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Of course it’s insurance, and it has never failed to pay out, nor will it.
Social Security is more important now than it ever was, and it needs to be saved. And it WILL BE saved come hell or high water.
Facts!!
Spare us the drama. You sound like Trump for Chrissakes.
Insurance is something you pay into hoping you never have to use it. Nobody wants to have to use their car or disability insurance after all.
Social Security, in direct contrast, is something we pay into knowing we will use it. That is not insurance, but rather a forced savings account for retirement.
Now, despite leaning Libertarian, I can accept a compulsory savings account. But Social Security is structured like a Ponzi scheme. Uncle Sam does not have some special bank or mutual fund where the funds are going. They spend it as it comes in. Not ... very ... smart.
Save it come hell or high water? Sure. Treat it like a real investment fund. Allow people like me to invest my money properly. Use the stock market. Any index fund blows SS out of the water. Any of them.
Pointing out the faulty structure of something does not mean we want to starve old people. Only drama queens like you and Le Roi think that.
Millennials aren’t against social security. Check Ryan and Rubio who said they want to change the programs to compensate for the debt Trump has gotten us into. This tax bill added 1.5 trillion to the country’s debt. I don’t see any politicians giving up their benefits. We need to re structure these politicians benefits and pension plans so they aren’t staying in office perpetually. No job should be for life. Supreme Court or judges doesn’t matter. Time to change things up....
Spare us the drama. You sound like Trump for Chrissakes.
Insurance is something you pay into hoping you never have to use it. Nobody wants to have to use their car or disability insurance after all.
Social Security, in direct contrast, is something we pay into knowing we will use it. That is not insurance, but rather a forced savings account for retirement.
I would say it's more like a forced annuity. The problem is, annuities pay out more than it costs to buy future benefits. With SS, for most people, that's not true. Most people retiring now and going forward (and those who did so within the past several years), will LOSE money on SS. They'll get back LESS than they paid in SS tax.
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Now, despite leaning Libertarian, I can accept a compulsory savings account. But Social Security is structured like a Ponzi scheme. Uncle Sam does not have some special bank or mutual fund where the funds are going. They spend it as it comes in. Not ... very ... smart.
Exactly. The surplus was NOT invested, as it should have been. Instead, the Fed Gov took the surplus and spent it.
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Save it come hell or high water? Sure. Treat it like a real investment fund. Allow people like me to invest my money properly. Use the stock market. Any index fund blows SS out of the water. Any of them.
Correct.
Quote:
Pointing out the faulty structure of something does not mean we want to starve old people. Only drama queens like you and Le Roi think that.
Millennials aren’t against social security. Check Ryan and Rubio who said they want to change the programs to compensate for the debt Trump has gotten us into. This tax bill added 1.5 trillion to the country’s debt. I don’t see any politicians giving up their benefits. We need to re structure these politicians benefits and pension plans so they aren’t staying in office perpetually. No job should be for life. Supreme Court or judges doesn’t matter. Time to change things up....
Here's a fact I bet people don't know. A US Representative or Senator only has to serve five years in order to be fully vested in the pension ALL members of US Congress get:
"A full pension is available to members 62 years of age with 5 years of service; 50 years or older with 20 years of service; or 25 years of service at any age. A reduced pension is available depending upon which of several different age/service options is chosen. If Members leave Congress before reaching retirement age, they may leave their contributions behind and receive a deferred pension later."
In 2017, Congressional pay was $174,000 per year. At an 80% rate, that equates to a lifelong pension benefit of $139,200/year. All benefits are taxpayer-funded.
Meanwhile, the TOP SS payout is currently $32,244/year. And that's only for those who've met SS's tax prepayment requirements.
Now, despite leaning Libertarian, I can accept a compulsory savings account. But Social Security is structured like a Ponzi scheme. Uncle Sam does not have some special bank or mutual fund where the funds are going. They spend it as it comes in. Not ... very ... smart.
Save it come hell or high water? Sure. Treat it like a real investment fund. Allow people like me to invest my money properly. Use the stock market. Any index fund blows SS out of the water. Any of them.
Unless the stock market fails.
Actually, a government-enforced Ponzi scheme is coldly logical. What it does is enforce at a government level what societal generations have always done: The current-working generation supports the generation that has become too old to work, then they are supported likewise by the next generation that begins to work. Human society has existed that way all over the world for as long from the earliest roots of civilization.
It's only been over the last 75 years or so that it began to break down in the West, particularly in the US...and government has stepped in.
So either we begin teaching our children to take care of their elders again, or we stick with the government-enforced Ponzi scheme.
Actually, a government-enforced Ponzi scheme is coldly logical. What it does is enforce at a government level what societal generations have always done: The current-working generation supports the generation that has become too old to work, then they are supported likewise by the next generation that begins to work. Human society has existed that way all over the world for as long from the earliest roots of civilization.
It's only been over the last 75 years or so that it began to break down in the West, particularly in the US...and government has stepped in.
So either we begin teaching our children to take care of their elders again, or we stick with the government-enforced Ponzi scheme.
How about we restructure the Ponzi Scheme so that it is no longer a Ponzi Scheme?
The Fed Gov in cahoots with the Federal Reserve won't let that happen. Why not? US workers/retirees have $27 trillion worth of investments in their pension/retirement accounts. If that gets wiped out, even moderately, the carnage will be severe.
Why do you think all the QE ($4.5 trillion worth) and ZIRP happened since 2009? To prop up the stock market, bail out Fannie and Freddie (to the tune of $2 trillion created specifically to purchase their MBS) and therefore backstop that $27 trillion worth of investments.
Actually, a government-enforced Ponzi scheme is coldly logical. What it does is enforce at a government level what societal generations have always done: The current-working generation supports the generation that has become too old to work, then they are supported likewise by the next generation that begins to work. Human society has existed that way all over the world for as long from the earliest roots of civilization.
It's only been over the last 75 years or so that it began to break down in the West, particularly in the US...and government has stepped in.
So either we begin teaching our children to take care of their elders again, or we stick with the government-enforced Ponzi scheme.
SS won’t save anyon if th stock market fails.
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