If Dodge County residents didn’t receive their monthly payments from the Social Security Administration, 8.8 percent of total personal income in the county would be lost, a total of $43,426,706 in 2009.
Dodge County is more dependent on Social Security payments than is the rest of the country. Nationally, 5.5 percent of total personal income in 2009 came from Social Security payments. In Georgia, 5.3 percent of all income comes from these payments.
In Dodge County, 3,980 people receive some form of Social Security payment, either an old age pension, a survivor benefit or a disability check, according to the Social Security Administration and the Bureau of Economic Analysis. Social Security beneficiaries represent 20.2 percent of the total county population.
In rural counties such as Dodge and counties with smaller cities, Social Security payments constitute a much larger chunk of the local economy than in urban areas. A greater percentage of people in rural America receive these payments than in urban counties, and so rural counties have higher average payments per resident.
“In many rural places, Social Security is a very critical element of the local economic base,” said Peter Nelson, a geographer at Middlebury College in Vermont. “It’s less important to a place like Los Angeles because there is so much additional economic activity going on there.”
Total Social Security payments in Dodge County amounted to $2,199 per person in 2009. The national average was $2,199 per person, and in Georgia it was $1,836.
Social Security payments in Dodge County have been changing as a proportion of total income. These payments amounted to 4.9 percent of total income in 1970, 7.4 percent in 1980, 7.3 percent in 1990, 7.2 percent in 2000 and 8.8 percent in 2009.
Social Security payments are particularly important to rural counties and small cities because the money is largely spent in the community. “The seniors who get these payments are primarily going to spend their money locally,” said Mark Partridge, a rural economist at Ohio State University. “And they are a key reason why some communities are still viable. If this money dried up, there wouldn’t be a lot of these small towns.”
Social Security payments amount to 5 percent of the total income in urban counties. In counties with small cities, these payments amount to 8.2 percent of total income, and in rural counties such as Dodge County, Social Security totals 9.3 percent of all personal income. More than one out of five Americans living in small cities and rural counties received some kind of Social Security check in 2009.
Judith Stallmann, an economist at the University of Missouri, explained that Social Security payments help generate the sales that keep a rural business afloat.
“We find that Social Security income can be the difference between success and failure for some local businesses,” Stallmann said. “If you took away, say, 10 percent of the demand, would that local business be able to remain open? Often it’s that 10 percent that keeps them going. Social Security is providing that margin.”
Social Security payments go to those over the age of 62 who have filed for benefits, to survivors of insured workers and to those with disabilities. The program is mainly funded by payroll taxes. In Dodge County, 58.3 percent of recipients were retirees in 2009, 14.2 percent were survivors and 27.6 percent were disabled.
Changes to Social Security are being discussed in Congress, which is looking for ways to balance the larger federal budget. If benefits are cut — or if the eligibility age is increased — rural counties and small cities would be disproportionately affected, according to Peter Nelson.
“Cuts would have a bigger negative impact on rural places, absolutely,” Middlebury’s Professor Nelson said. “They are more dependent on Social Security.”
Our plan will be to line up in front of the Whitehouse with our canes,crutches or hospital beds(we'll find a couple of hospitable beds when we get to Washington), we will tell them that the SENIORS of Eastman Ga(Mayberry) are here to Occupy the Whitehouse and we would like for them to leave the premisis right-away with their bags packed with all their personal belongings because once we take over they will not be allowed to come nowhere near the premisis under no circumistnce,even if they left Bo(the dog). If they attempt to return then we will have them arrested by OUR secret service agents and charged have them with elderly abuse and trespassing.
If they tell us to go back to our farms then we will tell them that our farms (here in Dodge County) have not had their intrest at heart and this is why we are here. They have been poking fun at seniors for a long time and now it is time they stop their bull crap or else we will bring them back to Dodge County and have them dipped in bull crap from their heads down to their toes so they will know how we feel to be taking crap off of them and that we have been taking crap off of them for years and continue to do so but now it is time for it to stop,immediately.
They have not given us a cost of living raise in two years and when the first of the year comes they are talking about giving us a 3.6% raise,what kind of crap is this? Pigtails and sardines have gone up 3.6% in two years so they are not giving us anything. I said they gave but the truth of the matter is that, it was our money that we WORKED hard for many yrs they actually MADE us give it to them and now they will not give us nearly as much back as we paid into the system,they stole(thieves) from us seniors they might as well have put a gun to our heads and robbed us (elderly abuse).
Medicare and any advantage medicare insurance plan that we have is going to have their hands out to take the 3.6% cost of living increase taken away from us by increasing our insurance premiums.So,where is the increase,here? This also helps one to see that the federal government are treating us like an indian giver(give the increase then takes it back). Yes, I am complaining(human nature) with a sense of humour though becasue one cannot take what the politicains is doing to heart(you might have a heart attack while doing so) all we can do is stay prayerful and God will and shall oneday see us through all this mess, oneday he will have the last words about these politicians because he is GOD and God all by himself(who doesn't need any help) who can set the record straight on ALL earthly matters and wrong doing toward christians whether they are wrongdoer or evildoer whether it be an earthly,king,queen,judge,lawyer,doctor, president or anyone that is in a high position of authority over this land.
Meanwhile to all stay prayerful and by the way the bus trip has been canceled to Washington(the Whitehouse) until Jesus returns to make PEACE on earth,like it is in heaven.
May God continue to bless each and everyone of us even the politicains in Washington DC (Whitehouse). God loves them but dislikes some of their behavior, God loves us and dislike some of our behavior also, including MINE.
Missionary,Cherokee
I resent people thinking you don't deserve your on Social Security income.
So only people that get SS have opinions that should be heard? If you get SSI, what?
This has nothing to do with whether SSI people deserve their checks it has to do with the AMOUNT of money that ONE PAID into the system and the system not giving them what they should be getting back. If the SS people didnot pay into the system then they would not be complaining about THEIR money.