nation still be able to function as usual? I honestly think this man is so lacking in knowledge about… We’ll everything… You would be better off with a wax dummy instead of what you have leading your nation.

    On another note about automated systems, I have had some really bad experiences with block chain IOS systems lately. I find myself going round in circles trying to pay a large bill through the Internet with hoops and dead ends on every round of ‘verification’ procedures.

    I have infiltrated some of the chat groups for further development of information systems. It is kind of worrying where some of those conversations are going. While the rest of us are trying to negotiate the online world of tedious Internet application forms and verifications (only to hit send, and hope it reaches a decision making human at some point, but without really knowing), the developers are looking at eliminating human involvement in the process, altogether. And it is very close.

    So what happens when nobody is watching the automated AI?

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    • You are quite right that we would be better with a wax dummy … as it is, we have an ugly fleshy dummy. But we must remember, for he told us this, that he is a genius. {choke, cough, gasp}

      It is frightening that human connections seem to be rapidly becoming a thing of the past, as you are finding out. We don’t have satellite television anymore, but back in the day when we did, I remember trying to report a problem and an automated voice kept insisting I check the connection in a room we don’t even have! If the goal is to turn all customer service into automatons, we are in deep trouble.

      Liked by 1 person

  4. I’m not about to say the Canadian government is much better, but at least it is a bit better. Someone monitors the website. I think when I became medically unemployable it took filing all kinds of papers, and many doctors reports. Initially I was turned down, but I appealed my case (on my own) and won.
    When I reached the age of retirement i had to fill out another stack of papers, but that only took about 6 months to process. They tried to take away my disability tax credits, but I appealed that too, and won again. They basically said since I had to retire my disabilities no longer had any affect on my life. I fought them on the reality that my disabilities still affected the things i was able to do or not do. The judge listened to me, and asked the bureaucrats, so if Mr. Miller had cancer would it suddenly be cured because he was legaly at retirement age? They actually tried to say “Yes!”

    Liked by 4 people

    • Somehow I thought the Canadian government would have been much more efficient than that! I’m sure no government wants to make it too easy, but to make it that difficult, to keep having to appeal everything, is ridiculous. I do like that judge, though … he had some common sense!

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  5. Earlier today Benjamin caused me to smile and then pause to consider what he had just said. He was reciting the recently learned Pledge of Allegiance and was doing fine until he came to the end, saying “with liberty, injustice for all”. I gently corrected him saying the words “with liberty and justice for all” to which he responded : “Gem, are you sure?” I said that yes I was sure, but in truth perhaps he was right after all. Our tax dollars are hard at work, just not for us! Thank-you!

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    • I think young Benjamin hit the nail spot on the head. I truly feel that our voices are no longer heard, no longer relevant, that this administration will do whatever it pleases and if it kills off half of us … oh well. Sigh.

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    • Awful indeed … inexcusable, unconscionable, and I could think of a whole bunch more. But, as you said, I suppose nothing should surprise us anymore. Sigh. I am starting to seriously consider seeing if it would be possible for us to move to the north. Way north. Like, Trudeau territory. Maybe we could be neighbors!

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      • Waterloo Region in Ontario is a nice place to live. You’d have a ball educating your readers about our delightful new right-wing Ontario Premier – Doug “the thug” Ford! Hang in there, Jill, I’m confident the Dems can recapture the White House and perhaps the Senate too in 2020. Hopefully, the celebrations will be capped off by the trial of Donald J. Trump for his many criminal activities.

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        • Hah! Talk about jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire! As always, I love your confidence, my friend. Oh, how I would love to see Trump behind bars … still, no doubt, saying “No collusion!” 😀

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