Here we go. Early Retirements Straining Social Security Already. (1 Viewer)

i would raither have Social Security reform than have a gov. funded health care program.

If you were counting on Social Security to cover a significant portion, or all, of your retirement, then you were probably going to have a government funded health care program in your old age anyway.
 
If you were counting on Social Security to cover a significant portion, or all, of your retirement, then you were probably going to have a government funded health care program in your old age anyway.

What im saying is this. instead of spending Billions if not trillions on health care reform. i would rather fix SSI.
 
Social Security is nothing more than a ponzi scheme, aka pyramid scheme. In order to get it out of the red, they need more workers to pay into it. Right now the pyramid is inverted where less pay in and more receive. So we need more kids, more jobs and more taxes to fix it. Or we could just get rid of it. I llike the latter.
 
Social Security is nothing more than a ponzi scheme, aka pyramid scheme. In order to get it out of the red, they need more workers to pay into it. Right now the pyramid is inverted where less pay in and more receive. So we need more kids, more jobs and more taxes to fix it. Or we could just get rid of it. I llike the latter.

what do we do with the people that have paid into this program for 50 years?
 
what do we do with the people that have paid into this program for 50 years?

I think we're just gonna have to pick a number. If you're more than X number of years to retirement, you're gonna pay, but you're not gonna collect. Yes, that sucks big time for a lot of people (such as people my age who just joined the workforce), but it's by far the simplest solution.
 
what do we do with the people that have paid into this program for 50 years?


well obviously they need their benefits and everyone should get their due. But i think everyone should worry about their own retirement. even if that means having paid into the system for 50 years or 10 years. But you should get what you put in. unfortunately the government didn't design social security accounts where each person was specific, like the number they issue you. It's complete garbage, but everyone working now should know the program will be defunct in less than 10 years.
 
Social Security was never intended to be your retirement plan. Too many people have viewed it that way. This country has been going to hell for the past 25 years or so financially. Even when things looked good, they weren't and smart people knew that. Too bad there aren't enough smart people in this country willing to make changes needed. Does anyone here actually think there will be Social Security when you retire? I never have. I have always assumed that was money straight up a duck's ***.
This is true, but it was never intended for Washington to take your SS money and spend it on other things, so that basically, it's gone.
 
Raise or eliminate the cap on taxable income toward social security.

Please, don't take away the only thing, tax related, I look forward to each year. Disappears when I get my W-2, but makes me feel good for a quarter or so.
 
well obviously they need their benefits and everyone should get their due. But i think everyone should worry about their own retirement. even if that means having paid into the system for 50 years or 10 years. But you should get what you put in. unfortunately the government didn't design social security accounts where each person was specific, like the number they issue you. It's complete garbage, but everyone working now should know the program will be defunct in less than 10 years.

Okay, I'm confused. Where have you seen where SSI is going to be "defunct?"

I see a lot of catch phrases like "broke" and "bankrupt" but I've read that if nothing is done, the worst case scenario is that payments will only be about 70% of what they were supposed to be.
 
Okay, I'm confused. Where have you seen where SSI is going to be "defunct?"

I see a lot of catch phrases like "broke" and "bankrupt" but I've read that if nothing is done, the worst case scenario is that payments will only be about 70% of what they were supposed to be.


Let me explain. When the WWII generation had a bunch of kids, the baby boomers, congress wrote legislation to have their paychecks taxed to pay for social security of seniors at the time. There were more people paying in than receiving benfits. In ten years there will be less people working than those accepting benefits. So do the math 100 people pay in and 1,000 want their share of what they paid into years ago. We are not having as many kids as we had in post world war II years. Inflation is taking any increase and turned it into a defecit. Shall I say more?

It really comes down to population and population growth. We aren't growing in population or in jobs. And defunct is the same thing as bankrupt- cease to function. But there will probably be a bail out and not a solution. but social security is an awful plan. And if you disagree with me **MOD EDIT** SEEK A HIGHER LEVEL PLEASE.
 
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Raise or eliminate the cap on taxable income toward social security.

No. Enough of the smoke and mirrors.

Cut spending, cur borrowing, cut down to size and live within in means. Adjust priorities. Accept reality. Deal with fundamentals instead of tricks to try to maintain the unsustainable status quo.

It's really, really, really, really simple.

The troubles result from refusal to do above and at some point it is very hard to have sympathy for anyone.

Raising the cap is, in case you missed it, dealing with reality. It would even be better if the system were changed to not pay those who don't need it anything. SS is a safety net and a tax and not a "fair" retirement vehicle. There is no reason that a multi-millionaire should be receiving bennies or that a person who makes 10 mil /yr should pay less against gross than the rest of us.
 
Raising the cap is, in case you missed it, dealing with reality. It would even be better if the system were changed to not pay those who don't need it anything. SS is a safety net and a tax and not a "fair" retirement vehicle. There is no reason that a multi-millionaire should be receiving bennies or that a person who makes 10 mil /yr should pay less against gross than the rest of us.
I don't think SS was ever intended to be based on need. Income is irrelevant in the original conception. It was more basically a "forced savings" in which on retirement you were paid back what you paid in.

The problem was the smoke and mirrors of turning it into a more generous program than it was intended to be and a defacto wealth transfer. And, on top of it all, dipping into the kitty to fund all sorts of other things.

I'm OK with the concept of SS. My grandmother would have been desitiute without it. My beef is more with the way its run and with the fiction that that there is some sacrosanct SS trustfund that is safe from plundering by Congress. The smoke and mirrors is in the overall fiscal performance of our government and the lack of proper priorities.

Priorities.
 
if you raise the cap, don't the higher income people now pull a higher amount out when they retire?

Its your money, you are suppossed to get it back ,that fixes nothing.

If you really look at the numbers, America will be bankrupt in 20 years period.
there are 76 million baby boomers, 60 million of which are paying social security taxes.

the population of the us is a little over 300 million.

This means baby boomers paying ssi make up more than 1 / 5 of the US population.

Thats 1/5 who over the next 15 - 20 years stop paying social security taxes and start withdrawing social security.

Its the giant freaking elephant in the room no one is talking about.

Add to that the current spending and hyper inflation may be the best solution on the horizion.

i just dont see any way around it at this point.

So spend huge now for poltical gain, then hyper inflate away the debt (debt to citizens via social security included) american consumers and economy be damned.
 
I think we're just gonna have to pick a number. If you're more than X number of years to retirement, you're gonna pay, but you're not gonna collect. Yes, that sucks big time for a lot of people (such as people my age who just joined the workforce), but it's by far the simplest solution.

Another option is to legalize the country's illegal immigrant population, They're young, able-bodied, and eager to work. It's why they came here in the first place. The system took an unexpected hit when the native born drastically delayed having children and reduced family size. We need more young people paying into the system while we fix its other flaws.
 
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Another option is to legalize the country's illegal immigrant population, They're young, able-bodied, and eager to work. It's why they came here in the first place. The system took an unexpected hit when the native born drastically delayed having children and reduced family size. We need more young people paying into the system while we fix its other flaws.
I think the name for that is "Reconquista".

I still see the best option as re-ordering prioroties, spending less in some areas, giving up certain things and re-allocating to things that mattter.

If we do that, I don't have to learn Spanish.
 

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