Given The Chance To Start Over, What Would You Do Different With Social Security

[SwimExpert]

Never create it

Oh, what a brilliant idea! How do you propose seniors get by, work their whole entire lives?

The same way I will have to get by when I retire and Social Security has long gone bankrupt: Plan for their own retirement.

The real shitty thing is that I'm having to put my money away for my own retirement, while paying hundreds of dollars every paycheck for other people's retirement.

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Statements like this irritate me, they really do, it's a massive generalization that ignores, well, everything. Financial crashes? Low income families being stuck at the bottom of the ladder? Emergencies? Medical bills? Heck, college costs, working a low wage job your whole life, family costs, feeding yourself, stagnant wages.. Then again, so many people have this mentality that they just need to save money, people do save money, the problem is, it's hilariously unrealistic to assume anyone could save enough to prepare for decades without a program like social security.

If you worked a low wage job your entire life whose fault is that?

That's not the only thing that counts towards this, and here we go again with the faulting. A low wage job is $10-$15 depending on where you live, some places have ridiculously high costs of living, and if you have kids, $20 an hour is still barely enough.. You assume all low wage workers have no education, aren't trying to move up.. Jesus christ, it's the mentality of "fuck everyone but the people I view as successful, ignoring the fact that upward mobility mostly occurs when you're already born into a well off family" I just want to smash my head against the keyboard.

Move to a place with a lower cost of living and if you can't afford children why are you having them in the first place?

 

[Judicial review]

Chilean model - Thread closed. Why do I have to be the only smart one here?

 

[SwimExpert]

and if you can't afford children why are you having them in the first place?

For the tax credits.

 

[Judicial review]

and if you can't afford children why are you having them in the first place?

For the tax credits.

Children are a very good tax incentives. No, really, if you do it right they can be quite valuable.

 

[my2¢]

The system isn't in that big of a mess and could be easily fixed if the politicians had the mind to. It'll get done, but I expect another last minute band-aid approach forced upon them by citizens and especially the states, which surely are in no position to go back to the county "poor" houses that died out in the 50's because of Social Security's implementation.
One of the things needed to be looked at are the 81 different strategies folks can use for collecting their money. We've got $200 an hour financial advisors telling folks how to best milk the system. That's crazy.
.

 

[Claudette]

Never create it

Yup. Never create it or Medicare.

If I could I'd take every dime that I have in both those ponzi programs. I can take better care of my money than some clown in DC/.

 

[Sun Devil 92]

If anything.....

Social Security was a necessity when it was instituted.

It's history is less than straightforward.

Some people currently detest it and want to get rid of it. Some would phase it out.

Some would change it and keep in control of the government.

What would you do if you had complete control over the system.

Keep it, beef it up, phase it out, get rid of it.....????

I would vote it down.

So...would that be if it were first proposed....or now (thus taking it from many who've paid into it for a long time) ?

Yes. Before Social Security was passed we had this thing called "saving for retirement." We also had another thing called "taking care of your parents."

Never create it

Oh, what a brilliant idea! How do you propose seniors get by, work their whole entire lives?

The same way I will have to get by when I retire and Social Security has long gone bankrupt: Plan for their own retirement.

The real shitty thing is that I'm having to put my money away for my own retirement, while paying hundreds of dollars every paycheck for other people's retirement.

So what would you do if you could redo the system ?

Keeping in mind that you have many who have paid into it for a long long time.

This is a change in direction...not a fresh start.

 

[Sun Devil 92]

Never create it

Yup. Never create it or Medicare.

If I could I'd take every dime that I have in both those ponzi programs. I can take better care of my money than some clown in DC/.

O.K.

So it has been around a while and they come to you and say you can change it.

What would you do. It's already in place.

Would you shut it down or phase it out ?

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Never create it

Yup. Never create it or Medicare.

If I could I'd take every dime that I have in both those ponzi programs. I can take better care of my money than some clown in DC/.

O.K.

So it has been around a while and they come to you and say you can change it.

What would you do. It's already in place.

Would you shut it down or phase it out ?

You do what Bush proposed and gradually move it to the private sector where the return on average would be much greater than what it is today and completely solvent.

 

[SwimExpert]

So what would you do if you could redo the system ?

Exactly as Taz said, never create it.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

If anything.....

Social Security was a necessity when it was instituted.

It's history is less than straightforward.

Some people currently detest it and want to get rid of it. Some would phase it out.

Some would change it and keep in control of the government.

What would you do if you had complete control over the system.

Keep it, beef it up, phase it out, get rid of it.....????

I wouldn't do it.

 

[Sun Devil 92]

So what would you do if you could redo the system ?

Exactly as Taz said, never create it.

I am asking from today forward.

The system exists.

Would leave it ?

Modify it ?

Kill it ?

 

[SwimExpert]

So what would you do if you could redo the system ?

Exactly as Taz said, never create it.

I am asking from today forward.

The system exists.

Would leave it ?

Modify it ?

Kill it ?

Yes, eliminate it completely.

 

[G.T.]

Never create it

So, you'd get rid of it ?

You can't get rid of it now without replacing it with something else because you've got four generations of people now who have been collecting from it. It's going to go away on its own, though, anyway, because it will eventually run out of money. Social Security won't exist by the time I'm old enough to collect from it and so I don't even consider it part of my retirement planning.

Yea it will

 

[RandallFlagg]

If anything.....

Social Security was a necessity when it was instituted.

It's history is less than straightforward.

Some people currently detest it and want to get rid of it. Some would phase it out.

Some would change it and keep in control of the government.

What would you do if you had complete control over the system.

Keep it, beef it up, phase it out, get rid of it.....????

It's a hard question. When it was instituted, America was in the grips of depression. There was no hope. SS gave the average guy a reason to go on. One problem, however. Politicians were allowed to dip their greedy little fingers into the well - and it has been a disaster ever since. Every political campaign season - democrats try to scare the hell out of old people by the old bullshit "The republicans arte going to take YOUR money from you". It's bullshit. Always has been and always will. If we have enough "phony paper money" to fight a never ending war - we have enough money to take care of people who have been paying into the system all their lives.

The government of the United States didn't give us (I'm old) any choice in the matter. We would pay into the "system" all our lives and it would be given back to us upon retirement. They had damned well better live up to their end of this "bargain".

If it is decided that the "system" is broken (thanks politicians) then choose an age - say 10 or 11 years of age. From that point - they no longer pay into this "system" - and they get nothing from it.

In the meantime - let's consider stopping our politicians from getting their retirement after one term in office.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Never create it

Yup. Never create it or Medicare.

If I could I'd take every dime that I have in both those ponzi programs. I can take better care of my money than some clown in DC/.

If I could get that money back, I could retire before I was 50 instead of never seeing a penny of it.

 

[bripat9643]

If anything.....

Social Security was a necessity when it was instituted.

It's history is less than straightforward.

Some people currently detest it and want to get rid of it. Some would phase it out.

Some would change it and keep in control of the government.

What would you do if you had complete control over the system.

Keep it, beef it up, phase it out, get rid of it.....????

I would vote it down.

So...would that be if it were first proposed....or now (thus taking it from many who've paid into it for a long time) ?

Yes. Before Social Security was passed we had this thing called "saving for retirement." We also had another thing called "taking care of your parents."

Never create it

Oh, what a brilliant idea! How do you propose seniors get by, work their whole entire lives?

The same way I will have to get by when I retire and Social Security has long gone bankrupt: Plan for their own retirement.

The real shitty thing is that I'm having to put my money away for my own retirement, while paying hundreds of dollars every paycheck for other people's retirement.

So what would you do if you could redo the system ?

Keeping in mind that you have many who have paid into it for a long long time.

This is a change in direction...not a fresh start.

I thought we were discussing what to do if we could start from scratch. "Keeping in mind that you have many who have paid into it for a long long time" isn't starting from scratch.

 

[Camp]

Never create it

Yup. Never create it or Medicare.

If I could I'd take every dime that I have in both those ponzi programs. I can take better care of my money than some clown in DC/.

If I could get that money back, I could retire before I was 50 instead of never seeing a penny of it.

Nonsense. There is a cut off when after a certain income you no longer have to, or had to pay in. Depending on your age and years of putting funds into SS, even if you earned the maximum amount and hit the cut off mark, you would not have enough to retire comfortably even after 40 or 50 years of contributions.

 

[bripat9643]

Never create it

Yup. Never create it or Medicare.

If I could I'd take every dime that I have in both those ponzi programs. I can take better care of my money than some clown in DC/.

If I could get that money back, I could retire before I was 50 instead of never seeing a penny of it.

Nonsense. There is a cut off when after a certain income you no longer have to, or had to pay in. Depending on your age and years of putting funds into SS, even if you earned the maximum amount and hit the cut off mark, you would not have enough to retire comfortably even after 40 or 50 years of contributions.

Bullshit. If I had that money to invest, I would have several million dollars. In fact, someone making 50K a year would have over a million dollars after 40 years.