Social Security’s full retirement age was increased one time (by two years) in its 83-year history, while life expectancy has increased 20+ years. Would you favor a gradual increase in the full retirement age from 67 to 69 to extend the solvency of Social Security if the change excluded those currently age 60 and older?
The obvious way to keep Social Security solvent for future generations, and the one that would have the greatest impact almost immediately (if it gets through Congress “soon”), is to raise the age of eligibility. After all, we are living much longer than when SS was first implemented. The low birth rate is causing current recipients of SS to rely on only a few taxpayers to fund the system instead of 16, I think it was, when SS first passed. Raising the age from 67 to 69 is not a big deal for the next generation, and I would have extended the full retirement age to 70 or 72. It can be phased in over a period of time. The poll excludes those age 60 and over; nothing changes for them. However, people need a longer time frame than that to plan their future. I would have the cut-off at age 50, maybe 55…but I think age 60 just doesn’t give those who are approaching that age enough time to adjust.
The federal government should offer an incentive to delay collecting SS until, say, age 75, much like it does now for those delaying until age 70. The amount of the check grows each month it is not collected. And raising the cap on maximum earnings that are subject to FICA taxes…that’s another option for the feds…which would affect those in high income brackets.
Early retirement age can be raised…or not…but, given several options, we can decide for ourselves which scenario is preferred. Because many of us are in our highest income-earning years, continuing to work for a few more years can greatly influence the number on the front of the check FOR THE REST OF OUR LIVES. When deaths due to cancer and heart disease decline, future SS recipients will be drawing checks much longer than those collecting now. That will be the quandary of the future. Medicine is doing a great job with the major killers, but how many retirees in 30 or 50 years will be able to live independently? Will warehouses for the aged be the new entitlement? Frightening thought.
If something more drastic than just raising the full retirement age to 69 is not done SOON, we will be facing increased taxes or lower payments, or both. I heard a collective hiss when I mentioned FRA going to 72, but, to those who are under the age of 50, retiring at age 69 or 72 seems like a long way off.
I believe that Social Security and Medicare are unconstitutional socialist programs that should be phased out completely. Yes, I am old enough to “collect” from them but I do not participate in either. I have a severe ethical problem with mugging and stealing from my neighbors by proxy, which is the way that government entitlements work.
I was looking at AMAC as a possible alternative to liberal-socialist AARP, but am disappointed to find that it is also engaged in promoting inter-generational theft.
AMAC is the only organization in Washington DC that is actively pushing for a plan to keep Social Security Solvent. Their Social Security Plus would allow people to put in their own money into a tax sheltered personal savings account which would pay substantially more than the low earnings from the Trust Funds. Plus, the worker owns the money, if they die all the money plus earnings goes to their beneficiary- not the Government.
I am in my mid 50’s and worry about my future “beneifits.” Something needs to be done. One (unpopular) idea would be income based. If you had other sources of income to live on, then your benefits would go down or stop if you had a high income. I’m sorry but if someone has an income of several thousands of dollars (3+) per month, do you really need Social Security? If your only source of income is Social Security you need it to survive. 3000 (or more), no. We as a society need to quit thinking about what can I get, and have some concern for others. Social Security was never intended to be a sole source of income for large senior populations. When originally enacted, most never lived long enough to collect, that was factored in. We need a system to support these longer retirements, support the disabled, and be solvent. If we as a society want a government retirement benefit, we need to pay for it and not put it on the backs of the next and future generations.
I would support raising the retirement age from 67 to 69 if they made t4he gradual increase start at under 50. They should keep the reduced benefit at 62 and they should offer incentives if you wait until you are 70 or over to retire.
Phase-in a higher retirement age of 70 for those workers who are currently 50 or younger with incentives for those who delay applying for social security until age 73; reduce social security payments for retirees who have other income (and/or assets) greater than yet to be determined amounts; raise and index the income cap on social security withholding.
I’ve been advising my kids to save save save.
Leave it the way it is. I am 59 years old and have put into the system since I was 16 years old. I am too close for them to fool around with our retirement supplement. Now STOP giving money to people who don’t put into the system. Let them work for it. IF YOU PUT INTO THE SYSTEM, YOU CAN BENEFIT FROM THE SYSTEM. The government always hurts the people who put into the system.
As soon as the senate lowers their pensions
Leave it the way it is and stop the government from robbing money out of it. They never have enough money to spend.
My understanding is if the government would stop borrowing, or giving Social Security away to those who did NOT contribute, it would be solvent. I voted no change, just clean up the holes. When a boat is sinking, you don’t reduce the size of the boat, you plug the holes. How can a 25 year old be on Social Security? Or 35? Any one under 62?
I vote no! and want the Social Security Trust Fund restored to a true trust fund and all of our money left alone to accrue and not be wasted by the greedy polititions!!!
Agree with Carter Braxton. Phase Social Security out!
WHAT A SCAM LEAVE SS ALONE AND REMOVE ALL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE PENSIONS PAY THEM BASED ON SS SCHEDULE RETURN SS TO INSURANCE PROGRAM NOT WELFARE! The politicians have robbed us by giving our money away to welfare frauds in SSI THEN CUT ALL GOVERNMENT SAIARIES IN HALF! Rewarding incompetence and outright fraud with increased wages is asinine, $20 trillion in debt STOP THE MADNESS!
Leave it alone. Govt wants us to work longer so they can use our money for illegals and welfare programs
Better still, stop giving benefits to people who are in the country illegally.
The first thing our spending government should do is get SS contributions out of the general government funds. Keep the SS fund separate I believe like it was in the beginning.
Now with our economy booming and more and more people working and participating in the system the age of full retirement should be left alone. Early retirement could be raised without any problems.
The SS “trust fund” has always been a joke, because the only “investments” that surplus contribution figure was allowed to buy is special U.S. Government bonds. That’s like showing an IRA deduction on your tax return every year, and, when you are audited, showing the government a drawer full of IOU’s from yourself to your IRA. The only real way to fix the system is to tax the heck out of people who had no kids, and stop the FICA deduction from people who have four or more children. (And it’s probably too late for that.) See my paper “Contracepting Social Security” on the web. It’s something I wrote decades ago.
The choices in this poll are like do we feed our children today or make them go hungry and feed them next week. No good options.
Instead of making the choices in the poll, I suggest we quit giving money to all the countries around the world and particularly those in the Middle East and move those funds to social security. I’ve been paying into the system since before I was 16 and am now 57. None of us should have the rug pulled out on us as it’s our money that should be paid back to us!
Based on the choice of answers I will not be taking this pole!
And have congress pay back every dime they stole from it.
Your poll is BS, you should be advocating keeping SS intact and keep the politicians hands off from stealing from the SS funds for their pet projects. There would be no problem with SS if it weren’t for supplementing a multitude of other things. Next time you have a poll on the subject don’t let that poll be slanted and not cover what is truly happening, Another thought is to allow citizens the option of private retirement in lieu of funding SS. or cash out to fund a retirement program upon retirement.
Return the funds stolen from the trust fund by a Democrat ic controlled congress. Remove congress from federal payrolls and return fhe responsibility for their salaries to the individual states they represent. Congress shall make no law that exempts anyone including themselves.
The solution is not Social Security… it is tax-free retirement accounts and eliminating income taxes on Social Security. If we would allow retirement savers redirect their SS taxes to their private tax-free savings in place of receiving SS with a return of all they have put in to SS plus at least a 1% return the system could probably be replaced with private retirement savings. Another thing that could be done is to eliminate all taxes on medical devices and care and allow tax-free savings and spending for medical care. One thing is for sure the government is NOT the answer, it has caused this crisis and it will not solve it. As long as I get out of the SS system what I put in and a fair interest rate on it, I am happy to manage my own retirement. The older a person gets the less they should pay in taxes especially if their incomes are low. If the plan results in a gain for the retiree they will take it and just the elimination of the SS Administration will save billions in wages to governmnet bureaucrats. The answer is less bureacracy not more. Just so you know… I am 61.. I want to see everyone free from government control with regard to education, retirement, and healthcare.
None of the above. Get rid of the phony SS disability recipients. Streamline the system. Paying in for 40 years should be enough (25-65). I started at age 15 and paid in 50 years. Separate SS from general fund and run it right.
I don’t like any of the options. I am 54 and in retirement planning phase. I think it should only be changed for those 50 and under.
The retirement age can be raised but how does that effect younger workers looking for promotions if older workers aren’t retiring. We cannot hold off a generation of workers because we’ve decided to raise the retirement age to 70 or 72. How about Congress raise the ceiling on the salary against which social security is taken to $350,000. There are ways to keep Social Security solvent that don’t involve cutting benefts or raising the retirement age.
Cut the theives hands off(politicians) that has stolen all the money out of SS!
How about not paying out to ppl who never paid in?
I would prefer it if the government stopped giving social security to illegal aliens who did not contribute to the program and to keep the governments from raiding the program. That way the program wouldn’t run out of money.
I don’t believe there is an option. I am also adamantly in favor of repaying the funds stolen by the government and putting S/S in a “lock box” it seems like if there is so much as a nickel laying around somewhere those politicians will do anything be it beg, borrow or steal to get their hands on it!
The retirement age should be raised but at the same time so should the age to be able to claim SS early. Raise the reduced benefit gradually from 62 to 65 and regular SS retirement to 70 and full retirement to 72. Medicare should also be increased from age 65 to 67 or 68, this will help make all programs more solvent for the next generation.
Congress needs to pay back SS and be forced to live off it instead of getting their pensions. Those who draw SS now most assuredly should NOT have benefits cut for any reason. Hold congress accountable
None of the above. Leave it the way it is but have no income taxable cut off. I know many making a lot of money that do not understand why there is a cut off of income being taxed. Continue to tax the rich. You will continue to collect from the high income employees and employers.
Sick of this SS SCAM, its only screwed up because its run by this GOV. SS is given to more people that have NOT even put anything in the system then anything else. Young kids, people that never Worked, PEOPLE that are NOT even CITIZENS! I do believe they sit around thinking up ways to give this money away. INSOLVENT? Joke, PRIVATIZE !!
Why punish people who actually put money into the pot over years of work. How many people put money into the system and never collect because they die. Congress has stolen money from social security since Lyndon Johnson time. I would like to know how illegals are entitled to ANY social security benefit. Stop giving money to non contributors and social security might last.
Age needs to be lowered back to 60. Most hard working Americans can’t even make it to 60 before their body breaks down. The government needs to repay the money they stole with interest. And Congress needs to fix any other problems. Companies have quit giving pensions siting SS as their retirement plan. So fix it and make it reliable.
The government should replace the money they stole from our social security!
Yes, and stop giving Social Security Benefits to those who have not pasid in!
This really sucks! I am almost 56, and was planning to fully retire at 59 1/2. If the raise the requirements, even by a half year for reduced benefits, means I work more and more. If, starting with Nixon, we had not allowed congress to rob SS to balance the federal budget, we would not be having these discussions.
I agree with most of those who say “let it ride” but fix the flaws that allow indiscriminate amount of plundering by our elected. Ensure regulation detail is explicit (black and white) with know wiggle roiom for liberal interpretation ( 0 grey area). Many have stated “stop the madness” & I agree. Our Government agencies are really loose with our money
Not all jobs should be worked until mid to late 60’s. My husband retired early at age 55 – a transmission lineman. If he waited another 10 years his body would be a wreck. Sit at a desk all day – ok. For those who run America with sweat and physical labor it should be mid 50’s.
I think all these parents who are having their children put on it by labeling their kids disabilities because of behavior should not be on it.This and illegal aliens being able to collect also will break it before anyone reaches 69 or 65.This has to be stopped.The school system has to be turned around it is already a Socialism State.That is what is robbing the elderly from their retirement such as it is.For some women that is all they have and it’s very small.
AMAC All that is necessary to make SSA and medicare/medicaide solvent is to levy the tax on all income w/o carve outs and to force Congress to make laws that force the return of all the “diverted” money they have stolen through the years before being allowed to spend any additional funds
SS is not Consitutional and only allows the Federal Government to control citizens and take money to fund their liberal programs and slush funds. The money they steal from workers is put in the general fund and our “benefits” becomes a debit on the budget. To drain the swamp we need to stop feeding the beast with cash stolen from wage earners.
I am disappointed with AMAC. This is an in appropriately designed poll. It is an AARP knockoff design. I answer NO, but not for the reason attached to the idiotic poll. Yes, people are living longer on “average” than when Social Security was started. However, if you check the recent statistics, U.S. lifespans are starting to decline. I don’t pretend to know all the answers, but it appears several things will have to change. One, this Ponzi scheme has to end. I’d be satisfied to just get back what I and my employers have paid into it. Two, it’s not the Federal government’s responsibility to take care of you; unless you can show me where it says so in the Constitution.
We would probably bring back hanging if more folks thought about not only did they remove the dollars and place the fund into the general account but that what we also lost was the interest that those real dollars earned forever
How about Washington pay back the billions of dollars that they stole from it with interest ! We would all have $ coming out our butts . Oh and it’s not a benefit we all n our employers put that $ into the fund .wake up America
SS was set up to be able to pay out to all. The problem is not having the funds to fulfill that, it is Congress spending the money on those who do not pay in. We who pay in should not have to adjust to poor decisions from Congress. Let Congress balance the budget without drawing from SS or forfeit their own benefits.
Leave SS alone. The government should not borrow fromit !!! The government should pay back with interest what theyhave already borrowed from it !!!