Posted on 02/02/2011 7:18:22 PM PST by rabscuttle385
Congress should cut a deal this year to raise the retirement age to 69, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said.
Graham, who'd flirted last month with an increase in the retirement age to help address Social Security's solvency, backed a phased-in hike in the retirement age.
"As I said on 'Meet the Press,' I'm looking for a process that will lead to a vote on saving Social Security from bankruptcy this year, that would adjust the age," Graham said on WVOC radio in South Carolina.
Graham referenced as his model the deal cut between President Reagan (R) and Democratic House Speaker Tip O'Neill (Mass.) in the 1980s that provided for a gradual increase in the retirement age to 67.
"Ronald Reagan went from 65 to 67 with Tip O'Neill … we could use that same type system, to go from 67 to 69, for people under 55," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
We need somebody to photoshop Lindsey's head on to a picture of The Fonzie.
Popular back then to raid the SS funds, but now that’s going to bite them.
That is an ignorant and stupid statement.
Boomers have PAID SS and Medicare for their entire lives. The people running the show were largely "the greatest generation", who proceeded to SPEND the money we PAID. And who voted in boondoggles like "the war on poverty" we've spent trillions on.
Boomers form the backbone of the Tea Party. Boomers lead the opposition to Klinton.
It wasn't Boomers who voted for Socialist Security. It wasn't Boomers who created the "Great Society". It wasn't Boomers who voted in Medicaid and food stamps. But WE paid for it !
Why not do a little research prior to slandering a generation.
I don’t steal anything; I contributed $166,000 so you could get your welfare check and free education. Its time for you to pay your share back.
“No, I’m 60 years old and I am still going strong. I see no reason why I should go on the government dole when I hit 65 or 67. Hell, Reagan was into his 70’s when he was first elected president”
Reagan was 68 years old when he was first elected president in 1980. I think he was 69 his first year in office.
Just because YOU are still “going strong” at 60 in no way reflects as to how anyone else is doing by the time they reach that age. Many people — especially those who survive on manual labor, and especially males — are struggling just to make it to the current retirement age. Some are starting to have a hard time of it in their fifties.
“Do you think it is OK for you to sit on your ass for 30 years while your grandchildren foot the bill for you and all your old geezer friends?”
I don’t expect to live 30 years beyond my own retirement. But if I do — or if anyone else can live that long (which would be 95-97 years old under the current system) — well, God bless ‘em!
My dad was a carpenter, worked hard all his life, suffered physically in some respects because of it, but is still alive and ok at 86. I have no qualms about paying for _his_ retirement. Can you say the same about your own parents and grandparents?
I have no poblems about having paid as much as I have into the retirement system where I work — and it’s considerably more than others pay into Social Security. By the way, I haven’t paid into “Social Security” since 1979 (if you’re incredulous about that, I will explain later).
“Social security is nothing but a welfare system.”
No, it’s not. It’s the epitome of an “entitlement system”. As has been mentioned on other threads, one of the main reasons the ‘rats are against the idea of “means testing” for SS is that it would transform SS from an “entitlement” (which is something everyone is “entitled to”, regardless of need) into a “welfare” system (which is a handout based on need). BTW, I think that some form of means testing will become a part of any long-term fix for _both_ Social Security _and_ Medicare (which has long-term funding problems far more severe than does SS).
“When social security was started, the retirement age and the life expectancy age were the same (65). Life expectancy for men is now 76 and for women it is 80 and thanks to modern medicine and nutrition knowledge, it continues to rise. If we are going to use Social security as it was intended, then we should not institute Social Security until people have reached average life expectancy”
Yes, average “life expectancy” has risen (though I believe some of the numbers are skewed by lower infant mortality rates and by the reality of better medical care available during “the productive years” of 40-65). But just because many live longer doesn’t mean they are capable of working longer, or at the same level of physical and mental competency that they had when younger. What better medical technology has achieved, for better or worse, is the lengthening of the “post-productive” years.
“How old are you? How long do you think you will live?”
I’m older than you. I was _eligible_ to retire in December of 2009, but I’ve kept right on working. I didn’t feel ready to enter the realm of “the entitlement class” yet. And I wanted to feel I was “productive”. It was my own choice. I also earn more money while still working, though friends tell me it isn’t as much as I think.
What do I foresee as my life expectancy? I figure that if I make 70, I’ll be lucky.
As I stated above, I don’t pay directly into Social Security, and haven’t since ‘79. I pay into the Railroad Retirement system, and you might be interested in the fact that as president, George W. Bush signed into law changes in the Railroad Retirement system that actually LOWERED the retirement age from 62 to 60 in order to receive a full annuity, which one gets after completing 30 years of service.
I was figuring on leaving just shy of age 62, with over 32 years of service.
It’s about time, too. Although the work I do (running passenger trains) doesn’t involve the same physical effort as, say, a carpenter, plumber, or mason, it’s still physically demanding work that requires not only physical acuity but a level of awareness and sharpness of senses that begins to degrade in the 50’s. There’s no “automatic pilot” on a locomotive — you have to be in control every moment. And railroaders (particularly in freight service) work long hours with more away-from-home time than most people will ever understand. It can wear one down faster, and I’m guessing that when the Railroad Retirement Act was written, the retirement age was set to reflect these realities.
I often get asked at work, “when are you going to go?” Seems like folks there aren’t concerned as much with their having to pay _my_ retirement, but more with when I’m going to leave and make room for the younger ones to “move up”.
The REAL reason why the retirement age isn’t going to be raised is because it would be political suicide at this point in time to do so. Lindsey Graham is a fool, the Joe Biden of the Republican Party. Raising the retirement age certainly WILL cure the financial ills of the Social Security system, you betcha. But so will ObamaCare’s “death panels” cure the problems of Medicare in the same way.
Work... till you die.
Be old, get sick, require costly treatment, and.... you die.
That surely will solve our problems and maintain a governing majority.
Yep. That’s the ticket!
It is a step towards solving our problems, but it will obviously not help us to maintain a governing majority. Although the whole Social Security system is clearly unconstitutional, nobody has the political will to try to put an end to it, now or in the future. It is a ponzi scheme that will ultimately bankrupt the nation unless we make significant changes. One of the changes is to recognize it as a welfare system and make entitlement based on inability to work or significantly raise the retirement age as Graham has so conservatively suggested. He wants to raise it to 69. I think it needs to be raised to match the current life expectancy tables and it needs to be adjusted periodically to match the current life expectancy tables. Since the current life expectancy as of 1010 is 77.9 years, we need to adjust the date upon which you are "entitled" to social security regardless of your ability to work to 77.9 years and then adjust it at least once every decade.
Will anyone follow my advice? No. To do so would be political suicide. But sometimes you need to jump on a grenade to save your fellow soldiers. We need a congress that is willing to jump on a grenade to save our posterity. That will never happen, so we will eventually go bankrupt.
What we see happening in Egypt today is our future. That is the future we will leave our children and grandchildren when we blissfully take early retirement on their dime.
“I don’t steal anything; I contributed $166,000 so you could get your welfare check and free education. Its time for you to pay your share back.”
I agree you didn’t steal anything. The problem is that you people want to use the power of the government to start stealing from my kids and future grandkids.
Your generation voted to GIVE ME that money - and I appreciate it - it came in very handy, funding my major in linguistics degree and paying for my Air Jordans.
If you guys wanted that money for retirement, you should have voted to hold on to it. Instead spending it was more important - which was fine - but you don’t get use it twice. So what was that FICA withholding, in reality - it was just an additional income tax - as it sure as heck wasn’t being held for anyone’s retirement.
Thanks for admitting that you’re a hypocrite!
“Thanks for admitting that you’re a hypocrite!”
LOL, thanks for reading my viewpoint. It’s getting a LOT MORE play now, so maybe we will start really trying to fix the HUGE problem - instead of just taking our share and shoving it off to our kids to fix.
Take care.
Unfortunately, our melt-down is coming sooner than the cover-up crew wants to admit.
It could be this year.
I’m with you - I actually expected the real meltdown to hit in 2006. Instead we had a near-meltdown in 2008, but then kicked the can down the road and we keep kicking it. It will be HORRENDOUS when we finally are forced to pay the piper.
Government can’t afford to pay cash out. Just stop taking my money!
Mt Grandfather was a railroader. He started working at age 13 as a “call boy” and retired at 53 with a forty year pension. The first thing he did upon retiring was to move to a small town he would some times stop at. He then immediately went to work taking care of everything he had time for in his small little town for free. The bonus he got was some measure of say in how things were run and knowing everybody’s business. My Grandmother would say the news paper was full of old news.
Unfortunately he and my father’s generation spent all that money put into social security. There is no lock box full of HD TV’s, mowed lawns and dinners at Olive Garden for people on SS. Younger people are going to have to make all that stuff. My kids can’t afford the taxes it takes to pay other people to make all that stuff. People retiring now are going to have to live on less than their grandparents promised.
I agree though that we shouldn’t “end” SS. Old people are old and slower. We can afford to do something for them. I just wish they wouldn’t expect something they can’t have.
I give it three to six years. The current crop of Republicans can only find $30billion to cut this year so maybe sooner rather than later.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.