How to properly fix Social Security(vanity)

The Vanity Post | november 11, 2010 | 1-Eagle

[1-Eagle]

(Posted rather tediously via blackberry)

1. All persons aged 30 and younger are bought out based on contribution plus interest.

2. This amount is deposited into new program called " the retirement suppliment program" which only accrues interest on the balance at a fixed rate and only pays out funds available at a fixed retirement age of 62.

3. Persons in the new program can increase contribution % in good years and also may deposit pretax additional funds up to $1000 per year. Additionally all tax refunds may be deposited if desired.

4. Funds will not be adjusted for inflation, and cannot be spent by congress. (If wise, the people will vote for conservative policies to protect their retirement from inflation.)

5. Remaining persons in SS will see the current obligation honored at retirement age of 62, but the program will only pay out contribution plus interest.

all persons currently receiving payments will continue to receive the same amount, but there will be no increases. Further, any and all restrictions based on income will be removed restoring honesty to SS in its final years, however the practice of paying funds to survivors will be discontinued since the original obligation was to the beneficiary only.

all citizens will be encouraged to begin other retirement suppliment programs, since the current programs offered by gov't will not guarantee a trouble-free retirement.

[1-Eagle]

What do you like/dislike about this proposal? What would you add or change to make it better? It would appear to replace SS with a harmless supplimentary plan in as painless way as would seem possible but would still likely require support for SS until current beneficiaries are deceased. Your opinion is appreciated.

[J Edgar]

” ... Funds will not be adjusted for inflation ... “

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I agree with the proposal except for the above. With a tsunami of inflation due to Government irresponsibility, to rob the elderly by not adjusting for inflation, is to consign them to sub-poverty levels of income due to no fault of their own!

In the interest of full disclosure, I am currently a SS recipient!

[ROTB]

1) no social security for those under 40/30/25
2) they manage their own retirement
3) don’t retire

[FrankR]

A big leak in SS is the number of people who are on permanent disability for having a hangnail or some other minor ailment that some lawyer parlayed into being a "disability for life".

I know people who are in their 30's, drawing $1600 a month, for ailments that are a nuiscance, for sure, but are certainly not a disability.

Maybe that arm of SS should be replaced with just a type of disability insurance, and privitized.

I'm no financial whiz, but it just strikes me that we would go a long, long way of solving the "entitlements" by just policing the fraud involved in them.

[steveab]

‘This amount is deposited into new program called “ the retirement supplement program” which only accrues interest on the balance at a fixed rate and only pays out funds available at a fixed retirement age of 62.’

This may help. The fixed rate that worries me. If the government would buy US Bonds and assign person name to those bonds paid for by SS tax on that person income, then the interest rate would fluctuate with the market. Plus, it would not belong to the government, it would belong to the person. And, yes, it would be a asset therefore could be passed on to hires.

[1-Eagle]

Perhaps the fixed interest could be set at a rate to counter inflation and have some actual growth in most years but inflation amount would becoime the third rail of politics ratherthan a socialist pipedream we call social security?w

[Ruth C]

The problem is that it again is in government control. Privatize it. Here’s information on some that opted out and went to this kind of system.

http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/ba215.pdf

The problem with switching to that kind of plan is that to get people behind it, you would really need to have the option for older workers, say 40yrs old or so, to have the option of continuing in SS, that would mean that you have a transitional generation that is paying not only for the private plan they get but also for the continued SS plan for those who are already on it and those who choose to stay in it.

The advantage to private plans is that they are NOT run by the government, the funds are NOT used for anything else, the income from them is higher, and the program CANNOT be used to get votes! They will also cut the Federal budget at some point since we would be able to get rid of the SS Admin [oh lord, the unions will be against this]

[sportutegrl]

My concern is with people who are drawing Social Security who have never paid in or who have paid in for a few years. My husband's Aunt from England immigrated to the U.S. and worked the bare minimum number of years to draw a check. You only need to have worked a few hours per year for 10 years to qualify for benefits.

Some have worked at government jobs where they were not required to pay in, retired from those, then earned just enough credits to qualify for SS. Some are faking disability after only a few years work. Some have never worked and are drawing on their parents SS, while faking a disability.

I think we need to limit SS to those who have paid in their whole life, (25 to 30 years), full time, 50 weeks per year.

[BooBoo1000]

All payments not directly related to retirement should be discontinued. Including College funds for Survivors, Disability payments, etc. There were not the original intent of the S/S bill and were added on piecemeal.

[Svartalfiar]

make SS an optional choice for everyone. Those of us smart enough to spend our money in a way that better benefits us can do so, and those who like government teats can pay in for their retirement.

[Cyber Ninja]

You forgot the part where all gov workers, city, county, state,
and federal get immediately transitioned to SS $ Medicare.

The cretins that did it need to get it.

[1-Eagle]

It was good enough of a plan that it was adopted by Romney/Ryan (with modifications). I’d say that it is just more proof of the power of FreeRepublic.com to inject ideas from the people into the political debates. Thanks JimRob & Co for keeping it going!