What, kill the old people off by denying them the medical care now owned by the government?
It's already been thought of.
Posted on 09/08/2011 8:19:58 AM PDT by disraeligears
The Social Security system in my opinion is definitely a ponzi scheme and what follows is a way to fix it. If you agree with this approach, please cut and paste and pass it on to other forums.
However, there is a relatively easy way to fix the social security problem. For those of us in our early fifties and younger and who have contributed for 20 - 30 years into the “system,” it is apparent that we are not going to get out of social security what we put in.
The government is either going to have to reduce benefits, means test benefits, or raise the age of eligibility or a combination of the three. These solutions are already being proposed and a combination of the three being enacted is a given.
So go ahead and raise the retirement age, reduce benefits and means test. But in conjunction, a relatively equitable solution is for those of us who are ages 51 - 55, give us a lifetime future 70% federal income tax credit on federal income taxes owed on amounts up to $100,000 per year from now on so that we can start to save the difference now for our retirement years.
Those younger than 51 can have the tax credit percentages staggered downward. For example: 46 - 50, 60%; 41 - 45, 50%; 36 - 40, 40%; 31 - 35, 30%; 26 - 30, 20%; 21 - 25, 10%.
This way the federal government can go reduce and reduce its substantial entitlement obligation, but will forced to reduce its entitlement obligations in other areas given the immediate reduction in its tax revenue stream(unemployment benefits, medicare, medicaid, welfare, etc.).
The benefits will be that the general tax burden will be decreased, spuring job growth and resulting in an eventual increased tax revenue stream from a healthy, growing economy, and people won’t be entirely deprived after having contributed up to 35 years into the social security ponzi scheme.
With increased tax revenues from a growing economy we would hopefully be able to reduce and eventually retire the debt.
However a fair tax and/or low flat tax would be necessary so the federal government doesn’t just enact the above referenced tax credits while raising taxes in general.
Now this would be change we could believe in and would incentivize and reward the work ethic once again, while recognizing the reality that the Social Security system as we know it is broken and we can’t fix it without substantial restructuring.
For those of us who are in our mid 50s and younger, we have to recognize that those Social Security “income projections” which we receive in the mail from the government are false promises and will never come to pass.
in the end they will all wimp-out and just apply the FICA tax to every last penny of income
What, kill the old people off by denying them the medical care now owned by the government?
It's already been thought of.
The definition of government is false promises. Of course, SS was always a ponzi. It will be a “just try to collect” system with the eligibility going upward until the death rate overtakes the living eligible. Presto, ponzi is fixed.
Vanity abuse.
How about simply limiting the payout to what was paid in plus
the interest it would have earned if invested in 30 year tbills.
...Or we could stop “saving” the socialism and end the program now.
Social security doesn’t need to be “fixed” it needs to be eliminated. Then you can choose to get together with friends or whomever you choose, and do what you want with your own money. I forget whoever referred to it last night, but the best welfare is a job. Government can (but won’t) stop regulating prosperity to death, and those who absolutely cannot provide for themselves can beg for charity.
THERE IS NO MORE MONEY when people stop lying to themselves that “Charlie Chang” (the Chinese), as another poster put it, will no continue to subsidize our way of life, then they’ll be much better off. There’s a monetary manipulation, but make no mistake, Social Security and other socialistic programs WILL go down whether by collapse of the currency, or elimination of the program. The generational rape will only continue until the golden goose is dead, and that day is quickly coming.
Two words:
Means testing................
There is no way the Lincoln system will give a “break” in our most productive management years. The economy is falling due to Obama and his jack-ass socialism. Our Nation drives it and the moonbats can’t see it. They will soon.
If any payout was due at all (It’s not, in my opinion), then the government should do something similar as to what you stated (limiting the payout to what was paid in plus
the interest it would have earned if invested in 30 year tbills). In a simple lump some payment, one time, nothing more. There’s no money anyway, so they may as well “monetize the debt” (so to speak) and get it all done with at once. That way at least the younger generations can recover, and those who supported the system can reap the fruits of the economic environment that created/allowed for 50+ years of adult life.
There’s no mistake, there’s no money, and there’s no way to “save” Social Security. You can’t squeeze blood from a rock. Perry was correct that the younger generations aren’t stupid, they know they’ve been lied to and there’s nothing coming to them for what they are and have been paying. Everyone is crying about Obamacare and being forced to buy insurance, but not being forced to but “security” or retirement. Make it 100% voluntary, by eliminating it altogether and let people do as they see fit with their own money. If they squander it away, that’s not the fault of anyone else. Social Security is a failure, no amount of planning can ever change that, because as famously phrase, you ALWAYS run out of other people’s money. We ran out of ours years ago, and we’re quickly running out of foreigners buying our debts now. Soon the only people’s “money” we’ll have is the FED’s, which is really just our own money being made worthless. It’s time for people to get real.
What needs to be done is ALL personal federal income taxes collected on Social Security must be recredited to Social Security and not just dumped into the General Revenues.
Sell it, mortgage it, or rent it out.
At the moment entitlements are NOT the problem with the federal budget. In the future they could be. The national patrimony can be used to back up all the federal obligations with ease.
You know good and damn well he is going after all the prosperity God has bequeathed us. His dog don’t hunt at all.
If you are a wealthy person and have no job, but live off your investments do you still get SS?
I remember Ros Perot saying that it was ridiculous that he was eligible for SS.......................
There is no money, but there are assets, you are absolutely correct. Sell them off, pay out a lump some, and get rid of the idiocy. Entitlements are ALWAYS a problem with the budget (though I understand the spirit of your statement), because there is no constitutional basis for it, and the moneis supposed to be used for them are all gone. It’s like saying the ever increasing fee’s on your increasing number of payday loans (like our 40% debt service) aren’t the problem because your still making payments, and you have things to sell. Sure that may be true now, but unlike that simple (payday loan) example, the actions that the government takes don’t just eat up a portion of the income, they also hinder/stifle the current market. People have less money to save/produce/invest when taxes into financial oblivion which snowballs.
Another FReeper posted an article about something called the “Theory of Snowballs” or something to the effect, which talks about how many (most in the authors view) things in life happen and change at an exponential rate that is imperceptible for a long time, and then very, very sudden. That’s what’s happening now, because the more money we borrow for the general fund, the more interest we have, meaning the less money we have, so the more we are taxes, which decreases the revenue, causing a further need to borrow and a higher interest payment. It’s simple math. Better to pay out the obligations, take the hit now, and fix what’s broken, than to justify the broken system and try to save it (thus increasing the exponential rate at which it grows). That’s what I’m trying to get across, but I completely agree with you post, that we have the funds to back it.
Remember where there is little incentive to produce, nothing gets produced, that is the problem we face today, and it is ALWAYS the INEVITABLE outcome of ANY form of Socialism. Always. No matter how trivial anything can seem or how easy it is to sell as paying for your future (SS), it’s only the camel’s nose in the tent.
SS was sold as a SUPPLEMENT to your own plan, but of course, Socialism is NEVER packaged for it’s true intention. To remove personal accountability and enslave the masses.
They can keep what I paid them if I can opt out and keep my 15% from now on
I could retire in half the time with twice the money
(I am 53 now)
SS was a MONEY GRAB from the beginning
When first enacted the retirement age for SS was 65. But avg life expectency for males and femails was BELOW that age.
So they never expected to have to start paying anything out.
Wrong, an IOU is not an asset of any tangible value.
Thank you, someone else who gets it.
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