Posted on 03/18/2011 7:07:11 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
EXCERPT (the actual plan ):
There is a better way that is proven to work in the real world. Workers could be allowed to save and invest what they and their employers would otherwise pay into Social Security in personal savings, investment and insurance accounts. Studies show that at standard, long term, market investment returns, for an average income, two earner couple, over a career the accounts would accumulate to close to a million dollars or more. Even lower income workers could regularly accumulate half a million over their careers.
Those accumulated funds would pay all workers at all income levels much higher benefits than Social Security even promises, let alone what it could pay, two to three times as much, and possibly even more. Retirees would each be free to choose to leave any portion of those funds to their children at death.
Another virtue of these personal accounts is that with workers financing their own benefits through their own savings and investment, they can be free to each individually choose their own retirement age. Moreover, they would have market incentives to choose on their own to delay their own retirement ages as long as possible, because the longer they wait the more they would accumulate in their accounts, and the higher benefits those accounts could pay.
As a result, millions of workers with less physically taxing jobs would choose on their own to delay their retirement well into their 70s, a result that could never be imposed politically. But other workers whose jobs required heavy physical labor or who for other physical reasons could not work past their early 60s could retire early. With planning, they or their employers could make additional contributions to the accounts over the years to finance more benefits in that earlier retirement.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.forbes.com ...
In other words, the same plan that Congresscritters have set up for themselves.
The only good thing about the current system is that it’s unsustainable and will eventually self-destruct. That will finally force lazy, self-promoting congressmen/women to scrap it and either end social security or implement a program like the one laid out in this article. Of course, in the meantime millions of seniors’ personal economies will be wrecked, but the congresscritters (with a few honorable exceptions) clearly aren’t worried about that.
This is pretty conventional wisdom. George Bush tried to implement this Social Security investment plan and got hammered for trying to “privatize” Social Security.
Average people are risk-averse in that they fear investment losses more than they desire investment gains; and many people do not trust the stock market, seeing its custodians - particularly notw that the market has takeen some serious hits since the Mar 2000 “irrational exuberance” - as quick & clever predators out to shear the sheep. Bernie Madoff is the poster boy for Wall Street greed though he was a piker compared to Uncle Sam.
Here’s my plan for ending the unconstitutional Social Security Ponzi scheme:
Have Uncle Sam get out of the retirement business entirely by paying off all current SS recipients and would-be recipients over 55 with a lump sum, much like companies do when they offer early retirement. In lieu of cash, Uncle Sam could give title to parcels of Federal property or otehr valuable assets, which the recipient could sell or keep. How about a nice view lot in Yellowstone National Park? Repeal SS taxes and close out the SSA entirely. Result: a major tax burden would be lifted, improving the investment climate, which means more jobs for everyone.
Raise cash for the Social Security liquidation by having Fannie & Freddy offer mortgage-holders a chance to purchase the balance owed on their mortgages at cut rate prices, say 25 to 50 cents on the dollar. Once the cash is raised during a time window, say 1 year, close out Fannie & Freddy. More folks would own their homes free & clear and the vacant properties now owned by Fannie & Freddy would be offered at fire-sale prices, getting them off the market and allowing the remaining homes to appreciate again. Net result: seniors get cash, many homeowners get a mortgage-free house, government gets out of the mortgage business, liberties are preserved, and many people get a fresh start.
This would be the American equivalent of a Year of Jubilee as described in the Bible - a once-in 50-year event during which all debts were cancelled and land sold as payment for debt was conveyed back to the original owners.
Oh, and we gotta get rid of Obama.
Right. All of the theoretical “solutions” aside, the system will eventually self-destruct. Only the timing is in question. This isn’t a bad thing. Our welfare dependence needs to be broken.
Ping list for the discussion of the politics and social (and sometimes nostalgic) aspects that directly effects Generation Reagan / Generation-X (Those born from 1965-1981) including all the spending previous generations are doing that Gen-X and Y will end up paying for.
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why not stop using SS funds to pay women to have babies
I guess we will work until we die.
“I guess we will work until we die. “
That was FDR’s origional plan!
65 was set as the retirement age since that was the life expectancy at the time.
Most people don’t have that much gold and when the collapse does occur, the govt of course will restrict gold for sure. How does America plan on dealing with a dollar only worth a dime overnight?
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Gold is a good way to store a lot of money in a small place but if you want something secure you need junk silver. Junk silver is old silver coins that are still in circulation. Dimes, Quarters, Half Dollars and Silver Dollars. The government has never outlawed it’s coins except for gold.
A silver Quarter is worth $6.50 and a dime is worth $2.50. It takes a lot of junk to have a lot of money. It takes too much room for a safety deposit box unless you get one that is pretty large. The thing to do is have both gold and silver. 350 $20.00 gold pieces are worth about a half million and could be easily stored in a safety deposit box. $1000.00 in face value silver coins is worth nearly $27,000. That would only be 100 rolls (40 each) of quarters. 100 rolls of quarters takes a lot of space is and pretty heavy, probably too much for a safety deposit box. Time to get a safe bolted to your basement concrete floor.
Silver is going to keep going up for a long time.
What a novel concept. People actually being responsible for themselves......
“Have Uncle Sam get out of the retirement business entirely by paying off all current SS recipients and would-be recipients over 55 with a lump sum, much like companies do when they offer early retirement. In lieu of cash, Uncle Sam could give title to parcels of Federal property or otehr valuable assets, which the recipient could sell or keep. How about a nice view lot in Yellowstone National Park? Repeal SS taxes and close out the SSA entirely. Result: a major tax burden would be lifted, improving the investment climate, which means more jobs for everyone.”
Can I have a condo in Maui?
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