Trump is filling up the social security administration with lobbyists and puppets who want to kill it (ethics, top 10)
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SE should be killed. People should have the choice to invest for their retirement in the way they see fit.
Let the people who paid into the system receive the benefits they have earned while giving the new generation the choice to invest for their retirements.
This^^^^^^^
15.6% of our income goes to SS taxes. The return on that is lousy. Allow individuals to contribute to real investments with THEIR money.
Problem is-the government dumps SS revenue into the general fund and spends it as soon as it's collected. That is a huge pot of cash to spend on government handouts (in other words to buy votes). There IS no social security trust fund as such. It is a pot of IOUs that the government will have to take out of future revenues (what in private industry is an illegal Ponzi scheme). The current system is broke and will run out of money. It was doomed when Democrats under LBJ first started using the SS "trust fund" as general revenue to fund the "great society". In future years Republicans and of course Democrats have done NOTHING to fix it. Reagan tried with an increase in SS tax rates to fund the system-but putting more money into the system when the hole draining funds out is unlimited is a fools game.
We have been lied to about SS by our politicians for decades. Privatizing the system and ensuring every individual has THEIR own retirement fun and the ability to manage it is critical if SS in any form is to survive.
15.6% of our income goes to SS taxes. The return on that is lousy. Allow individuals to contribute to real investments with THEIR money.
Problem is-the government dumps SS revenue into the general fund and spends it as soon as it's collected. That is a huge pot of cash to spend on government handouts (in other words to buy votes). There IS no social security trust fund as such. It is a pot of IOUs that the government will have to take out of future revenues (what in private industry is an illegal Ponzi scheme). The current system is broke and will run out of money. It was doomed when Democrats under LBJ first started using the SS "trust fund" as general revenue to fund the "great society". In future years Republicans and of course Democrats have done NOTHING to fix it. Reagan tried with an increase in SS tax rates to fund the system-but putting more money into the system when the hole draining funds out is unlimited is a fools game.
We have been lied to about SS by our politicians for decades. Privatizing the system and ensuring every individual has THEIR own retirement fun and the ability to manage it is critical if SS in any form is to survive.
Those are the standard far-right talking points about SS.
What actions? Not being able to understand compound interest, as you proclaimed?
Not understanding that one has to save and invest for their retirement. As I've already posted, most people LOSE money on SS. They'll pay more in SS tax over their working career than they will receive in total SS benefits. They would have been better off stuffing that money in a mattress where it earns no return whatsoever.
Those are the standard far-right talking points about SS.
Is there any evidence for those claims?
Yes. Most people LOSE money on SS:
Quote:
"As recently as 1985, workers at every income level could retire and expect to get more in benefits than they paid in Social Security taxes, though they didn't do quite as well as their parents and grandparents.
Not anymore.
A married couple retiring last year after both spouses earned average lifetime wages paid about $598,000 in Social Security taxes during their careers. They can expect to collect about $556,000 in benefits, if the man lives to 82 and the woman lives to 85, according to a 2011 study by the Urban Institute, a Washington think tank.
Social Security benefits are progressive, so most low-income workers retiring today still will get slightly more in benefits than they paid in taxes. Most high-income workers started getting less in benefits than they paid in taxes in the 1990s, according to data from the Social Security Administration."
Not understanding that one has to save and invest for their retirement. As I've already posted, most people LOSE money on SS. They'll pay more in SS tax over their working career than they will receive in total SS benefits. They would have been better off stuffing that money in a mattress where it earns no return whatsoever.
SS should be as progressive as Medicare at least. Lift the cap on income subject to SS tax from the current 118k like we did with Medicare long ago.
We do not want to go back to the time of 60% poverty rate among the elderly like prior to SS and like we see in countries with privatized retirement systems.
According to the institute’s data, a two-earner couple receiving an average wage — $44,600 per spouse in 2012 dollars — and turning 65 in 2010 would have paid $722,000 into Social Security and Medicare and can be expected to take out $966,000 in benefits. So, this couple will be paid about one-third more in benefits than they paid in taxes.
If a similar couple had retired in 1980, they would have gotten back almost three times what they put in. And if they had retired in 1960, they would have gotten back more than eight times what they paid in. The bigger discrepancies common decades ago can be traced in part to the fact that some of these individuals’ working lives came before Social Security taxes were collected beginning in 1937.
The story doesn't even look at rate of return. Average return on the DJIS is what, 6-7% PER YEAR? This is a 30% rate of return over say 60 years (assuming someone started working at 20 and quit withdrawing at 80). Horrid rate of return-any mutual fund manager that did so would be fired, if not prosecuted for fraud.
What actions? Not being able to understand compound interest, as you proclaimed? Everyone understands bills, why are you deflecting from your own statement? Is this your form of eugenics? Let the dumb or undereducated starve to death?
Why don't you address my post? How can someone who cannot understand compound interest (as you stated) possibly understand investing, and what is wise and what isn't?
We have a real f'ing problem on our hands if we are going to dumb down society to cater to people who cant function past a 6-8th grade math level, thats just unacceptable. For the 100th time I'll say that we do need to protect those who have limitations and would otherwise be destitute, but if you are a US citizen who can't pass 6-8th grade math that is a huge problem, and to claim that the vast majority fall into this category to the point where we need to cater SS to their needs seems like total BS.
The story doesn't even look at rate of return. Average return on the DJIS is what, 6-7% PER YEAR? This is a 30% rate of return over say 60 years (assuming someone started working at 20 and quit withdrawing at 80). Horrid rate of return-any mutual fund manager that did so would be fired, if not prosecuted for fraud.
You've basically contradicted your entire assertion.
You claimed that most people are loosing money via SS contributions.
Now you're changing your position to: People don't get the same return from SS that they would have, IF they had invested wisely.
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