That “Means Testing” will eventually devolve to anybody retired with a decent nonunion pension in addition to Social Security. Work hard and invest all your life? You get screwed. Retire from IBM or Nucor or New York Life or Exxon or any of the plethora of decent companies that one way or the other reward you on the way out the door? You get screwed. Do an additional 26 years in the reserves after 4 years active duty? You get screwed. Do all of the above? You REALLY get screwed. That’s a great idea, from the point of view of the imprudent and nonindustrious. There is something wrong with changing the rules at the end of the game.
I pay into SS for forty years and have six more to go and NOW they want to change the rules? They keep pushing and pushing.
“There is something wrong with changing the rules at the end of the game.”
Actually, the rules were changed decades ago, when the money collected got dumped right into the general treasury. At that point, regardless of promises, it Social Security CEASED being a retirement plan and started to simply become another program to transfer wealth. At this point, it is even beyond that, as it now requires borrowing from future generations to pay today’s recipients.
The bigger question is whether we should let SS lead the way to taking this country to Third World status, or do we make a real effort to get our budget in balance, and possibly prevent that outcome. So, in effect, the question is whether it makes more sense to let the entire country go down in flames, or to reduce Social Security payouts (along with other reforms in major programs).
My vote is reform the entitlements and protect the country, although others simply seem to just want their money back.
Unfortunately the only hope at this point is to let the others have their way (for now), letting the debt build up for another 2 years - since the Republicans alone cannot touch Social Security (and Obama, of course, prefers seeing this country ultimately get trashed and this seems to be his ticket).
If we’re lucky, the country survives the two years...and the Republicans finally get to fix the rut of the problem. If we’re not lucky, it’s game over of the US.