These threads always get heated. They shouldn’t be. No one is a thief or a liar or greedy. Seniors and military pensioners are not receiving “Welfare”. They are not bums with their hands out. For the most part they are decent people who paid taxes their whole lives and expected a Social Security check at age 65. Some will be in a lot of trouble if Social Security is taken away and no one should do that.
But on the other side of the coin, seniors can’t just keep repeating “I paid in so I should get back what I paid.” Posters who say that should explain who is going to pay that amount. Its not “politicians” and its not “the government” and its not “the people who promised it to me.” They are dead and there is no money other than tax money. That is the reality that seniors and those close to retirement can’t deny or avoid. Simply repeating “I paid in” isn’t going to change that reality.
So if you are asking for full benefits at age 65 or 66, you are asking your children and grandchildren to pay higher taxes. Period. No one is asking seniors to cut their Social Security check in half. The plans are to raise the retirement age and means test. And perhaps curtail future increases in payments.
So what is the specific issue? Is it means testing? That seems like it would be the one thing that would anger seniors who “paid in”. OK, if you don’t want means testing, then what is the solution? Raising taxes on the young? To keep entitlement spending where it is, federal taxes would have to be raised to 50% of GDP within the next 30 years. Is that what you want for your grandkids?
Things will reach a point where our grandkids and great-grandkids will no doubt treat Baby Boomers with the same lack of mercy that the Baby Boomers showed them.
Everyone talks so casually about tossing future responsibilities on defenseless children. Guess what? They won't be defenseless in 20 years. Guess who will be?
The idea that so many Americans are willing to enslave their own progeny is all the moral imperative that progeny need to pull the plug on them, figuratively and literally. And I wouldn't blame them a bit. The kids who we so callously intended to imprison with crushing poverty and debt will be better off putting America's heartless elderly to the sword. It won't take them much reckoning to figure that out.
Finally!!!!! someone on the thread that really wants to address the issue....OK, here is my solution...those 50 and up will continue to pay what they are paying, but will receive a slightly lower than promised benefit( they will have the least amount of time to plan and recover ) those 40 to 50 will pay a reduced amount, and will receive an even lower benefit ( they will have some time to recover, and even plan ) those 30 to 40 will pay an even lower amount, and will get even less ( they have the best chance at long term planning ) and those 20 to 30 will pay next to nothing, and get nothing...But, we will write in tax breaks, and some damn lucritive laws to make saving for this group far more benefical than the rest of the groups. This will take a generation to be done with it, but asking people who spent their entire lives planning on this, and just telling them “tough crap, you lose” is dishonorable at best.
This can be paid for by massive cuts in government. The over bloated system has to be axed. We can no longer be the policemen of the world. We can no longer send cash payments to other countries. We can no longer stifle and sacrifice our businesses at the altar of environmetalism. We can no longer guarantee free prescription drugs ( thanks GWB, you a$$ )or free birth control ( gonna have to do that yourself ) or have advanced basketweaving in school....this country needs to refocus, and the first thing is to get the hell rid of any and all career politicians.
If anyone else has a plan, let’s hear it...lets refocus this discussion into solutions...