Social(ist) Security

[tigereyes 19]

DEMOCRATS CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH FROM GREENSPAN

Finally the truth has been spoken: Social Security, in its current form, cannot be sustained. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned a House Budget Committee that because of the budget deficit and the retiring baby boomers, future cuts in Social Security and Medicare will be needed to prevent tax increases that would damage the economy. Since this is unacceptable to the Gimme Generation, Democrats immediately went into hysterics.

But Greenspan is absolutely right. People need to get it through their thick skulls that Social Security is broke. There is no trust fund. The lockbox is empty. Current beneficiaries are paid off by later ones. In private business, this is called a Ponzi scheme, and they put people in jail for it. What is being perpetrated on the American people with Social Security is so fraudulent, it makes Enron look like a bike ride.

Right now, as you read this, Social Security is $26 trillion in debt. President Bush has proposed allowing younger workers to invest part of their own Social Security money, but this is just a half-measure. The program needs to be privatized as soon as possible. Under a private system, beneficiaries would see a dramatically higher return on their investment than the current system. As it stands now, you will get far less from Social Security than you put in when you retire.

Remember: there is no Social Security fund waiting for you when you retire. It's all a big lie.

http://boortz.com/nuze/index.html

[DKW 86 7,726]

If you are under 45, you will likely see huge cuts in SS down the road. The only chance to save it is to allow investment in something other than Govt. The boomers will kill SS sure as anything.

[Jenny AU-92 0]

What I find kind of amusing tho is that I, and other people my age, are not counting on SS, and don't really care if it is there or not. The boomers are the last ones screaming about it! I am taking responsibility for my own retirement - I don't see it as the job of the Fed Govt to do that for me. I have pretty much written off EVER seeing a penny of that money that I "donate" every month, and have made other arrangements - aka annuities, IRA's, etc. I just consider that chunk of my check to be like regular taxes - gone for good. So the best hope for me, and what I would like to see happen, is for me to be given an opportunity to have a private retirement account at some point that I can pay in to - maybe at a certain age, I would be able to STOP paying SS tax, maybe even gradually, and that same money could be redirected into my own private retirement account. Anyone who is counting so very heavily on that $500 a month (or whatever it is) is delusional anyway if they think that is enough. The boomers have known about this, and overall have been a very financially successful generation - those that had half a brain planned ahead and really shouldn't get this money anyway - but they are also the first big "Entitlement" generation and so by golly, they want what's theirs!!! :roll:

[War Eagle 96 10]

I am taking responsibility for my own retirement - I don't see it as the job of the Fed Govt to do that for me. I have pretty much written off EVER seeing a penny of that money that I "donate" every month, and have made other arrangements - aka annuities, IRA's, etc.

A-men

[TrueBlue72 0]

Jenny, I am a boomer and for the last 20 years, I had exactly the same attitude about antisocial insecurity as you have stated. Anyone who is counting on it as a significant portion of their retirement income is as delusional as any Bammer who ever called into Finebaum.

I believe that the only reason that it has hung around in its present form is that any mention of changes gets such a rise out of the demoncrats and their legion of followers on government payrolls that such changes are not considered politically viable. For as long as I can remember, the retirees were paid, not from what they paid in, but from what was being currently collected. Like the Ponzi scheme, if a change like privatization is made, then where does the current mony come from! The really sad part of this all is that the democratic party, under the Roosevelt administration, knew the fallacy of this when it was inacted. The only way it could continue to work is for more and more people to be on the payroll and making contributions each year. At some point, the bubble has to burst.

I'm glad that President Bush has taken some initiative toward privatization since that is the only way to true solvency. If I had taken all the money I threw in that system over the last 40 years and invested it in the Dow, I would be a very wealthy man right now.

[DKW 86 7,726]

I am sssooo proud of you guys.

I was wondering if Wannabe and Myself were the only ones kissing SS off as Boomers.

I am planning on it being gas money but nothing else.

[BamaGrad03 0]

Just like I don't think its the governments job to pay people for not having a job when they are 25; I dont think they should pay me for not having one when im 60.

[Jenny AU-92 0]

Jenny, I am a boomer and for the last 20 years, I had exactly the same attitude about antisocial insecurity as you have stated. Anyone who is counting on it as a significant portion of their retirement income is as delusional as any Bammer who ever called into Finebaum.

TrueBlue - I should have been more specific - when I was thinking of those boomers who will be the ones screaming about losing their SS, I was thinking of wealthy NuYawk retirees living in condos in Boca Raton... I was truly generalizing for ease of discussion.

I know not all boomers feel this way - at least not the smart ones, like you and my parents. They have also planned WAY ahead, right down to buying a nursing home insurance policy. It will be the ones who vote Democratic and who have been fed the "entitlement for life" bullcrap that will be screaming, and unfortunately, they scream loudly. Pres Bush is definitely heading in the right direction. The Dems have completely lost touch with this issue.

Rush read some statistics that said back when SS started, it took the taxes of six workers to pay for one SS recipient. Now it takes 2 workers to pay for ONE recipient, and that means the burden on the individual taxpayer is going up. It is rapidly heading towards one to one - that will be when it hits the fan!!

Just like I don't think its the governments job to pay people for not having a job when they are 25; I dont think they should pay me for not having one when im 60

Amen brother!!!

[CCTAU 3,369]

I'm glad that President Bush has taken some initiative toward privatization since that is the only way to true solvency. If I had taken all the money I threw in that system over the last 40 years and invested it in the Dow, I would be a very wealthy man right now.

Amen. I am relatively young and if I had all the money pissed away by SS that I have paid in, I too would be well on my way to being a happy retiree.

Unfortunately, the boomers are the ones who were made to believe while they were young that it would be there and by the time they hit the age to start realizing that it might not be, it was a little late to play catchup. My dad retires this year and will do OK. But he has been frantically playing catch up for the last 10 years. The mind set changed in the middle of the boomer's life cycle with those of us younger realizing it won't be there because about the time we were born is about the same time the realization hit them. So we were taught, don't count on it. So I do believe that that generation will get theirs and they will drain it dry. It's like oil. Ain't nobody gonna do squat until the last drop has been pumped!

[TrueBlue72 0]

Jenny, I wasn't disagreeing with you, just stating that some of us boomers have believed as you do for many years!

I had to laugh, though about your NuYawk retirees...... I just did retire and move from NuYawk..... not to Boca, but to my little piece of heaven on the lake here in Gadsden.

[Jenny AU-92 0]

I had to laugh, though about your NuYawk retirees...... I just did retire and move from NuYawk..... not to Boca, but to my little piece of heaven on the lake here in Gadsden.

You know the ones I mean - the ones that voted for Pat Buchanan instead of Gore!

I spent many a happy day during my childhood fishing with my family on Weiss Lake - I assume that is where you are? Enjoy!!!