Posted on 02/02/2011 7:18:22 PM PST by rabscuttle385
Congress should cut a deal this year to raise the retirement age to 69, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said.
Graham, who'd flirted last month with an increase in the retirement age to help address Social Security's solvency, backed a phased-in hike in the retirement age.
"As I said on 'Meet the Press,' I'm looking for a process that will lead to a vote on saving Social Security from bankruptcy this year, that would adjust the age," Graham said on WVOC radio in South Carolina.
Graham referenced as his model the deal cut between President Reagan (R) and Democratic House Speaker Tip O'Neill (Mass.) in the 1980s that provided for a gradual increase in the retirement age to 67.
"Ronald Reagan went from 65 to 67 with Tip O'Neill … we could use that same type system, to go from 67 to 69, for people under 55," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
69 would save billions as the population gets older
Walmart greeter jobs are going to become harder and harder to find if they pass this.
this is certainly something that needs to be done.
Even RINO gets it sometime.
Baby Boomers didn’t save money for the Social Security fund, so it makes sense that they get shafted by their own lack of foresight in the years when they controlled the government.
Popular back then to raid the SS funds, but now that’s going to bite them.
I’d be willing to be excluded completely if they paid me a lump sum of what I paid in plus my employer match and a small interest amount.
It means nothing to me.
I have -0- in my SSI column for retirement planning (as should anyone younger than 55).
So those of us at 54 are screwed again. What a great country!
That's where they have THREE MAN ROUTES ~ due to the risk.
Like to see him do it just one week. I'm sure the PMG would make arrangements for Lindsey or any other Senator interested in retirement ages ~ they get a truck and everything, and cellphone service so they can call in the cops.
During that two-week period special mailings will be made to selected people along the designated routes ~ of $10 checks made out to cash.
Everybody will know about it.
We could call it Senate Elect Mystery Shopper.
After we raise the border fence to 1969 miles long and 30ft. high, right Lindsey?
When social security Old Age and Survivors Insurance Program (notice there is no mention of retirement) was first begun, the age at which a purchase could draw the insurance benefits was 67. The average life expectancy was 64. What Congress needs to do is to peg social security benefits age to three years more than the average life expectancy AND to remind people that social security is NOT a retirement program.
Baby Boomers didn’t save money for the Social Security fund, so it makes sense that they get shafted by their own lack of foresight in the years when they controlled the government.
Popular back then to raid the SS funds, but now that’s going to bite them.
BS.
They paid in all their lives. And guess what, your beloved politicians raided and spent it...redistribution dontcha know...
I would be very happy to lower Lindsey’s retirement age.
Why not make it 75, 85, how about 100.
It doesn’t matter for those of us under 55, we’ll never see a dime of it.
SS is going broke faster than anyone thought possible.
There’s merit to the idea if those over a certain age (TBD) are grandfathered. The original retirement age of 65 was set back when the lifespan average was 64. It’s currently 78.
If they would admit all that, then I might listen to whatever recommendations they had.
Hell, let's just call it for what it really is: another income tax!
Didn't save money for the fund? What does that mean? They paid out of their taxes and saved in their IRS’a and 401K’s.
This is a necessary step but it is insufficient, and I oppose any piecemeal “reforms” that extend this rotten, un-Constitutional program. The whole thing should be reconfigured from the ground up. The ultimate goal should be a phase-out of the current mandatory, pay-as-you-go system in favor of voluntary, private accounts. This will involve raising the retirement age, means testing benefits, reducing benefits, etc. We need to end this illegal, immoral mess not “save” it.
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