Originally posted by sasquatch672I certainly hope that mateulose will weigh in on this thread. I cannot imagine what he will say.
Today I read the CBO's 2004 report on the state of Social Security. And with all of the partisan voices out there, the CBO is one I trust. And basically , the CBO says it's got to be fixed. So anybody out there got any ideas about how Social Security can accomplish the following:
1. Pay out benefits unmodified to those people due to retire in t ...[text shortened]... esn't that immediately translate into a) higher taxes, b) lower benefits, or c) more borrowing?
Social Security doesn't work in the long run? Surprise, surprise!
Can you name any pyramid scheme that does work in the long run?
Anybody who works through the logistics knows that all such scams must
eventually collapse. Social Security is no exception, and shame on the
people who instituted it for not having the foresight to realize it; it's not
that obscure of a conclusion.
Dr. S
President of Defiance, Inc.
Originally posted by DoctorScribblesDoctorScribbles, would you be in favor of private retirement accounts to replace some portions of SSI which are being discussed?
Social Security doesn't work in the long run? Surprise, surprise!
Can you name any pyramid scheme that does work in the long run?
Anybody who works through the logistics knows that all such scams must
eventually collapse. Social Security is no exception, and shame on the
people who instituted it for not having the foresight to realize it; it's not
that obscure of a conclusion.
Dr. S
President of Defiance, Inc.
Originally posted by kirksey957I am in favor of doing away with mandatory Social Security contributions.
DoctorScribbles, would you be in favor of private retirement accounts to replace some portions of SSI which are being discussed?
If people want to voluntarily pay into that pyramid scheme, fine.
If people want to save money in private retirement accounts, fine.
As a non-American I shouldn't have a right to butt in, but as a nosy bastard I'm going to! 😉
WHy is SS a pyramid scheme? Surely it is more of like a retirement/pension scheme.
Also, if people are worried about the money for it, why not take a gander at the defense budget, a whole lotta cash in there.
Originally posted by builderIt is a pyramid scheme because:
WHy is SS a pyramid scheme?
1. You pay money to a select few above you - retirees - when you are at the bottom working.
2. You hope to one day get to the top. The majority of people do, but a good many don't.
3. You hope that when you do get to the top, there will stil be people at the bottom to pay you, at least as much you put into it.
The saddest part of American SSI is that the average peson expects to lose money on the deal - that is, the average person expects to pay more in Social Security taxes than he expects to receive in benefits. If you look at your social security statement that gets sent each year, the numbers are staggering. For example, I've only paid taxes on 10 years of income (and only had an above-minumun salary for 2 1/2 of those). If I retired at 65 and lived to 100, my stated monthly SS benefit would not come close to reimbursing me for what I put into the system. Why? The sad truth is that the administration itself is permanently affixed at the top of the pyramid, draining money out of the system altogether, while the poor retirees are scratching their heads wondering what went wrong and why they never made it to the top.
Dr. S
Originally posted by DoctorScribblesIndeed, I think your analogy of it being a pyramid scheme is very appropriate. Quite frankly, there IS a very simple answer to fixing SS.
It is a pyramid scheme because:
1. You pay money to a select few above you - retirees - when you are at the bottom working.
2. You hope to one day get to the top. The majority of people do, but a good many don't.
3. You hope that when you do get to the top, there will stil be people at the bottom to pay you, at least as much you put into ...[text shortened]... scratching their heads wondering what went wrong and why they never made it to the top.
Dr. S
1) The government must keep their brubby little hands off of OUR money. The SS money is to be held in trust for the US people, so they should bugger off and quit stealing from the people (becuase that is what it is, plain and simple.)
2) The government must put BACK all of the money they have stolen from the US people with interest.
Do these two simple things, and everyone can have a fairly comfortable retirement (by my estimation and definition). Of course, this will never happen. After all, we might have to raise taxes 0.05% with the wealthy and gave our elected officials take a 5% pay cut to generate those funds.
This thread has got me thinking about somethng. We have forum threads on politics, religion and all kinds of stuff, most of it worthless. A few weeks ago I played an investment broker who is retired and rich. We need a damn money forum telling us how to make some damn money so we can sit around in the twilight of our lives and play chess and not work.
So who out there knows how to invest? Start a thread. It would be a tremendous gift to this site.
to kirks957 we here in england have people getting rich off the poor in investment funds, they promise the earth, like legal & genral who i went with, after years of them charging manegment fees they sent me a final figure and was less than i payed in!. after phoning and complaining they told me it had nothing to do with them, they gave me a list of goverment departments which look into disputes, again phoning and writting all i got was it was due to the investment and nothing to do with them, (tho guess who gets our queens awards for consumer watchdogs!!) so my advice is put your money something you enjoy ie art, antiques, etc then if you lose money at lest you have something you enjoy from it. GOOD LUCK