Reform has nothing to do with current retirees. It's none of their business, frankly.
12 posted on 01/12/2005 8:23:33 AM PST by Beelzebubba (Your Friendly Freeper Patent Attorney)
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IMHO you are wrong. They are the REASON the system is in the shape it is. THEY lobby the Congresscritters to get them more free stuff.
They Lobby Congresscritters to give them a larger COLA than I get even though I pay in and they don't.
They are (mostly) part of the Largest Lobbying group in America. THEY must be involved.
They must also accept the fact that they along with the rest of us are going to have to take a lump to get past this mess we currently have.
There is absolutely NO reason that the richest Generations alive are being supported both Financially and Medicallly by the Pooorest generations. Not while they sit with hundreds of Thousands in savings they won't or don't have to touch.
I resent the notion that a couple with a kid has to struggle just to get by, after both paying in (including their employers portion) 17 percent of their income so the Greedy Old Geezers can live in their Summer homes in Florida in some gated community , clog the highways with their fifth wheel travel trailers, and bitch about the price of stuff while standing in line waiting for their 10% Senior Citizen discount, get free medical and now a perscription drug card. ALL THINGS the working parents can't afford. What's worse is they Retirees HAVE the savings to pay their own way but won't.
The sooner they are made to acknowledge their Greed has created the mess we have the sooner we can fix it.
As to Stretch...and others. I started paying in over 6% of my income. It currently is 8.65
Those that have been retired for 20 years paid in on average less than 1.5% of their incomes that were what 2-4k dollar range. Today they receive checks from SSI that are close to 1k a month. Those on SSI now get back in benefits PLUS INTEREST what they paid in in less than 3 years. Let's not forget the costs we all pay to them as part of medicad/medicare.
I am hard on that generation. They deserve it. Look at the mess THEY HELP CREATE. I was 6 Years old when Johnson raided the SSI fund. I didn't elect him nor the crooks that promised a chicken in every pot. Those that recieved those chickens should have to suffer along with the rest of us.
(/rant)
I share your rant.
Current beneficiaries should enjoy no benefit (e.g. retiring before 70, no means testing, non-taxability of part) that those who are working to support them can't be guaranteed.
Moreover, they should not get more of a benefit for a given contribution than those who are making a comparable (inflation adjusted) contribution can be expected to receive. That means that if the retirees were SS taxed only 3% on the first 10,000, and the rest are taxed more than double that on the first 90k, things should be adjusted.
That is "fair" and should be the starting point for reform.