If You Mess Up, Don’t Blame the Government

If You Mess Up, Don’t Blame the Government
Tom Margenau advises people to research social security benefits. Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock
Tom Margenau
Updated:
0:00

Sometimes, people will write to me complaining that the government, specifically the Social Security Administration, has messed them up and cheated them out of benefits they might have been due. But many times, the fault (to trivialize a famous line from Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”) is not in our government, but in ourselves.

Here are some examples of what I mean.

Tom Margenau
Tom Margenau
Author
Tom Margenau worked for 32 years in a variety of positions for the Social Security Administration before retiring in 2005. He has served as the director of SSA’s public information office, the chief editor of more than 100 SSA publications, a deputy press officer and spokesman, and a speechwriter for the commissioner of Social Security. For 12 years, he also wrote Social Security columns for local newspapers, and recently published the book “Social Security: Simple and Smart.” If you have a Social Security question, contact him at [email protected]
Related Topics