Irresponsible? Then Social Security is for you!
No fuzzy math here- Social Security is a pathetic return on your investment. This is one ceremony I would love to see held in the Rose Garden!
In A path to reform, The San Diego Union-Tribune suggests that there are “two promising bipartisan proposals” in reforming Social Security. One is from Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H. and the other is from Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., and Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Tenn. Without some sort of reform the piece contends that entitlements will bankrupt the federal government.
They correctly point out that those who ignore the coming “crisis” or claim it is part of a conservative plot ignore significant questions. As the piece puts it:
“Never explained is how – without wrenching change – we can go from a nation where there are four people working and paying payroll taxes for every retiree reliant on Social Security and Medicare to a nation where the ratio is 2-to-1. Never explained is how the federal government will pay for national defense or children’s health coverage or any of hundreds of other worthy programs in 2030 when entitlement costs and interest on the debt will gobble up 75 percent of incoming revenue.”
The answer is staring us right in the face but, unfortunately, the Union-Tribune wants government to come up with a solution. Here is what really needs to happen.
People need to be accountable for themselves and stop looking to government to provide for them in their golden years.
Social Security – as a retirement plan – needs to be wiped from the face of the earth for all but those currently on it and those so close to being on it that they have no way to escape being on the doll without suffering dire consequences. This would not bother me too much: if you put your faith in government you get what you disserve. But, I admit, that would be wrong. Government promised Social Security and those too ignorant to plan ahead for themselves would be left out to dry.
But for anyone, say, around forty years old or younger the program is nothing more than an outdated dinosaur. It is not only a poor but a pathetic return on your investment. Don’t believe this? Let’s assume I earned minimum wage my entire life and never received a wage increase. If I took both what I and my employer contributed in SS taxes and invested it at a rate of return that was half the Stock Market average rate of return, I would have about half a million dollars at age 67. To collect that much out of Social Security I would have to live to be 106. Now, let’s say I die at 66. Social Security gives me nothing to leave to my family but in my plan I would have that nearly half a million that could go to my grandchildren’s education or whatever else my family needed or wanted.
Worried about the non-retirement aspect of Social Security- the disability portion? A tax hike of just 3.7% would cover that portion of Social Security- well worth it for what you would gain by having the rest of it under your control.
Like I point out here, government has no business taking money from one group and giving it to another. Government is not the answer to your retirement – you are. Work, plan, and save and you can have a truly great retirement. Or, we can stick with Social Security and live off the labor of younger people who could be using the money you take from them for their own families needs. Think about it.
October 16th, 2007 at 5:42 pm
I remember seeing a news story many years back about Social Security disability. They interviewed a woman who was “disabled” by obesity along with her little son. Incredibly when they asked her little son who looked all of 4 what he wanted to be when he grew up he said “a disability recipient.” I never forgot that story and it changed my thinking on the role of government in our lives.
Folks like them are the perfect democrats and the impeached ex-presidents wife and her buddies like Harry Reid are doing everything in their power to keep them voting for democrats forever.
Who pays for it all? Us hard working taxpayers of course…