World tilting like a coin-eating pinball machine

To the Editor,

Mr. Trump: Hands off my Social Security.

When I was a teen, I jumped on the bus going down to the city square, went to the Post Office and applied for Social Security.

I took my card down to the mill and, at age 16, got a job sweeping floors after school.

They took out Social Security from my $.75 per hour pay; $11 per week minus 50 cents for Social Security. The mill matched my contribution with another half-buck.

Now, 66 years later I have a Social Security nest egg based on that dollar per week. I figure it pays me about $30 per month or, adjusted for inflation, $7.50 per week.

A lot more came in over the years. Money that is crying out for protection from the DOGE boys.

In 1959, when I started, Social Security was 26 years old. Things looked bright. 

Now Social Security is 92 years old and, if Mr. Trump has his way, it’s being privatized – being rolled over the cliff like the grandma in her wheelchair in the old “Don’t Screw with My Medicare” ad on TV.

Back at the mill, there was a pinball machine in the break room. Ding, ding, ding. A dollar a week thrown away. I should have put it away for my 80s. Put it in an IRA when they came out.

We all knew Social Security would be there. 

But will it under Donald Trump?  Now it’s like a pinball machine on a tilt. 

Kachung! 

TILT in flashing lights. My coins going back to the mill owner through the pinball machine tilt black hole.

It seems like the whole world is tilting like a coin-eating pinball machine. How do we stop this?

We need our congressional delegation to join Bernie and Alexandria in calls for peaceful gatherings here in Warwick to show support for Social Security.

Richard Langseth

Warwick