“not sure what to do about it however... “
That’s the problem. I’ve also paid in for decades, but I know that the money was spent once the feds got their hands on it.
I would be just as happy if we raised taxes enough to cover the costs...I don’t really care what we do, as long as we don’t crash the dollar and become Third World...which MUST happen if we don’t do something and soon.
But we won’t. 95% of the people will not stand for seeing Social Security get reduced...and the other 95% of the people will not stand for major tax increases (and I mean major).
So we’ll almost certainly wind up with a crashed dollar and the end of the US as we know it. That sucks, but it had to end that way, once government got their hands on retirement money (no different than a badly run country doing the same, as you well know).
“But we won’t. 95% of the people will not stand for seeing Social Security get reduced...and the other 95% of the people will not stand for major tax increases (and I mean major).”
There is a third option. Economic policies that allow the economy to grow again. More people employed = more tax revenue without raising taxes. As China and India are demonstrating now, and the US demonstrated from 1865 to 1990, a robust manufacturing economy will create prosperity and the strong middle class essential for a strong, free, representative government.
How to get the economy going. Very simple:
1) Less regulation
2) Higher tariffs on imported products
3) Tort reform
4) Exploit domestic petroleum resources to reduce foreign imports of energy.
5) A stock market that facilitates raising capital for long term equity investments in real tangible productive assets instead of the speculative computer driven casino we have today.
6) Tax policies that encourage investments of capital in US manufacturing.
7) Shift in business school emphasis from finance to operations.
8) End favorable tax treatment for financiers. I.e. private equity income taxed at 15% while public manufacturing companies taxed at 35%. This can be accomplished by lowering the tax rate on income derived from US manufacturing operations to 15%.
9) Make imports pay their real costs. in addition to higher tariffs (1980’s levels) levy a fee on every container brought into the country to pay for the cost of the Coast Guard, Customs, and Immigration.
10) Bring the military home from overseas adventures and bases. Let the rest of the world fight its own battles without our intervention and occupation. Put military on the southern border.
11) Fix the tax code with a flat tax for individuals (20%) and corporations 15%. End all exemptions, credits and deductions.
12) Eliminate most functions of the federal government - Departments of Education, Labor, Energy, Commerce, Agriculture, EPA should go tomorrow. Veterans Affairs should go back to Defense.
13) Privatize Amtrak, Post Office, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Rural Electrification Agency, Army Corps of Engineers, FAA.
and increase the ranks of those who pay in.....
stop allowing people to immigrate here and go on SS retirement ....make them at least wait a few years....
and go over with a fine tooth comb all those collecting the disability....disability used to mean being in a wheelchair, etc...and now, "mental stress" can be a free ticket to ride...