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Finally. News about Delayed Economic Stimulus Payments for Social Security Recipients.

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Economic Stimulus Payments (ESP) to thirty million Social Security (SS) recipients have been delayed due to the failure of federal agencies to coordinate with each other. It is reported that payments to SS recipients who file Federal tax returns are paid or are underway, but payments to those who do not file tax returns have been held up while IRS awaited updated payment information from the Social Security Administration (SSA). On Wednesday, Congressional Ways and Means Committee gave the SSA twenty-four hours to turn over the needed paperwork.

The Democratic Congress blamed leadership at the SSA; specifically Commissioner Andrew Saul. Congress began asking for the payee information two weeks before the Act was actually passed. According to Newsweek, Saul said he did not have the authority to provide the information, until the law was actually passed. Then, once the law was passed, Saul blamed lack of funding and an overworked organization for the delay.

Apparently the SSA complied with the directive by the Thursday deadline. This is good news for seniors who were left in the dark, unable to get information about the promised payments through the website or the 800 number. Inquiries to the website provided little help with use of the “FIND MY PAYMENT” tool. After putting in the required data, SS recipients would get a message saying information on their payment was not available. This was due to either lack of information or because the inquirer was not eligible for a payment. Apparently, the AARP asked the IRS to update their website to inform SS recipients as to when they can expect to receive their payments. So far the IRS has not done so.

Calls to the 800 number were equally unproductive. After navigating the IRS phone menu, a recorded message says the call could not be completed due to high caller demand.

The Economic Stimulus Payments will be made in the same form that Social Security payments are made. If the recipient now receives their payment by direct deposit, the ESP will also be made by direct deposit. If payments are received by paper check, the ESP will come in the form of a paper check. Ditto for pre-loaded debit card recipients.

The IRS has not said when the payments will start to go out, but hopefully, now that IRS has the necessary data, payments will start to roll out within the next two weeks.

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Will work for free

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I was browsing the work wanted ads on Craigslist (Resumes) when this one caught my eye. Will work for free. This startled me because even though I am totally neurotic about staying employed, I can honestly say, the only thing I liked about my last ten jobs was the paycheck. Who was this person willing to work for free? He/she went on to say what his various talents were, and outlined the various mornings and afternoons he was available to do the unpaid work.

That weekend, I attended a party where the mean age was 60. There were some youngsters there, (thank goodness, they brought the good beer instead of the good desserts) but I found myself sidling up to perhaps the oldest person there, to gently cross examine him about what it is like to not work. I got the feeling that he would work for free too, just to get out of the house, after he mentioned twice, that he could be available to check on our summer house, if the weather got tough that winter, or we had a stretch where we could not check on the house ourselves.

My husband thinks I am crazy. He has a job he actually likes and not just because he gets a paycheck. But he looks forward to the day when he no longer has to put a tie on and go into an office every day. He doesn’t understand it when I say I will never retire, he responds: “You hate your job, why do you want to work forever?”

It is true. I do hate my job. I work for an awful company that cares not one whit for the people who toil for them. I have no peers and sit in a large office all alone for nine hours every day staring at a computer screen and servicing an unhappy, uncooperative client with no expectation of promotion, raise or variety in job function. But I am very concerned about what the next phase will bring. What do you do every day? How do you face getting out of bed? “I’ll find something to do,” he assures me. But I am skeptical. I am as worried about what he will do as I am worried about what I would do.

I have a number of friends, who would love to be working, but were forced into early retirement because of the soft economy. People who have been shown the door because their managers had no trouble figuring out that they can hire talented, untrained young workers at half the price. So what if you have to train them? The simple math is in favor of the younger workers. What do they do all day? I try to figure it out without asking the obnoxious question. The answer is there is plenty to do, but one unintended consequence of leaving the work force before your time is that able bodied, energetic people meet some challenges when they are forced to spend 24/7 with another able bodied energetic person who would be better off with the structure of a full or even part time job.

Hmm…Is retirement all it is cracked up to be? Or should I be figuring out what I should offer to do for free?