AMAC's Founder, Dan Weber
According to the Wall Street Journal AARP has decided to accept some changes in Social Security to assure that it will continue to be financially stable. However as soon as the story came out and was broadly circulated its C.E.O., A. Barry Rand issued a statement saying AARP has not changed its position on being against changes in Social Security.
But, Mr. Rand in his statement said their position is “that any changes would be phased in slowly, over time and would not affect any current or near term beneficiaries”.
In response, Dan Weber, president of AMAC, the Association of Mature American Citizens, said “that sure sounds like he is in favor of making changes to me”.
AMAC, which bills itself as the conservative alternative to AARP is the fastest growing organization for older Americans according to Weber.
“We have over 160,000 paid members and are growing stronger each day.” Weber said, “And while AARP is waffling AMAC has proposed serious changes in Social Security that will stabilize Social Security and allow people to have more money when they are retired than the present system.”
Weber explained the AMAC proposal was to incorporate the change recommended by Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and others, to raise the age when a recipient would receive their full benefit from age 66 to age 69. The new age would start to be implemented in 2013 and won’t be fully phased in until 2018.
The key difference between their suggested changes and ours is that we would also incorporate the mandatory offering of a new “Social Security IRA” to anyone who would be affected by the change in age. The SS IRA would be tax deductible, payroll deducted and put into an individual IRA owned by the wage earner. The funds invested would not be accessible until either age 62 or 65. It could be started with as little as $5 per week and be put into a plan offered by the same companies that presently offer IRAs and 401ks.
Fifty percent or more of the funds would have to be invested in guaranteed interest accounts so the person would be guaranteed to have gains in at least half of their funds.
Weber said “It is unfair to force Americans to continue to work until age 69, especially those who work in occupations that require physical labor. People who are farmers, construction workers, laborers, skilled tradesmen such as carpenters, plumbers, electricians, masons and other workers have punished their bodies after years of labor suffer from various ailments that white collar workers generally avoid.
They should be able to stop working at a lower age and the SS IRA would allow anyone to do that.
At the same time, extending the full age to 69 would make Social Security stable for many years in the future. Weber ended by saying “It is time for the political leaders of both parties to have courage, and stand up to solve this problem by adopting the AMAC plan.”
Life Insurance 
Roadside Assistance 
Auto Insurance 
25 years later instead of walking in to ever increasing help homeless organizations, charity, shelter, housing center or social service programs getting billions in funding and walking out with your own safe place to sleep Still normal people no kids single working or unemployed are not given keys to a kitchenette or SRO nothing but a stack of papers containing the same useless statistics and study info from 25 years ago. you sign up for services, told to include personal info so organizations ave proof they helped you so they get paychecks and receive funding for nothing.
you are handed a stack of useless info told you don’t qualify or no assistance is available and left wandering around in the streets. all money funding useless organizations can be put on a cash card for normal people to pay rent for millions of homeless directly.
It is easy to agree with many of the above comments. The concession given to those who worked in manual labor fields can be assigned based on their having put their occupation on their 1040′s for a certain number of years. But a medical exam confirming their infirmities would help make this fair.
“Business owners” should not be unfairly taxed. Many or most are sole proprietors and small businesses, which has no correlation with “wealth”.
They get no tax benefit from being in this type business.
Abortions don’t result in reducing wage earners/taxpayers. In fact it is much more likely to reduce unwanted children who will be raised on our welfare.
Yes, there should be no taxes on SS income, and state and federal employees and politicians should all be under the same rules of taxation and retirement benefits as we are.
The big problem with social Security, it is not authorized by the Constitution. SS can not be fixed it must be abolished. The problem is how to make whole the citizens that had their money stolen for many years. They deserve all their funds back plus a suitable rate of interest. How to do this, cut everything in the budget that is not authorized by the Constitution, probably better than 90%. This amount must be used to make the citizens whole. BTW, there is one major difference between a Ponzi Scheme and SS, no one is forced to join a Ponzi Scheme. Joe Stalin’s best friend FDR, if he was still alive, should be sharing a 8 X 10 room with Bernie Madoff. And I am not a kid, but 66 and getting some of my stolen money back. What else would you call it when something is taken under duress. Don’t pay your FICA and see what happens.
I don’t know if anyone noticed, but the retirement age for Social Security has already been raised. If you were born in 1960 or later, full benefits do not kick in until you are 67. I was born in 1942 and had to wait until 65 and 10 months for full benefits. What is two years going to do? Are we going to eliminate the reduced SS at 62 part of the program?
Why not take the limits off of the amount of earnings subject to SS taxes? This was done for Medicare so why not SS? Everyone in society benefits from SS so everyone should contribute. I am for 100% of earnings being subject to SS taxes.
Problem Solved!
Congress was not initially set up to be a luxury. They themselves have made it that way. Take the luxury and big benefits out of the hat. Then the liars, lazy and crooks will not try so hard to get into the office. Only the ones who really want to help will run for those offices. Once they are voted out – back to the workforce instead of the country club. The reason why our gov’t makes stupid decisions about our money is that it has no effect on them.
Keep the billions that we are giving away to countries that don’t care about us.
Aliens have NO right to anything free. We have opened our borders and our arms to people who are bleeding us dry, stealing from us, killing us and performing terrorist acts.
I have a membership with Amac. My question is, do you have coverage for prescribed medicine? I have not received anything but,’not found’, If I can not receive a answer, I will cancel my membership. B. Dale Peters
I would like to echo the concern that legislators won’t be affected by a rise in SS retirement age. I would strongly suggest that AMAC push for introduction of a law that brings legislators under the very same laws and rules across the board that individuals are subject to! “It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more
dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the
hands of people who pay no price for being wrong.” – Thomas Sowell
Btw, I disagree with AMAC’s support of raising the SS age. The age was part of an agreement that workers counted on. SS funds should never have been spent. I paid it in–I get in back. Simple as that.
I’m 56 and feel we definitely need to (a) “reduce speeding to get the deficit under control, and (b) reduce the size of the government and its over regulation/legislation/etc to allow small and mid size businesses to get back on their feet. To that end, a asap plan should be adopted to raise the starting age to apply for Social Security (FICA) benefits. PS … Truly, I’d be thankful to die as working stiff if it would fix some of the damage that our generation let happen on our watch … the USA is the land of milk and honey, but we just ate/drank and while the scoundrels took over.
thomas.
if i give back 5% i would lose a lot of money per month and can not afford the loss. however i would be willing to give it up IFi knew it would not be misshandled and based upon what is happening it has been misshandled for years.
The disgrace is that there are illegal aliens in this country collecting SS benefits. And not only that, they are receiving medicaid and welfare if they are not old enough for SS. If our government stopped all these illegal ‘entitlements’ and stopped all the foreign aid, we could probably give each citizen a check for several thousand dollars. I think it’s despicable ….helping illegals while ignoring the plight of senior Americans. And not just seniors…..our troops come home and many of them wind up homeless and begging on the streets. What kind of country have we turned into?
Yes the whole thing is a massive ponzi scheme and Congress could care less.
But to be honest, I believe there’s an economic coup taking place in America. What else can it be!
The way to fix SS is to get the people who have never paid into it, off of it!! We would not have to raise the age if we did this. I know people who live in a condo free, medical free and get money free, who have never paid a single dime into it. CHANGE THE CULTURE AND U CHANGE THE SYSTEM!!!!!!!!!!!
I have paid into ss all my life…Had mine and my companies withholdings been put in a normal interest bearing savings account (not dependent on anything but the current interest rate) I would have over $470K and my wife over 100K. I would be glad to give up my ss retirement for the monies I would have earned. There is so much tax money wasted (even collecting it) I can’t believe we shouldn’t have the funds. I would have switched over at 30 yrs old and gave up my benefits (it was talked about back then) I’m willing to pay more taxes now to insure ss stability but not with the wasted spending going on. Guess there will be alot of street dwellers in the future. Funny how all the jobs paid for by taxes seem to have great benefits and retirement accounts. My friend has a military pension (never seen combat) and can still draw his whole ss benefit. If I retire and go to work I can make about $14K a year before I start losing benefits. The answer, who knows? But I think we should spend some time talking about this instead of all the crap I hear on the news.
Simpson was making the ronuds of the news shows a few weeks ago, and quirky doesn’t describe what I heard. I heard the mental looseness and word salad of a man in the early stages of dementia. How ironic.
Social Security is a “ponzi scheme” and the suggested changes do not change that. What AMAC suggests is a temporary answer…NOT a solution. There is no Social Security Fund. In spite of what Mr. Warren Lunsford says, there is NO MONEY in the fund. ALL the money goes into the Federal Government’s General Fund to be spent as Congress wishes. There ain’t no money honey. Social Security payments are made from the General Fund. The only real solution is to privatize the system…get the Fed out of the way of the citizen. Had I been allowed to invest my money rather than give it to Uncle Sam, I (and you!) would be making two to three times what I get in Social Security. The proof is in the various local governments and private companies that opted out at the beginning and started private investment programs in lieu of Social Security. In addition, people who were allowed to ‘opt out’ have all the money to pass on to their children. What do those of us who were forced into Social Security have? Not a damn thing. We pay into the system…the government tells us how much of our money they will allow us to have each back each month and when we die…the government gets the money. To be fair, most of us will get back much more than we paid into the system because we are “living too long.” But…the system is broke and we have to keep coming up with more stringent requirements to keep it afloat. Obviously, those already collecting Social Security and those within 15 or even 20 years should be allowed to remain in the system if they want. But, those just entering the system should be placed into a private system and those who are over 15 or 20 years away from receiving benefits should receive a partial payment from Social Security, with the rest coming from their private account. In time, this would take the Government out of it and we would never have to go through this idiocy again. Get the Government out of the retirement and welfare and health care businesses and we would all be MUCH better off. For those of you who cannot take care of yourself and need the nanny state to take care of you…Move to Cuba. They have the correct system of government for you!
The fed government has two key constitutional powers,
1) to maintain a standing army and navy
2) to protect the rights of the CITIZENS of the USA
The fed needs to get out of the banking business. If I had saved my social security and medicare taxes in my credit union, I would be wealthy.
I agree with Warren Lunsford “Having mature people retire later will not work in a market that discriminates against workers over 50 to save on health insurance costs. Too many workers over 50 are unemployed for this reason.” I am about to turn 63 and stated collecting at 62 because I am unable to find full time employment with benefits. I have worked for over 40 years and never had difficulty finding employment until this economic fiasco. Unemployment is still over 12% in this part of FL and that is not counting thousands of others in my same situation who are not even considered in these figures. I also agree with another who stated that Congressional pensions are afforded to representatives who meet a minimum of 5 years of service. What a joke, they vote to dip into our lifelong fund while their own “retirement” benefits remain secure. I think we can save a lot of money by voting them all out of office before they meet 5 yrs. What part of “We the people, …..promote the general welfare….” don’t they get? Promote what is best for the average hard working American, not the priviledged few!!!!! We need to remind Congress just who they work for.
I believe I have a FAIR solution to our Social Security problem ; it would help to have our Congress pay the same way they want us to pay. Since they have spent so much of our tax money on senseless things , let them raise their retirement age for THEIR retirement to the 65 0r 69 years of age they want us to. Change THEIR pension age from 55 to the age they want us to have. I think they should be FAIR to the American People and do this as a gesture on their part. FAIR IS FAIR. A BETTER IDEA IS TO PUT ALL OF CONGRESS INTO THE SOCIAL SECURITY SYSTEM. THEY DEFINETLY WOULD DO THINGS WITH ALOT MORE SENSE. See if they would raise the retirement age if they were in the same system. I say they would never.
Keep the 62 and 65 years of age the way it is now for all in the future. Get this GREAT COUNTRY back to work. You will have the money pouring in to pay the future Social Security recipients for a long,long, time.Lets not do the easy way out. Anyone can do that. Let’s get Congress to think and use their brains that God gave them. God Bless America.
I think the answer is simple. If you want Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid fixed put Congress on those programs. It seems to me they are only good at making rules for others but none that apply to them. We should have 1 new Ammendment that Congress and all the folks that are supposed to be working for us can never pass any Law, Ammendment etc. that does not affect and pertain to them first.
I am confused about this whole Social Security deal. I paid into the social security plan all my life. Later in life, I wised up and started a 401K type account. I should have been fine at retirement. However, fate put me on a different path.
11 years ago I had a simple hernia operation that did not go well. I have been permanently disabled every since. It has taken all my 401K savings to keep going, pay my bills, etc. That account is now empty. My long term disability insurance is due to expire as soon as I turn 65. What happens to those of us on SSDI if they raise the age of retirement? I would hope that my long term disability and my SSDI would continue, but with the way things are going, I won’t hold my breath! Taxes eat up a good portion of the SSDI and disability insurance. I never understood why payments from insurance companies are tax free, unless it’s long term disability. I’m taxed on my disability insurance and taxed on my SSDI. I paid a penalty for closing the IRA account and IRS is hitting me with penalties and interest in the years I can’t afford to pay the extra 3 to $5000 above what I already paid in.
Am I still going to be able to collect SSDI until whatever age retirement they come up with or should I start planning on being homeless in my old age?
Has Congress paid back ALL of the money they have taken from to SS coiffers? If they had left that money alone without thinking it was just a big pile of money for them to play with, we wouldn’t be in this situation!
Why is it seniors, social security, medicare, teachers, police and fire, why do all of these take hits when our govt screws up? I propose that everyone from the White House down to anyone working for Congress be the first to lose their pay in any crises where someone is not going to get paid. Instead of using scare tactics like telling seniors they won’t get their checks, all those who actually caused the problem by overspending should lose their pay until they get it fixed! They should be the first to lose their pay and the last to be reinstated. Govt has had it to soft for far too long. They alone should be held accountable for their actions. It isn’t enough to say sorry, or point the finger at someone else. They need to actually experience what we experience!
At 60 I have no plans to retire I have plans if when I am forced into retirement , I know many seniors When younger spent my time going to weddings and parties now i spend my time going to funerals RETIREMENT is a contagious desease when you retire you die . on the flip side I had my first paying job at 13 ,I think a lot of us Baby boomers started work very young and as such we have been paying in for a very long time ( where’s all that money ) And why wasn’t it invested , I did the math , I really would prefer that they refund my money , I could re invest it in dividend stock and get a bigger check which brings up the question why was not the surplus all these years invested , OH THATS RIGHT our untrustworthy elected spent it , Leason learned WE NEED A BALANCED BUDGET AMENDMENT ,
The AARP solution is still FAR better than Amac. They are no where near calling for the eligibility age to be set at 69. As far as your Social Security IRA’s – they would be a joke for anyone in their mid to upper 50′s. For someone just starting else yes. 50 + no way!
Pardon my misspelling above. kik =kick.leagal =legal, saming= scamming..
I was 8 years old on my first job and the government started taking money out of my meager pay check. I want the money the government said I would get. All people are not able to work to age 70 while some won’t be able to work at age 65. Praise be to God, I quit work at age 67 , not because I was disabled, but because I had to take care of someone. Six years later I am still fit enough to work as an industrial maintenance technician and we all know many who can’t do this. I share the belief that government employees should be on SS or we should be on their system. Their’s seems to be the better so I’ll choose it over SS. Agree about eliminating Foreign Aid-what a joke-. Senators and Representatives should take a cut in retirement pay. The obscene 15K a month is too much. I don’t agree with AMAC’s position. 65 is old enough and disability should kik in if one is not able to work to that age-no cheating or saming the system. No payments to immigrants when they first get here whether leagal or not. Sure, they can get a job and pay into the system like the rest of us and reap at the same age the rest of us do but why should a immigrant get 1/4 million bucks when he gets here to begin life anew. As for Bible study here, see Acts 10 and 11 to see WHAT ONE MUST DO to be saved.God, please help us and bless our country. Amen? Amen.
People are not looking at the total fund. The Social Security fund is solid and will be so for those who retire. The only thing the economy needs to make it more stable is the addition of more jobs.
Having mature people retire later will not work in a market that discriminates against workers over 50 to save on health insurance costs. Too many workers over 50 are unemployed for this reason.
I will be 86 shortly. I could be called a Seniors, Senior.
We have been called The Greatest Generation. Perhaps?
While it is true we stepped up to the plate and survived the great depression, went to war [WWII] to preserve the american way of life, came home and raised a family, built schools, built churches, and built the worlds greatest economy, that is not enough!
It is time for us to step up to the plate again to help our country, our children, our grand children, and yes , our great grand children. It is time once again for us to set an example of leadership. I for one refuse to leave the mess our country is in to my heirs. This mess happened on our watch, and there is plenty of blame to go around.
It is time to give back some of the generous fruits of our labors by supporting changes to social security and medicare.
There are many good ideas out there but they all take time, time i may not have. Why wait? If not us,who? If not now, when?
I propose we [ seniors, senior- 70 and above] give back [voluntary] 5% of our SS to reduce the national debt, not government programs.
We helped, each in our own way, to create the problen. Let us start to solve it.
Least you think i am one of those rich dudes who can arrord this loss of income. I am not! I have no pension, I have no rich uncle and I didn’t win the lottery. Ilive on SS and what my wife and I saved and invested. The American Way!!! The land of opporunity !!!
God Bless America
I forgot the UNIONS. Now that is a definite entitlement. They will break the bank and the ethics of this country. We are becoming a thuggery country. These union bosses will stop at nothing. It is not the union people. It is their bosses and their bosses. Andy Stern, once the head of SEIU, was at the Obama whitehouse 28 times in less than one year. How’s that for up front and personal?
I agree with Jim Parsch, Angie Hamil, and David Woodell and I also do not think that social security is an entitlement. Entitlements are what the democrat progressives are pushing for for illegal aliens,(they want their vote), the “necessary” payments to other nations who do not agree with us and who take our money and laugh at us and will ruin us if they had the chance, and also to their cronies who support them and who, in return, feel entitled. Could some of what are called entitlements also be what our politicians are getting in salary and perks? These guys certainly act ‘entitled.’ Just look at what was said when Kennedy’s senatorial seat was filled by another. His daughter said something to the effect that her father’s (ownership of the place) seat was filled by another. I thought it was the peoples’ seat. These politicians are supposed to be the peoples’ voice and these seats are for the people and not for themselves and not to be made an entitled career for them. Talk about entitlements….they are the entitled and they then make the entitlements to fit their needs, both personal and political. Whatever meets their own needs at their own time. I agree that we do need to ban together and fight this leftist, progressive scheme to ruin this wonderful country and we do need to go back to our Constitution (it does not need to be changed) and we do need to get the LIARS, THIEVES, ANTI-AMERICAN, and those that want our demise, no matter what they call themselves, out of the administration and the tentatcles that they have established! GOD BLESS THE USA!
I am currently 53 yrs old and wish to retire at 66 & 8 months roughtly 13 yrs from now, I say make the future young people starting to get into the work force ,Raise their retierment age to 70
I think that Jim Parsch, Angie Hamil, and David Woodell have hit on what We The People need to do. Put into office whom are for the PEOPLE. Also, according to David on 1Tim. 4:1-3: continue on with giving thanks for us getting something to eat. We all need to open THE BIBLE and read it more. Take care of your family and yourself first, then what’s left–help others.
Do away with the Foreign Aid, and give it to the USA first, then, and only then, you can help others. This would solve the whole situation.
I do feel entitled to my social security check. I worked and contributed for 48+ years and started to collect at 65 because my employer wanted to downsize and being “older” is not very fashionable in the work marketplace. I barely pay my bills with the money I receive (and I am fortunate to have a pension in addition to SS.) I am not sure what the solutions should be, but I do resent it when people talk about “entitlements” and I would not support any candidate or organization who proposes to cut my benefits.
My wife and I are both on SS and medicare and are retired from full-time work. I mow a few yards for extra money and I work one day per week on a beach patrol. We both started paying into the SSA when we got our first pay checks as kids back in the early 50′s. Those monies were in a fund that was for SS recipients only. Then along came our Legislative Branch and decided all on their own that they knew best and transferred the monies over to the General Fund to be used at their discretion. Well, you see what that brought about. Spend, spend, spend, spend. That’s all they know. Now they have put everyone except themselves into a boiling pot. Stop all the outside contributions for elections. Stop all the lobbying. Stop all of their raises. Stop any increase in their health care and pension. Stop the use of taxpayer monies for any trips no matter where. Stop the use of Air Force One for election and personal trips. Stop the use of Air Force One for the first lady’s desires. The seniors already on SS should have their benefits remain stable and COLA should be reintroduced. SS is not an ENTITLEMENT as we all paid into it. Put an end to Welfare and make it Workfare. Reinstitute the CCCamps of yesteryear. A day’s pay for a day’s work. Put an end to any union employee that thinks that we are responsible for their Health and Welfare. They are not special and not ENTITLED to special perks. Call in all of our notes to foreign countries along with the interest. Stop patronizing any foreign country. We owe them nothing. If anything they all owe us. Never, I say never allow to happen again as to what has happened in this current administration. They have allowed special interest groups to call the shots and this country and the men and women who died for this country should not even think of Socialism, Marxism, Communism etc. Get rid of those who think like that. Bring back the God and Country aspect that this great nation was founded on. Bring back the use of the US Constitution and it’s beliefs. Get rid of the wimpering leftist believers and put in staunch believers in what this nation was founded on.
GOD BLESS THIS GREAT LAND
I am appalled at the government for even thinking of raising the age for retirement benefits. When this program was initiated there was no talk of changing things 50 years from now. I have paid into the system for years, and still working part time. Even though I work part time, money is taken out of my check to support Social Security, where is that money going??? I cannot receive an increase in benefits because, I do not make enough money working part-time. While I continued to work full time until 2 1/2 years ago, I realized I could not live on Social Security alone, so I went to work part-time 2 years ago, I have continually worked part-time since then. When I sent a letter to the Social Security Office two months ago asking for a raise in my benefits (from working part-time) I was given the answer that I could not have my benefits increased for the year prior 2010, because, I did not make enough money, so why are they still taking money out of my minimum wage check for social security?? I did not retire until I reached 65 full retirement for me, and even worked all these years, until I semi-retired, I received a benefits increase on my very good salary then, but, now I am not good enough, and you can still take my money??? come on people, you know our representatives and senators give themselves a raise each year without fail, no matter what the economy is doing and it is going nowhere at this time. What happened to the promises that large corportations should be penalized for outsourcing our jobs here in America!!!! I would be happy to lobby along with all of the lobbyists in DC getting whatever they want by lining the pockets of our government. What happened to WE the PEOPLE??? where is our say in all these changes, who is playing God and making all of these decisions, has it been posted for a vote?? I’m in the dark here.Shame on you AARP for deceiving the public with your underhanded slight of hand with the Seniors of America, you are taking advantage of us, and cheating us while trying to convince us that you are doing all you can to save or privatize Social Security, I do not want the government to touch my money that I have worked so hard for.Who are you to make those decisions>??Come on Seniors get out of the closet and let our government know we are on to them, they think us as uncapable and will soon die anyway so whatever!!!!!Let’s put Ron Paul in office and straighten out and strengthen our resources.
While I support the age increase and mandatory IRA idea I believe there are better answers. First on the agenda to balance Social Security is cut the Billions of dollars going to U.S. Foreign Aid ???
Most of these Foreign nations, which squander the money do not Support the U.S. in war or in voting in the United Nations. All the while many Seniors who paid the money in are under a yoke of financial stress trying to live in this economy with its’ high cost of living and instability. Take this money to fully fund Social Security and provide an increase to seniors of 10% or more immediately and restore decent colas.
I am sick of Foreign welfare, most of these nations are not really friends of America. As I said they do not support us in war with troops or equipment and they do not vote with the U.S. in the United Nations, so why are we sending them billions of dollars our people need.The Bible teaches several things that we need to remember. First is, you take care of your own Family first! And that is Americans! Second is every privilege has a price, if you want the privilege, pay the price.Also while I am sharing my 2 cents worth about money let’s talk about welfare to people who do not want to work because this would provide more money to all working Americans. This is only part of the solutions but it is a start!
The Bible says if someone will not work ( due to laziness) they should not eat.
A cure for welfare is workfare until these folks can be trained or retrained to work like everyone else!
Where are the True Conservative candidates who should be giving Voice to common sense answers to Liberal financial insanity. We are the most blessed nation on earth and we are letting it be destroyed by not voting or voting in ignorance. Moral Integrity does matter.Most Americans do not even understand that there is a Civil War of Values taking place for the Soul of America that is utilmately for the souls of mankind. We have lost the Security of Social Security because we have voted people into elected office with No Moral Coscience and they are feathering their own nests and the nests of the super wealthy special interests who buy their jobs for them. But there is HOPE for moral renewal via a return to the God of the Bibile and Biblical morality. If we work as an army of ants we can overwhelm those who oppose decency, fairness, honest labor (so they can buy votes with welfare) and respect of elders.
Read 1Timothy Chapter 4 verses 1-3 and you can see partially what is happening to our wonderful country.
I agree with GrandInquisitor. Why should my age of retirement be raised to 69, when I have worked my whole adult life, while others may have only gone back to work for 10 years and we would be called to retire at the same extended time. That’s at outrage! I would be forced to put off my retirement, while Congress and other government workers can retire at 55, with a full pension and complete medical coverage. There is something wrong with this picture.
I agree with the earlier comment about not being a burden on those who are still working. The notion that we can quit working 20 or more years before we die only seems justified if we are not depending on a government check. As for me, I intend to work until I can live off what I have earned, and I will pass along any SS payments I receive to my heirs who are still working. Eventually America will need a long term solution that weans us off of this ponzi scheme and encourages more personal responsibility for our financial well being.
Why not lift the cap on FICA? Leave the rate at 4% for everyone. Let businesses and self-employed continue to pay up until the current cap and then let the wage earner continue to pay. This would bring in immediate funding and could be implemented for a period of 5 years to give the SS IRA a time to develope. At age 70 you could collect full social security and work without penalty. Why did SSA change that to 65? Makes no sense.
BTW – Are Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and others – going to defer their retirement income until age 69? I believe US congress people are eligible at age 55.
Raising the age is a joke! It should be based on the number of years a worker paid into it. Under this plan you could have someone who worked only ten years and retire at 65 while someone who has already paid into the system 40 years get stuck working until 69! At this age they could have to pay into the system for over 50 years. STUPID PLAN! While government workers are retiring at 55.
Anything short of private Social Security Accounts only empowers the government over We the People, and represents false Social Security reform.
Those who fret that privatizing Social Security will take benefits away from current recipients should be informed that unless we enact the true reform of privatization, the governemnt will continue to take your benefits away in the form of increased taxation, increased retirement age, no inflation adjustments and means testing.
Anyone who has worked in the manual labor fields ( comstruction, mining,farming,etc) will probably agree that they are ready for retirement. Also paying taxes on social secutity is just plain wrong., my tax bill after retiring is really bad..
Like many of you I am still working at age 75 and plan to continue unitl I cannot. We should move the full retirement age up some and we should provide an option to invest in an IRA type fund to supplement the difference and we should stop the double taxation on those non dseductible contributions.
Social Security Gradually raise full benifits to age 69, raise input FICA taxes 1/2 %, discontinue in come taxes on it when you draw it out. make a lock box form, where it can not be borrowed from by any agency of the Us Gov., Appoint a group of investers that can invest it wisely. 401K’S don’t work for a majority of people in this country, because you can borrow from them and there is not any money left when they get ready to retire, and the taxpayers have to take care of them.
Dan, per your support of risky Socialist Insecurity, when will you remind working Americans to the potential fraud in their future, as they`ll be bilked out of their `contributions,` if they don`t live to collect any Socialist Insecurity benefits, or have no eligible survivors.
Let the `revolution` begin, again…no more FICA taxation, without representation. Take a real Conservative stand, & help restore FICA payers` 10th Amendment righs. Like private sector Ponzi schemes, Socialist Insecurity should be strictly voluntary.
Harry Thompson
Tucson, AZ
I received an email solicitation to join AARP this morning shortly after I watched an AARP commercial on the Today showing seniors advocating for no changes to their federal benefits. I was somewhat inclined to join AARP since I turned 50 two years ago, but after seeing this commercial, that’s not happening. The seniors depicted in the commercial were weak and pathetic figures with one hand out to government and the other presumably backhanding the younger generation. I can’t see how AARP presumes to represent patriotic Americans who care about finding solutions to our nation’s fiscal problems. I’m very glad that this alternative organization has been founded that represents my interests.
I know manual labor is hard but you should try doing tax returns for 50 years. I am 76 years old and still working full time as all I own was devalued in the last few years. Age 65 was an arbitrary age picked for retirement.. Retirement is a 20th century idea.. Man should work as long as he is able and no be a burden on those that work.
Adam is right about the harm abortions have cuased our nation.
God forgive us.
The AMAC proposal on SS is sound.
It should be adopted by Congress.
I am age 57 and support raising the retirement age to 69 or 70 before I turn 66. Americans have allowed the killing of millions of babies that would have support the boomer senior adults. Now we all pay a little extra or get nothing later!
We should not be taking benefits away from seniors currently collecting them. Increased revenues should come from individuals/businesses who can still improve on their income.