The fact of the matter is that, perceived or not, believe that it is a retirement SUPPLEMENT. I agree that it is an unconstitutional and illegal system of wealth redistribution. That said, you are NOT going to get away with eliminating SS & Medicare to a whole generation!
Imagine the “welcome home” that any politician will get if it is eliminated. He, his property and his family would be forfeit. It would be 1789, 1861 and 1917 all rolled into one mess.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009 Michael D. Tanner, senior fellowmtanner@cato.org: The Social Security Trustees report released today shows that the program's financial crisis is growing worse while Congress has continued to duck the issue. Moreover, critics of personal accounts for Social Security have pointed to the decline in the stock market over the last few years as an argument against allowing younger workers to privately invest a portion of their Social Security taxes. Yet as the new Trustee's Report shows, the same poor economy that hurts the stock market, hurts Social Security's ability to pay its benefits. In the end, there are only three possible solutions to Social Security's problems. Taxes could be raised (and the Social Security payroll tax would have to be nearly doubled to keep the program afloat). Benefits could be cut. Or younger workers could be allowed to invest privately. We can have an honest debate about which of those options is the best choice. But, as the Trustee's Report makes clear, we cannot afford to avoid that debate.