AARP Scam (That's redundant)

The folks at AARP obviously knew that voters and candidates would not go for their radical social security proposal so they did what any self-respecting political organization would do, they lied misrepresented it.  The Wall Street Journal exposes the fraud.

RedState has some good advice:  Watch your wallet:

The Wall Street Journal notes that at least nine Democratic House candidates in hotly contested races have endorsed an AARP plan calling for hiking Social Security taxes. 

The nine:

Rep. Melissa Bean (Ill.)
Bruce Braley (Iowa)
Chris Carney (Pa.)
Rep. Chet Edwards (Texas)
Phil Kellham (Va.)
Tim Mahoney (Fla.)
Harry Mitchell (Ariz.)
Ed Perlmutter (Colo.)
Patty Wetterling (Minn.)

AARP just reached the 37 million mark and they want me to be number 37 million and one.  Fat chance. Dan at RedState continues:

The Journal notes that Bean (and perhaps some of the others) are now claiming they didn't realize what they were endorsing, which isn't very encouraging - I guess they just figured whatever was OK with Washington's most powerful lobbying group was fine with them. The nine are in hot water precisely because their GOP opponents did notice the tax increase proposal and wouldn't go along with it.

Check out AARP's Voters' Guides.  Here is the question in question (that's redundant):

Will you support or oppose a balanced Social Security plan to continue the program's guaranteed benefits for future generations? Will you support or oppose using Social Security taxes to fund private accounts?

In addition to the respondent's answer, AARP helpfully provides their position as well.  Using RedState's example of Rep. Melissa Bean in Illinois District 8, Bean supported it and lo and behold so did AARP.   Bean's Republican opponent  David McSweeney did not answer the question.  (Wisely it now appears). The candidate, as well as AARP, has the opportunity for a Response after checking their answer and here is the response AARP gave:

 AARP believes that a bipartisan plan that balances additional contributions from higher income workers with modest adjustments in future benefits can maintain guaranteed Social Security benefits for future generations. Private accounts that drain money out of the Social Security Trust Fund would make it harder to strengthen the program and create a mountain of new federal debt for our children and grandchildren. (my emphasis)

Millions of retired Americans (37 million to be precise) are members of AARP.  Not all 37 million blindly follow AARP's liberal lead (my 84 year old Aunt is a member but only for the benefits.  She does not agree with the organization politically and her votes reflect that.)  No doubt, however, that more members follow AARP than don't.  It is a sham organization making billions of dollars preying on the elderly, many of whom do not fully understand the issues.  Here is a real life example.

My recently deceased Aunt (not the one mentioned above) was a member of AARP.  Her monthly income from Social Security was under $800.00.  She had some stock and received maybe $3,000. per year from the dividends.  Total income under $13,000 per year.  She did own her home and had no debt. She was in her seventies.  Now AARP is always warning their members not to be fooled by scam artists. What they failed to warn them about was that AARP has a nice little scam of its own.  We discovered that the credit card company, with AARP's name all over it, had sent my Aunt over $30,000 in checks.  Who in the world would give someone with less than $13,000 annual income that much credit?  She thought they were interest free, the wording I'm sure said if you paid it back by a certain date there would be no interest.  And the checks kept coming, on a fairly regular basis. We tried to get her to tear them up, but she refused.  Fortunately she would just put one or more in the bank, they were in small increments.  She didn't spend the money, she would just pay it back every month.  Don't know why she did that, but thankfully she did.  My 84 year old Aunt, who is still sharp as a tack, gets these checks all the time.  She tears them up.  But one must assume that in many cases someone 84 years old might not have the judgment they once had.  And an organization that supposedly looks out for the elderly should know better than to send checks to 84 year old people.  But hey, if they cash the checks and use the money, the interest makes a nice little profit. 

AARP is a money making racket.  Sort of like a reverse Ponzi scheme.  Everybody gets older.  When one victim dies, another one gets a year older and takes his place.  Any losses caused by the former will be made up by the latter.

I hate this organization and it makes me sick they have so much influence in Washington.  And worse, over the elderly.

***Update***

I meant to include this from the AARP website:

Your donations will not go to a political action committee. AARP is — and will always remain — 100% nonpartisan and does not donate to candidates or political parties. Nor do we support or endorse candidates.

For the record. 

Comments

[22coffees]

If you also want to see how their "Medicare Supplemental Insurance" scam works, check out our ordeal with them.

[Julie]

Thank you for the comment. I will read your post, I think my Aunt has her supplemental insurance through AARP. My parents got theirs through Blue Cross, time will tell if that's any better. I'm sorry your family has to go through this. I truly believe AARP cares more about making money than they do about the elderly.

They will never get a dime from me. I'm 53 and have been receiving mail from them for several years. More than once I stuffed everything they sent back into their post paid envelope and returned it.

Again, I'm so sorry for what you've been through. I will help you get the word out. And thank you for setting up the blog. It could help others avoid what your family has had to endure. I am going to check my Aunt's policy, forewarned is forearmed.

[ex member]

aarp also backed the income tax on social security as income. is'nt that something, a tax on a tax.

[RReagan]

AARP is a scam and I will not be a part of an organization in which I have no say on how it is run and it's political goals.

[Pamela Fingar]

Dear State of Florida-I AM NOT EMPLOYED WITH AARP! Here is exactly what happened when I went to AARP for help finding a job:

I have been frantically searching for work and going on interviews when a friend told me that AARP had a program –I contacted AARP in May it took them over a month to return my call. The call could not have come at a worse time, I had just lost one of my King Charles Spaniels (5 years old) to a sudden illness the day before and I was in severe grief but I pulled myself together and kept the appointment with them.

Mr ---- was the representative who “helped”(?) me. He never asked me any questions but set about asking for ID’s, resume and was handing me paper after paper to sign. Before I knew it (my head was spinning) he had put me into their system for “Training”. All of the papers they gave me so quickly stated “THIS IS NOT A JOB” but is only training for a job. He then instructed me to go to a training site location on Monday at 8:00. I showed up and was escorted to a computer and told I could go on the Internet? I was very nervous because I can use my home internet to search for work and I didn’t have any password with me to do so and time was just passing unproductively. I then met an older lady who was in the AARP system and been taught to answer the phone! The women I met while going through this confusing process were all on Social Security income and only needed extra money each month to supplement their income. This program is great for older citizens. For someone like me who has many skills and is still a very young 60 year old and does not need this training but needs to be gainfully employed this is really just a time stealer. I sat useless until 1:00 and was then set free! I have years of experience and have been interviewing to use my many talents. I called ----immediately to let him know this program does not benefit someone in my situation and he told me that he would take me out of the system. I did not know they were sending me a check until the day that I claimed my weeks for unemployment benefits or I would have reported the income. ($76.00). Also, the check stated that I trained for 11.5 hours but in fact It was only 5 hours (no training was given). I was going to return their check but when my unemployment did not show up I deposited it for food and for gas that I needed to go to an interview that Thursday with a real company.

I am in the 11th hour and need every minute of my time to find a real job and I feel I was misled by AARP. It is clear to me that the AARP employees have a quota to meet each month and pull everyone in they can (regardless of their situation) to meet this quota. They are operating like an employment agency and the Government Grant they receive only benefits them –they keep a portion and pay only a small part out. This should be looked into and I will send copies of this letter to all agencies and parties in our Government that can assist with this travesty. The Government winds up losing precious funds that should be directed to actually help our Nation recover and not to keep AARP profiting from the backs of unwary, and unknowing victims that they mislead.

Tomorrow my Internet and Phone Service will be cancelled with no hope of me even knowing if someone has picked me for hire. I will have no food, gas or car insurance and I had to go to Social Services to keep my Electric on. I have returned checks that cost me precious money in bank fees that I had slated for food. I am paying dearly for trying to find a job through the wrong source.

I look for the form everyday in the mail that unemployment says that they are sending me to fix this mess-It has not arrived and I am in a complete panicked state. Please help me fix this mess so that I do not lose my home and car and so that I can find a real job. Please- can you fax this form to me so that I can return it before my phone is disconnected tomorrow?(

[Kathy Pembleton]

I have of this happening also. It ruined my friend's life. She lost her car and eventuallu her house--if only they had been honest with her, she would not have takent the bait and gone down their scam path. AARP can destroy you and lose you benefits from the State of Florida.

[Ricardo Pardo]

Wow, quite a lot of fear-mongering being presented here. Instead of saying crap like, "AARP will destroy you," how about telling "how" they will destroy you? You see, because this entire ramble, and every comment following, doesn't give insight into what is so horrendous.

I am here, with medicare due to disability. With the defaulted government medicare, I have to pay 20% of all medical bills. That means a visit to the emergency room comes out to $1500, $300 of which I would be chored with paying. At less than $900 a month from disability, that's one-third my monthly income. Indeed, a simple appointment with my primary physician would run me a minimum of $24. I have no vision care, no dental care.

Why do I mention this? Because I'm about to sign up with AARP, which my mother has. With AARP, I will be paying $5 co-pay for primary physician visits, $10 for specialist visits, $50 for an emergency room visit, vision care and, with an additional cost, $1,000 annual paid dental care. Other than the extra cost for dental care, the cost for AARP's alternative to Medicare will not cost me anything more. It will, instead, replace the government's medicare coverage.

Based on my mother's success with AARP, which has provided her decades of excellent coverage for her bout against cancer and other hardships, I cannot readily agree with the doomsaying presented in this article, and the comments which followed.

So, if you honestly have something to bring to support your allegations that AARP is the Devil Incarnate, then Bring It, because I think most everyone is tired of all the unsubstantiated allegations running around, and it doesn't help me, or anyone else, to read this tripe.

Convince me.