Here’s something I don’t approve of one bit; social security, the program responsible for most of my tax burden.  75 years into practice it is clearly more madoffian than useful.  Just today I got a newsletter from my buddies at the Social Security Administration!  In the top left corner of my mailing, there’s a cute little logo claiming that the SSA “Benefits America!”

“Will Social Security still be around when I retire?,” the missive proceeds to boldly query. In a convoluted response to its own question the update reads,“Yes… The Social Security Board of Trustees now estimates that based on current law, in 2037, the Trust Funds will be depleted… Even if modifications to the program are not made, there would still be enough funds in 2037 from taxes paid by workers to pay about $760 for every $1,000 in benefits scheduled.”

Only organizations with way too much power can get away with saying such ridiculous things and continue to exist.

Allow me to paraphrase, “By investing in social security you can expect to see less of a return than if you put that same principal in a basic savings account.  Not that you have a choice.  By the time you want to retire, there is a good chance we will have lost at least some of your money.  Above all, it is important that everyone in a given age group lose equally (except for that generation’s religious leaders, who can opt out completely if they so choose)!  In general, we assume you are not capable of intelligent financial planning.  We are more than your government, we are your fiduciary!  Cheers, your fair and fiscally responsible federal facilitators!”

Clearly, if I wrote a newsletter on behalf of Franktuary with a statement akin to the one the SSA has just sent me I wouldn’t have a business for very long.  “Pay for a full frankfurter today and maybe we’ll give you about three-quarters of a future frankfurter 27 years from now!  If you have any hope of eventually seeing more than three-fourths of a frank, you’ll have to pay us further installments in increasingly large amounts, as dictated by us, in the near future.  Franktuary ‘benefits’ America!”

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a choice about participating in such a poorly structured program?  You have a choice of where to eat lunch.  There’s a lot of bad food out there, but at least nobody makes you eat it.  Furthermore, if you want to eat bad food you can.  This is a good thing.  There are a lot of bad investments out there, but you’re only forced to participate in one.  I will never understand why a specific bad investment being forced upon an entire nation’s workforce is looked at as a positive by so many individuals.

As an entrepreneur, I’m always looking for ways to generate supplemental income.  I’m not writing for pity points, but I have a low income level and, because I’m self-employed, a relatively high tax burden.  So, I do what I have to do, knowing full well that my involvement with my business is entirely voluntary.  Since Franktuary has opened I’ve recycled tens of tons of newspaper using only a minivan. I’ve painted Steelers logos on the faces of heavily inebriated people.  I’ve even served as the official bodyguard of a larger than life PJ Sparkles.  And I’ve had A LOT of roommates, primarily to cut down on living expenses.

Over the past few months I’ve looked into the world of tutoring for standardized tests.  In a depressed employment market it seems that well-paid tutoring jobs are there for the taking if you have the right skill-set.  The system works like this:

Tutors are hired through a selection criteria that places most of its emphasis on an applicant’s testing ability.  Virtually all applicants are highly-educated.  Multiple degrees are not uncommon.

Students hire a tutor so as to do well on a certain standardized test because it will help them get into a “better” program, which will help them get a “better” job.  Yet many people don’t want the job they seek so much as the money they anticipate will come with the career.

In fact, a significant number of people dislike their work, but cannot justify the abandonment of their post because of the income they associate with it.  All the while, if you look at the path the tutors have taken college appears to have been an entirely unnecessary (and expensive) step… if you can score well enough on your college entrance exam.  Irony, anyone?

Of course, had I not gone to college I would have never met my fabulous business partner.  Overall, I approve of college, just not the motivation many people seem to have for attending.