Posted on 08/15/2018 9:20:43 AM PDT by Kaslin
Social Security is running out of money.
You may not believe that, but it's a fact.
That FICA money taken from your paycheck was not saved for you in a "trust fund." Politicians misled us. They spent every penny the moment it came in.
This started as soon as they created Social Security. They assumed that FICA payments from young workers would cover the cost of sending checks to older people. After all, at the time, most Americans died before they reached 65.
Now, however, people keep living longer. There just aren't enough young people to cover my Social Security checks.
So Social Security is going broke. This year, the program went into the red for the first time.
Presidents routinely promise to fix this problem.
George W. Bush said he'd "strengthen and save" Social Security. Barack Obama said he'd "safeguard" it, and Donald Trump said that he'll "save" it.
But none has done anything to save it.
"There is a plan out there to save it, but it requires some tough choices," says Heritage Foundation budget analyst Romina Boccia.
Heritage proposes cutting payments to rich people and raising the retirement age to 70.
Good luck with that. Seniors vote. Most vote against politicians who suggest cutting benefits.
This summer, interviewing people for my new video about Social Security's coming bankruptcy, was the first time I had heard the majority of such a group say they were aware there is a problem. One said, "We're already at a trillion dollars (deficit) ... (I)t's almost like a big Ponzi scheme."
Actually, more like a pyramid scheme. Ponzi schemes secretly take your money. But the Social Security trick is written into the law -- there for anyone who bothers to look.
Social Security isn't the only hard choice ahead of us. Medicare will run out of money in just eight years. At that point, benefits will automatically be cut. Social Security hits its wall in 15 years.
Amazingly, as we approach this disaster, Democrats say -- spend even more.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., proudly announced, "Nearly every Democrat in the United States Senate has voted in favor of expanding Social Security."
How would they pay for it? "Raise taxes on the wealthy!" is the usual answer.
I tried that on Boccia: "Just raise taxes on the rich!"
"There isn't enough money, even that the rich would have," she countered, "to pay for the $200 trillion in unfunded liabilities."
One partial solution proposed by Heritage and others is to let younger workers put some of their Social Security money into their own personal retirement accounts.
"Imagine being able to own and control your own retirement dollars," urged Boccia, with genuine excitement. "You could invest it in businesses, grow the economy, whatever rocks your boat."
If history is any guide, private accounts would almost certainly pay retirees more than Social Security will ever pay.
"Even a conservative portfolio of stocks and bonds that got you about a 5 percent annual return, you would make many times more," said Boccia.
She's right. Money in government hands just sits there or gets spent wastefully; it's rarely invested wisely.
Private accounts have been tried in a few countries. In Chile, the investment they created helped make Chile the richest country in Latin America. (Before, Chile was poorer than most.)
Yet even after that success, leftists in South America hold street protests against private accounts. They're angry because capitalists get a slice of the pie.
I told Boccia that I couldn't understand why people in Chile don't loudly cheer private accounts because of the wealth they'd created.
"We lack gratitude," she replied, "for what the free market provides. That is difficult to wrap your head around. It's easy to think, 'Here is the government. This is where I go.'"
But eventually, even governments run out of other people's money.
Like most American politicians, Donald Trump campaigned saying, "I'm not going to cut Social Security ... not going to cut Medicare."
He and other politicians pretend they're protecting people's futures, but they are not. They're ignoring the inevitable.
Better to fix old-age programs now -- rather than have them suddenly go bankrupt later.
Don’t worry, all the illegals and migrants will come to our rescue. They love us!
I got mine.
- They will extend the FICA tax to every last penny of income.
- They’ll impose a Tobin Tax on Wall Street transactions to supplement Social Security.
Those are the only two “fixes” that are politically palatable. They call it the Third Rail for a reason.
I’ve believed for years that social security needs to be privatized. Keep those 55 and up on the old system as they phase it out, and start the younger ones out with private accounts. The younger ones will be far better off and get a lot more in the long run.
It is relatively easy to figure out how to fix Social Security.
It is a political minefield, to actually implement needed changes. But as far as figuring out a plan, all we need to do, is set up spreadsheets. And then, plug in numbers showing “what if”, we raise the tax, what if we raise the retirement age a bit, what if we trim benefits payments, etc.
I know it’s a political powder keg to actually vote on anything in Congress. I’m just saying, it’s not too difficult to come up with some balanced choices of changes to the taxes, benefit payments, and full retirement age.
Political will is lacking.
Every two years, raise the retirement age by one year until it hits 80.
The average lifespan, when SS kicked in ate 65, was lower than 65. SS was for people that had the misfortune of living longer than everyone else. As with most socialist programs, it was fatally short sighted.
Meanwhile, I turn 66 in early 2020 and am taking full retirement benefits. It’s all I have. After moving to rural KY it’s also all I need.
Millennials. All are under age 36 I believe. Make them start their own mandatory system and pay everyone else’s benefits out of the general fund. Let it wither on the vine. Eliminate welfare, send all illegals home.
Algore said he’d put it in a ‘lockbox’..................
Won’t be any changes till a full blown crisis is imminent, which will be when the fake trust fund balance approaches zero around 2034 .
Dems will insist on raising taxes starting with the cap on income.
Republicans will want to raise the age again as under Reagan in the 1980s.
Given its a Ponzi scheme actions like those would just repeat the phony ‘saving for the trust fund’ scam again.
One good start would be take any politician (and there are a lot of them) who claims there is a “Social Security Trust Fund” and make them wear a muzzle the rest of their terms.
More terror marketing from the left.....
They took our money, telling us that it was placed safely in a “lock box.” A lie, of course.
Once they get ahold of our money, they start to dole it out in return for votes. They do not keep promises.
It was all predictable.
“I’ve believed for years that social security needs to be privatized.”
I remember when W fought hard for this. He fought for what seemed like a week right after the 2004 campaign. Then he went into hiding only to come out an threaten his base with amnesty when his poll numbers dipped below 40%.
There are a few reasons why liberals will never sign off on the privatization of social security ... I’m sure you know them :
1> They won’t be able to spend that money.
2> It would validate capitalism.
3> People would be more secure financially (i.e. less likely to vote Democratic).
4> People would pay more attention to the overall health of the economy and see that socialism has an overall negative impact on the economy at large (i.e. less likely to vote Democratic).
5> People would be free to choose where their investments are made (i.e. no way for FedGov scum to steer money to friends as payback). Liberals view choice as “freedom to abort lives”. Everything else is up to them.
If people were ‘forced’ to invest 12-14% of income (i.e. what you and your employer pay into SS) and not allowed to touch it until age 65, a substantial number of people would be financially secure upon retirement. You wouldn’t even have to increase retirement age much per say. Compounding interest is a powerful force in the universe :-).
However, again, for the reasons cited, FedGov scum aren’t too into freedom. It won’t happen.
Medicare goes belly up first.
Something that is just wrong.
You earn your salary then they take out income tax and then FICA.
When you get old enough to claim SS benefits. They take income tax out of it a second time.
That’s double taxing.
The ultimate Ponzi scheme, but nobody goes to jail.
Meh, nobody’s going to fix it. If my money isn’t there when I retire, I’ll just have to rob some federal banks or something to get it.
If I get caught, well, they’ll have to send me to federal prison and pay my room and board and medical bills anyway. Win-win.
NO, Al Gore said IT WAS IN A LOCKBOX and kept saying it over and over! It has always been the Republicans who have nibbled at bringing some fixes to it and then been beaten like a drum by AARP, MSM, Democrats and the rest of the usual suspects!
I forget which prominent Democrat who said that he would happily expand Social Security as it got him current voters and he would be long gone before the bill became due! This is still their view as witness Bernie and cohorts!
If 2008 taught me anything it’s that if you go to Congress with the proper Doomsday Scenario in a moment of crisis, you WILL get a bailout.
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