<html><body>
<DIV>Come on Spike if Anna Nicole Smith could figure this out, I'm sure you can too!</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Spike asked...</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>>> What a racket this could be, for high earners to marry a low earner when the<BR>rich person has only months to live. An old rich person could marry a young<BR>low earner, and thus the social security system could be looted. It isn't<BR>clear to me what the rich terminal person could be given in exchange.<BR></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #1010ff 2px solid">-------------- Original message -------------- <BR>From: "spike" <spike66@comcast.net> <BR><BR>> > bounces@lists.extropy.org] On Behalf Of Anna Taylor <BR>> > Subject: [ExI] Change of thought (was Just curious, it's not natural!) <BR>> > <BR>> > I had the privilege last weekend to attend my first <BR>> > gay marriage. Before the wedding, I thought deeply <BR>> > about what my conviction was regarding gay marriage. <BR>> ... <BR>> > Anna <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> I have some questions for the legal eagles of the group. It would be even <BR>> more interesting if the Brits and Europeans comment. <BR>> <BR>> If a spouse perishes, I understand that the surviving spouse gets the social <BR>> security payment that is the higher of the two. So if the survivor made <BR>> more money longer, then no change in benefits. But if the l
ower paid spouse <BR>> is the survivor, he or she gets a raise when the richer spouse perishes. <BR>> <BR>> What a racket this could be, for high earners to marry a low earner when the <BR>> rich person has only months to live. An old rich person could marry a young <BR>> low earner, and thus the social security system could be looted. It isn't <BR>> clear to me what the rich terminal person could be given in exchange. <BR>> <BR>> Questions: <BR>> <BR>> If gay marriage becomes legal, would that problem be worse? Could a sick <BR>> rich person marry her grandson's girlfriend in order to provide them with a <BR>> generous pension while they are in their twenties? Is it any different than <BR>> the kinds of abuses that could theoretically be pulled off now? For <BR>> instance, an old sick person could marry her granddaughter's boyfriend in a <BR>> fake marriage, while the young couple still carries on as before. So from a <BR>> social se
curity pension point of view (the only reason I care about who is <BR>> allowed to marry) would gay marriage have any impact? Does Europe have <BR>> similar issues? <BR>> <BR>> spike <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> <BR>> _______________________________________________ <BR>> extropy-chat mailing list <BR>> extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org <BR>> http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat </BLOCKQUOTE></body></html>