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People just need to be realistic. My siblings and most of the cousins in my generation went to private colleges and universities. The next generation of cousins is going to public universities. So far there are 2 CPAs and a Chem E, all working for big firms. We paid for 2/3 of my son's education and he paid for 1/3. We would not saddle him (or us) with the private school prices. We live in the NYC metro and with 2 working parents we did not qualify for financial aid. My son received a number of scholarship offers from decent private schools, but the numbers were still as much as 100% higher (or more) than what we paid for his public school.
The public universities are more competitive now as people cannot afford to drop $50k+ of after tax dollars when you can pay $18k to $28K for a great education.
Exactly this. Annual private college tuition is easily at least equivalent to the entire tab of tuition, books, and room and board at a public college for that same year, and many times equivalent to 2 or more years. Going to an out-of-state public college often puts those schools in the private school tuition range, too.
Interesting statistics - thanks for posting them. The thing that always makes me wonder is how there can be almost nine million disabled people in the United States. That is one hell of a lot of disabled people!!
I get it that you can be in a car wreck and break your back. That is a terrible tragedy. I get it that you can have a stroke and be partially paralyzed. That is a terrible tragedy too. But how do those cases, and others like them, add up to almost nine million? One has to wonder how many cases "cannot" work due to "mental" issues? One has to wonder further if there were no food forthcoming unless work were performed whether the ability to work would be magically restored?
I know there is no way to know this, but I would be very curious about the percentage of the "disabled" who are truly and genuinely disabled. The real ones must be even more galled than I am about the fakers, and I do recognize that there are plenty of real ones.
There are 320 million Americans. It's estimated that about 10% of the US population has some kind of disability (about 32 million). The 9 million SS disability recipients are 2.8% of all Americans, and that includes the many people born with disabilities who might have never survived infancy in earlier times.
In order to qualify for SS disability, one has to prove he/she is unable to work (100% disabled), which is often hard to prove and takes a long time. My brother has been trying to qualify for SS disability for 3 years, and he has a good case ... all kinds of documentation ... it's just that the process takes forever. Right now, he's collecting regular SS but disability would give him a higher benefit because he had to stop working at 60 and take SS at 62.
There are 320 million Americans. It's estimated that about 10% of the US population has some kind of disability (about 32 million). The 9 million SS disability recipients are 2.8% of all Americans, and that includes the many people born with disabilities who might have never survived infancy in earlier times.
In order to qualify for SS disability, one has to prove he/she is unable to work (100% disabled), which is often hard to prove and takes a long time. My brother has been trying to qualify for SS disability for 3 years, and he has a good case ... all kinds of documentation ... it's just that the process takes forever. Right now, he's collecting regular SS but disability would give him a higher benefit because he had to stop working at 60 and take SS at 62.
But if he gets SSDI now, at 63(?), won't it kick back to regular SS when he hits 65 and whatever months?
I have a small correction. People who have never worked or who didn't work long enough aren't usually eligible for SSDI. They are, however, many times qualified for SSI, which is a separate program. That's what individuals born with disabilities qualify for.
A long wait for SSDI isn't new, I can remember people waiting for 2 or 3 years to qualify 40 years ago.
Sorry Social Security won't be there for the youngins. It was a system developed when the life expectancy was not much greater than the retirement age. For decades now nothing has been done about the problem across multiple administrations.
Many people that did nothing about the failing program will be drawing from it. The kids will be left high and dry.
People were saying that in 1975.
At the time, I hated being taxed to pay into SS. I thought it was a raw deal. After all, I could invest the money myself and get a much higher return.
And then life happened. As John Lennon said, "life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
Most people go through life experiencing a series of setbacks including job loss, sickness, divorce, and family problems that require unplanned financial support. They also prove to be lousy investors; they frequently buy at the top and sell at the bottom.
The result is what we have. Most get to retirement age with insufficient funds saved.
So my opinion has changed. I think SS should be expanded so that it provides a larger percentage of income for most people.
I was given the scare tactic in my 20's that social security wouldn't be there for me when I became eligible to receive it. I believed the prophecy and planned accordingly.
We don't need it to live and if I do collect something relatively small, then great. At least John won't miss that income when I kick the bucket before him.
I'll never understand the manna from heaven mentality. We should all be responsible for our future and I wish I had not been forced to pay into social security. I believe that money could have bought us another income property and paid us more in the long run.
that is you that may have done well . the rest of the public sucks at investing so them getting their hands on what is supposed to be their income insurance isn't such a good idea . pucker factor is their number 1 problem as well as discipline .
Luckily I have a good retirement, but enjoy the benefits of the Social Security system I PAID IN TO for the past 50 years or so. People forget, that isn't a gift, it's our money. I know a few people who live on SS payments alone, and because of media hype are terrified their payments will be stopped.
Politicians on both sides use this to scare old people into supporting them during the election cycle. Hardly hear them speak of the vanishing fund any other time. Tired of them I am. How can we import so many poor and unskilled people to tap into our fund and have it not run out? They will not be able to contribute enough income to sustain it for long.
Sorry Social Security won't be there for the youngins. It was a system developed when the life expectancy was not much greater than the retirement age. For decades now nothing has been done about the problem across multiple administrations.
Many people that did nothing about the failing program will be drawing from it. The kids will be left high and dry.
Social Security also like our tax system was developed with an "Ozzie and Harriet" family mentality that pretty much no longer exists.
A woman who marries young and well will end up getting more in SS benefits than another female who remained single but worked all her life. The former is eligible for said benefits regardless of who well to extremely provided for her circumstances are.
Politicians on both sides use this to scare old people into supporting them during the election cycle. Hardly hear them speak of the vanishing fund any other time. Tired of them I am. How can we import so many poor and unskilled people to tap into our fund and have it not run out? They will not be able to contribute enough income to sustain it for long.
Actually IIRC illegal aliens contribute vast sums in payroll taxes (FICA) that fund SS and Medicare that they never will claim on average. This is mainly via using false/fraudulent SS #'s.
Poor and unskilled persons who arrive in the USA legally such as via asylum are not normally eligible for Social Security but they can (depending upon circumstances) get Supplemental Security, however the latter's funds come out of government general revenue, not the SS "trust fund". All those Cubans who wash up or otherwise arrive on US soil in some circumstances get Supplemental Security.
Not true. You are using hyperbole, because even if nothing at all is done to tweak the system (unlikely), the benefits will eventually have to be cut to 75% of current levels. While that would be a serious problem, it is not the same as Social Security "not being there" and people being "left high and dry".
The way you expressed it, Social Security is going to implode and cease to exist, which is an absurdity.
Truth to tell both sides are loathe to open up true debate on SS reform for fear of what may come out of the process.
Feminists/women rights persons fear any reduction or even elimination (as France briefly did before reinstating) spousal benefits especially survivor. Democrats/liberals certainly do not want any sort of means testing especially for spousal and survivor benefits.
Republicans/conservatives do not want anything more that smacks of "wealth redistribution" where taxes are increases on the better off to give enhanced SS benefits to those less so. They certainly do not want unearned income opened up to taxation more than the recent Obamacare Medicaid tax. If they can get rid of that they would be happy.
Thing is sooner or later SS will have to change if for no other reason American demographics and society has and will continue to do so. Everything from declining marriage rates to same sex marriage point to a world that isn't the 1950's any longer. Then as already stated for many one or even two legs of that proverbial stool are either very weak or do not exist.
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