Wow! It's not often that I find myself in at least partial agreement with Bountyhunter, but miracles happen.
We can't cut off benefits for those in the system, or those who are just a few years away.
Chris, you're being completely unrealistic on any number of levels. For as long as I can remember, Democrats especially used the Social Security "he's going to cut your benefits" bogeyman to attack Republican challengers. I worked the campaigns for many of those Republican challengers, and I know that it was a false charge, designed to scare the elderly.
But talk of raising the retirement age, cutting benefits, or other reductions to those my age aren't bogeyman stories. They're real. And they get my trigger finger itching.
Look: I didn't ask that Congress raise the SS tax from 2.5% in the 1960's (when I got my first after-school job washing dishes) to the 6.2% rate it's at today. I didn't ask that employers match the "contributions." I didn't ask that Congress keep raising the FICA ceiling every time I was able to increase my pay.
I didn't ask that JFK, LBJ, RMN, GRF, JEC, RFR, GHWB, WJC and GWB and their accompanying congresses raid the trust fund to divert the dollars that I and other workers paid in to government programs that had nothing to do with Social Security.
All I ask is that I get some portion of my money back. Considering that my father paid in dimes per month, and I've paid in nearly $1,000 per month while supporting him, that doesn't seem unreasonable.
There's always talk of "SHTF" scenarios on gun forums, and most of them are the words of keyboard commando's. But, take away the money I've worked my butt off for--under threat of deadly force by the SSA--and you'll see a real SHTF scenario. Take the food off my table, and you're going to see some bullets fly.
There is no easy fix to a program that was corrupt and immoral from the outset. History has taught us that corrupt and immoral governments and systems collapse under their own weight.
And so will SS. Again, it's not a question of if, but when.
In the meantime, we need to establish a transitional plan, one that gives my father, my older brothers, me, and everyone else who's been forced into the "system" what's been promised. At the same time, we need to give my nieces and nephews a plan that will increasingly give them a better retirement.
The biggest obstacle to any sort of SS reform over the last ten to twenty years has been seniors: they vote, often. Imagine the obstacles awaiting younger generations when my generation--the Baby Boomers--hold that sway.
I'd much rather deal with the problems now, before the slick politicians start scaring those of my generation, and the possibility of real reform is in front of us.
And, for those who don't think there's a problem: your turn is next. This is not going away.
Ready on the Right: I know you were being facetious with your post, but what you outlined are the very real possibilities if nothing is done now.
As I've mentioned repeatedly, I've paid in roughly $130,000 into SS since the 1970's. Do the math: break that figure down into thirty-year increments; put those dollars into conservative investments, and calculate where my account would be today. I've already done so. I'd be retired right now.
That's what I want for my young nieces and nephews. And for those here who are still young enough to benefit from decades of compound interest.
Finally, for those who think that Bush's plan is to help his Wall Street friends get rich (just like Halliburton): Wall Street isn't excited. The brokerage firms want clients who are contributing thousands of dollars a month, not hundreds. Given the paperwork involved, their profits will be a small percentage of what they get from the "real" investors now.
As usual, this is just plain political infighting when a serious issue is on the table. And, as usual, the politico's will do just fine while the rest of us take the real damage.
And, by the way, members of congress and the president pay into Social Security. But there's another retirement plan available to them that has
real returns on investment. Anywhere from 5% to 9% annually.
But it's not available to those who work in the private sector.