Social Security Payments Error

I found the Oct. 4 article “Computer Makes $850-Million Error in Social Security” rather disconcerting.

Congress attacked recipients by subjecting 50%, and then 85%, of their Social Security to federal income taxes. And Congress is constantly threatening the elderly with cuts in benefits.

Now it turns out that the trustees in charge of this overgrown department shortchanged about 700,000 retirees out of $850 million. Shouldn’t we show more respect to those Americans who have worked the hardest to make our nation the greatest?

STUART D. JAEGER

West Hills

Computers do not make mistakes. They do exactly what they are programmed to do. There is an old expression among computer people: GIGO, meaning “garbage in, garbage out.”

Your headline should have said, “Inept Government Employees Make Another Multimillion-Dollar Screw-Up.” They are probably related to the group that wasted $50 million taxpayer dollars on a computer system for the DMV.

W.A. ENDERSON

Redondo Beach