Obama Again Says Social Security Originally for Widows and Orphans Only

By Noel Sheppard | December 08, 2010 | 00:04

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You would think after the last time President Obama incorrectly said Social Security when it was originally created was exclusively for widows and orphans, someone in his administration would have corrected him so he wouldn't do it again.

Yet there he was at Tuesday's press conference making the same completely false assertion on national television (video follows with transcript and commentary):

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Most Americans, they're just trying to figure out how to -- how to go about their lives and -- and how can we make sure that our elected officials are looking out for us. And that means because it's a big, diverse country and people have a lot of complicated positions, it means that in order to get stuff done, we're going to compromise. This is why FDR when he started Social Security it only affected widows and orphans. You did not qualify. And yet now it is something that really helps a lot of people

Sadly, no. As NewsBusters reported in October when Obama said this to Comedy Central's Jon Stewart:

According to SSA.gov:

Although Social Security did not really arrive in America until 1935, there was one important precursor, that offered something we could recognize as a social security program, to one special segment of the American population. Following the Civil War, there were hundreds of thousands of widows and orphans, and hundreds of thousands of disabled veterans. In fact, immediately following the Civil War a much higher proportion of the population was disabled or survivors of deceased breadwinners than at any time in America's history. This led to the development of a generous pension program, with interesting similarities to later developments in Social Security. (The first national pension program for soldiers was actually passed in early 1776, prior even to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Throughout America's ante-bellum period pensions of limited types were paid to veterans of America's various wars. But it was with the creation of Civil War pensions that a full-fledged pension system developed in America for the first time.)

The Civil War Pension program began shortly after the start of the War, with the first legislation in 1862 providing for benefits linked to disabilities "incurred as a direct consequence of . . .military duty." Widows and orphans could receive pensions equal in amount to that which would have been payable to their deceased solider [sic] if he had been disabled. In 1890 the link with service-connected disability was broken, and any disabled Civil War veteran qualified for benefits. In 1906, old-age was made a sufficient qualification for benefits. So that by 1910, Civil War veterans and their survivors enjoyed a program of disability, survivors and old-age benefits similar in some ways to the later Social Security programs. By 1910, over 90% of the remaining Civil War veterans were receiving benefits under this program, although they constituted barely .6% of the total U.S. population of that era. Civil War pensions were also an asset that attracted young wives to elderly veterans whose pensions they could inherit as the widow of a war veteran. Indeed, there were still surviving widows of Civil War veterans receiving Civil War pensions as late as 1999!

As such, the CWP was a precursor to Social Security, but was not the beginning of the program.

Obama also misrepresented this pension plan, for benefits could go to disabled veterans and/or their associated widows and orphans. As such, the President even got the fundamentals of this program wrong.

As for Social Security, the first recipient of such a benefits check was "a retired Cleveland motorman named Ernest Ackerman, who retired one day after the Social Security program began. During his one day of participation in the program, a nickel was withheld from Mr. Ackerman's pay for Social Security, and, upon retiring, he received a lump-sum payment of 17 cents."

Safe to say Ackerman was neither a widow nor an orphan.

Indeed. And as John J. Pitney Jr. pointed out at National Review Tuesday, "Ida May Fuller, who in 1939 became the first beneficiary of recurring monthly Social Security payments, had worked as a legal secretary and was single."

It must be nice to be a Democrat and be able to say whatever you want, regardless of factual basis, with total impunity. Just imagine the media firestorm such a repeated error would create if Obama was a Republican.

About the Author

Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters. Click here to follow Noel Sheppard on Twitter.

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Comments

Noel, I see this not as an error...

Submitted by Dave. on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 12:19am.

...but more as being not a little prophetic.

-Dave

Vote for the American in November

"The most intellectual

Submitted by gfrrman on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 12:20am.

person to ever be in the W.H."...?????my a***. TOTALLY lost without his bestest buddy...the TELEPROMPTER!! What a PHONY AND FRAUD AND LIAR!!!!

"Eventually, Socialists run out of other peoples' money...." MARGARET THATCHER

It is good to have a D after

Submitted by Reaver on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 12:22am.

It is good to have a D after your name, it’s like a get out of jail free card that never expires. Especially if the name in front of that d is Obama.

“Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.” ~ William F. Buckley, Jr.

Telling a lie

Submitted by jon_torlin on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 12:22am.

You know the old adage that if you tell a lie often enough, you begin to believe it.

-Jon

I think that today

Submitted by Tugboat Phil on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 12:41am.

it would be more like, "If the media repeats your lie often enough, it becomes the "truth."

President Obama is a Muslim (from his own lips), Kenyan (read it from his publicist) a homosexual (read it on a news magazine cover) and a Socialist (I'm alive and can see it for myself)

There's that and...

Submitted by Army Brat on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 4:53am.

Not the exact quote...and Goebbels actually got it from someone else but...

If you tell a lie often enough, it becomes the Truth.

Obamas staff knows this well.

islam is a lie and Truth is killing it.

Obama says that was what

Submitted by Chris Norman on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 12:25am.

Obama says that was what Social Security was for then that's what Social Security was for. Noel Sheppard, mere mortal, dares to question The Great Obama?

Let's make the 2012 campaign: "The War on Error"

If only

Submitted by RESTLESS 1 on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 12:28am.

It was limited to widows and orphans now, it might not be going broke. The rest of us could take that money and make a real retirement out of it.

The 0's a dunce.

"I don't like repeat offenders, I like dead offenders". - Ted Nugent

a little more specific example (i.e., North Korea)

Submitted by mom_rox on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 12:47am.

Noel: "Just imagine the media firestorm such a repeated error would create if Obama was a Republican."

I'd rephrase that to
"Just imagine the media firestorm if Sarah Palin had said it only one time."

Hey Noel, Did you see

Submitted by d1carter on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 12:50am.

Hey Noel,

Did you see Chucky T today during the Presser? He was so angry with BHO that I thought he was going to throw a shoe at him...

Not all widows receive social security.

Submitted by TheScribbler on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 1:30am.

My husband (47) died on March 17th, 2010. We were married for 28 years. I am NOT eligible for social security eventhough I have been a stay at home mom for over 15+ years. I get absolutely nothing other than a $255 one time death benefit. You have to be 50 years old AND disabled or have dependent children in order to even get partial payments.

My husband worked all of his life, died way too young and his 'dependents' will probably never see a cent of any of the money he paid into social security. I will not turn 50 until June of next year. I lost my home to foreclosure because my name was not on the promissory note. I've dealt with the IRS over back taxes of which my husband had set up a repayment plan. Dealing with probate, the list goes on and on. Oh, forgot to mention...my husband hadn't worked in 8 months prior to his unexpected death and the $300k life insurance policy was dropped two months before he passed.

No one, and I mean no one that I have spoken to about this had a clue about how social security really works. Look it up folks, or you'll be in the same boat I am. You'll lose everything, literally. If it wasn't for my son and daughter in law, I would be homeless. I have fallen through every crack in the 'system', too old, not old enough, don't make enough money, etc.

The difference between genius and stupidity is; genius has its limits. - Albert Einstein

I am sorry this is going to

Submitted by jdhawk on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 3:27am.

I am sorry this is going to seem very rude of me, but I've got to laugh. SS is a joke, a sham, a rip off. Listen to what this lady is saying.

If Madoff had tried to pitch SS to his rich Jewish friends and relatives, they would have laughed him out of their offices and homes and he would be a lot poorer, but out of jail as we speak (well, probably not - once a crook, always a crook . . .)

What we need to do, all of us, is to "touch" (ouch!) the "third" rail of politcs or SS. The reason that it is supposedly a "third" rail of politics is that the people that really know how it works (your representatives) won't have to explain what a joke, a sham, a rip off it really is.

If you don't believe me, let's say that were fortunate to have earned the max that is taxed by SS. That is $100+ k a year at present. Let's say that you worked 40 years (from 20 to 65). SS is taxed from you salary at 12.4%. Let's round it off to 13%. So this calendar year, you would have $13k taking out of your salary before you could ever get your hands on it (yeah, I know the fiction that it is only 6.2% of YOUR salary and the rest is made up by your employer, sure - try getting his 6.2% when you quit or ask someone that works for himself what he pays?)

Let's say that instead of giving the $13k to the goverment for 40 years you put it a nice safe bond fund that earns 6% (bonds over a long period of time have earned about that much - some years more, some less). If you took the interest and rolled it back into the total each year you would have about $2 million dollars!

Here is the link to figure it out yourself - http://www.moneychimp.com/calculator/compound_interest_calculator.htm

Still want you "representatives" in Congress to treat SS like it was the "third" rail? lol

Well, if it is only for

Submitted by killa37 on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 1:33am.

Well, if it is only for orpans and widows, then I'm pretty sure that a LOT of us want our money back........so we can do whatever we want with it!!!

I lke Boy Blunder's line about 'most Americans are just trying to figure out how to go about their lives'.................I'm thinking.........NO SH*T SHERLOCK!!!! Did the Kenyan poser ever stop for a second to try and figure out why???

SS - to get older folks to retire, so younger ones could work

Submitted by Gary Hall on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 1:45am.

I'd often heard that one of the pressing reasons for promoting SS at the time was because there was shortage of jobs at the time. During those times working folks, for the most part just didn't retire, as they needed to continue to work just to get by. Social Security was a way to retire them and open up jobs for younger people. This became even more apparent a decade later when millions of US Servicemen were returning home from WW II, and jobs were scarce.

Funny that President Obama can't seem to learn this, as even Katie Couric has been talking about it: "Another intention was to get older workers to retire, so younger workers could get jobs."

(;~/ gary

lies

Submitted by amyshulk on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 1:48am.

He lies because he knows the msm will CYA for him - sickening.

The government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
Ronald Reagan

Obambi and the mediapimps

Submitted by Herbster on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 1:48am.

Did anyone expect the fawning enablers at the press conference to gently correct Obambi? Not gonna' happen........but, misspell "Potatoe" and it's news 24/7 for a full two years! These folks don't even attempt to cover their pro Socialist leanings anymore. Democrats, good. Republicans, bad/evil/terrorists/nazis/racists, etc. Little Chucky T. and the Sorority Girl have a program on MSNBC in the morning........makes MTV news look like Masterpiece Theater! These two brainiacs look like kids out of the 50's who just left the malt shop after sharing a malted - two straws, please. Then these two jump into a phone booth and WHAMMO - they become White House Correspondents, etc. Credibility, anyone? Oh well, for a good dose of humor we can always watch Mrs. Greenspan do the (Biased) news.

Until we have an honest media...............

Barack Obama is a pathological liar.

Submitted by Retired Geek on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 4:01am.

My Grandfather used to say, if a man will lie to you once - there is a good chance he will lie to you again - don't trust liars - ever.

That was sound advice my Grandfather gave me.

Barack Obama is a Pathological Liar and his words cannot be trusted.

Watch Barack Obama tell 7 lies to the American People in under two minutes.

See for yourself:

http://thpatriots.blogspot.com/2010/11/barack-obama-tells-7-lies-in-unde...

http://thpatriots.blogspot.com/

Does Barack Obama lie?

Submitted by Retired Geek on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 4:04am.

Barack Obama lives in an alternate reality where there is 'No Truth', not even his own words.

An alternate reality where the greatest of liars, always accuse everyone else of lying.

Barack Obama's mentor Saul Alinsky wrote, "An organizer - does not have a fixed truth – truth to him is relative and changing. He (the community organizer) is a political relativist."

There is NO fixed Truth to a Community Organizer like Barack Obama - only 'Current Truth'.

Barack Obama and his followers are so conditioned by their own lies, they cannot and will not believe the 'Truth' and thus they are punished by their own folly.

Barack Obama is a Pathological liar and is simply incapable of telling the truth.

http://thpatriots.blogspot.com/

Maybe he's right

Submitted by TheHistorian on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 7:20am.

is that the way it is in Kenya?

“Liberals tend to put the onus of your success on society and conservatives on you and your family.”
Dennis Prager

BHO's Christmas wish-

Submitted by JIMMY1660 on Wed, 12/08/2010 - 10:06am.

take more from the makers-give more to the takers-

if the DC life time players had left SSN alone it would be solvent.

moving from the locked box to the General Fund-the audits get a little fuzzy,

"liars and thieves"

Fast & Furious along with Solyndra are example of who BHO is BHO Policies have caused Failed Economy- Liberals = Wealth Re-distribution

Social Security......

Submitted by Callie369 on Thu, 12/09/2010 - 8:34am.

SS was to be a help when one retired.

What it should NOT cover? Who decided that kids had to be raised by social security if a parent died, i.e., the dummy who says its no ones business if he rides a motorcycle without a helmen and then gets killed. Just think of all the drunks who have died or killed others.........leaving millions of kids to be raised by social security, aka taxpayers.

My nephew was born with Downs syndrome. My brother left his wife and baby and went on to live the life of Riley. The "baby" is 48 now, has been raised with a nice SS check every month. Mom gets a nice check too, because she has to take care of him. Oh, by the way, he works 5 days a week, and goes BY HIMSELF, downtown every Friday for a beer and pizza.

Who decided there had to be SSI? People on medicare before age 65 should be required to be recertified every year. I know people who are all but dead while they are getting medicare. As soon as they get it, they are "on the go." You know, like those people who go on workers comp with fake injuries and stay on it for months/years? Like those who have been on unemployment for 99 weeks and will now get it for another 13 months because they are too lazy to get a job?

BILLIONS of dollars are scammed from the taxpayers every year by people with no scruples or MORALS.

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