AMAC’s Founder, Dan Weber
Save Social Security Now
The AMAC Solution to the Social Security Problem
“We need to Save Social Security, and we need to save it now”
Dan Weber, AMAC President and Founder
We are in trouble!
In 2010 the Social Security Administration paid out 49 billion dollars more than it took in. If this rate of deficit continues, benefits will be cut by 25% for the next generation, and by 2036 Social Security will be 6 trillion dollars in debt. The numbers are staggering and the outlook for future generations is bleak. If we hope to keep the Social Security program solvent for the next 75 years the problem must be addressed now. AMAC’s founder, Daniel Weber, has proposed a simple solution for rescuing our Social Security system that is gaining bi-partisan support and has a real chance of success if we all come together in this effort. This simple solution combines earlier proposals from several Senators with the addition of an optional IRA.
Why Is Social Security In Trouble?
There are two problems that threaten the system. People are living much longer and we have fewer workers putting money into the system. These combined factors have put a tremendous amount of pressure on the financial stability of Social Security.
Consider the following:
- 1950 – 16 workers were paying into the system for every 1 collecting.
- 2011 – Only 3 workers are paying in for every 1 collecting.
- 1950 – Life Expectancy was 65.
- 2011 – We are living much longer. We need more money to pay for those extra years.
The Result:
- There is NO cash in the Social Security Trust Fund. SSI Tax Revenue goes to the US Treasury. The Treasury then pays the Retiree Benefits.
- The only assets in the Trust Fund are special issue Treasury Bonds… IOU’s (which must pay interest).
“IOU’s are claims against the Treasury with no real assets behind them. They are redeemed by: borrowing more money, raising taxes or reducing benefits.”
From a report by the Office of Management and Budget issued in 1999 during the Clinton Administration
Social Security is in trouble and the American people have been misled.
The fact is that Social Security is not secure until 2036, and Social Security (as we know it) will not be there for our children. It has become increasingly clear that Social “Security” does not provide enough money for a secure retirement.
- Average person on Social Security receives $13,000 per year.
- For most, this is the largest part of their retirement income.
- For many, this is the only source of retirement income.
AMAC members speak out.
AMAC has been active in meeting with government officials to discuss options for saving Social Security and we conducted a nationwide survey of our membership to help guide us in our recommendations. We asked you what we should fight for on Capitol Hill.
- Raise Taxes?
- Lower Benefits?
- Adjust the age to receive benefits and add a new Social Security Early Retirement Account?
Overwhelmingly you said adjust the age to receive benefits and add the Social Security Early Retirement Account!!
- This is the Simple Solution.
- It is painless.
- It will allow workers to have MORE money!
AMAC is listening to what you said and we have formulated a practical non-partisan solution to save Social Security now.
Key Provisions of the AMAC Plan
The AMAC Social Security Solution is not intended to – nor will it – replace or privatize our basic Social Security.
- Keep Basic Social Security
- Same basic benefits, same retirement formulas used, same tax rates
- Guaranteed minimum 1.65% COLA for lower income beneficiaries
- Maximum COLA of 1.65% for higher income beneficiaries (minimum increase could be 0%)
- Maximum COLA of 3% for lower income beneficiaries
Why use 1.65% for COLA? To assure that lower wage earners are protected from financial harm, there is a guaranteed minimum increase each year regardless of COLA. Note: in 2009 and 2010 there was no Social Security increase even though gas and food prices rose. Under this plan, lower income retirees will always have an increase.
- Set back of three years for new retirees – affects those age 58 and younger
- Early retirement changes from age 62 to 65- phased in over 12 years (someone age 58 would start collecting at age 62 plus 3 months, age 57 collects at 62 plus 6 months, etc.)
- Full benefits changes from age 66 to age 69- phased in over 12 years at 3 month increments
- Early Retirement Account added as an additional voluntary benefit
- Allows workers to retire at age 62
- Provides additional funds for retirement for all workers
Early Retirement Account is Voluntary for Employee and Employer
- Payroll deduction
- Tax deductible
- Minimum contribution $5 per week
- Maximum contribution $100 per week
- Owned by individual, portable
- No access to money until 62 except death/disability
- 50% must be invested in a guaranteed interest vehicle
Projected Savings Available
Based on investments with average returns, a 25 year old worker putting in only $15 per week*, would have $165,407 at age 62.
If the worker contributed $45 per week*, using the same rate of return, would have accumulated $352,389 by age 62. *Assuming an employer contribution of $50 per month.
The Early Retirement Account combined with a setback in age will keep Social Security solvent for 75 years and allow workers to accumulate a significant amount of money for their retirement.
Read the details of the Early Retirement Account Here
YOU can make a difference! We are calling on all AMAC members to take action NOW!
Some people say we have a do nothing Congress and you can’t get both political parties to agree on anything. AMAC doesn’t believe that for a minute. We just need to help them get going by giving a friendly but firm push. Here is a simple Action Plan that takes only a few minutes of your time but if we all do it together we can Save Social Security Now.
- Call your Congressman/Senators at their local office and their Washington office. Contact your elected officials
- Tell them to Save Social Security Now by supporting the AMAC Proposal
- Send AMAC your comments below or email to info@amac.us
- Help AMAC by joining us!
Remind your representatives that what we need isn’t a Republican or Democratic solution. What we need is an American solution. We owe it to our children and grandchildren to preserve Social Security so it will be there for them in the future.
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The focus of discussion needs to be on how to end (unwind) socal security. Other Ponzi schemes correct themselves quickly and abrubtly. SS is both Ponzi Scheme and income redistribution vehicle which like all other Ponzi schemes will not end without pain for some.
Our grandparents made out in the beginning (they won); we baby boomers will be partial losers either through extending age of elegibility, reduced benefits, means testing, or some other change; our children are the losers (they will pay a lot in and get little in return; our grandchildren can be saved from this flawed goverment sponsored theft only if we end it now.
There is no free lunch.
Just lately, I read a government income & spending report in the local newspaper (The Oregonian), which showed on a
pie chart. That the income into Social Security was greater than the outgo!
Maybe we need to up the contributions some. But, raising the retirement age has many draw backs:
1. We have a more productive work force, because it is younger.
2. We have people who volunteer, because they retire in their 50′s & 60′s. If they work longer, they will not be there.
3. Many jobs will not be there for the young, crime will go up.
A very big problem, the people viewing the problem have “But Jobs”, they are not the ones that are swinging a pick &
shovel or driving heavy equipment up & down the hyway.
Yes, there are people working into their 70′s & 80′s/ But, they do not have hard jobs.
AMAC’s plan is more of the same. Social Security will never work as long as it is structured as a Ponzi scheme. Instead of having more paying in per recipient, we have fewer. I think some of you need to read Roosevelt’s original arguments for Social Security. He didn’t mention anything about a “supplement” or being supplemental. This is a fairly recent argument by some of our trustworthy politicians who are content to steal our money. Here is a solution. Dump Social Security. Allow those drawing money in the program to continue until their death, then put the remainder of their benefits, if any, in their estate. We earned this money and our employers matched it, it is our money not the governments.. Appropriate the funds to repay all those not currently drawing money by canceling any further payments to any adversarial foreign county, with the proviso it has to go to an investment account of their choosing, approved by the government, but not accessible by the government. The account must have a nominal rate of return equivalent to or greater than the return on the selected banks investments. In other words, if the banks annual rate of return on its investments is 14%, then the SS accounts earn the same. After all, the banks are using our money to make their money. Lastly, the account belongs to the person who pays into it. At the age of 65 he/she can begin to withdraw the money, based on a actuarial scale. It will take about ten years to work through the problems of the present system. Then Uncle Sugar is out of it and our money is safe. As far as S.S. Disability is concerned, it is a giant scam. Yes, there are a few people who are actually disabled, but damn few. Most of the people drawing this money are scamming the system, I know of two myself. Here is a solution. If you apply for disability, you must be disabled – blind, crippled or amputated. No more back pain. Complaints of back pain will receive 90 days of intense therapy, no more. Then them must enroll in a retraining program which will remove them from the alleged activity that they were “injured” by. They will sign an agreement that they can be monitored and surveiled in their daily activity, at random. Any activity which shows them preforming duties or activities which should or would cause pain, and doing so in the absence of pain, will stop their payments immediately and permanently. This would be a possible application for Neapolitano/’s mosquito drones! AMAC’s solution is a band-aid. Why don’t we fix the problem instead of massaging it?
Agreed. If you can believe it, parents who are already on government assistance because they feel they are entitled, are also trying to get their school age children labeled to have an IEP in order to receive more SSI monies. These are people who have never worked, let alone paid into social security. This is a monumental abuse and needs to end.
I’ve read everything and I think only one thing can get the politicians eye and ears is Let every Senior go to their banks and with draw their savings and CD’s and then go to the brokers of the Stock Market and withdraw all funds there, Go home and cancel all travel arraignments and just sit back and wait for the Gov’t to scream bloody murder.
65 to 80 million Seniors have a great of power in this country and have not used it. Now is the time. Social Security is not an entitlement but the blood and sacriface of every Senior who gave. Every Democrat has taken monies from this Fund and the U.S. gov’t has not given it back. Stop giving monies overseas to our enemies and put it back into S.S.
I am with Van Hamlin
The AMAC proposal is in the right track, but I recommend taking the financial comparison in the document one step further and put the Socisl Security calculation for a modest income of say $15,000 per year side by side. Social Security takes $1,860 per year off the top for a person at that income. Run a projection of Social Security benefits on that and see what happens. My own estimate is maybe $10-$12,000 per year at age 66. Compare that to the $15/ week calculation in the proposal and see that even small private savings produces more retirement income at less cost.
The reason is simple. Private saving produces an investment return or interest. Social Security does not. It is simply an income transfer from one class, workers, to another calls, retires. Cash in – cash out. For the doubters of that fact read the actuary reports of the SSA.
I personally want the proposal to go even further. Let me take some of my Social Secuity tax and direct it to a private account in return for lower retirement benefits.
Everyone is part of the problem….therefore everyone must be part of the solution….
1.Reduce the COLA by 0.5% per year for everyone.
2.Increase the tax by 0.1% per year.
3.Raise the retirement age by 1 year over a period of time.
4.Raise the taxable wages subject to FICA by 0.5% per year over existing law.
5.Do NOT exempt anyone from above (not current recipients, near recipients, low income, etc.) Everybody has to have skin in the game.
You have some excellent ideas. I had often thought we should only have a COLA every other year – not every year. After all – SS is suppose to be a supplemental income + your other savings, etc. Not a primary source of income in retirement. I really like you proposals.
Social Security Trust Fund should be PERMANENTLY reestablished with absolutely NO ACCESS by congress or the president.
Begins immediately for all employees age 50 and younger. (I think 50 is a bit late, but better late than never)
Each ‘contributor’ to Social Security is included in a mandatory retirement account much like the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) available to all federal employees.
10% of each individual ‘contribution’ goes into the Trust Fund.
90% of each individual ‘contribution’ goes into the TSP divided according to the wishes of the employee.
I’d even consider raising the Trust Fund contribution to 15%.
Absolutely no moneys paid to anyone who has not contributed except in the case of dependent children upon loss of a contributing parent.
TSP is available at age 62 for all.
The account belongs to the individual – it follows him/her on retirement and becomes a part of their estate at time of death whenever that occurs. No inheritance taxes can be collected.
AMAC has some pretty tired suggestions and apologizes for gross congressional mismanagement of the fund to frequently. The original idea for social security was to pool money and pay a retirement supplement from the pool. This money was supposed to be in one of those “Lock Boxes” where the government could invest the money, return the profits and provide a minimal level of assistance to people in their waning years. Since then we have added SSI. If Social Security was never designed to be a full retirement program, it certainly was never meant to provide disability insurance. Did you know Pell Grants are funded with your FICA taxes too?
Actual working suggestions:
1. Change the formula by which social security is calculated to reflect the goals of the program. “Keep benefits for retirees at the same level as today with adjustments for inflation” based on the actual inflation rate rather than the contrived government formula we currently use. John Stanton – “First Principles” Page 176.
2. Eliminate the cap on FICA. There are fewer of us paying into the system so, each of us must pay our fair share year round. Yes, the rich guys end up paying more actual dollars into the system, which they will never benefit from in terms of benefits.
3. Place an export tax on Crude Oil and Natural Gas (not refined crude oil products). Since the price for these commodities is set by OPEC, oil companies cannot externalize this overhead. The oil companies will have to live with a narrower margin of profit, which amounts to the peoples share of these huge profits. This guarantees that oil companies will want to keep the crude & gas home (cheaper prices here), if possible, and create more refining jobs in the US to avoid these taxes. This export tax should be earmarked to be deposited directly into Social Security and Medicare. By opening up public lands to energy development in exchange for this tax, we create thousands of new good jobs that result in lots more FICA tax. I apologize to those with stocks that might not enjoy quite as high of a dividend as last year’s was.
4. Getting seniors back to work. Early retirement should be based on ability to work not desire to work. When you eliminate SSI you need to also eliminate early retirement. You should be able to retire with full benefits at 65 and continue to work at whatever jobs you want. We need seniors to pay FICA until the day they die, if they are patriotic to continue working. Most people want to take some time off at first but get bored after a while and then want to work again. Don’t be foolish – take the FICA tax. Seniors with disabilities that prevent them from working should be allowed to retire at 62.
A note in parting. If LBJ had just sold the Social Security administration our own $35.00/ ounce gold at the world commodities value back in the 60′s and kept that principle up to today, there would be no Social Security crisis. It was politicians who purchased Treasury Notes with our money and now refuse to cash those bonds in an make Social Security whole. Call it what you will – it stinks!
Sounds all good and stuff but let’s look at reality.
The FICA tax is broken down as follows:
5.3% to Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Fund
0.9% to Disability Insurance Fund
1.45% to Medicare Insurance Fund
As I stated below the trust fund for Disability insurance is expected to be totally exhausted (no funds other than the 0.9% of the collected FICA tax) by 2016, so what do we do at that time? We cannot pay full Disability benefits as we no longer have funds in the trust fund to make up the shortfall in FICA revenue.
Medicare is expected to reach the same condition in 2024 and Old-Age and Survivors will reach there in 2033. These dates are fully expected to be even earlier when the annual Trustees report is issued later this year. The past two years of the administrations reducing the FICA tax rate has done nothing but harm the financial well being of Social Security.
What happens when the trust funds are exhausted? Do we just say sorry, we know you paid into the system but in reality it was nothing more than a Ponzi scheme where those who got in early received a larger percentage of their investment back and those who got in later have to take the loss.
I have paid the maximum SS withholding since 1965. I will collect SS for 9 years to get back the money I and my employers have paid in, not counting any interest I should have earned. By 2033, the government says SS is good until then, seniors will be going off the rolls by the thousands every day. We didn’t have as many children as previous generations so the number of people collecting SS will go down steadily. SS was never meant to pay for retirement, just keep the lights on and food on the table. It is not an entitlement. Do the research, don’t just watch the talking heads.
Here is the poll from the AMAC website:
Take the Poll (they request)
Social Security Disability is running out of money. Should there be a “light duty” work requirement for those able to do limited work?
Yes.
Yes, if a doctor says they are able.
No.
*********************************************************************
Doing this poll is wrong as it can set a dangerous precedent. By requiring social security recipients to perform “light” work, you are allowing big government to put another “toe” into this system. History and logic clearly shows that this would only be the first step in adding another “cost without value” as it would not stop there. It never stops with just the first small step.
Take this poll down and fight to keep social security, and some of the better thought out changes you noted. SS it is NOT an entitlement as I paid into it all my life. Why should I now have to work even more to collect??? Who will define “light?” What if I want to live in a remote area where there is no “light” work or work of any kind, will I have to commute to where the work is? What if I am a retired “relative” who must provide some form of assistance that is not recognized as “light work” and now the government can stop it? This is a dismal idea that shows no intelligent forethought. Why would you even open this can of worms? I thought you were supposed to be better than AARP!
AMAC looks like an organization devoted to selling bad products and bad ideology to unsuspecting seniors. Wake up people. This group isn’t on your side. This group wants to steal your earned medicare and social security benefits and turn them over to more costly, risky ventures.
What is it with you obamabot trolls? Your president’s ideology is harming this country, madame, and you and your liberal/progressive brethren are delusional sheep. Go spew your democrat talking points on one of those lefty sites where I’m sure they’d be appreciated and applauded…….
Go and read the latest actuaries report on the status of the Social Security and Medicare Trust funds. The actuaries are all Odumbo appointed with the exception of Mr. Astrue who was appointed by President Bush (Social Security Commissioner serves by law a six year term which in most cases overlaps the Presidency). The Trust fund is divided into three parts:
1. Medicare Insurance
2. Social Security Disability Insurance
3. Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Insurance
According to the latest report (April 2012) the Disability Insurance Trust Fund will be totally exhausted in 2016 (two years earlier than the previous years report), that is only three years away. The Medicare Insurance Trust Fund will be totally exhausted in 2024 and the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund will be totally exhausted in 2033 (three years earlier than the previous years report).
It will be interesting to see the 2013 report and see how much shorter these dates become, Odumbo’s two year tax holiday on allowing workers not to pay 2% of their FICA taxes (which are the only source of revenue for both of these Social Security programs) will cause further reductions in the associated trust funds.
The report summary can be found here http://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/index.html and the full report is linked off of that page.
Yes lifting the cap will help but it is not the solution to the whole problem. Mr. Astrue as outgoing head of Social Security answered questions in an Associated Press article http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/feb/14/social-security-head-astrue-program-fraying-neglec/ and he pulls no punches. Social Security has been kicked down the road for years by both politicians from both parties and senior advocates and the proverbial brown stuff is about to hit the fan unless changes are made and made now.
Just lift the cap. It’s easier and would make social security solvent in perpetuity.
Typical obamabot troll with your hands in other people’s pockets…….
i thought about this proposal to tax all income – however, if you do that then those that put in a ton of money would expect, and rightful so, to receive a much larger return when they retire. So the more a person puts in the system the more they would receive in retirement. so thats no solution in reality. The AMAC proposal is excellent. The AARP proposal is basiclaly – do nothing about age, taxes – nothing! If you don’t like AMAC – why would you want to comment on the issues they support?
Like private sector Ponzi schemes, risky Not authorized by the U. S. Constitution, risky Socialist Insecurity should be strictly voluntary, by restoring FICA payers` 10th Amendment rights.
And as long as corrupt politicians have the power to perpetuate the government`s official Ponzi scheme, Comrade NObama should do the right thing, & pardon Bernie Madoff & others, who`ve been incarcerated for running private sector Ponzi schemes.
In the mid-80`s, former budget director, David Stockman, offered a great solution…if the Securities & Exchange Commission had jurisdiction over the Executive & Legislative branches, many of us would be in jail. Amen.
Wasn`t Mr. Madoff charged by the SEC?
Why does’t AMAC organize a million senior person march on Washington to draw media attention to the hostage situation of our seniors. You never hear Obama threaten to cut foreign aid, no, it is always social security and medicare. This would put AMAC in the spotlight and the politicans and media on the hotplate. You can’t ignore a million people in one place pushing an agenda.
Speaking of the Seniors in Hostage situation – don’t be intimidated against speaking out in opposition to the Welfare State just because you’ve been forced into being dependent on it.
The congress constitutionally, can do anything for the “general welfare.”
we do not have anyone in washington to speak for the middle class folks that are the working class that pay for welfare food stamps and all the other giveaways programs in this country.as for social security my grand children will never get their fair share of anything this country has to offer except being taxed to death.im am a vietnam disabled veteran an from where i see,we will not have a country to fight for because we are flat broke ,naybe we can borrow more money from china,please save social security for our future children.
Tell your congressperson to stop giving aid to pharmaceutical companies. That would save $19 billion a year.
$19 billion!? Obama considers that chump change.
1. If you or your spouse did not pay into the fund or a dependet chield , you don’t rate it.
2. Cancel congresses speachel retirement and put them on social security. That is all they deserve . They haven’t done that good of a job .
3. Restore the social security interest bearing accounts and replace the funds congress has robbed from it and pay the back interest. That should put the fund back on good footing..
4.Get the Illeagel aileans off the reciving lists for social security.
Russell:
Read my comments below (posted on 11/18/2012) regarding Congress members retirement and their participation in Social Security. You will become smarter prior to posting misleading comments.
A very simple solution to save SS and Medicare is to divert the billions of our TAX dollars going to foreign gov’ts (who do not even support us in the UN) and put those dollars to use in the US. Foreign-aid is a drain we don’t need at this time. The cold war is over (thanks to Reagan) and we don’t need to be bribing dictators and other tyrants any more. If Washington is afraid of that ten kill the DOE (worthless & useless) and save $34 billion. That would be a good chunk for domestic programs.
The Soviet Union imploded. Reagan just happened to be president. Want to cut defense? Great. So does the president.
Reagan was the reason the old Soviet Union imploded. Reagan was the best President of the 20th Century – and history is showing that fact.
Hey Mimms – are you sure you have the right website – the muppet website is elsewhere.
I have found very little criticism of what I thought was the profoundly stupid ‘payroll tax holiday’ that loweved the FICA tax from 6.2 to 4.2%. From what I remember, this was mainly an Obama initiative that was supposed to stimulate the economy (did it work?). I don’t remember there being a hue and cry by wage earners for this reduction in the first place. But now that it has been in effect for 2 years (with the result that current SS receipts are now seriously in the red) it appears that Obama and the Dems want it to continue as they claim to want no tax increase for those earning under 250G. With more and more of the boomer avalanche qualifying for SS daily, on what planet does it make sense for this reduction to continue? The old saying that the first thing you need to do when you are in a hole is to quit digging certainly applies here. But the problem is that once you have lowered a tax it become much harder to raise it, even though it was supposed to be a temporary measure (like the Bush tax cuts).
I don’t know what AMAC’s position is on this, but I’d like to. Also, it seems obvious to me that, with current workers now putting in less, their SS benefit will likewise be reduced. I’ve read nothing about this happening, but it seems logical. If benefits are not decreased due to this ‘holiday’ won’t that mean that SS will become more like a welfare program?
Yes, payroll tax holiday did help stimulate the economy. It’s part of the reason we’ve had 27 straight months of job growth. Republicans were willing to agree to it.
Georgeana Mimms: You’re democrat talking points are misleading. Only PUBLIC sector jobs have had a 27-month growth, not PRIVATE sector. Obama is not that great. Need some coffee to wake you up?
Lets assume your assumption is correct in that a 2% cut in the FICA tax boosted the economy. They why not lower all taxes overall for an even greater growth in the economy and jobs? If the 2% was such a superl Obama proposal – lets do it for all taxes – lower them all about 10% and we should have unemployment of 4% or lower. I’ll vote in favor of that. Obama always wants to tax more and spend more.
Bureaucratic myopia and gross inefficiency do great harm to all Entitlement programs. And make no mistake, all of those who have paid into the Social Security and Medicare programs are entitled to receiving the benefits. Obamacare is a shining example of how the monies of those who paid into Medicare for their entire working careers are being systematically robbed by government. The government cut Medicare benefits to seniors by more than $750 billion dollars to pay for the medical benefits of those that have never paid a cent into the program. Illegal immigrants will continue to receive health care for free, just as they currently are. What part of that political scheme is fair, moral or legal. Supplemental SSI is a tremendous burden to the Social Security Trust Fund, Every illegal immigrant female with a child receives $1500.00/ month to pay for the well being of the child. Multiply that times the three to six children they all have and then add the legal American women receiving the same benefits as unwed or single parents and the calamity of inadequate Social Security funds becomes evidentiary.The failure of Social Security and our health care system have common thread, too many that have never paid into them receiving benefits. And illegal immigrants, despite our statutes which prohibit them, using up all of the funds. Politicians and big government bureaucracy are incapable of effectively managing anything
Government run medicare operates at a 4% admin cost while private insurers operate at 15-20%. Who exactly is inefficient?
Billions lost to waste and fraud – yeah, that’s sure some efficient administrating…….
Medicare is going broke and the private sector Insurance Companies are not. Medicare is supported by taking tax dollars from the private sector. Private health insurors are not. Which plan is going Broke? I am on Medicare and its far weaker than when i worked and had insurance at work. We should eliminate Medicare and transfer it back to the Private sector and let competition work it out. then you would see prices drop for drugs, doctors and hosptials.
But, Medicare is going Broke!!
Medicare is socialism that we are forced to use upon reaching age 65.I had perfectly good health insurance that was cheaper than Medicare and the supplement plans I have to purchase in order to have a shot at decent medical treatment in the unfortunate case that I should become ill.
“Any man (or Woman) who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the government take care of him — better take a closer look at the American Indian.” Henry Ford
The Social Security Fund has been compromised since the federal government started illegally using those funds to balance the budget. The fund is healthy and it works – we the PEOPLE simply need to stop our politicians from stealing from us. It’s our money, why don’t we do something? During the Vietnam War 1,000,000 marched on the white house protesting the war. These issues we face now are as important as anything this country has ever faced. Why do we do NOTHING? Why can’t we organize and take back what is ours,it’s our money that every politician in Washington is stealing to make their personal fortunes. There is not one member of congress that was not made a millionaire through stealing and payoffs from special interest groups. They vote themselves a raise every year in addition the $150,000,000. fund each senator receives for entertaining, parties, etc. This country is the united states of exxon, of big business, by big business and for big business. It’s sickening , but beyond that it’s all illegal. We need to declare economic war and take back our money. We are already indentured servants because of credit card debt another scam that took 20 years to put in place. This is nothing new – it’s a long term plan by the richest people in the world to make the rest of us a society of slaves. As far as I can tell we’re already there. Wake up.
Susan:
You make the statement “the fund is healthy and it works”, regarding Social Security. I recommend that you go read the A SUMMARY OF THE 2012 ANNUAL REPORTS on the Status of the Social Security and Medicare Programs submitted by the trustees of the program. They are ALL current members of Obama’s hand picked executive branch. They now predict the exhaustion of the SSI trust fund by 2033 and the Disability trust fund by in 2016. The 2013 report should be even more bad news the with the increased deficit between revenue and payout due to Obamas payroll tax deduction for the past two years. The payroll tax he reduced the past 2 years funds 100% Social Security and has done nothing other than to hurt the program in the long run.
Summary can be found at ssa.gov/oact/TRSUM/…
Full report can be found at ssa.gov/oact/TR/201…
Medicare report can be found at cms.gov/Research-St…
New reports for 2013 should be available after May.
After reading the reports it is obvious that Social Security is not anywhere near healthy as you claim.
Lift the cap. Social security will be solvent in perpetuity. Simple solution.
Typical obamabot troll with your hands in other people’s pockets…….
Yes, it is healthy if you leave the collected money in and even better if it collects interest.
Social Security has been fixed several times now. Each time the failure is due to our government using the funds rather than accumulating them and collecting interest on them … as originaly proposed. Imagine the amount of $$ there would be. Each time the government fixed SS they promised this is it. Well shame on us for believeing them and shame on them for stealing from us all. Yes that is what it is stealing.
Once they spend/spent the money how do you replace it. If the government is already spending it and more than it collects it cannot. Get rid of the waste … there is a lot of just pure waste, get rid of all programs that do not directly benefit the people and protect the people. Not the big companies, not the big donors and not government employees. By the latter I mean get rid of the special programs for the President, Congress etc etc …. for instance, their own medical insurance programs, their own retirement programs … etc etc Who are these people???? They are just employees of ours. Why do they deserve to have better care better retirement etc than the people they serve? And, while you are at it make “outsider trading” as illegal as “insider trading” Our Government leaders …. the President ….. Congress etc have been elected to serve us and to look out for our welfare. Except for a few this has not been the case for a very long time. Congress is now a place for the elite to get rich and richer at the cost of the people and they have no shame! Money earmarked for special projects back home to get themseves re-elected … hogwash … you are stealing from us.
I am tired of the lies, the stealing, the waste, and the attitude that you (the government) is better than us and deserve more than us, the people, your employers!
AMAC’s ideas would have some credence in an ideal society but, let’s remember the type of people we’re dealing with here. This is the same bunch who have robbed SS for years for their Great Societies and give-away programs at the seniors expense. Now we have to deal with the abomination in the white house calling us a special interest group and, saying, as a nation, we need to stop thinking of our special interest group and ,think of what’s best for America. I’m tired of giving my money to a bunch of thieves who care more about their one world agendas than the people of this great nation. May GOD have mercy on us all !
That’s factually incorrect. No funds were taken from social security to fund any other programs. Social security funds are technically part of general funds in order to comply constitutionally. But in practice, all funds are there.
You are factually wrong, madame. IOU’s from the US Treasury – where the heck do you think that money went?Stop drinking the liberal/progressive kool-aid…….
Georgeana Mimms: You’re the one who is factually incorrect. It has been long known that SS funds have been raided by many administrations gone by, which is why it is broke… not to mention Der Fuhrer’s $750 billion piggy bank heist.
We need to some way get to our people and get them stronger in their talks, we are giving up too easily.
Because I am a Christian and follow the Commandments I know that theft is a sin. It really does not matter if that theft is sanctioned by a Socialist Government or not theft is theft. Sin is sin. This why I hope to stop the theft of those future generations who pay into the Ponzi Scheme which is Socialist Security. No sir if we are Conservatives and Christians we should not support theft and redistribution of wealth in all it’s forms. Including Socialist Security. The Founder and the Leadership of AMAC should repent of their sins and renounce all support the the furthering of this dastardly ponzi scheme of theft! Anyone who says they are a christian and a conservative but then works and supports theft are simply hypocrits one and all!
I am with you Michael. I am 65 years old and it breaks my heart to hear people who call themselves Christians and Conservatives want to retain an inherently corrupt system of generational theft for future generations to suffer under an unhealthy dependency on government run by people who if given any Fortune 500 company to run would have it bankrupt in a few months, if not weeks. And the biggest folly of all in this fools paradise are those that think social security can be reformed and/or it can be “fixed” somehow by spreading the misery to other people who seemingly are not in the program, for whatever reason. I thought we loved our children and grandchildren more than that, to leave them a legacy of perpetual dependence. Everyone of our children have spoken their doubt that they will ever see a dime of what they put into this monster, and if they do get something, it will likely have the purchasing power of Monopoly money.
The beginning of any solution is recognizing and admitting that there is a problem. There is no other nice way to put it, Social Security is a fraud pure and simple. If you or I tried to run such a program, we’d be in jail in a hurry, just like Bernie Madeoff. That is the first step to a solution. Next, it has to be recognized that a large sum of what many individuals would have saved for their own retirement was FORCIBLY taken by the government to perpetuate dependency and the fraud. A system must be put in place that will PHASE OUT THE SOCIAL SECURITY PROGRAM OVER TIME. No one is talking about ending the program overnight, since Americans were FORCED to participate. It would be a different animal altogether if the program was voluntary, but it was not. At the same time we need to guarantee that future generations can provide for their own private retirement programs free from government interference and takeover. I do not pretend to have all the answers, only that I know that fraud and generational theft are wrong. The details can be worked out later, but lets not kid ourselves into thinking that this rotten system can be saved.
Strange.. My bible says to “help all the poor, sick and needy without judgment.” Doesn’t specify how either.
Your bible says “you.” You – at your discretion. I don’t think I ever saw forced charity by government confiscation in my bible…….
Dusty, maybe Georgeana’s bible is written in Arabic
government forced charity is not in the bible – sorry!
WHAT IS EVEN MORE IMPORTANT AND FAIR ALL THE POLITICIANS SHOULD BE ON SOCIAL SECURITY INSTEAD OF THE SPECIAL PLAN THEY HAVE THAQT PAYS WAY MORE SOONER AND LONGER ALL FED WORKERS INCLUDING CONGRESS DO NOT USE SOCIAL SECURITY AS A RESULT THIS GROUP INCLUDING ALL SENATORS COULD CARE LESS IF ITS FAIR OR IF IT LASTS ANDY
NOT TRUE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Since 1984 ALL members of Congress have paid into Social Security.
ALL Federal employees hired after 1984 have paid into Social Scurity.
ALL Federal employees and Congress men hired or first elected after 1984 are covered under the Federal Employees Retiremnt System. They pay a portion of their salary into the program, it is not FREE.
ALL Federqal employees and Congressmen hired or first elected prior to 1984 are covered under the Civil Service Retirement System. They pay a portion of their salary into the program. When they retire if they al which effectrivlso paid into Social Security sometime in their working lifetime they may collect Social Security, however, their CSRS retirement will be reduced an amount equal to their Social Security benefit by upto 2/3 of their CSRS benefit effectivly resulting in their having paid into Social Security but receiving no benefit from the program.
Google:
CSRS
FERS
TSP (savings plan for FERS employees, similar to 401K)
The Congress has been on the Social Security plan for several years. They do not have their own separate plan any more. But, since almost all of our Representatives and Senators are multi-millionaires, and since they will receive enormous retirement income from their previous elective office, their Social Security is probably not that important to them.
DID YOU KNOW THAT SOCIAL SECURITY IS PAID TO EVERYONE 65 AND OLDER WHETHER THEY PAID IN ANY MONEY AT ALL OR NOT THE WORKER THAT PAID IN ALL HIS WORKING LIFE AND THE LEGAL IMMAGRANT WHO PAID IN EXACTLY NOTHING BOTH COLLECT SOCIAL SECURITY BENEFITS.WHETHER YOU WANT TO RECOGNIZE IT OR NOT THE AVERAGE CITIZRN IS BEING SCRE ED THIS IS THE PART THAT SHJOULD BE ADJUSTED NES PAS
Simply not true Andrew.
My mother is one quarter short of the required number of quarters to collect Social Security. She needed to earn $3,000 more that she paid Social Security on to qualify for the benefit. Therefore, she gets nothing!
That’s incorrect. Only workers who paid in to social security earn benefits. Facts are important.
Yep, I’ve read that lifting the cap and requiring people who earn more to keep contributing would totally eliminate the gap between SSI income and outgo. Oops, the 1% doesn’t want that. Better get ready for benefit cuts and later retirement or the government books won’t balance starting in 2042. When I’m dead.
Yes, the retirement age needs to be adjusted UP. And what about a REALLY simple solution? ELIMINATE THE SS CAP. Period. You do know that SS tax stop being deducted from payroll after $110,100 (2012) Right?? Maybe not……. So do you know someone making over $110,000? You think any of our reps, congressmen, politicians…..etc….make less, or more??? Have you ever heard any politician say ‘eliminate the cap’? I haven’t. Wonder why????
It’s a no brainer. If you make $20,000, you may not pay fed tax, but you WILL pay SS & MC tax, off the top. If you make $1,000,000.00 you pay SS on the first $110,100. Get it?
What about our AMAC founder? and others who run this Org? Just curious.
Finally, a breath of fresh air.
You obviously don’t get it. You obviously think someone earning more than $110,100 should be forced to pay for other people’s retirement. Just curious – were you raised a socialist?
Why are you Socialist all begrudging people that have a higher income than you?
You voted for BO and are standing around looking for handouts.
It was my understanding from several years ago that Welfare money came out of Social Security. If so then that should have never happened and should stop. Social Security was for retirement, not social issues. And if it had been invested to earn interest then there might be money in it still. But that’s what you get with politics.
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is administered by the SSA but is funded out of the general fund. NO SOCIAL SECURITY TAXES are used.
Mark,
You’re incorrect. The Social Security surplus has been used for decades to pay for vote-buying social welfare give-away programs like SSI, Medicaid, Medicare, etc. Our Social Security tax payments, from hard-working people who contribute to society and aren’t parasites, have in fact been used to pay for a number of cash-cow vote-buying welfare programs. And we’re about to crash financially as a country because of those unsustainable vote-buying welfare programs.
Hugh. You’re just simply wrong there. About everything. It’s amazing.
If the Democrates had not moved social security into the general fund we would not be in the mess we are now. Also as previously stated people that have no right to it are getting it. It was paid into by working people for their retirement and that is where it should have stayed. SSI should never have come out of social security either as it is another government hand out. This should have been set up as a government entitlement if they were going to have it.
On the news this morning they were talking about cutting social security, food stamps etc. Polosi stated kids were going to go hungry if they didn’t do something. Why not cut out the billions of dollars we are sending to other countries and take care of our on first.
Republicans want to steal your earned medicare and social security and hand them over to more costly private corporations. Just say no.
There you go again with your demohack lies…….
Georgeana Mimms: You are just spewing Demonrat talking points. Who are you really? Chris Matthews? Rachel Madcow? Seriously. Republicans are NOT out to steal anything from anyone. Some of them aren’t even trying to stop Obama, but that’s another rant for another post. You need to quit listening to MSLSD and CNN and those other communist news outlets.
i don’t view SS or Medicare as a Democrat or a Republican issue — it’s an American issue and they are going broke – in plain English. The AMAC proposal for SS is a step in the right direction and if we don’t do something they will go broke and gone. So, lets get away from which side to blame – they are both to blame — and both are needed to correct the programs.
Age discrimination begins to hit most around the age of 50. If you can continue until 60 you are lucky in a good economy. Raising the age limit is wrong. If anything it should be based on how many years you paid into it. Anyone should be able to retire and collect if they paid in for 40 years. Simply eliminate the earnings cap and none of this would be necessary.
Social Security is a Ponzi scheme that would be illegal if anyone but the government was behind it. I feel that the money my mother paid in went to pay my grandmother’s benefit, and that the money I paid in covered my mother’s benefits. I do not want my children and grandchildren to bear a heavy tax burden to pay me benefits that at this time I do not need.
Therefore, my plan at age 61 is to not take out benefits before age 70 or even beyond if I can afford it. If inflation or a poor stock market mean that I do need to draw benefits, this will maximize the amount. Either way, if everyone who could did this, we could lessen the impact of millions of baby boomers retiring.
You get no choice in how much you get when you start withdrawing SS. It is based on your age at that time
If you take it early, you get reduced payments. If you wait, you get larger payments
If everybody waits and lives longer than the actuaries predict, it will INCREASE the rate at which the SS income lags behind the payments
If you delay taking your payments too long you may die or the program may crash and you might not get any of your money back.
If you are dead, what difference does it make? You can’t take it with you.
I keep hearing one side whine “Ponzi scheme” and the othe “tax the rich.” This is why a viable solution cannot be drawn up. This is why no solution is going to work, because no one will give an inch. It is easier to slander each other than it is to live together. “Love The Lord, your God, with all your heart, mind, soul and strength and your neighbor as yourself. These are the greatest commands,” as affirmed and spoken by Jesus. He also said, “Render unto Ceasar what is Ceaser’s, and unto The Lord what is the Lord’s.
If you know your Old Testement, you know that God requires 10% of your first fruits which is not after taxes and other items some deduct to get to a net number to apply the 10%. Oh, so you are a New Testement person. Okay, Jesus tells us He loves the Church as His Bride. Are you going to treat His bride like you treat others? These tithes are for the church and for the church to then spend as God leads. Giving your tithes to people or organizations you choose, are not the tithes you owe God.
If you love God and Jesus, then you will pay Ceasar (the government) your taxes and the Church (God) your tithes.and offerings. Oooops! Offerings are above your tithes. How much is that? How about an amount that God puts on your heart to give. Your money g ones to help the widows, elderly, and orphans…well, if you actually do tithes and offerings. I am not telling what I think but what God says. You will need to take this up with God when your time comes. The same as that little thing about loving your neighbor as yourself. God does not care what your political beliefs are, He just expects your obedience. If you do not believe in God nor Jesus, then keep on arguing.
Truth, in a tunnel of darkness.
While extending the age of retirement to 65 and 69 sounds good at a quick glance. I wonder how employers will handle a slowing senior work staff?
I retired at 62 after a co-worker had a stroke on the job. At age 64 my arthritis has literally slowed me down and quite honestly I find myself more forgetful these days.
Many jobs are either physically or mentally demanding……how does a senior compete or measure up to a younger employees?
Can you imagine a 69 year old lineman, fireman, nurse……
I agree, the people saying raise the age, do not do jobs that are demanding as you said. We have had people stay where I work and everyone complains that they can not keep up or even do the job.
I can imagine a 69 or older emergency services dispatcher, office administrator or tax preparer. Not every one who is aging loses their wits; there are mind games you can play to keep sharp.
My grandmother worked as a cook in a high school cafeteria until she was 85, arthritis and all.
If the Government would pay back that which they” stole”(and placed “IOU’S”,from the Government) from Social Security,we would not have a problem.
Pay Back what they owe!
The government is trillion of dollars in debt…………
If Obama isn’t voted out…………nobody is getting payed back, including China.
Bankruptcy here we come………….
No one stole anything. Who tells u people these lies? This website?
Who tells you your lies? Obama? Pelosi? Reid? Biden?
It’s well known that SS was raided by the government when it was moved to the general fund. It was supposed to be “untouchable.” I’m sure someone’s Executive Order pen made that possible.
The oxygen must be getting low in your bubble.
Quit aarp because of their liberal mindness. Liked the the information provided for those planning retirement also articles on how to determine when to start drawing social security without penalties. Does AMAC offer such information?
Actually, tax cuts for the rich, 2 unfunded wars, unfunded medicare part d caused this debt… Along with the gop driven recession.
Every taxpayer received a tax cut, madame obamabot…….
GOP driven????????? Seriously woman, you are delusional!!!! The Democrats have been in charge since 2007 and where have we gone since??? Yes, down the tubes because of DEMOCRATS.
Let’s have all wages applied to S/S why stop at 110,000 dollars or conversely if it takes you 2 or 3 months to reach the cut off amount then your S/S payment should be for 2 or 3 months How about common sense solutions .
What about early retirement at age 65 and full benefits at 70.
the politicians in washington should be paying into the system also [mandetory]
then they would think twice before robbing us
In regard to the Social Security IRA, you state that the employer would contribute a certain matching amount for each employee. Why has this been included into the mix? There are many very small businesses out there that simply cannot afford the extra payout. What is the advantage to them?
Well, employers are required by law to pay half of your Social Security taxes (7.65%) unless you are self-employed, which requires the owner-employee to pay the entire 15.3 % tax themselves. So, I assume that the Social Security IRA would be an option to the standard existing plan, not in addition to the regular plan.
1) If in 1950, the age expectancy was 65, keep the same basis. In other words, at say at birth, whatever the life expectancy (actuarial life table) is for a man (today that is age 75), that becomes the retirement age (same age for a woman). Life expectancy means that half of the population born won’t be alive at the start of retirement. Thus the change in life expectancy is self correcting and the law will not need to be altered in the future. In addition, you know your whole life when you will retire.
2) The initial ratio was 16 to 1. Due to abortion, and belief in need for “population control”, US & other modern nations are now approaching a family of 4 as the common size thus a 1:1 ratio (currently 2.1:1 in USA). Thus immigrants are making up the needed population growth to get a better ratio (closer to 3:1). Allow illegal immegrants to work (& pay SS) but not withdraw unless they become US citizens.
3) Roll back the payment to those that it was designed for. As a US citizen, if you pay into the SS system for at least 10 years, then you can withdraw from the system at, and only at retirement!
4) Combine all branches of government’s alternative retirement plans to SS with the SS system and pay proportionately to what you paid into it. In other words, after retirement in the Senate/House/presidency, you don’t get anything more or less than SS. (That will get congress to quit stealing from the system for other expenditures.)
5) Remove the cap on SS payments (you pay 7.5% on every penny of earned income, not stopped at ~$120,000/yr) – plus 7.5% from employer as well
6) combining the above gets a minimum of a 4:1 ratio but using only 3:1 will still be sufficient (Median US wage is $50,000 [avg. is higher] X 15% x 3:1 = $22,500/yr so $13,000/yr avg should not be an issue, IF we are only paying for retirement with SS and don’t cap salaries taxed)
Sounds like a reasonable plan considering the election results. Like it or not, the socialist agenda has been taught for 50 years in the schools, and is not going away. The youngest generation is brainwashed to tolerate everything from homosexuality to liberality in all areas of life with only the conservative view not tolerated. That means they will not fight illegal immigration, nor anything else which eliminates or curtails their freebies. One way or another, the illegals are here, are entering at record rates, and are working. Let’s go ahead and let them work legally, pay taxes, and earn citizenship which will then entitle them to the same entitlements as other citizens proportionate to their contributions.
At the same time, we need to make the funds set aside for Soc Sec and Medicare untouchable by Congress. No more IOUs they never intend to repay. Trouble is that they do repay them, it will be out of taxpayer dollars. Rob us twice. Only a politician could come up with these schemes and get away with it.
Republicans want to steal your earned medicare and social security befits and hand them over to more costly private corporations.
Why do you obamabots keep parroting these lies?
I am more and more convinced that liberalism is either a mental disease or a demonic possession.
When I worked for Modern Woodmen of America the guaranteed rate on the IRA”s was 4% for which is grandfathered and I have one.
I projected $50.00 per week starting at age 18 until age 65 . when I saw what amount of income I would be
guaranteed at age 65 I was both happy and angered. Happy because I would have had $8000.00 per month
to live on…Angered because our government take much more weekly over the average and you live in
poverty….What the government has done to this benefit we all have been forced to fund is a SIN…and
CRIME and nothing less than a scam …..
We gave been robbed and cheated and the unfortunate thing is we cannot sue the government to
get our money back and put it where it would benefit ourselves.
Sure it was a good idea because most people don’t choose wisely for down the road, but the government
does not either.
It should never have been touched for anything else but for what it was intended for and then when we
turn 65, we would have had enough to live on and keep the economy strong because we would have
the money to spend….NOT BE WITHOUT and poor..
HOW DARE THEY
You realize, of course, that your figures are ridiculous. No, you would not have a retirement income of $8,000/month ($96,000 a year) after saving a total of $96,500 during your working years. Besides, 50% of AMAC’s SSI alternative is going to be put going into a “fixed investment.” Want to bet what financial services companies are going to “offer” you in exchange for being guaranteed half of all SS investments. What’s your bank pay for interest these days–1/4%? You’re going to quintuple your money with only half of your contribution earning market rates?
There’s a name for people who make up their investment results–con artists.
I know the arguments about Social Security being gone for children & grandchildren if we keep on the course we are on, and while I am for the IRA i can’t bring myself to agree that we change the age limits. It’s not fair to our children or grandchildren who are going to inherit a mess our generation has made of the economy and healthcare systme because we didn’t do what we should have done to then ask them to have different rules to live out their mature years.
It’s wrong how our generation has allowed so many excesses without self-discipline to then put the yoke of our inaction on the next generation. That is not justice and that is not equality for them. I’m disgusted with this self-pleasing generation that I have grown up with. My parents had more self-discipline and self-sacrifice in their little fingers than this generation has in it’s entirety!
We must stop the us and them and join together to right social security. If we do not fix this problem we ALL well be doomed sooner or later. Are we that selflish that we don’t care about our children ????
May God guide us to do the correct thing and feel proud of are self and our country. There is no question we can do it together because we live in this great country.
Fitz
Lift the cap. It’ll make social security solvent in perpetuity. Simple, fair fix.
Sure, force others to pay for your retirement. Great plan…….
In a free society, is it OK for me to confiscate the property of a man just because he is wealthier than I? If I can, what other reasons might there be to confiscate another’s property? This attitude results in a barbaric system in which no one is free.
It sounds like everyone here is basially on the same wavelength.
First of all, let us be reminded that we did, in fact, once have a ‘SS Fund’, and it was supposedly untouchable. Along came LBJ, with “The Great Society”, and he began to tap the fund for all his ensuing welfare projects. To make matters worse, Clinton put a tax on recipients’ benefits, so he could create more welfare! With so much money going to non-contributors, is it any wonder the ‘fund’ is broke?
Here’s what we need to do, NOW:
1. Dan Weber’s plan has a lot of merit–let’s look at it.
2. Get Washington’s hands out of the fund, NOW!
3. Stop all pensions for politicians, and put them on SS, NOW! Make them contribute the same as we do. Additionally, they must meet the same criteria to collect as we do–no more pensions after serving only one term! The savings from this, alone, would be monumental! This would also fatten the General Fund.
P.S. Ditto politicians’ health care and other family benefits, such as free education, etc.!
4. Reform the tax code.
5. Term limits, NOW.
6. Vote everyone out, except those new ones that were elected in 2010. Start over!
7. Get the ILLEGAL, NON-PAYING IMMIGRANTS, off ALL freebies, NOW!
And, by the way, when it comes to Obamacare, all of the above applies!
T. Plante
Solution to social security is to wake up the law makers. They are happy for us to give up our retirement or to raise it up to get it later. They love that no pressure and more of our money to spend. Well our law makers are the ones that took our money as well as the communist presidents like clinton that sold our country to China, and balanced the budget out of the social security fund and he had the help of all the law makers to sell China the number one trade agreement which by the way would be treasion for Clintons.
Lets start waking them up by stiring up the public to the fact that we have a bunch of law makers up in washington that can not do the job or just wish not too. In any case they need to have a percent of there pay and benefits taken from them for everymonth that they have us losing social security and for every month that are country does not have a balanced budget. And we need to start bills or partians of the people to place them on social security instead of all the freebee’s that they have for not doing the job. They look at grading teachers by there performance and then paying them by there grade well whats wrong with grading them by there job performance. Do you understand that we have the biggest part of Puerto Rico on social security and welfare and they pay nothing at all to this country, and the clown law makers are with the mess that we are in working to give social security at a much larger rate to then we get to mexico. This is to me very unstable people in the job of running are country or we have a bunch of law makers that depend on us to take the stuiped actions of cutting our selfs, in a direct drive to kill America, and turn it into a communist country. France went communist and we still pay them for nothing. Get real and tell them that we are here for a long fight to take them down off the top self and place them in the garbage if need be to get our rights and our country back. Don’t work to see how we can make cuts to our selfs that is completely stuiped. That is worse then AARP. I did not join this to talf washington into cutting our rights and our retirements. Grow up please
I agree with all of the steps above presented by Terry Plante.
These ideas have been voiced over and over by many people over the past few years but no one in Washington DC is paying attention to the message. It is up to every individual American to get this point across to all of our Senators and Representatives as often as possible, including state and local government representatives.
Lift the cap. It’ll make social security solvent in perpetuity. Far and simple.
Let’s keep it simple, take the taxpayer paid pension plan for all our representatives and put it into the SS fund “lock box”. They can go on SS and private savings just like us and then watch how fast it is fixed. After all, most of them collect their yearly salary after they retire!!
All taxpayer paid pensions should be done away with. 401K’s and IRA’s just like the rest of us out here..
Cecil is so right, first we need definite term limits. 2: As it is stated, reduce their pensions and health benefits, as ours are. But there is one thing that no one realizes we all must do. That is to keep their feet to the fire by keeping ourselves involved constantly in what they are plotting in Washington. Where everyone is so helpful with the programs they promote and then pat themselves in the back for being so generous. Of course i’ts easy to be generous with other people’s money. I read how Harry S. Truman retired with no pension, until the government granted him a small pension.
Where are those type of people now? Everyone is a millionaire when they step down or otherwise die in power. ( they are all power hungry people who live their lives off the working people and parade themselves like peacoks telling us how much they did for us)
How pretensious!!
I would like to have a verification – fact or fiction:
A few years back, Congress was needing some additional funds, so they voted to move the Social Security (SS) funds from the dedicated SS account into the General Fund. They have used the SS funds to pay for all their pet projects and their own pay and benefit raises. I am sure that there are records of the amounts that have been taken and continue to be taken. If this is true, then “We the People” need to get it changed back to the way it was originally set up and have congress return the funds that they have taken. It is my oppinion that SS would be solvent for many years to come, if the fund was independent of the general fund.
Another question: Why do the elected officials’ children get college loans free? They never have to repay them. Who’s taking the hit for these and what is the total yearly amount?
Fiction. Social security is part of general funds because the Supreme Court ruled that social security was only constitutional if the funds collected were technically part of general funds.
One more thing. State gov has eitherhas 2 or 3, 4 yr. terms. Rach state has 4 house and 3 senators. No matter their population. The gov(s vote them and vote them out. If we were ever to get to this point all the states would pretty much have to work together and the illeagles and other countries would have to take a back seat.
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I think that alot of taxpayers don’t know about this and when they find out, they will be totally UPSET!!!!!!!!!
I found out about this when I volunteered to do low income peoples tax returns. People that are not citizens of this country can get earned income credits for supposed parents, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, granparents etc that are living in MEXICO. Canadians supporting family in Canada have much more stringent regulations in order to get tax credits.
The person that I did the tax return for had a right to work card. She earned $9,800 paid in $ 48 in federal witholding. She lived a city that is close to San Francisco, so her income would definitely not support rents from her income. She had one small baby. She had the original copy of her mothers ITN letter. She was able to claim her mother and receive $ 4,000 refund back in the form of earned income credit, also known as federal welfare. She wanted to claim her nephew but I told her she couldn’t because she didn’t have his original right to work card. (Looks like a social security card) The site coordinator who is from El Salvador started talking to her in Spanish (they knew that I didn’t speak spanish), so I think that she told her that she would hepl her to claim her nephew and then have him send the card to her. She probably got another $ 3,600 from US the TAXPAYERS !!!!!!!!!!!
These people are probably buying properties in Mexico and using our tax dollars to accomplish this!!!
Why is our government elected officials allowing this when if we tried to claim a dependent that lived in another state, they would probably audit us and we would have to jump through all kinds of hoops to get this earned income credit/federal welfare.
I am so sick of this. The American citizen doesn’t count anymore. We get no help from our governement, they don’t tell us all the resources that we could apply for help for food, housing etc like they do for the immigrants whether they or legal or illegal.
I say let’s show our governement by voting for all new people that aren’t running for re-election.
I also think that we need to vote for people that understand what a profit and loss means. A business person that knows how to cut costs when need, how to create income, and how to keep the business profitable. We can hire politicians and lawyers, so let’s put some business people in office so that they can keep our country solvent.
I so agree with you. I was looking for work and took a tax preparation class last year where I learned all about EIC and all the other “credits” people are getting. I was amazed! So much money back when none is paid in. No wonder we’re broke. These things need to be taken out of the tax code. Obama’s so worried about taxing the “rich”? Why don’t we just implement a rule saying you can’t get back more than you paid in?
Social Security has been fraudulently used to pay for so many things other than our retirements. Sadly, the fraud associated with it has been incredible. But that’s the segment of the population that no one wants to take on. How is this fair?
We had the opportunity to vote for someone who understood a P&L along with someone who was going to make some needed reforms to our budget. Supposedly they lost (but I still don’t buy that they really lost) and now we have more of this? I don’t know what’s going to happen, but four more years is going to completely devastate us. Obama’s dream will come true!
I just want to say that i agree with these ideas for the saving of our social security for future generations.
Can you recommend a good ditagil camera for under $100.00?Also, where is the best place to shop for ditagil cameras? I’m thinking Wal-Mart, but you may have better ideas!Thanks SO much!!!
I agree with the person who asked about why are we paying SS to people who have never paid into it? And I have visited the SS office lately. You would be amazed at the number of foreigners who are there to apply . Some can’t even speak English. And how about all these people who have never worked a day in their lives? Why in the world are they collecting the same funds that we who have been paying into the system for a billion years are? And they also should do the same for SS Disability. Why are disabled children collecting SS payments? They have never paid into it either. If the government wants to support them, it should come out of a different fund. If they would just stop using our hard earned SS money for any frivolous thing they want to, there would not be any trouble. Our money would have sat there and earned the interest it needed to pay a truly retired person to live, no matter how long they survived.
Why do we support other countries that send their people here for education,jobs and such,when people that has worked here all their lives can not get their Social Security benefits without fighting for them.Quit supporting the immigrants and put our hard earned money back into Social Security.If not we can always elect new officials or better.Impeach the ones in office,charge them as criminals as for what they are.Elect new ones and if they do not do the job right,then dispose of them too until we get it right.
My big question is “why do we give China as much in foreign aid as we borrow from them? Why can’t we just keep our money and let them keep theirs?” This is INSANITY!!! Charity begins at home. So, let’s put that principle to work.
Establish a true SS trust fund. Then tax SS on everyones’ wages up to $1,000,000. All the money should go in the trust and be unavailable to politicians
Why not just start a search party to find Al Gore’s “Lock Box?” I am sure I remember him telling us that SS money was somewhere in a Lock Box. Who has the key??
There’s no need for a new social security IRA, especially one with the low contribution limits in your plan. For decades I have saved 10 to 15% of my income and lived within my means. Most people can do this if they choose to. Smaller house, older car, but all perfectly sufficient: fewer worries.
PLAIN AND SIMPLE , WE MUST MAKE THE SS FUND NOT TOUCHABLE BY WASHINGTON ! WE ALL MUST PAY MORE INTO THE FUND , … EVERY EMPLOYEE AND EVERY EMPLOYER ! SEVERAL TIMES WASHINGTON TOOK THE MONEY OUT OF THE SS FUND AND LEFT US WORTHLESS TREASURY NOTES IN IT’S PLACE . WE MUST PREVENT THIS FROM EVER HAPPENING AGAIN ! THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS FOR US TO PROVIDE FOR OURSELVES WHEN WE’RE OLD . STOP TALKING AND DO IT NOW .
I am 60 years old and plan to retire in 6 years. I have worked and saved and made sure SS would not be my sole source of income. What impact would it have to stop cost of living increases to SS payments along with no taxes on SS income? Originally SS was tax deductible. Clinton/Gore made SS taxable up to 85 percent. Would that be a doable trade-off?
I beleive I joined Amac at the one year level but haven’t received anything back in the mail yet. When should I exspect the membership card and Amac kit ?
Please send me information so I may consider joining AMAC.
As with other government programs (medicare, welfare, educational loans, food stamps, and etc.) Social Security run by the government needs to come to an end. These programs are essentially bankrupting our country. The government is borrowing about 40% of every dollar spent. What are we going to do when no one wants to buy our debt. We will have a huge predicament. Basically, the government will suffer a short fall of 100s of billions of dollars. It is unlikely these revenues can be replaced with tax dollars. Many government functions will have to be immediately curtailed. It will be chaos – see Greece for an example.
About replacing lost revenue, I should have said “revenues can’t be replace with tax dollars”
I’ll tell you what will happen when no one loans us any money. The same thing as when your hours at work get cut back. Everything government does will be cut 40 Percent across the board. They always say they look out for the little guy and the poor, but the one’s that rely on welfare, food stamps, social security, government pensions and anything else having to do with the government will be cut by 40 percent at a minimum. It is that or print money and cause inflation to devalue everything we have. They are already printing money so the cuts are the only thing left. I just wish they would start cutting while we have the options on what to cut instead of being made to cut 40 percent off of everything.
Here is my solution: Let me opt out. Return all monies I and my wife have paid in. Allow us to invest this money in a tax-paid IRA, and we will never collect another dime. (Tax-paid because we have, ironically, already paid income tax on this money before it was taken as more tax money.)
Might be a good idea except if another 2008 financial crisis comes around and you loose everything. What will you do? Keep working until you die. That is what people did for thousands of years. The entire idea of “retirement” while your still able to work was a concept no one ever figured out how to pay for. The average working person does not seem to have the knowledge, ability or will to establish their own independent retirement system built to weather financial storms and cycles. Government seems just as clueless and as a result SS seems always to be in trouble. Buying dreams is a dangerous game. Often the retirement dream is a mini nightmare — but they don’t teach you that is school.
Think about what you’re sayin. The 2008 financial crisis would ruin a private account, but the Government is immune to that??? How do you think your money in the Federal Government is more safe than on Wall Street? Oh, OK, the Government can borrow from China to pay you. WHY doesn’t the average person have the knowledge, ability or will to establish their own retirement system?? Because they were brought up on the idea that SS will provide their every need in retirement. Schools should be teaching our kids about finances, and how to plan for their own individual retirement!! But the teachers have their own retirement plans in addition to SS, so they really don’t car about teaching kids what to do if you go to work in the private sector and don’t have a job that cushy.
I do accept as true with all of the ideas you have orffeed for your post. They are really convincing and will definitely work. Still, the posts are very brief for newbies. May you please extend them a bit from subsequent time? Thank you for the post.
You gave three options as solutions in your “survey”; I suggest that the primary reason that Social Security “paid out $49 billion more than it took in” is because the social Security System is now paying for increasing groups of recipients who NEVER paid into the system (i.e., SSI, immigrants). Go visit any Social Security office; look at the people waiting in line. Politicians will not touch this topic. WHY AREN’T YOU!
And most SS recipients receive far more in benefits than they ever paid in. You have to have at least 40 “credits” of paying into SS (about 10 years) in order to collect. Don’t believe the nonsense that all these illegal immigrants are collecting. I’m sure there are a few, but I’m sure there are plenty who have paid into it, but in the end can’t prove their status, so they’re not able to collect.
Why has our own country turned their backs on us, The American People!!! I resent giving my money to people who do not or did not put into the system,,(ss).. It is a slap in the face to all who work hard for their money…..
your are spot on……and your feelings are shared by many
woot, thankyou! I fialnly came to a site where the webmaster knows what they’re talking about. Do you know how many results are in Google when I search.. too many! It’s so annoying having to go from page after page after page, wasting my day away with thousands of people just copying eachother’s articles bah. Anyway, thankyou very much for the info anyway, much appreciated.
Simply because that is how they buy their re-election votes!!
Dan Weber has it right… To our Legislators….KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID!!…Rather than attempting the usual Smoke & Mirrors routine as Legislators so often do…Any legislator who does not support the IMMEDIATE FIX OF SOCIAL SECURITY SHOULD BE FIRED…REPLACED…AND LOSE THEIR GOVERNMENT RETIREMENT….
I so agree with everything Gene T said. I just joined Amac tonight and hope I did not throw my money away.
I am no longer a member of AARP because of their very liberal political views. However I stillget prescription meds from Prescription Solutions. Do you have any plans to open a pharmacy service? Roland Samson
To All,
You haven’t realized the whole country is broke, we are in deep do do. We borrow money from China while protesting their form of civil rights. It is too easy for big government to spend or steal other peoples money. If all congress were tried in court for grand theft as one of the earlier writers mentioned the halls of congress would be empty. I do not have a solution, but I have many questions; one being why do we keep sending money to countries that hate us? Why does government have to be so big to do so little? Why are illegals cared for and our veterans often cut short? Why are we the world’s police force? Why do we care how other countries are run when we failing at running our own? Why are we protecting some country that is on the other side of the world and our borders are freeways into this country to those that want to take the trip? Hopefully someone in this group can answer these questions……………..
There are a lot of great ideas here for saving SS. I like the AMAC plan. Still, can anyone tell how SS can be mandatory? Our freedom is a joke! Only a fool or a slave would “voluntarily” put their economic future into the hands of some body trillions over trillions over trillions of dollars in debt. I’m no fool! I say save SS (at this time and place we have no choice) BUT phase it out and/or make it voluntary. Gees! What a concept! Freedom of choice.
I agree with topcards comments 100%. In 25 years the problem is gone. Thanks topcard, I hope congress reads this!!!
Why can’t the people in congress see that the Anchor babies is killing our country.
Social security was started for the elderly Americans, not kids w/ ADHD or the illegal people coming into our Country.
If we ever hope to have Social Security solvent we will have to stop the illegals from qualifying for the program.
The clerks who sign up people for WIC, food stamps, AFDC, Section 8 housing, ETC.! are not ALLOWED to ask for proof of citizenship,only proof of id. They have to take a Mexican birth certificate for proof of ID.
So we have a woman who walks across the border goes to the local hospital has her baby who ,as an anchor baby, is a USA citizen. therefore he is eligible for free housing, WIC, food stamps, AFDC payments, ETC. Then his mother goes to the local Library, even thought she cant’ speak a word of English, and is given a library card she takes said library card and her WIC card as both are considered proof of ID. to Courthouse and asks for a voters regression application card she then mails said application in and receive a voters card. She is not required to prove CITIZENSHIP. All she is required to do is check the box that says she is a citizen, .So At this point she is a voting Citizen. She uses this card as proof of ID and legal residence. Her Child is considered to have ADHD if he jumps around and makes a lot of noise so then he is put on SSI .
At this point we are furnishing her and family a place to live with all utilities included, Food, Income of more than a $1000. per month and she can start bringing over grand ma and grand pa. both of whom qualify for SSI. (More thousands of dollars ) Most of this income goes straight to Mexico
We have to get all the illegals off the program and give it time to rebuild. We are paying out thousands of dollars a month that goes to illegals.
Get grand ma and grand paw illegal off the rolls and they will go home. We have become the retirement country for illegals.
Ditto to Jean. I work hard for my money and do not want to give to the illegals. They need to be kicked out. And the thought of anyone becoming an American citizan just because they are born in this country —– that was useful when we were building this country in the 17-1800′s – NOT Now. I think the Constitution should be changed to require that at least one parent be an American citizen. I heard somewhere that a University was dropping “out of state” tuition if you an illegal. But they dont do it for our American kids. Piece of crap.
We need a lobbyist or special interest group to pay the Congress in our interests. I am proud to be an American and I luv my country – but I hate what the “lawmakers” have done to it.
Lets get together and speak up- call a Constitional Convention – vote these assholes out of office and get Farmers, small business owners – regular Americans – up to Capital hill – thats what the Founding Fathers had in mine anyway. Not these idiots who are being paid by Corporate America and stay there for 40 years.
I disagree with AMAC…
We should MAKE the people who stole our money from SS fund PAY IT BACK..
I agree with John partially. We need to sue the federal government for the 2.5 trillion they stole from us (plus interest), republicans and democrats alike are responsible for this theft and responsible persons should be arrested for involvement in the biggest Ponzi Scheme ever in American history. My wife and I have both paid in to social security for 50 years. IT’S MY MONEY!!!
the first thing is to keep the thives in congress and white house out of money that belongs to social security and pay back what they stole they need to work for the people of the united states not for congress do what were elected for not to get rich at our expense just a bunch of crooks destroying the USA
Everyone misses the big point. Social security was awash with surplusses until congress decided to fund Medicare with Social Security Surplusses. The surpluss paid for medical care for amny years for senior citizens, but wiped out the social security surpluss. Congress has raided the fund countless times since the 1970′s. The end of social security came when the “surplus” was stolen to fund medicare. Had it not been pilfered, the plan would be sound today.
Why do none of the “experts” mention the real reason for SS’s demise? They are either ignorant, or do not want to say something that others might disagree with. It is a fact nonetheless. Medicare should have had separate funding, and government management of our lives is a complete failure. Nothing is a better example than social security’s demise at the hands of the government spending our money that was put aside for retirement. Social Security was a great idea, but like all good ideas, government turned it into a failure.
We the people should not have to worry about ss. when in fact when clinton was pres the ss fund was in the black , that is we had lots of money in there for us who payed into it. you cant put it out their like all of the sudden NO MONEY? the goverment used it, for better terms STOLE it from us and borrowed aginst it. Now we have this crisis situation no money. my suggestion would be from bush to the current president congress senators and all of the rest of the jack holes that STOLE FROM US .pay it back!!!!!!
I totaly agree with you and totaly disagree with AMAC plan.
Volunteer retirement should remain @ 62
Standard retirement @ 65
There is no way I agree to raising retirement age.
Raise S.S. tax from 6.2 to 7.2 on employer and employee
Stop giving away S.S. money to aliens period.
Force the government to return every penny they stole from S. S. to fund other projects immediatley.
Leave medicare alone except make the weathy pay the bulk of the cost.
Signed: A independent
If this is what AMAC call reform I will not remain a member.
I fully agree with what James says but that will never happen so find a way to correct it.
I heard Senator Corker say ( when asked why Congressme ( and women) were not on social security instead of having their own retirement program) and I “quote” We are on the same social security as every one else”. I heard no explanation as to why he would make such a statement whe3n everyone knows that congress has their own retirement system that continues to pay their salary for life an if deceised his or her spouce continues to receive it until deceased.
Sir / Madam,
I have just read ALL your remarks from people in the same position as us in the UK
It reads just the same as we have here.
If you pay in then you expect a payment at the end but again here people coming into
the country very few working all the remaining on the take.
This is not only a US problem but UK and some European counties.
This problem will only get worse.
All the best to you all in the US.
Regards Mike
The first thing we can do to save Social Security is to put the past, the present, and the future politicians into the Social Security System. Let them recieve a check, just like we do. They have voted themselves their own retirement plan. Pretty nice when you can work for “We the People” and do that. The second thing we can do is get all of the illegal immigrants off of the SS payroll.
You have to work for it and if you don’t, well you don’t get the social Secruity check once a month. also check out the report on the illegals who are getting huge amounts of income returns and there kids don’t even live here in USA.
What gets me upset is the fact that everyone blames retireies for the Social Security problem , why do these lawyers addvertise on TV we can get you your Social Security benifits now , at any age . They can get you benifits for depresion and all kinds of thing. Well gee , I worked all my life and get depressed but I still go to work. Why do senior have to take the blame when they paid in all there lives . Why don’t they crack down on the free loaders that never paid a dime in.
Social Security was never intended to be a retirement program! It was intended to be a “Safety Net” for the elderly, to prevent them from falling into utter poverty as often happened in the past. Any working adult with an ounce of intelligence knows this and makes provisions to supplement their Social Security with an Annuity or an IRA or both. Putting the Social Security System in the hands of private investments companies puts it at risk of a total failure as happened with the recent bank and investment companies. With this in mind, there are many things that can be done to save the system inperpetuity(sp?). Even with a moderate income, I was able to acure a significany annuity.
1. Eliminate the cap on income subject to social security tax or at least increase the cap to reflect increases in inflation and income. An increase from $100,000 to $1 million would provide a significant increase in ss income.
2. Means test for social security recipiants. Place a maximum cap on recipiants who already have a second significant income. This would be consistant with the concept that ss is a safety net and not a retirement program. Say a 10% reduction in ss benefits for every $50,000 in retirement income; not individual annuities or IRA’s; to a maximum reduction of 50%.
3. Leave the age for full benefits where they are, but eliminate any options for early withdrawal of benefits. The only way one could get early retirements benefits would be to be disabled to the point of not being able to work. As an elderly adult who was able to work until I was 70, I found many coworkers who were really suggling to keep working after 65. For many adults raising the retirement age beyond 65 would be a considerable hardship.
You are correct in what you are saying!!…Turning over any retirement incomes to private companies, (without MAJOR safeguards!!), will only guarantee that THEY make money on fees, and NOT necessarily, the investor!!…Asuming 1-3% returns on investment, “guaranteed”, is presently a “pipe-dream”, unless you are investing $500,000 or more!!…And what makes ANYONE believe that companies and individuals will take more of their money and invest it, when average incomes for those earning less than $250,000 per year, have remained “flat”, or actually “shrunk”, over the past 20 years or so, while prices have gone up!!…Where will that extra money from individuals come from, and also, companies that ALREADY don’t want to pay what they agreed to in benefits, will now come up with EXTRA matching funds??…The AMAC plan, while a good one in a GREAT economy, is flawed in the economy we now have!!…Besides, in a GREAT economy, we wouldn’t have to “fix” Social Security, as EVERYONE would be making enough to where Social Security COULD function, as intended, as just a safety net, and NOT as it has now become!!…The fixes are as you said – raise the amount that people continue to pay in FICA, (which hasn’t be raised for years!!), and add the other items you discussed, and which I won’t spend time repeating here!!…Your indicated fixes work for a system which ISN”T broken, but simply needs “adjustments”!!…
STOP ALL payouts to NON-Americans, immediately!!!! They don’t belong here, WE don’t want them here, they have NO rights here and are NOT qualified/eligible/deserving for ANY benefits, services, rewards, nor resources!!!!
It’s OUR money, NOT the politicians!!!!
I will have to take exception to Vince’s comments that ALL non americans should be barred from receiving benefits. Some of us have lived here legally and contributed by working and paying taxes for the majority of our lives. I can agree with stopping or preventing pay-outs to non-citizens, if those same individuals have not contributed and perhaps aren’t even legal.
I have a hard time understanding, how a naturalized citizen can bring their extended family to this country and the extended, often older and certainly not employed person, can get “benefits”
Vince, I agree with you, if by non-citizens you mean the group I have just described. If not, I disagree with you 100%.
AMEN !! AMEN !! AMEN !!!
Here is my proposal:
Every American citizen under the age of 40 should be dropped from SS & Medicare immediately. They would also no longer pay into it. The program is over and the problem is solved in a matter of 25 years or so.
In the meantime, allow ever American citizen over the age of 50 the option to receive a lump-sum payment of every dollar they and their employers into SS and/or Medicare in exchange for being removed from eligibility for any future benefits. They would also no longer be required to pay into the plan once this lump sum payment was received.
Now, those American citizens over the age of 50 would be eligible to remain in the system under the current rules for qualifying and the current benefit levels, but only up to the amount paid into both programs (cummulatively) by them and their employers on their behalf – plus an annual, compounded 4% interest rate applied to their personal contributions. Upon retirement, allow them to set any schedule for receipt of their account funds – either all at once or at a set rate per month. (Medicare amounts would only be available to purchase or supplement private, cafeteria-style health insurance coverage – no sense in paying for maternity coverage or for HIV treatment coverage if one has no need for them). Of course, one could always opt to retain full Medicare coverage in-lieu of receiving any cash from their Medicare account – and I suspect most folks over 50 would do exactly that. Fine. As mentioned above, the “problem” ends in 25 years or so.
American citizens over 40 but under 50 would still be eligible to become SS beneficiaries (but not Medicare) – they would, however, be permitted to opt out of SS at any time and no longer be taxed for the program. For those that chose to say in, they would still have to pay into the program, and receive a single lump-sump payment of their account total(with 4% interest) at a retirement date of their own choosing, but it would be paid regardless when they reach age 65.
So, how does the United States afford to implement this?
1. Apply the cash equivalent value of all of those “treasury bonds” collecting dust in Al Gore’s Social Security “lockbox”.
2. Any amount that is in shortfall would be paid for through the ‘general fund’ and would need to be a Federal budget item. If the US must go into greater debt to pay for its legal obligations (as we all know they do routinely), then THIS legal obligation should be no different. The difference with this one is that, eventually, the costs would actually and permanently go to zero.
3. Baseline budgeting would not be required – the total benefit costs for SS would be known, to the dollar, at the time of implementation. No COLAS…no “new” beneficiaries…
4. All affected Americans over the age of 40 would have to be “E-Verfied”, and prove their citizenship in order to receive any benefit of any kind under SS and/or Medicare.
The US Government needs to get completely out of the retirement and health-care business (VA hospitals aside).
This proposal would do exactly that in about 25 years
I agree 100% topcard, great plan!!
the money they gave away on IOUs was my money not theirs they stole the money who ever did this should be tried for grand theft.
send me your emails thanks John
OJO VIVO Y LOS MAS RAPIDO POSIBLE, TENEMOS QUE BUSCAR LS MEJORES HERRAMIENTAS PARA DEFENDER NUESTROS PROPIOS DERECHOS DE JUBILACION.
Social Security has been a Democratic con game from the beginning. The median life expectancy (i.e. the age at which half the people die) has been less than the retirement age from the day the Democrats concocted this scheme throughout most of its existence. That means that half the people who paid into the system died before they ever collected a penny from Social Security!
The Democrats then added giveaway after giveaway to people who had not paid into Social Security, all the while loudly proclaiming: “We must keep Social Security a program funded by the workers”, rather than have the Federal Government pay for any of its extravagant giveaway programs.
And yes, all too often many Republicans have jumped on the Democrat gravy train rather than fight to stop the fraud. Of course, it is true that every time a Republican does courageously try to fix the system, he or she is attacked as heartless villains by the media propagandists.
The plan sounds good but still not enough. Add to it a requirement that Congress participate and allow them to invest their own funds in their own retirement plan, and cut all Social Security benefit checks permanently by 5% and you have a solution. There are many other good ideas here in the comments as well. How do you get the media to be rational instead of aggrandizing the demagogic comments of the ‘progressives’ who have their head in the sand?
Several people have mentioned how the government took/borrowed/STOLE! the SS funds. That is the number ONE problem. Then you can go to the two you listed. Your idea sounds as good or better than any others I have heard. But how to get Congress to DO anything?????
Saving social security is simple ———Make it mandory that ALL government employees and elected officials pay into the system. Social Security was set up like an IRA- whatever amount the employee pays so does the employer. Then do not let the government officials take the money out of the account. We would still have money in it if the congress and senate had not used the money for their pet projects. Fraud is a big issue that will always be there so it will always have to be addressed.
Sorry to burst your bubble Susie, but Federal govt employees and federal elected officials have been paying into the Social Security system since 1984. The ‘pension’ once available disappeared the same year. They now pay into a 401(k) plan just like the private sector. Unfortunately, there is still the ‘urban myth’ going round and round on the internet that they do not. As an ex-federal employee I know this for a fact. A simple Google will bring up numerous articles that confirm this. Since that hasn’t resolved SS issues in the intervening 27 years, it clearly is not the solution.
The individual SS tax on both earned and unearned income should not be capped at $110,000. The tax should apply to 100% of the monies earned with a declining rate as the income rises. When the individual reaches full retirement the there should be a means test over a base distribution. This would allow everyone to contribute the the safety net.
The congress should be own nothing but SS.
A small increase in SS taxes will fix this problem. The rest is a Trojan Horse for anti-government types like Grover Norquist.
IOU’s from the USA are as good as greenbacks, and will be redeemed as needed.
The real problem is Republican gridlock from lazy child legislators who sign phony pledges so they won’t have to do their job.
“as good as greenbacks” ?? You mean that paper we are printing like there’s no tomorrow. Worthless….
You obviously have never been a small business EMPLOYER who pays BOTH SIDES of the SS Tax! With the rising cost of everything, it’s hard enough to pay the employee’s part and your own part, w/o having to increase BOTH parts. And by the way, how would you EVER think there could be Republican grid-lock when they have NO majority in the Senate that has a FINAL vote on all legislation??? If you really want to get rid of the grid lock in Congress, send Dirty Harry back to Nevada to sit on his front porch and whittle there for awhile!!! The next gridder we can send home in November is in the White House!! Anything that half way resembles progress, the “DIVIDER IN CHIEF” has vetoed.
Tamara, you are correct. Democrats do nothing except complain and blame Republicans.
Watch out for the deportation of natural born citizens to make room for illegal aliens like the one in the white house. Now that the vote tabulation for the USA is done by a foreign company owned by a major contributor to the Obamanation and the counting will be done in Spain, anything can happen. The results cannot even be checked for fraud and the corrupt Democrats will be dancing the overthrow jig.
George Soros company is ALSO in charge of “tabulating” the vote in Wisconsin’s recall – where’s the outrage and questioning of propriety by the news media????
It’s like putting the fox in charge of the hen house…why don’t we just let ACORN count them all by hand????
1) Enough money? Inflation is a big problem. At some point I will have to buy etehir land or house, but of course not now. I save roughly $4000 a month and it’s not as much as you think it is (or, it is as little as it sounds, depending where you stand). I did have paid off RE but left it (willingly) to my ex-wife. Why? I just don’t like to leave woman out in the cold. Fool, you’ll say. Maybe, will not argue.2) Benefits from the Gov? I will take anything, no questions asked. How much it’s worth, is another question.3) Savings? $4000, or about 55% (after tax)4) Place to retire? SoCal (where I live now), or Buenos Aires. Some place with nice weather.5) I am 39. Maybe 60? Despite people wishing their own business (I had one, made millions but then lost millions…), most people never make it big, get a lot of headache, never live their lives and get really ill… Watch out people, watch out your health, it’s the only thing really worth something. I am happy to be strong and healthy. Everything else I will work out one way or the other. Don’t stress out about inflation or stocks or RE. All you have is today and that sunshine outside. Yes, really that’s all you have. And I have been bankrupt and lived homeless at somepoint in life, it’s not just the good times. Believe me I know.
I am not in favor of raising the retirement age, although I am well past 69. It is unfair to all those people in their forties and fifties to keep moving the goal posts. The only real solution is to get this program out of the hands of those thieves in Washington and into the hand of a private actuary, with guarantees from the government until the program is stabilized.; Any of us would have done better with that money we were FORCED to give to these reckless spenders that they have done. This whole thing is a mess..
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I think FDR and the other progressives that introduced and created SS system were barking up the wrong tree. The founders never intended for the Federal Government to go into such expansive and expensive endeavors. I sincerely hope that SS is eventually fazed out and private plans take over. I am 62 1/2 now and I believe I could have managed my own retirement much better and had much more resources in my later years. The approximate 13% that has been put into the system for me over my last 43 years of employment could have been invested privately and I would now be well over a millionare. Americans should have the choice of how to manage their retirements.
am going to be a new early retiree unless I’m mistaken originally SS was setup so it couldn’t be touched at all !
yes we need to put all americans on SS including the President of this USA if its good for the people then its good for them too!
as to the comment on food stamps and rolls of money yep they surely know how to bend the real americans over and then cry oh don’t deport us and please change the imigration laws so we can stay for free why all the imigrants from other countries have to jump through hoops to imigrate to the USA wake up Washington DC as there coming for your jobs next!!
I believe the only long term solution toward solving health care and social security problems is to require everyone, and I do mean everyone including ALL members of Congress and ALL federal and state employees, to participate. I think it’s an outrage that members of congress have separate and health and retirement programs.
Let them experience the same inadequacies that they prescribe for the American people.
I feel exactly the way Joel does and have for a long time. Why should they be exempt from the medical and receive such a a retirement after only one term and more the longer they stay.
I sure agree with your sentiments. Look what great benefits we give our elected officials compared to what we provide our “fighting men and women of the service with”, it’s disgraceful. I believe the elected officials and all public employees , including our school union personnel / teachers should be tied to the military enlisted men and women’s pay and benefit’s and promotions. (elected officials should be limited to two terms, one to serve and one in prison, where a lot belong). Whadaya think ?
Want to comment on 1 issue that has not been discussed so far in the Social Security financial problem, and that is the fact that since Roe vs Wade, approximately 50 million babies have been aborted in America. Social Security’s solvency was based on an increase in the population to keep supporting the program, but abortion interfered with that. Also, why would congress want to allow abortion since they are approving the abortion of future voters!
This problem was known a long time ago but it was far easier for politicians to ignore it (after all, they don’t rely on it) then it was to fix it. Why fix this problem, that may antagonize their voter base. For too many years, SSI was used by politicians as a “piggy bank” to fund whatever shortages they needed to cover and buy votes from whatever group they were trying influence.
The plan suggested by AMAC makes sense, no fix to social security is ever going to be painless but this fix suggested is reasonable and needs to be made. That being said, doesn’t insure that it will happen.
Gary
I just turned 60, and I want to get rid of Social Security. I know I’m in the minority because most people haven’t studied the issues well, but I can’t support an organization that is so hypocritical as to insist on protecting one huge government redistribution of wealth, Social Security, while claiming to be opposed to big government in regard to ObamaSinLadenCare! It is a shame that our older generations continue to burden our younger generations with government involvement in things like S.S., healthcare, housing, food distribution, etc., things government has no business being involved in.
I bought and paid for my SS and Medicare benefits……..so this is no handout. I had no choice in the matter and paid in all my life. I worked all my adult life also.
I am 67 yrs old & still working with no plan to retire anytime soon. My first job at age 14 was as a waitress during the summer & after school. I am a BSN prepared registered nurse and have been paying into social security for many years. I was never asked to contribute but was told that the money that was being taken for my paycheck would be available to supplement my retirement. Social security is not a handout for me considering I had no opportunity to refuse to contribute. I agree with the proposal to adjust the age to receive benefits and add a new Social Security IRA.
I am 67 years old. I retired at age 63 and went back to work 2 years later. I don’t need to work but decided to work 4 months of the year. I draw SS benefits but also I am still paying SS and medicare taxes with no further benefits to me. I agree with raising the retirement age but mostly agree with AMAC plan.
Upon the death of a spouse, what happens to their IRA? Who gets it? My wife or Oboma? How is this handled in your proposed plan?
What Congressmen & Senators are currently on board? What about Romney, Gingrich & Santorum? I’m not hearing anything from these folks about the ISSUES. They sound like three year olds: Mine! No, mine! Not so! Is too! We have a BIG PROBLEM IN DC, and November is coming.
I’ve requested info on your program twice and have received no response . Now you ask me to join you ? Why would I sign up with an outfit that seems to me to be very slip-shod ?
First I believe the govt. should have to pay back all the money they stole form SS to fight both the Gulf Wars. Then the people that have not paid in are OFF the dole. Also the govt. should not be able to use this money for anything else. Look where we would be if everyone would have had to put their money in the stock market in 08.
In my opinion anyone with annual income from any source other than social security, taxable or not, greater than four times the average income of their area of residence would receive NO social security benefits. Basically it comes down to “If you don’t need it you don’t get it.”. Yes we all pay into it, but it was never supposed to be a retirement plan. It was supposed to help those who were unable to prepare for retirement. And if you have reached the age of benefit from social security and have that much income, you don’t need the help.
In addition, anyone born after the year 2000 should be allowed to opt out of social security with the requirement of depositing a minimum of 5% of their gross wages into a guaranteed interest earning retirement account with the same tax exemptions as an IRA. These funds would become available for withdrawal on the same schedule, but without the income restriction of social security. These funds would also be transferrable to equivalent accounts of heirs of the account holder. Basically this is the account holder’s money like any other account. The only difference between this and an IRA is that deposit into the account is not voluntary and the account must be guaranteed interest earning.
Social Security doesn’t need to be saved, it simply needs to be made viable, something that has never been the case since its inception.
What you propose is called stealing.
I am 67 and have a reasonable amount in retirement funds, but the income it would produce would not be enough for me to be able to stay in my home, patronize businesses in my area and take a vacation or two annually. I have been working 60-70 hours per week in the service industry for almost 40 years. I have put in my time and have not taken the time to “smell the roses.” Yes that is my fault, and my wife of 45 years and my children have not had me around. I do not intend to spend my few remaining years of health without the funds I gave away to those who came before me. Now it is my turn to receive from the next generation. Giving up my SS benefits is not an option! Not only do I need them, but I deserve them!
As a retired taxpayer, I am appalled at the lack of courage by our lawmakers (Both party’s) to address this pending disaster. Just maybe, if they placed as much importance on fixing this fort comming disaster as they do on getting re-elected, something would get done??? But that is expecting an awful lot, I guess? Here’s an idea—–why not we pay exactly what they pay, and we recieve the exact same benifits????—Both in pension AND in health care???
Yes we need to save Social Security
As a senior citizen, retired for several decades, I am appalled at the past Congresses who have been so short sighted that they did not see the idiocy of diverting escrow funds (for Social Security) into the income stream for current expenses. Then, adding to the beneficiary list, those who never paid in. A broom is needed to clear Washington of bird brain politicians. But unless the electorate gets the word, the indolent will rule the nation.
All I can say is…..AMEN!!
If I remember correctly ??the ss deducted each from your pay check was to be matched by the employer ,however they did not call it ss it was called employe tax thus put into the general fund were it could be spent any were except the SS fund I might be wrong but I think thats true. Now for a real complaint ,I was at winn Dixie food shopping at the check out in front of me were two mexicans husband and wife .the women pays for her shopping cart full with food stamp card , then her husband has to pay for his shopping cart items 3 24 packs of Coors lite pulls out a roll of $100.00 bills 4 inches thick and pays for his items.They go to the parking lot to load there $62,000.00 caddilac escalade which is towing a $120,000.00 grady white cabin crruser .When I called SS the told me they know there is a lot of fraud but do not have the means to do anything. the answer is PROVE YOU ARE A CITIZEN
I have seen this type of fraud for years. Americans have lost alot of their rights. The immigrants are taking over our country and using our money to do it. I don’t drink nor smoke, but why should I have to pay for others.
We go to the hospital we have to show ID, at the bank I have to show ID. To apply for food stamps I have to tell the truth on the forms. What do these people do to get food stamps and drive a pricey vehicle?
Where is common sense in our country. Money should go to help the American people who have paid into the system. NOT people who come to our country and expect and get an immediate hand out.
As long as the government has their hands in Social Security nothing will change, their only objective is to undermine the welfare of the people so they can control our everyday lives, and it is showing up by the facts that those already receiving hand outs think the government owes them a living and will continue to vote for the party who offers them their free benifits. The only way out of this mess is to vote out those responsible for it. Remember “WE THE PEOPLE” ARE THE ONLY ONES THAT STAND IN THEIR WAY, so VOTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Democrats voted to start robbing the social security during the Johnson administration and replacing the money with government bonds that are backed by nothing. Democrats are directly responsible for the condition of social security today and should be punished by voting them out. They have used social security for their personal slush fund.
The problem is, Johnson took the SS out its own account and started putting SS into the general account. And I believe that it was done so that they the Dem. would not have to vote on a bill to use the monies for there use. It is to handy to get their hands on now and they like it that way, put it back in its own account where it belongs it is our money, let it alone let it draw instrest and it will grow. And we should not have to pay tax on it eather, Clinnit did that in 1991.
And stop giving it to people that never payed into it.
After 40+ years of full payment of post tax money, I because I happened to have other income sources, am paying taxes on my Social Security. Social Security was not designed to be Welfare. If a busisman had been put in charge 75 or more years ago it would be solvent today. Too bad it was a liberal idea in the fiirst place.
I would love to have the option to opt out of SS all together and place it in something that will give some return on my money! I am 59 and it would greatly benefit me. I believe we should all have that option. Those who have actually paid in to the system should be able to get what is due them but NOT people that never paid into it, and that is the major problem!
Is there a membership login page?
Stop the silliness.
We have options for investment in the sockmarket, privately and through 401K plans. Taking money OUT will not help. There is roughly 4.4 BILLION in the SS fund, spent by Congress with the promise to repay it. So, belly up and pay it. You promised you would, now do it.
NO MEANS test, this is not WELFARE, we PAID for it. And EVERYONE should get it. Get rid of the cap, all get it, all pay it. Why do we keep giving special breaks to the rich? They are citizens of this country just like us and they would be treated EQUALLY.
This is ONLY a 30-to 40 year problem. We baby boomers will be gone by then, the Bulge that we have been will be gone, and the ratio will return to normal. How about letting us help? Let us buy bonds paying a 6-9% guarenteed return on our money monthly. Keep the debt with US retirees unstead of China. It will be better for the country, and will allow many of us to retire and let the young ones start earning and paying taxes, helpping the economy.
Not everyone works at a desk, extenting years working is not an option for many, their bodies just wear out. This gives them less money, and we pay more in welfare. That’s not smart!
Mary you go girl, but not to worry Obamacare will end the problem with the babyboomers a lot sooner than 30 to 40 years.
I also believe that people coming to this country and have never paid into social security should not be able to collect social security, I would think that should cut down the money that’s being paid out.
This is my first time i visit here. I found so many entertaining stuff in your blog, icepseally its discussion. From the tons of comments on your articles, I guess I am not the only one having all the enjoyment here! Keep up the good work.
People should also rbmemeer that they can completely avoid the pat-down if they simply go through the full-body scanner. Pick your poison, people.
Thank you. You’ve asked for sources rgdraeing my conclusion which I’ve copied below for ease of reading: Social Security must be saved. In order to be saved, we should not authorize the government to spend those payroll taxes on anything and everything. If collected for Social Security, they (and the interest that surpluses accrue) should be used and kept for Social Security. That’s what our country’s leadership should do because leadership means, after all, to do the right thing. We must return security to Social Security. This ending was my personal conclusion following a reading on data about the trust fund. I try to use .gov sources when online for data pertaining to governmental programs, which in this case Social Security Online has many factual articles pertaining to the trust fund.
In 1935, when social security started, we wen’t expected to live long enough to collect. Now we are living 25 years past.. The answer is extend the elgibility age to 70 plus/ duhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I support AMAC’s plan!
The only way SS will be fixed if if all the freeloaders in Congress are required to immediately forfeit their current retirement plan, place all that money into the SS program, and have them draw SS like everyone else. They would soon fix the problem, including the “Notch Years” problem.
At what point in time did being a Public Servant (Congress, Senate, etc) give them the right to establish their own wages, wage increase, health care, retirement, and other benefits. They are working for us; The American Public. Their “benefit package” should go under annual review and be voted on by the members of their respective states, districts, etc. If everyone on Capital Hill would be required to abide by the same set of rules and laws they pass, it would solve a lot of issues.
Couldn’t have said it any better myself.
Right on!!!
What R WE doing ABOUT all the CONGRESSIONAL retirement $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ that NEVER get discussed?
IT seems that those $$$$$$$ should be discussed RIGHT along with SOC SEC.
JUST THINKING………………..
I like what “ilikeourcountry” says about congressional retirement funds above.
I was at a local (Illinois) Republican function recently and I asked a high ranking Republican State of Illinois elected official if she would agree to support conversion of the existing Illinois State Defined Benefit Pension to a Defined Contribution Pension and cap the retirement benefit for any elected official at $1million… the amount of a winning Lottery ticket! Her reply was “that’s all I have!!”
Let me repeat… I wasn’t suggesting taking away her pension, just capping it at a million dollars!!!
Yet millions of baby boomers don’t even have a tenth of that amount yet are expected to shoulder her pension.
This attitude crosses party lines. The reason they get away with it is because it is so difficult to quantify the real cost in today’s dollars of these Defined Benefit Pension plans at the Federal, State and local level. If instead of saying they get a % of their salary at retirement they said Senator Joe or Governor Jane walks away with ten million dollars, people would be outraged! The very nature of these pensions make them “immoral” as they are often manipulated to pay far more than was ever intended. I am not suggesting that they not get a pension, but by most Americans, a million dollars at retirement would be enough for almost anyone! This does not include the health insurance for life!
I have asked my local Tea Party to ask all candidates they support and I am asking all elected officials to pledge support for converting their pension plan to a single payout at retirement of one million dollars.
The same should be done after that with government employees pension funds… but leadership starts at the top!
Once that is done, any growth in an individual fund can exceed the million dollars either by investment growth or individual contributions. But when they walk away at retirement, they take the money and the taxpayers are off the hook!
I agree with most of what Chuck Novak says except for one point, where is social security authorized in the Constitution? Also there are two differences between a Ponzi Scheme and SS. You get a better return in a Ponzi Scheme and no one is forced to join a Ponzi Scheme. Did Bernie Madoff force anyone to join his scheme? I am not a kid but 67 and getting back a small portion of my funds that was stolen for Joe Stalin’s best friend FDR’s scheme. Yes stolen what else would you call it when something is taken under duress. Don’t pay your FICA and see what happens. The only solution to SS is to abolish it outright. The problem is how to make whole all our citizens who had their funds stolen for these many years. Big Brother has no business telling people how to prepare for their retirement It is no business of big brother if people put something away or nothing away. I was self employed and put away approximately the same amount as FICA in my own retirement fund. I am now getting a return approximately an order of magnitude great than SS.
The answer to this denedps on both your income and the interest rate on your debt.Both mortgage interest (almost always deductable) and student loan interest (if you make <~$50K annually) are tax deductable. Therefore even if your interest rate is 6%, your effective after tax interest rate would be 4-5%. At those effective rates, you are much better off putting money away for retirement, because your after tax rate of return will likely be in the 7-8% range over the long term.You would also be giving up your mortgage interest deduction if you paid off the mortgage earlier. That is rarely a good idea, particularly if you are single, since the deduction will be worth more to you than if you are married. You will likely also have to stop itemizing your taxes if you don't have the mortgage interest deduction to put you over the standard deduction, so you will lose out on some additional tax breaks you otherwise would have been able to claim.References :
Interesting article with interesting swuggestions.
However, you failed to require that any cuts in the F.I.C.A. tax rate be replaced by funds acquired by savings from other programs.
Any thinking individual knows that you don’t cut the income of a fund that is going broke.
Being an employer for the last 14 years, it appears that your Social Security IRA plan is to put another burden on businesses. Also, the last thing this country needs is another IRA / savings plan. People are either going to save or they’re not.
We have IRA’s, Roth IRA’s, SEP IRA’s, 401K plans hsa’s and others. What makes you think another IRA is going to fix Social Security. There used to be more workers than retirees. Now there are less workers paying in and the baby boomers are retiring. Do the math.
I wish I had an answer to fix Social Security. My personal answer was to save as much as I could so I would not have to rely on SS. SS will help, but it is not my sole source that I will use in retirement.
I will not be supporting your SS IRA plan. Sorry, but head back to the drawing board.
I do not believe, as a small business owner, that a Social Security IRA plan is best.
I would, however, like to address some things covered by Social Security that should not be. 1) Men who father children after age 65 should not be entitled to have the children collect benefits, PERIOD. 2) People who collect more than $500,000. in investment income should not be entitled to collect benefits. Let’s get real. This was meant as a supplement to retirement and those who do not need this supplement should not collect it. If we live more than 3-4 years past starting to collect, we have received most, if not all, of what we put in. 3) Kids who want to go to college and are without a parent, should not collect because many kids with both parents working still cannot afford to go to college without loans.
For what it’s worth, these would be things to look at.
Congressman Jason Chaffetz also has a plan in a bill that is better than is one for Social Security. It brings the fund out of debt and extends it way past 75 years. -In fact, it makes the fund permanently solvent after 75 years.
His plan is to slash benefits for those that make just over 50k per year. Not exactly rich for a family of four. A much better plan is to simply eliminate the earnings cap for FICA. This would only affect those making over 100k per year.
I don’t know many retired people who are supporting a family of four. Do you???
Stop abortion NOW! What does abortion have to do w/ SS. Everything! We have 57,000,000 million missing tax-paying citizens due to abortion. Think on that you anti-life idiots. Thanx AMAC for all you are doing. I’m a brand new member.
“Anti-life idiots”? Seriously? Did you forget that those 57,000,000 “missing taxpayers” would need to be fed and supported by this great country of ours – to say nothing of their families? Where do you get your numbers from anyway? I don’t think you’re an idiot though… just a tad uninformed.
As I recall, in this country people are expected to be fed and supported by their families — that is, until the Communist Manifesto became our principal moral document.
Lets face it, SS is basically a cousin to the Ponzi schemes that have bilked many $$$ from many Gullible folks world wide, That said, there is little Americans can do to chage it in the short run. We can bake it, fry it grill it, stew it,ts still Pay as you, dependent upon current workers to pay retirees. Solutions ride the wind like snow flakes, no two are exactly alike. So here goes my rendition: #1,.offer a return of all monies paid by anyone up to 65yrs old. Compute a reasonable rate of interest over the years SS collected the money. Note employers share is NOT included.
#2. Current and any one at or over 65 can opt for a gross payout based on insurance life expectancy. Those so chooseing option #2 MUST invest the proceeds into an IRA style investment with a life insurance annuity payout and death benefit.A penalty would be payable equal to the interest portion if the entire proceeds were not transferred to an approved IRA
#3. All employed, no exceptions, will be required to invest an amount equal to the SS deduction into a IRA type insured account that remains unavailable until age 65, and the annual income or disbursements are tax free.There shall be NO DEATH TAX. PROCEEDS OF SUCH A PROGRAM SHALL BE INHERITED as would any other asset.
#4.Employers can offer profit sharing or other IRA contribution as an enducement to attain and retain employees and shall be considered as a deductable business expense.Such program shall be transferrable to new employer IRA/profit sharing accounts.
#5. Employers will offer co-op medical insurance, payment of which shall be equally matched between employee and employer. Disabilility insurance shall also be a shared option, except to those who opt to continue to receive SS payments. Generally these Americans shall generally be those who are of an advanced age or have very limited resourses. The government safety net shall apply for those in financial situtations that escape the provisions of the system anticipated as herein suggested.
Please note that the above involve some continued limited disbursements from the U.S. government. Such a program COULD be initiated rather quickly if our leaders chose to study it and perhaps massage it a bit. I believe that a version of this plan would relieve many of the problems currently confonding SS and it’s furure viaibility. Please feel free to shred and dissect it. WE the people “gota” start somewhere to solve the entitlement delimna. AMAC has presented the champion’s glove, it’s now up to our congress and leaders from all fields to ‘create’ a solution that essentially eliminates or limits Government envolvement. God speed!
I really wanted to support AMAC until I read their Social Security plan. First off they state that they do not want to cut benefits but then support a significant increase in the retirement age. Well Duh! That IS a cut in benefits. They state that “people” are living longer. Well not all “people” are living longer and raising the retirement age to 69 would mean millions of workers would not collect one cent in retirement should they die before then. They “suggest” grandfathering these new rules and conveniently do not define the ages that the grandfathering kicks in at. Finally, they suggest that there is not enough support for raising taxes to fix Social Security. In all polls asking if the earnings cap on the FICA tax should be eliminated well over 80% support this. Even a majority of Republicans support this. There is no such cap on Medicare and even the Wall St. Journal states that the elimination of the earnings cap would fully fund Social Security for the next 75 years. I guess it’s back to AARP for me.
Think about the plan and make sugestions to improve but going back to AARP is cutting off your nose to spite your face.
AMAC did not mention the cut in the payroll tax as the reason for the 2010 loss. Social Security is (should be) like a Health Insurance Plan. All pay into it, some get more out then others. The problem has been, our government taking $ out for non -payors. Regulate it correctly and it will work. Don’t trash it.
Agreed, AARP supports Obamacare so might as well rollover and die. That will take care of all old folks.
A bit of history here:
When FDR et. al. designed SS, they installed an eligibility age of 65. The avg. life expectancy at the time was 65.
So, on that basis, some folks would actually live long enough to get benefits but many would not. Given today’s life expectancies, extending the retirement age to 69 is a bargin. Of course, I would not have been able to retire as I did at 65 (partial benefits) or 66 (full benefits).
First—Goto the source of the problem. The president/congres/senate.We the people must send them a bill calling for term limits; one term only. All branches. no special retirment no special insurance no perks of any kind. It will be part time ;except the president.”They won’t have so much time to think of how to take away more more of our freedoms”
Put this bill before them make them vote on it.Those that vote it down will be recalled or fired. We must do this now or it will be to late.We need news media that will take our message to all the people.
We cannot wait any longer. Weare out of time. we must start at source.
Totally agree!!! Make them subject to SS too. And Obamacare. No more sweetheart pension and medical plans of their total salary for life! WTH? They don’t even pay into their plans – talk about ENTITLEMENTS?
Go Francine!
WTH indeed. Why DO they get pensions that last forever at ridiculous rates? Take those away.
A partial solution to the SS problem would be to prevent those who have never contributed to the system from collecting any benefits ever. Additionally the double and triple dipping could be diminished by giving credit of 2.5% per year for only those years where a contribution to the SS program was made. It would take 40 years of contributions in order to obtain a full retirement benefit. All political positions would have the very same “retirement benefit” as the rest of us – NO elaborate multi-million dollar retirement packages for public service whether elected or appointed.
raising age is unfair to people that have worked and paid into social security, in hopes that people will die before they can collect what is rightfully theirs! Get obumma out of office and do away with entitlement programs that provide income to people having children they cant or wont support . You know the more kids you have the bigger the check!! and also just because you come into this country doesnt e3ntitle you to a check and free health care!!!! Lets get a grip here.
Only a thought! Extend the amount of payable income from the current $110,000.00 to $150,000.00, clip it to the CPI for another ten (10) years – then to the CPI – 1.5% for infinity.
Increase the age gradually to 68.5 – 69 (ten years or so), also the age from 62 to 64 for limited benefits (and the Widows benefit to age 62 – or reduce it from age 60 to 62, then reinstate normal benefit from then)!
For those under the age of 50 or 55 – increase their personal contributions into the system by 25% to a total of 7.75% (employer’s fee to remain constant) for those earning $100,000.00 or LESS (attached to CPI for automatic annual increases). Require a WRITTEN OPT OUT be submitted ANNUALLY with the Income Tax Return, for the On-Coming year (can be a check off box on the tax form)! Can be expanded to include those OVER the aforementioned age by written request thru your local SS office!
Also attach a rider to the bill authorizing and ‘Old Age IRA’ account in the form of a regulat IRA (or Roth – or both), under the same rules as current, for those of us not having Payroll Taxes withheld BUT still paying taxes on some of our income! This as a device to leave ‘some’ money to our children / Grand children if we so desire and have the ‘means’!
Income test those over the amount of $250,000.00 (pick a number here), allowing for, at minimum, receipt of ALL pay-ins + interest earned on the total amount paid into the system (for the individual ONLY) – to be paid-out over the actuarial table life expectancy chart.
The additional funds to be invested in the SAME devices as current OR thru Fidelity, Vanguard, T Rowe Price, PIMCO or another approved Investment company – at a rate of not less than 70 – 30% bonds to stocks. Bonds must reflect a 60 – 40% bias toward Government devices over Corporation!
Money to be returned as additional retirement funding utilizing the same actuarial tables as current, OR lump-sum in case of death to registered (authorized) dependants / relatives, or lump sum ‘on request of annuitant’ at date of retirement! May also be withdrawn in the event of an authenticated emergency (authentication is by Doctor(s) – Two (one ‘on-staff’ – one attending) – AND Hospital AdministratIon, and family member (wife, daughter, son, etc.) – at admitting hospital). Or however devised in the bill!
Just my thoughts on the matter!
Why set the cap at 150k? Just eliminate the cap and SS problems are solved for the next 75 years. BTW there is no cap on the Medicare portion of the payroll tax. Why should a guy making 150k be forced to pay the full FICA tax on 100% of his income but not someone making 150 million?
Raising the cap also raises the amount the fund has to pay those folks who pay on high incomes after retirement. If you tax without a cap and then put, as some have suggested, income limits on benefits, then you simply have an income transfer program. Those that pay in at high amounts end up paying for those who are eligible for full payments.
For that reason, a gradual change from the SS as it is currently structured to a program which has people making investments with their own money makes the most sense. The amount of additional capital in the system will create significant growth in the economy. Down the road, perhaps, but worth the change.
At this time, SS and Self-employment taxes amount to 15+ percent of income. If one had 15% of 50,000 each year to invest and also saved via IRA (All of the investment income should come from pretax income in the scenario I would recommend), then everyone would have plenty at retirement without being dependent on the gov’t. Cost of debt that govt. has by borrowing would go down, total gov’t cost would go down, income taxes could go down. The dollar would be stronger and thus would buy more.
Tear this up, if you like, but the time has come to radically change what was a bad idea from the start.
Would you send info of AMAC to my sister in law that does not have a computer??or is there some way I can send this forward? thank you
Why is SS in trouble? There are two problems that threaten the system. People are living much longer and we have fewer workers putting money into the system. These combined factors have put a tremendous amount of pressure on the financial stability of Social Security.
I claim these are symptoms of a systemic problem. The REAL problem is the fact that consumers of a service (retirement) are disconnected with the real cost. Because it is a paygo system, workers in the past (say when it was 16 to 1) contributed only enough to take care of those retired at that time. Thus past SS contributors under-contributed for the benefits they were promised. As the program has become unaffordable Congress began pushing costs onto future generations with the borrowing. So tampering with age, messing with means testing, or futzing around with contributions doesn’t't change in any fundamental way the systemic problems of SS.
It is also important to realize (Nestor v Flemming) that Social Security is a tax program and that Congress can change the benefits up, or down, at any point in time. In fact they can be lowered all the way to zero. So the only way to preserve one’s “investment” in this program is to vote and petition government. Think about that. One contributes their entire life into this system only to earn the opportunity to vote and petition government. It is important for citizens to own as many of their assets as possible.
A private IRA is a step in the right direction. The goal of the system, as it is currently constructed, is to create a “social safety net” that ensures a minimum standard of living at retirement regardless of previous savings, luck, or earnings. This has the effect of creating a moral hazard in that people, knowing they were guaranteed this minimum standard, will not make the tough choices they need to make. Better is to more directly connect a person’s efforts at creating a good retirement with the retirement they actually achieve.
With that in mind it seems to me there should be a voluntary path that would allow people to set a standard of living target for retirement and work to achieve that .. no limits on contributions and relaxed limits on investing. After all we are talking about adults who should have the right to try and achieve more and, yes, fail. A way to do this that makes sense is to begin devolving more of the management to the states. That creates an issue or two with portability but it shouldn’t be too bad. That we we have 50 laboratories who can look into the way in which we can promote better savings and ultimately a better standard of living at retirement with less wealth transfer from generational peers or, worse still, younger generations.
The notion of the “supplemental IRA” is kind of silly – that is available to anyone, today. The *fundamental* problem with SS is that your private property (income), is being drained away from you for your entire life. Privatization is the key for retirement funding. If the “tax” remained your private property (even with IRA type restraints on its use), the govt then never gets its hands on it, and the actuarial/demographic problems go away. Your savings follow you (and your demographic) – it is not dependent on the number of current workers vs the number of current retirees. You can retire whenever you want to, if your fund is large enough. The corrupting influence on DC is gone (the temptation of unlimited funds). You no longer have frightened elderly voters being coerced into voting patterns because somebody else controls their income.
Thanks for giving my earlier comment an undergirding of logic. Great post.
Not stated (as far as I saw) in the proposal is who holds the IRA money. I sure hope it isn’t the government, as letting them hold SS is one cause of our problems.
Whine. Why do we put these limits on people $100/wk savings? If we wish to promote savings why not let people save as much as they reasonably can save? As people go through life they are able to save much more … IRAs recognize this an allow people to “catch up” as they get older. I don’t see any logic at all behind limiting savings to $100/wk.
Get rid of about 95% OF BENEFITS in ssi that people take advanage of.
Do away with about 95% of the programs in ssi that people take advanage of.
The warning bells have been ringing for the last 40 years on SSI and our congress has only nibbled around the edges for a solution. As long as there is a hard decision to be made to solve this our congress will not do it. I truly never believed the day would come when I would recognize the congress and President regardless of party as inept, incompetent, selfish, power hungry, greedy, individuals but the day is here. They are only capable of giving not taking away. Also Social Security has been used to fight wars (Viet Nam) and float every feel good stupid entitlement idea congress has to buy votes. According to the Wall St. Journal the disability claims against SS are skyrocketing because people feel this is also an entitlement regardless of their health. We all know people on disability who are working or doing physical tasks of perfectly health individuals.
Again as the Obuma administration and also a bunch of Republicans cannot stand the idea of not being in power they will continue to buy votes with SS handouts. I am surprised it is not paying for the retirement of all Mexicans in Mexico and letting them vote in the US elections.
I hope it changes but at my age I do not want to hold my breath. My money is on nothing gets done.
I have to agree with Tony Torreano. Through the years the government has “borrowed” from SSI to fund several entitlements & pork barrel effort which help no one but them. Why don’t they pay back what was borrowed by reducing the deficit. Also SS was originally set up to give the Working Public and their Spouses an income at retirement not just anyone who reached retirement age. I can even see the disability payment if they were disabled on the job. I may be wrong and a lot of you may disagree with me but that’s my opinion and you’re entitled to yours.
A simple and intlleinget point, well made. Thanks!
Why oh why is there not more talk about the idiocy of the 2% “payroll tax” (read Social Security Tax or FICA). The Pols have changed the name to make the younger generation forget that it is there to fund SOCIAL SECURITY, and should not be messed withl
The 2% payroll tax “holiday” de-funds Social Security and both parties supported it.
When I worked for the state of Massachusetts about 45 years ago, the plan they had then was very simple:
you had them take from 5% – 15% of you’re pay and put it in an account for you, which you had control of, so that when you retired you would have enough money to, basically, live on.
they did not take any SS out of your money because, as it was explained to me, this is the way to have more in you’re pocket, and at the same time save for your retirement. BTW you could not take anything from the account until you reached retirement or left the governments (state) employment and then you had to wait 3-6 months for the returns if you left employment.
The one thing I will never understand is why we as citizens should have to pay into a PONZI scheme rather than using something like the formerly mentioned system with guards against early withdrawal.
I like AMACs idea and will fully support it by doing everything I can to help make it a reality.
SS in NOT a Ponzi scheme…..it has worked for over 75 years……government withdew funds (borrowed, but hasn’t paid back yet), then the recession and all that has happened for the last several years…..has made it lose $$$. Why would anyone want to put $$ into an account that you NO guarantee it will be there when you retire? Haven’t you been reading the paper or listening to the news…..look at all the bank failures, Wall st failures, where people lost thousands of $$$ and now they sit with nothing at the age of 75…..what are they supposed to do? Any ideas?
Chrisy,
I understand how you feel but there is no guarantee that Social Security will be there at age 75 either. It is still there now but what about in 10 years? It is irrelevant what was done with the money by the government in the past, the fact is it isn’t there now and they cannot pay it back. The number I heard is that to pay back Social Security is a $50 Trillion dollar price tag. There isn’t that much money in the World.
A private investment account with a guaranteed interest rate on 50% and safe alternative investments for the rest WILL return more money to you, if started early in life, than Social Security will or does. If SS is left as it is you WILL receive less and less when retired, and will pay more of it in taxes as they raise taxes to support the program.
Social Security was a bad idea when it was created and was poorly managed and robbed every year since by the Government who uses the money to reduce its defecits. This program should be phased out over the next 30-50 years in favor of a plan like the AMAC plan or something else. No one near or at retirement should lose anything but those folks under, say 50 years of age, should be provided with another alternative where the money is there money, the government can’t touch it, and it can be bestowed as part of your estate when you die. That cannot be said of Social Security.
Merry Christmas
If you read the article you can see that it isn’t working any more nor has it worked financially since 1950. Not only have people begun to live longer than they planned, but it is not used exclusively for social security any more. Liberals and moderate conservatives have allowed the fund to be used as a Ponzi scheme first by allowing people to benefit that never paid into it, then giving special benefits to dependents, increased disability benefits (which is being horribly abused today), to illegals, to immigrants, and every tom dick or harry faction that may help a legislator’s re-election fund. Then they income added taxes to it to make it seem like we’re getting our “fair share”, kept increasing the rate taken from our pockets, turned it into a General Fund, and now it is nearly worthless, You can thank our legislators for turning an entitlement program that was only supposed to HELP fund retirement – because at that time people were more responsible about saving for their retirement or lived with family- into a mismanaged, fraud-ridden general fund. You see, our legislators don’t have to worry about their retirements – they will live very handsomely with the pensions they receive after only 6 years on the job, so what do they really care? Kinda makes you sick. Oh yes – and if they work long enough for the state or local governments they can add those pensions to their federal. AND they get great health insurance when they retire. That’s also what’s taking money out of SSI, in my opinion. TERM LIMITS!
Yes I have an idea how about an account the government can not take money from and not replace it with an IOU that has no collateral value. How about money market accounts and several different types of bonds. These things have not lost their value. The banks went broke because they were buying and selling mortgages that had no face value. Your government helped this by letting Fanny may and Freddy mac change the standards on how to secure a loan. Our government you got to love it they all have pensions we pay for and we get stuck with Social Security. I thought they were suppose to work for us.
Chrisy,
Let me respond to your post line by line.
“SS in NOT a Ponzi scheme…..it has worked for over 75 years”
A ponzi scheme is defined as: A fraudulent investing scam promising high rates of return with little risk to investors. The Ponzi scheme generates returns for older investors by acquiring new investors. This scam actually yields the promised returns to earlier investors, as long as there are more new investors. These schemes usually collapse on themselves when the new investments stop.
To wit: early investors in the scheme, the current elderly, benefit greatly. I know a woman who put $40 in one year in the sixties. When she retired, she received around $400 per month for over a decade. THAT is a high rate of return!
Your money has been STOLEN from you for 75 years (read my section on trust below)
“government withdew funds (borrowed, but hasn’t paid back yet),”
Congress withdrew ALL the funds in 1935. If, as you say, they haven’t paid it back yet, then I think its is safe to assume they spent it.
“then the recession and all that has happened for the last several years…..has made it lose $$$”
SS monies are invested in “safe” interest bearing government bonds. The market should have NO effect on the returns of these bonds. What is making it “lose money” is the fact that there is more money flowing out than flowing in–when this situation happens in a private ponzi scheme (think Bernie Madoff) the operator either leaves town or goes to jail (personally, I like the old-fashioned punishment of lynching). In a public ponzi scheme, they simply change the rules (which they have done at least 36 times since SS inception).
“Why would anyone want to put $$ into an account that you NO guarantee it will be there when you retire?”
No one *wants* to pay in, the government *forces* us (“new investors”) to.
“Haven’t you been reading the paper or listening to the news…”
I try not to read the propaganda printed in what we euphemistically call “newspapers”.
“…look at all the bank failures, Wall st failures, where people lost thousands of $$$ and now they sit with nothing at the age of 75″
Many people trusted the banking system and the government to “protect” their wealth, in spite of a mountain of evidence this was the wrong thing to do. They have now been repaid for that trust. There is an entire generation of people who believe what government spoon-feeds them and are just now coming to realize that they have been deceived. Perhaps they can now transfer their insights to the next generation.
“…..what are they supposed to do? Any ideas?”
I agree that losing your life savings at 75 is a dire situation. However, I have two comments.
1. My grandfather paid into three pension funds plus SS in his lifetime. His family scrimped and saved knowing that the pensions would make life easier once he retired. However, two of the funds went bankrupt due to mismanagement and the manager of the other stole ALL the fund assets and moved out of country. Grandpa and Grandma were left to get by on SS. They lived on SS for over thirty years. My point is that, even after retirement, a person can survive on SS. It is not comfortable, it is not preferred but it can be done.
2. I fail to understand how misfortune, “bad luck” or poor planning on someone else’s part translates into a legal claim on my earnings or savings.
There are two Ben Franklin that are apropos here:
“Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both.”
–Our country is on the verge of this now.
“The only thing more expensive than education is ignorance.”
–Teach your family what you have learned. Don’t let your hardship go unrewarded.
When is anyone going to mention the incredible benefit packages that our congressmen/woman receive when they “retire” from their part-time jobs? They don’t pay into it, but they receive their full yearly salary FOR LIFE! They are also free from the perils of Obamacare – which they voted to lay on us. We have become a two-class society in this country – politicians and regular working people – blue collar or white collar… doesn’t matter.
We can fix Social Security in a NY minute by taking all the money in the Congressional retirement fund and putting it into the Social Security fund – and that’s what Congress’ employees will get when they retire – about $13,000. Just like the rest of us. And they should pay into Social Security while employed by the American people. They work for us, remember? At least that’s what they tell us when they run for election. And all the pocket money they get from lobbyists? That should be taxed for Social Security as well. That goes along with the money they make from insider trading too. Why in the world are they exempt from the mess they’ve made of the Social Security plan the rest of us have to live by? Oh yeah – two terms – MAX! Then they need to go back to the real world and get a real job!
Teacher’s retirement in Texas is the same. Works well for my sister.
What is wrong with this picture? We the employed working folks, pay into this dilligently and it is being plundered and given away? WTF?
Would we simply sit back and say “so be it” if it were our local bank duping us? Lay there and get our pockets picked and give the impression we can take without even one wimper of discontent or protest?
Coming is a time when we will have to rare up on our hind legs and demand restitution and apology for the theft.
Start making noise, protest, write to your friendly benovelant congressman, who cares dearly for your rights and privlidges.
yeah right.
I totally agree – WE NEED TO SPEAK OUT – LOUD!!!
Join an Occupy Group in your area – they’re all over the country. They speak out more for seniors than AARP ever did!
Social Security was ( check me on this) not a Tax but a forced retirement savings plan.
Why do we refer to it as a Tax? I understand the necessity of this retirement plan but what I don’t understand is the
federal government taking money out of the fund? This was not theirs to touch. Instead of putting the brakes on spending
we allowed them to take our nestegg and fund government over-spending.Every company and private citizen has to live
within their means or risk going out of business or losing their homes but our elected officials seem to feel that there is no bottom to our pockets.Sadly the sociopathic cream of the crop have been allowed to operate freely with a “carpet baggers “mentality which,I feel in time will cause the ruination of this ” The Greatest Nation on Gods Green Earth”
It was originally billed as an Insurance program. That’s why it is called SSI.
Why do people that never paid into SS get a retirement. If they kept the SS distribution just for people that paid into it and only for Social Security not programs they make up for illegal’s and other programs not should not come out of our SS funds.
Regarding the question of a Social Security IRA is different from the current one offered all working citizens appears to me to be the same concept as we use in our current IRAs – but it would allow taxpayers to increase the amount they could put into a SS account – tax free – which would allow for more saving/investing and reducing the taxes paid by the individual.
SS is no more than a bernie madoff scheme. Put congress in jail like bernie.
the first thing we must do to save anything is get rid of OBAMA, THE BIGGEST FRAUD IN AMERICAN HISTORY,
THIS IS A CRIMINAL THUG WHO SHOULD BE IN PRISON THEN DEPORTED BACK TO KENYA.
Don’t you think that Social Security has been misappropriated to people who have never contributed to it. Is there anyway to back many of these people out of the system and quit bringing so many people on board. Should not the welfare of these people brought under other funding? I agree with Glenda Alford that it should not be open for officials to dip into and they should find other coffers for the welfare of people they want to care for this was made for the workers and their families not for every bleeding heart. Of course it is kind of late to address this as it seems that whereever the officials can find a way of stripping us of the money we rely on they never back out of it. I am just getting fed up with the constant government take over and think that it actually takes away our ability to help one another in many ways making us less of a nation and more of a government orphanage!
I agree with AMAC way of fixing SS. I would like to know what age person is grandfathered in to the present system and what age person would start on new system in your proposal. Thanks for the great idea.
Yes – interesting they left this one out.
I reply to Mike C. on what is different from the SS IRA than other IRA’s and 401k”s–
In reading their material:
-All employers would have to provide a payroll slot for the SS IRA (whether we join or not)
-50% of funds have to be in Guaranteed interest accounts (so we can’t lose all our money)
-We can’t get at the money before age 62, that would make sure it is there when we need it.
Now if we could only get Congress to listen.
I keep waiting for some group to bring up the “cap” on Social Secuirty withholding. No one ever does. If SS needs more funds remove the “cap”. As long as anyone is earning money, wages, interest, dividends, etc. they should pay into Social Security. We have no “cap” on what we owe the IRS – should be the same for Social Security.
I would be interested in AMAC’s thoughts on this solution.
Raising the Cap would accomplish nothing, but just hide the fundamental problem. There is a “cap” on contributions because there is a cap on benefits. Why should one have unlimited liability for a program where you will have only marginal return – and they are even looking at means-testing that – so there is a very real possibility that you would be taxed up to 15% of your income (not employer matched), but receive no benefits! The other argument against raising this cap is that the problem is not today, but tomorrow. If you raise the cap – they will just spend it on the other programs, increasing the level of debt of this program, and making the default problem bigger, down the road….
Eliminating the cap would fully fund Social Security for the next 75 years. Per the Wall St. Journal.
Pay off your debt first and then put all the money that you would have been using to pay off your bills into your retirement ancuoct debt will always cost more in the long run because the interest rates are always so high. Don’t take anything out of the retirement fund becuase they’ll penalize you, but perhaps cut back on how much you’re putting in there and get rid of your credit card bills. When you’re done with eliminating your credit card debt, keep a savings ancuoct for emergencies so that you don’t go back into debt if something happens.References :
Are you kidding me? Is that a sane voice I hear in the wilderness? You mean the sky isn’t falling in the world of Social Security! How refreshing!! AMAC I am a new member and am so happy to be on board. News flash Congress, there are answers if you stop pandering and start listening.
Please emphasize to the people about the (IPAB). Independent payment advisory board appointed by Obama. The Death Panel for seniors and the sickly. The 500 billion dollars cut on Medicare. Why the illegals are benefiting our Medicare and Medicaid whom we contributed in our whole life, Illegals did not, they have free Health care, free food stamps, free educations. Etc.
Why Obama and his administration Sued Alabama and Arizona in protecting our borders. CAN “WE AMERICAN PEOPLE” SUE OBAMA AND HIS ADMINISTRATION FOR NOT ENFORCING THE IMMIGRATION LAW?
We should talk about topics that will influence people to listen. No more nice guy. What you get if you are nice, and complaisant… YOU GET A STUB ON THE BACK. Thank you.
I like AMAC’s suggestion and we all know that something needs to be done. However our career politicians will not do anything but lip service to this issue. The only way we will get anything done in the House and Senate regardless of which party is in control is if we have Term Limits. We cannot continue to have people who spend their lives figuring out ways they can pad their pockets on the tax payers dole. Look at Barney Frank who has spent YEARS working for himself and his fat cat friends.
Term Limits and enacting laws instituting same policies for the elected officials as they vote for their constituents….then we might see some change in Washington DC.
My comments:
Make our Congress have to depend on Social Security (SS) for retirement benefits like the rest of the country
Keep illegal immigrants off the SS roles
Raise the minimum ages at which SS benefits can be claimed
Allow younger folks to have other options besides SS to guarantee their futures other than a government-run program
Keep money collected for SS in this program and AWAY from politicians that want to use it for other reasons
But I do agree that SS has turned into an entitlement and it has gotten to a point where it will be VERY hard to get rid of it, especially with all the people who have paid into it for years expecting to get their share.
I only wish I could recover the money I have paid into this program because I think I could have done a better job investing and growing it than the government has done, plus I would be accountable and responsible to myself ONLY for how the money was used.
Newt has proposed the most well thought out solution for Socialist (original intent) Security. It is quite similar to this one. Too bad not more people were aware of the problem when the FDR regime put it out in the thirties. I was employed as a part time clerk in a grocery store at the time. Had an uncle who was able to see that the program was a typical political trick and so I have been opposed to it since then. Don’t cry over spilled milk; keep voting the “old guard” out of office and listen for a true conservative to replace them. GO NEWT!
For years our Congress has been stealing from Social Security with no intent to pay back and also why are they giving social security money to illegal alliiens.
They need to stop giving millions of people that are not leagal in this country.
You want to fix Social Security? Make the Senators, Representatives, President Etc. use it for their retirement and their health care let them be on Medicare too. You’ll see how fast it will be fixed.
Social Security was a bad idea when it was first conceived and it has not gotten any better. In my opinion, we need to abolish it. I’m not talking about a cold turkey kind of event. Protect those who have been led to believe they depend upon it and do not have sufficient time to build their own retirement fund. The remainder will be burdened with helping to pay for the phase out. Perhaps those who are gainfully employed and will be grandfathered to receive some benefits will bear the greater part of that burden.
Our founders set up a government that was as nearly perfect as one could get. Its most serious flaw was that among the freedoms it guaranteed was the necessary freedom to destroy it. At first the destruction was miniscule, barely perceptible. By the time it became an out-of-control cancer (now!), it is too late to fix it, short of another revolution to return to the government we had originally. No, I don’t mean the short-lived socialist experiment at Jamestown. I’m talking about the original Constitution that most people think still controls our government. I couldn’t believe it when I recently heard a presidential candidate make some comment about the great democracy that governs us. Was he sleeping in civics class when it was explained that our form of government is a constitutional republic and that the founders were abhorred by anything that smelled like a democracy. To them it was a no-brainer that democracy quickly leads to despotism and third-world status.
We need to rid our government of deadly, cancerous socialistic programs and get back to what worked so well until we allowed greed to corrupt it.
We’ve paid into Social Security all our working lives and now is being called an entitlement to be done away with. The government needs to go back to when SS was mixed into general fund and account for every penny not spent for SS payout. And hold those in power responsible by withholding their salaries and benefits until this is done. Maybe the same for giving us a balanced budget again. The fact that we are being double taxed for Social Security benefits is immoral and a shame on the fat cats that vote themselves huge raises and super benefit packages while the little guys have to count pennies and either eat or buy meds or pay utilities. Why has this become the American way!
I agree with the age adjustment idea; but, how is the Social Security IRA part different than what is available now through existing IRA’s and/or employer-matching 401K’s?
Social Security was never meant to be tax, but it can be now. This should be in with your other suggestions.
Why didn’t you address the fact that our officials have dipped into SS for years. It was never set up for or intended to be another source of revenue for the gov. to take from. The money taken for things other than what SS was set up for will never be replaced. Stop allowing the gov. to dip into funds as they see fit.
Way to go, Glenda! You hit the nail right on the head, when you said the “…officials have dipped into SS for years”. What actually happened, is that during the Johnson administration, the Congress decided they needed the SS money, removed it from its location, and placed it into the General Funds. Then, they, and their successors, spent whatever amount from it they wanted. I think each of the 545 Congressional members, should contribute a substantial amount to the SS fund-and leave that money where it belongs! Oh no, you’ll never see that happen, and I don’t know of anyone who could make them do it, unless a large part of the population would complain to their politicians and each state force their own legislators to comply. All I can say is, good luck to us.
We know there is something wrong with the present system, when members receive a cost of living increase and Medicare B premiums go up, thus leaving you less than you made before!!!!!
We also need to get rid of the required distribution (RMD) from our retirement plans.
AMAC is to be congratulated for taking on the Social Security problem.
Your solution seems realistic and I don’t see how any reasonable person would be against it.
we just have to get the politicians in Washington DC to get moving and do something!!