[Lou L]

It's not basic Social Security payments, which are suppose to provide nothing more than a base income to keep Seniors out of poverty, that can't be paid for. It's all the extra stuff that's included and that the gov has spent the money on things besides its intended use.

I agree. The situation sucks, but I haven't heard any alternatives to remedy the problem. SS has become far too lucrative for many who've never paid into it, or have paid very little into it. The program has been abused, extended to people who have no stake in it, and squandered by politicians along the way.

Any remedies that I've heard of to date all amount to higher taxes and less of a benefit to those who've paid the most.

[grania]

Then there's the part that's basically theft. People who pay into SS but die before they're eligible to collect? The gov keeps that money. By all rights, it should go to the estate of the deceased.

Then there's people (I'm one of them) who don't collect a full teacher's or other state pension because I didn't work long enough to reach the maximum. After that, I did work most of it self-employed on which I paid SS taxes. Because it would be "double dipping" I only get the minimum on SS instead of what I'm due, which would only be a few hundred dollars a month.

So, here people like myself are, pretty close to "upper poor" by income, being penalized by the feds. I wouldn't mind so much if one could choose to get back what they paid in instead of collecting.