The current system will go into the red (according to current predictions) by 2018. We can either come up with a lower-cost solution now (like what is currently being discussed, and which has worked in Great Britain, Chile, and other places) or we can begin raising taxes on everybody to pay out the promised benefits, or some portion thereof.
Where is the crook? Who is crooked? Who is trying to screw "us" and what are they trying to gain?
Any person living a normal life span will withdraw many times more than he contributes. That's not a retirement plan, it's wealth transfer.
The only REAL fix is privitization or drastic payment cuts coupled with means testing. Anything else is delaying the day of reckoning, something we've done too many times in the past.
But IS it a real fix?
What happens when Gen-X happy retiree opens up his account and he doesn't have anything in it because the fool lost it all in the stock market?
What happens to the stock market when everyone pulls their cash to fund their happy years in a camper?
What happens to that $2 Trillion interest compounding debt that the pols are pushing hard to sling around our necks? In the long run, is that really going to be cheaper than the $10 Trillion shortfall? I need to see how it will be paid for before I can decide yes or no on that question. If the fix costs more than the problem, then it's really no fix at all, now is it?
Considering the fact that there is massive unrest in Europe on pension reforms, I wouldn't use them as an example. I have no wish to repeat that scenario here.
Exactly right WarEagle. I'm 62 and I can see the good sense in the Bush proposal, did folks check their brains in at the door? I've been hoping someone would come up with an investment plan for SS, that's the sort of thing that keeps this good ol' USA economic engine runnin', NOT TAXES.
I've been refusing the AARP geezer crowd for years. I used to take a marks-a-lot and put a black border on their membership drive requests with a special note about what I thought of the organization. Funny, I haven't received any more mail from them in a long time so you see, you can get their attention.
I signed the petition-gladly. I'm not about to support a Leftist organization for a two dollar discount on a lousy motel room.
I thought there was an "UN-AARP" organization, does anyone know of such?