This, in a nutshell, is why we are completely, totally screwed as a country. The majority of people approaching retirement age--including a lot of conservatives--think they've earned Social Security. Someone owes it to them since they paid in all their lives. To them its not a transfer payment program. And in one sense they are right. But when you ask who owes it to them, the answer is "the government," as if the government is some person with a big bank account who can dole this money out without taking it from someone else. They don't want to face the fact that the people who owe it to them are dead. Their parents and grandparents got a windfall and by demanding their full Social Security and Medicare payments, they are completely screwing their kids and grandkids. Their kids and grandkids do not owe them Social Security. They did not set up this Ponzi scheme. And yet somehow today's seniors think its OK saddling their grandkids with a mountain of debt to pay for unsustainable entitlements. And if you even mention this to some of them, they go ballistic and are ready to fight. Once again, its why we aren't going to be able to solve our debt problem.
Excellent observations. Social Security and Medicare, as well as public pensions/medical benefits, are the very definition of “entitlement,” because the beneficiaries believe that, in strict justice, they have earned or prepaid for what they are now claiming.
This is a concept that could be discussed at the level of philosophy, if one had plenty of wine and snacks, smoking only in the pergola, please. However, at the level of reality, the taxpayers to support the systems as they stand do not exist. So what are you going to do? (That’s a rhetorical, rather than personal, “you.”)
people that paid into social security are due some amount back that is more then a pittance.
i’ve paid in over $250k. if i get anything, it’ll probably be less then $20k/yr. i would have to live to about 77 to get 1 for 1 out. odds of that are pretty low. and that’s not getting into the interest on a 45 year investment.
the problem is the government stole the contributions, thanks to LBJ, and gave it to their political allies
meanwhile, the same politicians and government types get massive pension payouts every year
The government was supposed to have a "big bank account" called a trust fund, with the money the citizens paid in. That corrupt politicians raided the trust fund and took all of the money is not the fault of those who paid it in the first place. These people were only expecting a return on the money they thought they had invested into SS, they were not relying on the government "taking it from someone else".
I'm getting a little sick of hard working, tax paying, citizens being blamed for government corruption.