11-20-2016, 12:47 AM
(11-19-2016, 08:26 PM)Warren Dew Wrote:(11-19-2016, 04:58 PM)Eric the Green Wrote:
I agree with the spirit of this, but not with the numbers. Even if Congress pays back the money, social security will be far from solvent. Social securiity has always been a ponzi scheme.
If what was stolen is paid back, and the theft is stopped, social security would be more than solvent. If we start the 21st century in the 2020s, and sanity returns from the grip of you laissez faire trickle-downers, then we can raise or pop the cap on minumum taxable income for social security as needed. The notion that SS is a ponzi scheme is the most disgraceful utterance from the Republican sloganbook, at least until the Trumpzilla came along. The baby boom may be a strain on it, but afterward it will be fine, as if no baby boom ever happened.
Quote:Social security will not last in its present form to gen X. I think most X would prefer to recognize that fact and phase it out in favor of something else. In fact, I suspect most would be willing to subsidize boomers in order to get the phaseout - maybe putting half their money into the trust fund to pay off the boomers - if the other half were put into individual accounts where the ownership was clearly theirs, rather than the present system where they have to trust the government.
Individualism and self-reliance fails. Many people don't do their part. Most people don't save for retirement. Social Security makes sure that today's workers cover seniors, and that they are covered by tomorrow's workers.
If we run out of workers due to automation, which is certainly possible, then the only alternative is guaranteed minimum income, from which SS is deducted; which is clearly possible if we recognize that the business owners do not own the machines that put us out of work; the people do. Tax them.
If you don't trust the government, then vote for people who are trustworthy, not for con-men like Donald Trump and greedy pigs like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell. The people who made us distrust the government, were the people we voted for. We are the problem, because we are the government. And we get the government we deserve.
If personal SS accounts were invested in the stock market, then in effect the government would own the stock of all corporations.