I think a lot of the discussion about the Social Security crisis is hype. The trouble is the government has borrowed money from the social security fund in the past and not paid it back. Also, if the reserves are projected to be depleted in 2042 or 2052, it doesn't seem like a crisis so much as a problem that needs to be solved but not with scare tactics.
I do not think the consumer index method of benefit calculations is fair. I pay in based upon my earnings, I should get out the same way. So, now you want to say you will continue to tax me at the rate that comes from my increases in pay, but not pay me based upon my increases in pay.
I think they should remove the cap on wages that require payment of this tax. That would probably solve it entirely. Right now, once you make over a certain amount of money each year, you don't pay social security tax on the remainder of your income. At the moment, that limit is $87,900.
Edited: tenaheff on 5th Jan, 2005 - 10:55pm
International Level: Diplomat / Political Participation: 320 32%
If I remember my history right... Social Security was initially set up to force folks to put back for a rainy day called old age. It was to function like a savings account. You got back what you put in.
Now it has become a welfare organ with folks getting back much more than they put in. Now that's nice for all of us... but somebody's gotta pay for it.
And you are right... the governmental dipping into it is tantamount to stealing. All that potential interest lost for our welfare check.
Frankly... I don't expect to see any of it. I'm 55 and really don't expect to retire. Why who wants to get tired all over again anyway.
Folks are all up in arms about it thinking it is a right. I actually heard the logic that it's constitutional using for justification the phrase in the preamble "provide the general welfare!"
I'm probably showing a lot of ignorance here, but it seems to me that a lot of us don't really know what real hard times are. Unfortunately, if we keep spending like we do... we will and where will our 'social security' be then?
QUOTE |
Folks are all up in arms about it thinking it is a right. I actually heard the logic that it's constitutional using for justification the phrase in the preamble "provide the general welfare!" |
International Level: Diplomat / Political Participation: 320 32%
Millions of Americans get by on Social Security alone
USATODAY.com - Mary Rathbun gets an $809 check every month from Social Security and an additional $100 in food stamps. The 74-year-old former nurse pays $550 in rent for her apartment in St. Helens, Ore. That leaves less than $400 for food, utilities and other expenses, including medical bills.
Ref. https://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=stor...alsecurityalone
Defaulted Loans May Haunt Seniors:
A little-noticed law could soon result in smaller Social Security checks for hundreds of thousands of the elderly and disabled who owe the you.S. Money from defaulted loans and other debts more than a decade old. Ref. Source 8
Social Security Under Attack: Cuts Proposed, Higher Retirement Age Suggested
The attacks on Social Security have steadily intensified in the past few months. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer recently called for a higher retirement age, and House Minority Leader John Boehner suggested raising the retirement age to seventy. Meanwhile, President Obama's bipartisan eighteen-member commission dealing with the nation's public debt is due to come out with a report in November that is expected to recommend cuts to Social Security. We speak with Dean Baker of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Ref. Source 8 Ref. Source 5