Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness around the world.

March 19, 2008

 Today’s Announcement

 Don’t forget to order your copy of Angels Watching Over Me, the story of an ordinary woman facing less than ordinary challenges.  Angels Watching Over Me is a story of family love, sacrifices, poverty and an undying faith that makes heroes out of all of us. Here is the link in case you have forgotten it: http://www.lulu.com/content/964306

Important notice: Storytime Tapestry is a free e-zine, however donations are always needed to help with the operating expenses of running the newsletter and to keep Storytime Tapestry the quality newsletter you are so accustomed to.   You can make your donations to paypal at: winterose@videotron.ca, or if you would prefer to use the mail system contact the publisher at the same email address: winterose@videotron.ca

Today’s Stories

 ARE YOU “ENTITLED” TO SOCIAL SECURITY?

Duane Bates

I always experience a twinge of annoyance and irritation whenever I hear someone in government refer to Social Security and Medicare as an “entitlement” when they are trying to demonstrate the depth of the financial problems these programs face in the future.

My dictionary defines entitlement as: to give a person a right or claim to something.  How kind of our political leaders to give us a right to claim the trillions of dollars our employers and we have paid into Social Security for all of our working lives.  Currently we pay 6.2% of our annual earnings up to $102,000 into Social Security and 1.45%, without any upper limit, into Medicare. SSA, Federal and State funds pay for Medicaid, a program to provide medical care to low-income adults and children that do not have medical insurance. 

The real beneficiary of the massive inflow of funds into the Social Security Administration (SSA) is the Federal government.  Congress uses the social security funds as a captive source of low-interest loans to fund their excessive spending, giving the SSA IOUs in return for the growing deficits over the past decades.  Currently the SSA is owed about $2.2 trillion by the Federal Government. The rate of interest earned on the amount borrowed by the Federal government from SSA averages about 3%. 

There is no doubt that both Social Security and Medicare need adjustments to continue their solvency in the future, but the biggest adjustment that should be made is to stop the SSA from being used as a private piggy bank for Congress by separating it from the Federal Budget and allowing it to invest excess funds in a manner to earn a better rate of return.  An independent board should manage SSA and funds loaned to the Federal government should earn a market rate.

There is literally no free lunch, however, and we need to realize that the current contribution rates will need to be increased to provide the promised benefits for current and future retirees. The Bush failed initiatives to “privatize” social security was a thinly veiled attempt to relieve employers of the 7.65% current matching contribution rate and place the entire burden of saving for retirement on their employees, but that does not mean we should not investigate every possible approach to secure the future of Social Security.

Regardless of the outcome of the November elections, we need to mount a massive lobbying campaign to force Congress to take action to make the adjustments necessary to begin creating a sound financial future for Social Security.  My specific suggestions to begin the process are as follows:

1. Establish the SSA as an independent agency, redeeming the Federal IOUs for cash and allowing SSA more freedom in investments to increase the rate of return. The IOUs would have to be redeemed by their replacement with additional Treasury bill issues with, I suggest, a fifty-year term and would increase the current Federal interest expense.

2. Increase the employee contribution rate to 8% while holding the employer contribution rate at the current 7.65%. This change would cost a family or individual with an annual earned income of $30,000 $105 per year.

Increase the contribution level maximum from the current $102,000 per year to $150,000 per year and index it to inflation for future years.  

3. Means-tests future cost of living adjustments to shift a greater portion of these adjustments toward the SS recipients with the lowest benefits.  This approach has already been installed for the portion of SS benefits changed for Medicare, with the SS recipients who have a higher total income from all sources income paying substantially more for Medicare premiums.

4. Allow employees to voluntarily pay more into Social Security without a matching employer contribution to receive a higher benefit at retirement.

Social Security is the most successful and efficient Federal program, with a 2% operating cost basis, but we have been deficient in not recognizing the demographic changes that have been taking place in our society and making the changes that will protect this important program in the future.  We need to start making the adjustments now so that the future and adjustments can be managed more effectively and minimize negative impacts to the system and individuals. The key to success is convincing our elected Federal representatives to begin the process of making SSA an independent agency. Start writing those letters to Congress.

Duane Bates

batesduane@yahoo.com

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23228640

 ~**~**~

SICK:  LIVING WITH CHRONIC FATIGUE AND FIBROMYALGIA SYNDROME, Part 1

Pina Maritinelli

When you first look at me, you wouldn't believe or think that I am sick, just as you wouldn't know I am in pain, stiff, sore and exhausted most of the time. There, standing before you with an impishly wicked grin, you'll find a reasonably attractive middle aged woman of 52 staring back at you, her visage and attitude belying the chronological truth of her age. Yet beneath the youthful appearance, the impish playfulness, the spirited nature and the drive to succeed, invisible illnesses course through my veins like blood, slowly growing worse with time as I age. Like millions of other sufferers, I suffer in silence and in shame from the persistent presence of chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia syndrome, two debilitating illnesses that have forced me to redefine how I live my life these last several years.

On the good days that I have - usually in the warmer months like spring, summer and early fall - I still manage to have enough energy and strength to function and move as I always have, with pluck, determination and a ready smile. But on bad days, which always occur with frequency in winter or during times of great stress, it takes everything I have to prepare myself for a long commute and hectic work day. Even when I have personal social activities to attend, I go through the identical process. Every move I make is slow and measured until my body can get up to speed and can function somewhat normally.

When I am in a "flare", a time when virtually every inch of my body is racked with pain, or feels stiff, achy and sore, I have to push myself to perpetuate the illusion that I am a productive member of society. Flares can go on for  months at a time, which is as exhausting as creating illusions is for me. Most people, including my colleagues, friends and family, really don't know how difficult daily functioning is for me when I am in a flare. Driving is especially difficult then, especially when I have to pry my stiffened fingers from the steering wheel once I've reached my destination, how my hands feel hot and swollen to the touch or as cold as ice at times, how sometimes I am late because I have had to pull over to the side of the road to stretch, to get through it, to cry from the frustration of it all. No one knows the real cost of pretending to feel well when you don't, especially when it affects all areas of your life. I feel I must save face and not give in to it almost all of the time.

There is shame in feeling sick so often, just as there is guilt in knowing I can't give my all to anything or anyone in my life as I once did. Saying "No" to friends or family in need of assistance, or declining requests to attend business or personal social activities is hard for me at times, but it is what I have to do in order to function. This is how I get through the hours each day, each week, each month, and each year despite my shame, guilt and embarrassment in my longer being the woman I once was.

Because I have to limit how I expend my energy by necessity, all too often I have been forced to justify my actions to others, as if I were guilty of a crime. Angered by my reluctance to get together, some friends have hurled accusations of abandonment towards me as if it were deliberate on my part, a way for me to create distance between us, or an excuse to try to end the friendship indirectly. This only increases the guilt and shame I already feel. Others are giving and try to support and honor my needs while I try to get well, but I know they are disappointed and sad that visits are few and far between. In some cases, after years of my unfortunate acceptance of bad behavior,  I have deliberately ended long-term friendships because I was no longer able to cope with their toxicity. In effect, I live to "get by" and cut out those things that are far too draining for me. No words can adequately describe how difficult living with these chronic conditions really is for people like me, especially if we once led active lives.

To be continued

Pina Martinelli

Pina1101@aol.com

Poetry Corner

~**~**~

Where God Dwells

Janice Bumbalough Marler

Feeling drowsy, I drift off to sleep

I’m looking at a portrait of my grandmother;

I know she was a Godly woman

And I can smell her,

Her sent if of lavender; her favorite cologne

The hemline of her dress covers her ankles

She was in her late eighties when she

Passed on to the other shore,

The place where God dwells

My heart is yearning to be with her

I inhale; I am impatient,

But God is not through with me yet.

It’s not my time,

Job 14:5

My days are numbered

He has decided the length of my life,

He knows how many months I will live,

I am not given a minute longer

There will be a renewal of my soul

Janice Bumbalough Marler

February 19, 2008

poetrybyjan@nc.rr.com

~**~**~

The Warmth of Friendship
 Janice Bumbalough Marler

How blessed I am to have a friend like you;
The warmth of your friendship
In this cold world, melts my heart
God put you in my life for a reason
You are a Godly example to all who know you;

I see the love of God in your eyes when you smile;
Your hands are ever busy tending
To your family and those who need you;
You feed your spirit with God’s Holy word
His radiance and countenance are seen
In your every movement

At night, when I lay my head
On my pillow and pray
I ask God to watch over you,
I ask him to protect and shelter you
In His special way

Thank you for being my friend

Janice Bumbalough Marler
February 22, 2008poetrybyjan@nc.rr.com

Readers Feedback

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Here is our Storytime Tapestry Angels: Also, I would like to thank those of you who chose to be a silent angel and gave an anonymous donation to keep Storytime Tapestry up and running.

Clara Westerfer, Mark Crider, Rosanne Catalano, Paula Booher, Kay Seefeldt, Mariane Holbrook, Mary Ellen Grisham, Louise Nomani, Sharon Bryant, Angela Walker, Hart and Helen Dowd, Keith Ready, Ginger Morgenstern, Ellie Braun-Haley, Surinder Jandu, Bob Shaw, Carol Meeks, Charlotte Hilliard, Marilyn Sink, Victor Buhagiar, Clarice Hinson, Conrad