Social Security Reform

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Originally Posted by Alan Greenspan

It's doesn't take the world's most brilliant economic mind to see that in five years when baby boomer generation starts retiring, y'all are fucked. Old people are gonna be coming out of the woodwork all asking for money, and these people don't die quick like they used to, neither. Supposedly paying for all this will be the proportionately much smaller Gen X...LOL! The whole system is going to crash if the retirement age isn't increased and benefits aren't reduced, unless we start slaughtering old people.

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Originally Posted by the AARP

STFU gr33nshit jus give us teh f00kin bling!!!!1

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Originally Posted by George W. Bush

I'm not worried. I'll just ignore this issue while continuing to give money to rich people and spend ludicrous amounts on everything else. By the time anyone notices, Hilary Clinton will be President.

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Originally Posted by Democratic presidential candidates

Bush is a fag because he cut taxes for the rich. So every time an issue comes up, whether it's Social Security, the economy, Iraq, or my extramarital affairs, the simple solution is that I will raise taxes for the rich. Never mind that the amount of tax cuts for the rich is no fucking where near the crushingly huge Social Security deficit we will face in 20 years.

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I'll vote for any man that makes a mandatory % income tax across the board.

burgundy I agree. This is gonna be a nightmare in a few years but its an issue that nobody can touch. But I mean hey aren't most of these candidates baby boomers?

Australia is dealing with this problem by giving incentives for people to retire later and live mainly on their super-annuation.

How about give tax breaks to familys who allow their parents and grandparents to live with them? It would still cost the Government money, aka the people who pay taxes but It would be probably less than what they were paying. It takes less to run one home than two.

Without consulting the tax code, I would think such families would get breaks.

But the bottom line is that Social Security checks are entitlements. Like a paycheck. It doesn't matter whether you're rich or poor, or live alone or with family, by law you have to get your check. It's not something we can easily take away, even from those why don't need it.

The only Pyramid Scheme that's legal in the US.

Woot, GJ.

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Originally Posted by burgundy

Old people are gonna be coming out of the woodwork all asking for money, and these people don't die quick like they used to, neither. Supposedly paying for all this will be the proportionately much smaller Gen X...LOL! The whole system is going to crash if the retirement age isn't increased and benefits aren't reduced, unless we start slaughtering old people.

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STFU gr33nshit jus give us teh f00kin bling!!!!1

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Ha. Awesome.

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Originally Posted by burgundy

Without consulting the tax code, I would think such families would get breaks.

But the bottom line is that Social Security checks are entitlements. Like a paycheck. It doesn't matter whether you're rich or poor, or live alone or with family, by law you have to get your check. It's not something we can easily take away, even from those why don't need it.

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Maybe it is just late or something. But I meant to imply they should up those tax breaks and incentives and decrease SS.

But for something like that to work the US has other mental issues to deal with. People now focus on youth to much. There is a reason everyone wants to look 24 and they cart their grandparents off to old folks homes. They simple don't want to deal with the concept of age and death.

But it would be nice if something was done about the problem of being obsessed with youth. It might decrease a lot of bullshit we all have to deal with on a day to day bases.

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Originally Posted by MVS

I'll vote for any man that makes a mandatory % income tax across the board.

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Richard Lugar wants to do this. Unfortunately, I don't think he will ever make it to a position where he can push it hard enough for it to happen.

I'm all for slaughtering old people.
They're just worthless sacks of flesh. Burn them for energy.

I'll be more than willing to give my life once I'm 65 -70 years old.
Hell I hope I tragically die in my 30's.

I guess I would eliminate payroll taxes, and turn them into an across-the-board income tax raise.

Once that's accomplished, then we can make SS progressive, and later take away the benefit from the old people who have got $1 million of municipal bonds in the bank.

SS will have evolved from a "you're old so here's a check" program to welfare/EITC/negative taxation for less wealthy older people.

The central problem with SS is that there are people receiving checks who don't need them.

The people who need the checks will continue receiving them. Combining more limited social security (amounts pegged to investment income) with incentives to save (private savings accounts, maybe) that will push people towards actually taking care of their own retirement ought to be enough.

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You're 70 and you've never saved before, here's a SS check $500/month.

You're 70 and you've saved $30k, enough to give you $250/month of investment income. Here's a SS check for $300/month.

You're 70 and you've saved $60k, enough to give you $500/month of investment income. Here's a SS check for $100/month.

That isn't fair. The people that had the foresight to save for their retirement are punished for it, while those that didn't are rewarded? You should reap what you sow.

I just think people should get back what they put in. No more, no less. SS now is a big forced charity.

What isn't fair is that the government is forcing us to use their crappy return retirement program. Social Security is a horrible program. I would prefer that they give me back all the money that they stole from me so I can invest it in something that'll let me actually see my money again.

Bottom line is something needs to be done sooner than later, and not everybody is going to be happy with the result. The government needs to fix it f'in now.

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Originally Posted by child810

I'm all for slaughtering old people.
They're just worthless sacks of flesh. Burn them for energy.

I'll be more than willing to give my life once I'm 65 -70 years old.
Hell I hope I tragically die in my 30's.

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Why don't you just get back to us with this one in 45 or 50 years. :bang:

Lack of social security/increasing national debt and lack of petroleum alternatives have become my top issues, and I don't see this as a Democrat/Republican debate. Instead it's a fight between generations, with baby boomers and WWIIers winning because their children and grandchildren are or cannot be represented by elected officials. Our parents are taking out fiscal and environmental loans from our generation without ever intending to pay us back. This really pisses me off.