They Can't Do Away With Social Security....

[BamBams]

...because you NEED to have a social security number.

That's how they keep track of your credit.
It's your military ID number.
It's how the police keep track of you.

and on and on and on.....

Our government would never allow it's citizens to roam entirely free and un-monitored.

[Leverdude]

Reckon they could just change the name of the number.
Federal ID# sounds likely. Thats what it is anyway.

[jh45gun]

From what I have seen on this Bush does not want to do away with SS anyway he just wants a fund for young folks to save for retirement as a supplement to SS to take the strain off of it for when US Boomers hit the system enmasse.  I see nothing wrong with that. Jim

[longwinters]

Maybe that is why there will be the "mark of the beast".  World wide identification.

Long

[Leverdude]

From what I have seen on this Bush does not want to do away with SS anyway he just wants a fund for young folks to save for retirement as a supplement to SS to take the strain off of it for when US Boomers hit the system enmasse.  I see nothing wrong with that. Jim

Aint no need for legislation or tampering with SS for people to invest. Now if this fund is an alternative to SS instead of in addition to SS then it cant help but hurt when the baby boomers begin collecting. The way I understand it SS is basically broke now & those recieving benefits are getting money we put in now. That means, if anything, there needs to be more money put in not less.
Its my opinion that we ought to fix this now. If it means not sending billions to the rest of the world then thats how it should be.

I donate to alot of what I consider good causes. Make no mistake tho that if it comes down to me having what I & my family need or making a donation then my family will win out every time.

If, the US after taking care of our own has some cash left to help another less fortunate country thats a wonderful thing.

If however we keep sending billions out of our economy while continuing to build a huge national debt then we will be one of those less fortunate countries sooner or later. Not a thing I wish to leave to my children.

[BamBams]

I think SS is bad deal all the way around.  I wish the gov't would just allow people to invest as they see fit.  We've become too reliant on a gov't that really couldn't care any less about us anyway.

[Leverdude]

I think SS is bad deal all the way around.  I wish the gov't would just allow people to invest as they see fit.  We've become too reliant on a gov't that really couldn't care any less about us anyway.

The Gov't lets you invest as you see fit now.

SS was great till the gov't discovered there was money there they could tap into.
IMO thats where the problem lies. That money should be off limits to anyone & everyone untill time to collect comes around.
Best hold on to it as well IMO as they sure wont stop taking that money from our paychecks. They do away with SS & I think they'll change the name maybe but keep right on taking it.
Guess they'll just call it taxes.
Probably lower something else somewhere an insignificant amount so they can brag about lowering taxes while they steal our money.

If they put back all the money they've stolen from SS things would change overnight.

[Curtis]

I agree leverdude.  An empty account doesn't make you much income.  If they had left it alone there would be money busting at the seams.

Curtis

[Gunsmoke]

You can thank Lyndon Johnson and his coharts for robbing the SS system, it probable woulh have lasted a zillion years, but they put it in the general fund and never paid it back. It's also taxed, we've already paid the tax on it, so now we have double taxes on SS. Just my 2 cents.

[wtxbadger]

If you look at the number of people paying SS taxes versus those drawing from it you will see that ratio is getting closer and closer to being equal. This problem is only going to get worse as more people retire and start withdrawing from SS. Not sure what the best solution is, but we need to do something now before it goes under later on.

[dave375hh]

I find it interesting that the Demoncraps accuse Bush of trying to destroy SS. Gunsmoke is correct when he said LBJ took the excess payments to SS and moved them to the general fund with the aid of a Dem controlled congress. Klinton/Bore then added a tax on SS prior to the '94 House revolt that wrested control away from the Dem's. I should say that I don't agree with W's plan, but do recommend that the younger generations need to start saving now! Because I don't feel SS will be viable when they retire. It was quoted in the news that by 2018 the fund will be paying out more than they take in and everyone starts wringing their hands over the fact. What their doing is missing the point that for the next 13 years there will be more paid in than disbursed. Put this money into escrow for SS instead of the gen fund and they can extend the 2018 date farther to allow needed changes to be made soon enough to make a difference. Really there is an instant fix. No more foreign aid other than emergency humanitarian disaster relief. We're giving money to countries that hate us, Why? Move the UN to France and drop out of it. Why do we have to pay 25% of the UN's budget? This isn't unprecedented, France dropped out of NATO after the other NATO countries saved their @$$ in WWII. I guess that's how they say thank you. We're giving money to countries that have higher per-capita incomes than our own(Kuiait, Oman, Qater, UAE, etc.). Frankly we're just stupid, my parents taught me that you can't buy friends but that's what our govt does with foreign aid.

If our elected officials had any common sense we'd have no problems to worry about other than nat disasters.

[cvixx]

Biggest problem is that, from what I have read, SS was never designed to be a livable wage.  It was created to be a supplemental income.  Back in the 30s, most old codgers ended up moving in with their families and the extra money was enough for them to live on.  That and what savings they had put away.

Nowadays, far too many people decide NOT to save any money because of SS, so when the time comes to retire, they seem to be surprised that they are not rich enough to retire to Florida and live the good life.  Way too easy to spend your money on a fancy car, or dinners out or whatever suits your fancy.  Got a brother like that...he and his wife lived life large for years and kinda made fun of me and my wife being a cop and a teacher, not making the money he was as an insurance executive.  Now that my wife and I are retired and living off our pensions and the savings we put away each year, he is looking at having to work for a bunch more years because his SS payments won't pay him enough to get by on.  

Life has a way of turning on you if you don't play it smart.