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 ...
“When social security Old Age and Survivors Insurance Program (notice there is no mention of retirement) was first begun, the age at which a purchase could draw the insurance benefits was 67. The average life expectancy was 64. What Congress needs to do is to peg social security benefits age to three years more than the average life expectancy AND to remind people that social security is NOT a retirement program.”
You forgot to mention the tax rate when it was first begun: 2 percent. It is now 12.4 percent. Just sayin.......
I just turned 50 this year. I never voted for a 'Rat in my life and never did my parents, or their parents before them.
Quit painting with a broad brush your holier than thou attitude. My father, a veteran, died in December. My mother is moving in with us next month so I can care for her personally and we can help each other make ends meet.
If it were up to me, Social Security would've been abolished decades ago. I've paid into the system for 35 years and my husband for 40 years.
We won't see a dime of our hard-earned money. I find your attitude toward people on a conservative board disgusting. We NEVER wanted to put our money into SS. Direct your anger at the big government idiots, not at the folks scraping by on this board.
Well simple math tells one that we either raise the retirement age, cut benefits or alter how social security is funded.
That’s George Carlin not only when he was alive but when he was funny (that shows you just how old I am).
“I find your attitude toward people on a conservative board disgusting. We NEVER wanted to put our money into SS. Direct your anger at the big government idiots, not at the folks scraping by on this board.”
I am roughly your age and I too never voted for these clowns. My point is that THE MONEY IS GONE. It has BEEN SPENT. The only question is now is whether the older generation has the right to come after younger generations to replenish what their generation (collectively) spent.
I think that is immoral, considering the hell that Obama is already in the process of leaving them - you may think otherwise.
blah blah blah
Right. There never was a real trust fund. I would say, though, that the boomers were always up against a solid block of SS recipients who always voted against anyone that threatened “their” program. That is why it was always called the “third rail” - not because boomers supported it.
In fact, I think that over the last 40 years or so a majority of “younger voters” wanted out of the system or recognized that it would collapse. The politcal design of the system, however, has made it virtually impossible to get rid of. The boomers are just the generation that is left standing when the social security “music stops”. They/we are left holding the bag. Nevertheless, that is no justification for stealing from the following generations. Someone has to lose, and it has been evident for a long time that the boomers are the ones to take the hit.
SS doesn’t need to be reformed; it needs to be eliminated. The more we prolong it with band-aids, the worse the damage will be.
I didn’t get the chance to appreciate much George Carlin, I was way too young for it when he was alive, funny and popular.
well I guess my plan not to retire until 70 is about right then
Try living in Egypt.
You get the FReeper Moron Statement of the new decade.
The Federal Government (FICA - look it up) confiscated over $200,000 from me and my employer over the last 47 years. Furthermore, I personally saved and invested $1.13m for retirement. During that time I educated two children through private universities to the tune of $400,000.
Someday when you grow up, study American history in a private school where they still teach it, you'll have some credibility in the adult world.
Good points - it was a ponzi-scheme even when the boomers were younger - but it has to collapse and is collapsing. I would just like to see it done in an orderly manner, rather than have carnage on the street, if we keep going along with this farce for another generation.
“blah blah blah”
Kind of tough for some people to handle, ehh?
So YOUR generation racks up 5 trillion over the last two years and you’re whining?
I'm for privatizing SS. The dems wanted nothing of that.
See post #94.
Me too at a typical (former) passbook savings account 3.0% interest rate, which, by the way is what the Feds want to "guarantee" you when they decide to confiscate our 401ks / IRAs.
life expectency for males when ssi was formed was 54 and females were 60
beevis and butt head
That's like saying all Japanese are responsible for Attacking Pearl Harbor. Are you a liberal Moonbat with no sense of reality?
I voted for Barry Goldwater before you were born.
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