Bad advice to Bush blamed for Social Security struggle

I understand how it currently works. The Social Security fund has been managed (or mismanaged) like this from inception. That aspect of it should be fixed; but, don't toss the baby out with the bath water. Lets talk about segragating the funds from the general ledger, and once and for all taking a one time charge to ensure that the program it is adequately funded. If we get this going correctly we will never have to waste time or tax dollars on it again. If you kill it, it will probably come back and bite an even bigger chunk out of your wallet. |

I'm sorry, but it is obvious from the above you don't understand how it works. Social Security is not going broke only because the government borrows against it for the general fund. It is going broke because it is and always has been a pyramid scheme. At the beginning the social security recipients received far more from it than they paid into it, thus making it severely underfunded from the start. Then the money in the fund was not invested or when it was invested it was lent to the government. Who repays government debt? That's right the taxpayers, which happen to be the same people that the money was borrowed from in the first place. The result is one generation gladly ripped off the following generations to the tune of tens of trillions of dollars. The generations that stood by while this theft was taking place should be ashamed of themselves. At least the younger generation is trying to fix the problem for their children.

Your solution is no solution at all. Who will pay the one time charge? Retirees or those currently contributing to the payroll tax? Either way someone gets screwed. The only way for social security to work is for the money a person contributes to the program over his or her lifetime is held in an account that can be invested and which can make a rate of return that is held for that person to retirement. How that money is invested must be controlled by the individual and not the government otherwise the politicians will use it as a way to control corporations the government invests in. Without a healthy rate of return (the miracle of compound interest) the system cannot survive. The solution I just laid out is private accounts and it is the only way to fix Social Security.

The solution I just laid out is private accounts and it is the only way to fix Social Security.

Here is a better one. Send me a check for every dime that I put in, and end all of it tomorrow. No social security tax, No social security administration, no funds, no policy, no investment mandate; Sell the building, and raise its foundation. Let it just be every man out for themselves. Why should we let a failed program continue on for another day? If its theft, then end it now, before someone starts a class action to recover every last dime paid in benefits

Lets, just kill it off, and then we can sit back, relax, and bet on how many weeks will go by before we have all out socialism in this country.

"We have the balance of our paychecks, and so far it seems that very little of that tends to be invested or saved; would the elimination of social security miraculously change that kind of behavior?"

Heck, yes!! The difference between the illusion of cradle-to-grave welfarism and self-reliant savings
is night and day. Without that collectivist myth that 'gvot will take care of you' personal behavior would be radically different.

What would YOU do with a 15% increase in post-tax salary?

" The Social Security fund has been managed (or mismanaged) like this from inception. That aspect of it should be fixed; but, don't toss the baby out with the bath water. Lets talk about segragating the funds from the general ledger, and once and for all taking a one time charge to ensure that the program it is adequately funded."

Uh, the actuarial deficit for Social Secuirty is something like $13 TRILLION dollars. On top of our real debt. Where would you find the money to do that 'one time charge'.
That's the entire capitalization of American companies on the stock exchanges... better answer:

1. Allow workers to opt-out in exchange for a reduction in taxes.
2. Allow workers to put a portion into their own savings - this is in effect does what you propose, make it self-funded ... but does it GRADUALLY, so you dont need the money all at once.
3. we do need to index retirement age for life expectency and treat the benefit more like a real annuity, one that pays more the longer you wait to get it ... IN EFFECT ABOLISH THE RETIREMENT AGE.

" Send me a check for every dime that I put in, and end all of it tomorrow. No social security tax, No social security administration, no funds, no policy, no investment mandate; Sell the building, and raise its foundation. Let it just be every man out for themselves. Why should we let a failed program continue on for another day?"

Great ... write your Congressman on this if this is what you think, dont think they have votes just. And never will, because this program robs Peter to pay Paul - and Paul is an AARP member who has a lot more free time to call his Congresscritter than the hard-working, tax-paying Peter ...

I know. I'm a "Peter".

Here is a better one. Send me a check for every dime that I put in, and end all of it tomorrow. No social security tax, No social security administration, no funds, no policy, no investment mandate; Sell the building, and raise its foundation. Let it just be every man out for themselves. Why should we let a failed program continue on for another day? If its theft, then end it now, before someone starts a class action to recover every last dime paid in benefits

Although I detect a hint of sarcasm, I'll assume your post was intended to be taken literally. I would gladly end it now. In fact I would gladly forfeit all of my contributions to date (approximately $50,000) if I didn't have to pay into the system for the last 20 years of my working life. Unfortunately, I doubt that the "Social Security Trust Fund" has anywhere enough money in it to pay back every dime contributed to it by the currently living victims of Social Security.

Lets, just kill it off, and then we can sit back, relax, and bet on how many weeks will go by before we have all out socialism in this country.

What do you call a government system that confiscates about 45% of every dollar its citizens earn? I call it full blown socialism or 50% communism.

"Ahem. This IS about politics so of course the president is playing."

Yes, he is. There is no way he will lay out 'his' plan for the nut jobs across the isle to rip into. He is TRYING to make them earn their HUGE SALARIES & RETIREMENT benefits. Since they WILL NOT do that & are fighting him anyway, it is just kicking the can down the road AGAIN. In his SOTU address in 2002 he discussed the need for SS reform AND personal retirement accounts. Three years later...

SOTU, 2-2-05: President George W. Bush
"I have a message for every American who is 55 or older: Do not let anyone mislead you. For you the SS system will not change in ANY WAY."
"If you've got children in their 20's, as some of us do, the idea of SS collapsing before they retire does not seem like a small matter. AND IT SHOULD NOT BE A SMALL MATTER TO THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS!"
"Personal retirement accounts should be familiar to federal employees, because you already have something similar, called the Thrift Savings Plan, which lets workers deposit a portion of their paychecks into any of five different broadly based investment funds. IT IS TIME TO EXTEND THE SAME SECURITY, AND CHOICE AND OWNERSHIP TO YOUNG AMERICANS."
"And best of all, the money in the account is yours, and the government can never take it away." (ie; if you die before you collect, it becomes part of your will-able estate, instead of disappearing into the thin air of DC.)

The President laid out six basic principles that must be incorporated into any plan. They are as follows.
1. Must make SS permanently sound
2. Must not raise payroll taxes
3. Insure lower income Americans get the help they need,
for retirement.
4. Must guarantee there is no change for those that are now
in or near retirement.
5. Any changes in the system are gradual.
6. MUST include voluntary personal retirement accounts.
I would rather see us go to the Fair Tax which would abolish all other taxes, but that would absolutely cause a total break down from the commies, complete with foaming at the mouth...hmmmm, it's a thought.

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