I need two or three of you younger people to continue working to fund my SS.
You get me for another 10 years then you're on your own.
Correction: I still have 4 years myself.
The sad part about this thing is that it is a total pay as you go system because the govt didn't hang on to any of the boomer payments in a trust. It was spent!
They claimed it was borrowed. Who gets to pay it back? The whole thing is ridiculous.
Maybe not as ridiculous as it seems. The "lockbox" was a laughable campaign gimmick.
How would the money actually have been kept? As physical currency in a safe somewhere earning no interest and subject to inflation? Invested in stocks /bonds of companies (do we really want the US government to be a major stockholder in major corporations? Look to Europe for the rat's nest of problems that causes). Or, maybe loaned back to the US government (which needed to borrow money from somebody since they were spending more than they were taking from us). Just like an individual would buy US bonds. That's what was done.
Who will pay the money back? US taxpayers, just like they pay bearers of all government bonds. The bucks owed to SS are allegedly just as firm an obligation of the USG as all of the other bonds issued by the treasury.
But, who knows how it will really work out. There's definitely gonna be a crunch as SS becomes a net "taker' rather than a net "giver" starting in approx 2018. By approx 2041, all the paper IOUs that the Treasury owes SS will be used up and "pay as you go" will have a new meaning.
I see your point.
But, it could have been invested like an endowment or pension. Perhaps the excess could have been used that way.
Otherwise, the SS tax should have been lower the last 30 years.
In the PAYG system the SS tax is more of a function of how many people are paying into the system. If they had stashed it away... it would be there. Where was all of the talk about private accounts 30 years ago?
We have been scr3wed! In any other area (such as personal or business)... this would be illegal.
Sorry for the rant!
I thought this was about SS which, by the way, is already "means tested" just go look at the IRS Worksheet for determining ones taxable SS Benefits.
How come the rant on the military? About 50% (COLA'd) pay for 20 years service. Most reach that point at about 43 years or age, even younger if entering as an enlisted person (maybe as early as 37 years old). Plenty of time to enter a second career if one wanted to. Medical care currently $230 a year per person (or $460 a year for a Family) if you want the Prime program. You can go to a Military Facility for free or just go space available and forget the $230/$460. Care to provide some quotes about the "promising during Vietnam era" I was in before, during, and after the VN era and never remember anything like that. Although, I guess it all worked out pretty well since TRICARE is not too expensive (at about $40 to 80 a month) especially if you select the "free" levels (which I never did).
they are a very rich country, however, they are banking it and still taxing their people heavily -the comment made was that the oil wouldn't last forever and they wanted to make sure that they thought of the future.....
Please include some supported text rather just posting an image of a book.
I am 56. Just retired. I paid into the system for over 30 years. I had a contract with the guvm'nt, lived up to my end of it and they should honor their side. ... yes I want my turn at the federal tit. I didn't invent the game or make up the rules... but I did play the game.
It's true that it was a 'tax' at 'gunpoint' as you put it. But so are income taxes, sales taxes, property taxes, ...etc. But it is the only game in town. You either play it or you move. I have been all over this world. As bad as it is here in the great US of A, it's a heck of a lot better than in 999/1000 of the other places. Granted you can always point to a place that has better _______ (fill in the blank) than the US. But I don't see people, in mass, climbing fences and crossing rivers to get to those countries.But we never did have a contract with the government. I never signed anything. I never agreed to fund other people's retirements with the promise that one day someone else would fund mine. All that's happened is I've had a 12.4% payroll tax levied against me at gunpoint.
I'm angry about it, but not enough other people are to make a change. So I kiss that money goodbye, try my best to secure my own retirement, and hope that I'll be able to collect anything when it's "my turn". Any Socialist inSecurity checks that I receive are going to be extra play money unless they decide to tax away a substantial chunk of my retirement savings, which is a distinct possibility... when the entitlement programs begin collapsing, there will be a lot more drones holding their hands out who will be able to vote than there will be honest, productive citizens. It won't surprise me one bit to see my Roth IRA taxed (again), or some large chunk of my savings outright confiscated because I have "too much", and it "isn't fair" that I should have so much while others have nothing.
this is the 1st time I have ever heard anyone characterize what congress and the bureaucrats in Washington do with our 'other taxes' as 'honest'. pork barrel projects like bridges to no where....etc.megacorp - The difference between SS and other taxes, to me, is at least they're honest about the other ones... "Give us your money". .
Why shouldn't those of us that were born with better genetics share a bit of their wealth to help them? . . . .
I think that the least I can do is pay it forward a little bit & help out those that weren't as genetically blessed as I am.