It is time for another version of People Who Don’t Know Speak. Every now and then we like to checkout Social Security’s blog that deals with different topics and programs Social Security offers. One feature these blogs offer is a place to comment about the content of the blog. Typically, if you read most stories on the internet that offer a place to comment you will get some nasty comments about politics, but also some really misinformed comments. The Social Security blog is no different.
Everything Turns Into A Political Debate
Despite the fact that a Social Security blog can be about security for children or planning for retirement, blog comments at some point turn very political. Those on both sides of the aisle never waste a chance at informing of whether they support Democratic or Republican ideals and the true meaning of the blog is lost on many. This is no different on any story on the Internet that allows for comments afterwards. At some point this gets really old and it may be time for websites to get rid of the option of leaving comments after a story because there seems to be little value in most comments.
Overestimating The President’s Power
Even a simple blog that Social Security recently posted encouraging people to celebrate caregivers who attend to the elderly and disabled has a lot of misinformation posted by those who comment. One of those who commented named Sonya posted “I have no income for six years. My Social Security benefits will be next to nothing years from now when I can begin collecting. If Obama really wants me to celebrate caregivers, he would do something about this.” First of all this comment was posted December 21, 2016, which means President Obama had less than one month remaining in office. Everyone one knows that nothing President Obama proposes this late will ever be considered especially in a Republican-controlled Congress. Secondly, the president does not pass legislation, which is the job of Congress. Finally, the poster was wrong about having “next to nothing” by the time they retire. We have explained in previous posts that Social Security is solvent for well over the next decade and even if nothing is done to sustain current payout levels most people will still receive 80 percent of their total benefits.
Complaining Does Not Change Anything
A main topic of the comments left on Social Security blogs focus on Congress. As you may suspect, most people do not have a favorable opinion of Congress as a whole, but apparently people like their individual Congress person much better. Take a look at this story that was posted right after the 2014 election. According to this news people had an 11 percent favorability rated for Congress prior to the election, but incumbents were successful in being re-elected 96 percent of the time. Does that make sense to anyone? There could be one of two things going on here. Either the American people are lying about how little they like Congress or the vast majority of people who are angry with Congress keep electing their incumbent representative or fail to vote all together.
