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Social Security

Irag8er said:
"The boost in benefits will be coupled with a 3% drop in Medicare Part B premiums, meaning retirees will get the full impact of the jump in Social Security benefits."
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It is so fascinating how others see the world. I have been concerned about Social Security too, but in terms of data backups not only offsite, but also off-country as a true Continuity of Operations Plan (COP) tactic. I have been thinking on Social Security, more specifically, the Woodlawn, MD building for weeks and COP. This is yet another reason why USA Government should NEVER be centralized in the DC area.

And when (if?) HHS SSA would be able to quickly transfer SSA operations and data from DC area (west of Baltimore, MD), Woodland, MD HQ to a mid-west location in the event of a 20 MT nuke on the DC area, which quickly would put it in the 1000 rads/hour fallout contour. There would be no hours/days to respond on this. Presumably one of the SSA backup locations is mirroring the data every day. But then realizing that one of the SSA back up locations that I know for this could also be impacted by the "nuclear sponge," if fallout contour for another likely target would mainly have winds mainly going in the Western direction (likely). I think given the USA's unique risk of nuclear attack, there is a strong argument for a better COP planning for key and core financial SSA data - and plan for the worse - having such data protected at a secure site in another country. The challenge is so much of this has used older IT technology, which in some ways makes it less (hacker) secure, but in the event of a real nuke attack, potentially harder to recover.
 
Interesting, wouldn’t a strike of the caliber you describe render any payment delivery system down for quite some time ? especially S.S.payments being as they are all delivered electronically?
 
Irag8er said:
Interesting, wouldn’t a strike of the caliber you describe render any payment delivery system down for quite some time ? especially S.S.payments being as they are all delivered electronically?
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EMP is most effective with high altitutde air blasts, which is part of the Russia restraint in using tactical nuke air blasts in Ukraine IMO. Those seeking destruction would mostly likely target ground blasts for mass fallout and deaths. I believe there is a possibility of World Wide Web (WWW) and banking survival in the nation, which allong with the SSA COP site, would be the key survivability issues. Despite Hollywood performances, SSA checks don't' "come in the mail." As of March 2013, they had to go to electroniccally to direct deposit in banks.

With nuclear weapons, Surface-burst EMP (SBEMP) is different from High-altitude EMP (HEMP), so altitude is everything. According to GlobalSecurity.org, "Because of the physics involved, SBEMP fields extend only to ranges on the order of 10 to 20 kilometers from the point of detonation." "SBEMP from surface bursts at altitudes of about 200 meters or less can be even more powerful than HEMP--HEMP energy levels may be in the range of 50,000 volts per meter. Values for SBEMP may be in the region of one million volts per meter. Furthermore, these high levels of SBEMP may couple (weld together) buried or above-ground cables outside the immediate vicinity of the nuclear detonation. If this happens, these cables may remain intact and transmit tremendous surges of energy to connected systems down the line." But for a 10 kt bomb, let us assume (as they did here) that the SBEMP extended 5000 meters (3 miles). So if we multiply that by 100 or 200 (which may not be true at all), we still only get 300 or 600 miles of SBEMP impact in that one attack out of 3.797 million mi².

As most of our nuclear scientists have dismissed the USSR-level threat for past 30 years, we don't have good models on Russia threat (the few that do work to underestimate that threat); while they have been focusing on North Korea and terrorists, with KT nukes. But it is possible that USA SSA could actually survive and continue to pay out to those dependent on Social Security payments, who have WWW access and are survivors.

So the only question would be for USA survivors, would WWW access continue and if so, where. You have to remember what makes USA a uniquely desirable target for Russia is its (relatively) large land mass 3.797 million mi² almost comparable to PRC (Russia =6.602 million mi²). That generally allows for both mass casualties and control of destruction largely to a single country.

HHS SSA does have a COP operations site (which I won't specifically identify here). So the destruction and irradiation of DC and probable NE fallout contour area does not automatically shut the SSA system down.

HHS USA SS payments are almost all electronic directly to banks, as of March 01, 2013. I remember going to the local office with the my mother in Pennsylvania (long since passed now), and seeing armed guards in the lobby ready to deal with any violent protests. So as long as the COP location could get the SSA payments to the banks (that survive), people could continue to get Social Security payments.

Edit - it occurs to me that there could be readers that don't know the acronym WWW for World Wide Web, as thinking that way is considered a dated concept. But course, there are not only Internet backbone networks, but also the WWW interface which is the key usability function of the Internet for millions.
 
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REALHumanRights said:
It is so fascinating how others see the world. I have been concerned about Social Security too, but in terms of data backups not only offsite, but also off-country as a true Continuity of Operations Plan (COP) tactic. I have been thinking on Social Security, more specifically, the Woodlawn, MD building for weeks and COP. This is yet another reason why USA Government should NEVER be centralized in the DC area.

And when (if?) HHS SSA would be able to quickly transfer SSA operations and data from DC area (west of Baltimore, MD), Woodland, MD HQ to a mid-west location in the event of a 20 MT nuke on the DC area, which quickly would put it in the 1000 rads/hour fallout contour. There would be no hours/days to respond on this. Presumably one of the SSA backup locations is mirroring the data every day. But then realizing that one of the SSA back up locations that I know for this could also be impacted by the "nuclear sponge," if fallout contour for another likely target would mainly have winds mainly going in the Western direction (likely). I think given the USA's unique risk of nuclear attack, there is a strong argument for a better COP planning for key and core financial SSA data - and plan for the worse - having such data protected at a secure site in another country. The challenge is so much of this has used older IT technology, which in some ways makes it less (hacker) secure, but in the event of a real nuke attack, potentially harder to recover.
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The social security administration has offices and operations all across the US, and the HQ doesn't matter as much. Although, In the event of a nuclear strike, social security will be the least of our problems, but if we have few enough to still operate SS, then I'm guessing the department of homeland security will step in, as they will step in(assume control, and likely use US milllitary forces) in the event of a nuclear strike near DC. The social security headquarters are one of the last places I would be worried about if a nuke was detonated in the DC area.
 
intel-bank said:
The social security administration has offices and operations all across the US, and the HQ doesn't matter as much. Although, In the event of a nuclear strike, social security will be the least of our problems, but if we have few enough to still operate SS, then I'm guessing the department of homeland security will step in, as they will step in(assume control, and likely use US milllitary forces) in the event of a nuclear strike near DC. The social security headquarters are one of the last places I would be worried about if a nuke was detonated in the DC area.
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I don't assume the entire USA would be destroyed in a nuclear war. I believe large areas would be, but not all, and there will also be areas struggling to survive, including economically.
Most of the SSA offices are non-operations oriented but customer services offices.
I am aware of SSA COP and some fall back locations, but don't want to share that knowledge publicly. Its not a place I would have put it. It is the data that I am concerned about, not the operations.
But to be fair, no one at HHS was insane enough to imagine going to nuclear war with the USSR/Russia at the time.
Many Americans are well aware that they survived as a nation before Washington DC, and rightly believe they would survive after.
 
REALHumanRights said:
I don't assume the entire USA would be destroyed in a nuclear war. I believe large areas would be, but not all, and there will also be areas struggling to survive, including economically.
Most of the SSA offices are non-operations oriented but customer services offices.
I am aware of SSA COP and some fall back locations, but don't want to share that knowledge publicly. Its not a place I would have put it.
Many Americans are well aware that they survived as a nation before Washington DC, and rightly believe they would survive after.
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Most of the SSA offices are still capable of picking up operations in the event of an issue, as in, the lower levels will operate what the higher levels did as best they could, as long as they could, until the department of homeland security stabilized the situation.
The government is intentionally highly compartmentalized and the headquarters of any given agency are really not as important as they seem, because there is and has been excessive fall back since 9/11 at least. And really, the DHS has the power to stabilize the situations in the event of a nuclear attack. Its their whole purpose (well, any attack). And the DHS has its own personal army practically, and would control the US military.

So I agree. We will survive just fine, the only thing that can take down our government is ourselves. Because as long as there are people willing to work for them, the systems are already in place for mass emergency management. The hardest part is getting the supplies the public needs. But if we can do that, we will be just fine.
 
I’ve looked at and compared SS max payments in 1950 to max payments today adjusted for inflation. Depending on what age you retire the average SS payments today are as much or more than 1950.

Also SS when conceived and implemented as a “insurance” not a retirement plan.
Also retirement ages have not tracked with lifespans.
And as far as a nuclear war. It don’t matter where the offices are the economy and tax revenue will tank and it will go into default very quickly.

Do you realize that the retirement age they set originally was set low to encourage older people to retire younger so there would be more jobs for younger people.
 
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