Tomorrow, of if you are reading this on Wednesday, today is my sister's 62nd birthday. Do you know what that means? It means she can start collecting Social Security and she is not waiting until she is 65. She's starting immediately. And guess what else? She has done geneology on our family. Women, and some men (like my Uncle Pump who lived to be 92), live a long time in our family. I expect my sister to make it to 90. That means she is gonna collect Social Security for 28 years. Do you hear that Gen X and Gen Y? Y'all are gonna be giving her money for 28 years!
But I hear you say, "What about the Social Security Trust Fund? It's flush with money isn't it?"
Uh, no it is not. The Social Security Trust Fund is broke. There isn't any money there. It's all been spent. If you look in the lockbox you will find a piece of paper that says, "We owe you a whole big shit load of money. Signed, the Gummint."
Ya see, back during the Johnson Administration, the politicians (both Republicans and Dimocrats) thought it would be a good idea to mix the Social Security revenues with the other tax revenues to mask the size of the budget deficit. And it worked. During the Clinton administration, they even crowed about a budget surplus. Wrong! There was no surplus.
If a private organization were to set up sumpin' like Social Security the people running that organization would be hauled off to jail. It's already happened. Social Security is nothing but a Ponzi scheme that depends on new investors to make the payments to the old investors. As such, it needs even more new investors. Unfortunately, there aren't enough new investors to sustain the committments to the old investors.
There are only three things that can happen in the future to save Social Security in its present form:
1. Benefits will have to be cut or they will have to be delayed. Look for elegiblitiy to be pushed back to 70 and cost of living adjustments frozen. It's gonna happen even though AARP and the geezers will oppose it.
2. Taxes will have to be raised. Hear that Gen X and Gen Y? Your taxes are going up. You dumbfucks don't vote. Geezers do. Taxes are gonna go way up. I mean, to the moon, Alice!
3. A combination of 1 and 2.
Now the liberals, like those socialist asswipes at the Atlanta Urinal and Constipation and the socialists in the Dimocrat Party seem to think that all Social Security needs is a little tweaking. Yeah, and all I need is a little exercise and some stem cells and I'll be running marathons. The system is broke and the longer we delay trying to come up with a fix the worse the train wreck is gonna be and as it stands now ol' Casey Jones is heading for a world of hurt.
Can someone tell me why a pissant little country like Chile can scrap their Ponzi scheme system and introduce privatization and make it work but we refuse to do so?
But don't we have to honor all the existing people in the system? Yep, we do, and it will be expensive to do so, but no more expensive than not fixing the problem and less expensive than putting off the day of reckoning. We're only talking about taking approximately 1/3 of the money currently being contributed and allowing people to put that in 401K/IRA type accounts. If people do not want to do that, they can stay in the existing system. By the way, this would be money that the politicians would not be able to get their greedy hands on for vote buying schemes.
Social Security is broke. It cannot be "tweaked". It needs to be fixed.
By the way, I turn 62 in less than four more years. I'm gonna start hitting the system then. I'm gonna vote for higher Social Security taxes. So will my sister.
Gen X and Gen Y, you guys are soooo fucked!
Posted by denny at December 14, 2004 09:20 PMI'm 44, and I'm already on the system, thanks to having secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. Dunno what the lifespan is in my family for non-smokers, but I'll likely live to at least 60, if I'm lucky. That means another 20 years :)
Since I don't make enough to pay taxes, and I vote every election, you betcher sweet kiester I'm gonna vote for higher taxes to finance me :)
Posted by: Jeannette on December 15, 2004 02:10 AMI suppose we could go with enforced euthenasia. Or just chop the bennies to little-to-nothing. Or, we could stop paying taxes...
Posted by: Deathknyte on December 15, 2004 04:11 AMMy Dad wasn't going to start drawing his when he turned 62, but his financial guy told him to do it, everyone else was and it might not be around if he waited. He has been drawing it for 16 years now. He could draw it for another 20 years, since longevity runs in his family, too. His brother turns 97 next week.
Posted by: Tina on December 15, 2004 09:22 AMFirst time I've heard anyone call it a Ponzi but you are dead on. And it is broken.
Six more years for me.
Posted by: Deliverance on December 15, 2004 12:17 PMOk idiot question for the day. Which exactly are Gen X and Y? I was born in '84, am I in one of them?
It does need to be fixed, but my generation is too lazy to do anything but complain about it. *sigh*
Posted by: Alli on December 15, 2004 12:22 PMFix it nothing, just get rid of it. If you're getting it now, you can keep getting it. If you are within 15 years, offer tax breaks to make up the difference. For us young pups, just say, "so sorry" Better to take the beating now then when I am old.
Posted by: Chris Van Dis on December 15, 2004 12:29 PMSoylent Green; It's a win-win situation! My granfather retired and sold his farm. He had enough $$$ that he took his ss pmts and put into savings accounts for his grand-kids. Of course, he had 50 grandkids so it came out to a movie and soda for us every month but he knew even then that we would never see a dime when we retired.
Posted by: mdmhvonpa on December 15, 2004 12:31 PM"Geezers"? Wasn't too long ago it seems when geezerhood was a LONG,LONG ways away.:)
Posted by: big al on December 15, 2004 03:28 PMOrrrrr... we could solve the SS problem by thinking of solutions as progessively as do the Brits...
Posted by: Lark on December 15, 2004 06:29 PMoops... Brits = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1400140,00.html
Posted by: Lark on December 15, 2004 06:33 PMYeah, I wonder what Matt G thinks about that?
He'd be a prime candidate.
Posted by: Sandy P on December 15, 2004 06:40 PMBe nice Sandy ;)
Posted by: Denny Wilson on December 15, 2004 07:28 PMI am being nice, Denny.
This is what socialized med is.
Protest Warrior has a bumpersticker I keep threatening to get:
End Overpopulation
Support Socialized Medicine
This is a valid discussion topic - this is what the STATE sanctions. Which goes to the heart of the difference between America and Britain.
If I were Matt's parents, I'd research Supplemental SS and citizenship requirements. I posted 2-ish days ago on Rantburg an article from The Scotsman about how because the Euro is worth more, Brits, Scots and Irish are buying up properties in FLA, mostly around Disney.
If I were his parents, I scrape, beg and borrow every farthing I could and buy a 2-3 bedroom condo on the 1st floor and get the hell out as soon as possible.
Posted by: Sandy P on December 15, 2004 07:35 PMSandy P - You are right about socialized medicine. Unfortunately we will have it too in about another 15 years. It is inevitable. The trial lawyers will continue to drive up insurance costs. The cost of defensive medicine to keep from getting sued will drive up health care costs and the citizenry will clamor for the gummint to Do Sumpin'! When the gummint does sumpin' it usually fucks it up.
If Matthew lived here he would be eligible for SSDI, and two years later Medicare.
Posted by: Denny Wilson on December 15, 2004 09:33 PMAlli -
Baby boomers 1946-1964.
Gen X 1965-1979.
Gen Y 1980-?
Tell your sister Happy Birthday from me.
What is with Mr. Ryan? High cholesterol?
Posted by: addison on December 15, 2004 10:37 PMHey, don't lump all the Gen-X'ers together as idiots who don't vote. I am one (and boy do I hate the term "gen x"), and I have not missed elections since I turned 18. My husband and I have agreed for years that we have no problem supporting our parents financially - we'd just rather do it ourselves rather than through the government. Preferably in such a way that there's something left for *us* to live on in 30 years, and preferably without knowing that we are supporting everyone else's parents, too. Right now, I'm convinced that given the taxes we'll be paying to support Social Security which still won't be around for us to collect, we won't be able to retire, because there won't be anything left to retire on when the time comes. Hooray for working til the day we die, I guess.
Posted by: Mother Geek on December 15, 2004 11:17 PMYou're not Gen X - You're "The Millenials."
It's your destiny to win WWIV.
My tail-end boomer gen is "The Joneses" the everyman
- our destiny is to correct the excesses of the 60s boomers and direct you fighting WW IV. Except unlike WWI/II, we really don't have the experience necessary.
What about those of us who were born at the tail end of Veit Nam? '72 for me.
Posted by: Deathknyte on December 17, 2004 04:39 AMDeathknyte Gen X - 1965-1979.
Posted by: Denny Wilson on December 17, 2004 12:48 PMOh God.... Maybe I should just kill myself now and spare me the embarrasment.
Posted by: Deathknyte on December 18, 2004 01:23 AM