Q: I am sick and tired of your use of the term "accounts" when discussing Social Security. No one has an "account" with Social Security. Your use of that term implies that the government is investing money for each taxpayer and that money is available to him or her at any time. There are no individual funds or accounts in our Social Security system. Stop perpetuating the Social Security account myth!

A: How about this. Can I say a person has a Social Security "record?" Can I write that you can check your Social Security "files" if you are seeking some information from the Social Security Administration?

Your point is well-taken that the government does not set up special individual savings accounts for each Social Security taxpayer. But I think today almost everybody recognizes that. When I do occasionally refer to someone's Social Security account, I am simply using the word as a synonym for a Social Security record or file.

In other words, I think you will agree with me that the Social Security Administration does maintain records for each Social Security number holder. Those records start out being just some basic identifying information gleaned from a Social Security number application form. Then, as a person starts working and paying Social Security taxes, the records expand to include earnings data. And then, generally later in life, once someone files for monthly benefits, the Social Security file grows to include things like marital history, employment status, banking data and other bits of information needed to ensure his or her Social Security check is sent in the right amount and to the right place.

So when you see a Social Security record, others may see a Social Security file or a Social Security account. It's just semantics.

In fact, I looked at an email I answered just before yours showed up in my inbox. A guy wrote to ask me how a few years of lower earnings just before retirement would impact his eventual Social Security benefit. I wrote back to explain to him that because a benefit is based on a 35 year earnings base, a few years of reduced earnings would have minimal impact on his retirement check. And then I told him he could check his Social Security account at www.socialsecurity.gov and use online calculators to find out exactly how his earnings will impact his eventual benefits. It's funny. He wrote back to thank me for my advice. And he never once chastised me for telling him to check his "account."

Q: Why do you insist on calling Social Security payments "benefits?" And why do you call the people who get Social Security checks "beneficiaries?" That's my money that the government stole from me and you (and all those corrupt politicians) have the audacity to call it a "benefit!"

A: Like it or not, Social Security is a social insurance system. And like other insurance programs, you have people paying money into the system and you have people drawing money out of the system. The original Social Security Act passed in 1935 refers to the money that flows out of the program as "benefits" and the recipients as "beneficiaries." Those are simply legal terms.

My wife gets a small monthly pension from a former employer. They (and she) call it her retirement pension "benefit." Every day, I get dozens of emails from folks who ask me questions about their Social Security "benefits." Frankly, I think you are reading way too much into this. Sometimes a benefit is simply a benefit!

Q: How dare they call my Social Security check a "Federal Benefit Payment!" The government stole my hard earned money from me and put it into that losing Ponzi scheme called Social Security. And now, when they give a tiny percentage of my money back to me, they have the gall to call it a "federal benefit payment!" I heard that Obama directed this change.

A: Well, let me see. Your Social Security check comes from the federal government. It's delivering you a monthly payment that represents your Social Security benefit . So I wonder why in the world they call it a "federal benefit payment?" And if President Obama directed this change, he did so while he was in grade school. Social Security checks have been called "federal benefit payments" for maybe half a century now.

It sounds to me like you would prefer they label your Social Security benefit something like this: "Federal Ponzi Scheme Payment Of My Hard-Earned Tax Dollars Stolen By Obama And The Big Bad Government." But I'm not sure that would all fit on your Social Security check.

Q: Social Security is not an "entitlement!" Politicians should stop calling it an entitlement! I worked all my life and paid taxes all my life and they've got the nerve to call my money an "entitlement!"

A: Oh, no. Not this one again! Not a week goes by that I don't get emails from irate readers about this issue. I've addressed it a hundred times in the past. So let's see if number 101 finally does the trick!

Social Security payments make up Title 2 of the Social Security Act. So when you become eligible for benefits, fill out an application form, and your claim is approved, you are considered legally "entitled" to those benefits. So in the most literal sense of the term, Social Security (and any other government program for which you are eligible) is an "entitlement." It's just a legal term!

If you have a Social Security question, Tom Margenau has the answer. Contact him at [email protected]. To find out more about Tom Margenau and to read past columns and see features from other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.