It's a thought.

8/27/2012 12:12:27 AM

but never the military.

gotta be able to kill rather than help.

8/27/2012 4:25:59 PM

SS was created to save America.

SS doesn't threaten America.

It might need to be reformed, but I don't see any reason it should be cut completely. Old people need to live even though they can't necessarily work.

8/27/2012 4:27:11 PM

SS covers disability. If an person is too infirm to work and is therefore disabled, they should be helped regardless of their age. But if someone is filthy rich and decides not to work after a certain age, I see no reason why the government should help pay for that decision.

8/27/2012 5:12:26 PM

I whole-heartedly agree with LoneSnark

8/27/2012 5:18:33 PM

its a thought all right kdogg

not really a great one tho.

8/27/2012 5:28:25 PM

^^^
how much us making it need means tested realistically going to save? I don't imagine it would be enough to make it perfectly solvent. We should definitely do this, but it's not all that needs to be done.

The of course there's the issue of where to draw the line. You know if the democrats manage to gain momentum on reforms, the republicans will then attack them for being socialist.

[Edited on August 27, 2012 at 5:32 PM. Reason : ]

8/27/2012 5:30:50 PM

medicare is the big one. Should deal with that first.

8/27/2012 6:10:37 PM

Should deal with them the same way. If you're rich enough not to need social security payments then you shouldn't need medicare either.

Has the nice benefit that as society gets richer over time an ever-smaller percentage of us would be eligible to collect.

Quote :

"I don't imagine it would be enough to make it perfectly solvent. We should definitely do this, but it's not all that needs to be done."

As social security pays more to rich people than it pays to poor people, throwing off one Warren Buffet covers the cost of providing social security payments to perhaps two poor elderly. As a tiny fraction of Americans which start collecting social security were on medicaid at the time they qualified, means-testing would probably throw off a huge proportion of its current beneficiaries, far more than half, while at the same time throwing off those collecting checks significantly larger than those left on the program.

And solvent? This is a safety-net program, demanding it be solvent is absurd. That said, we also need to eliminate the payroll tax. No point taxing the poor into poverty to pay for a poverty safety-net. Raise income taxes to cover the difference.

8/27/2012 7:19:40 PM

SS was originally created to help the old, disabled, widowed, and fatherless.

Now it "helps" everyone older than 65 (in some cases, 62).

Everyone.

And, by "helps," I mean "addicts people to the government teat." And, by "people," I mean those not mentioned in the first sentence.

8/27/2012 10:04:35 PM

If SS is supposed to be welfare for old people, then make it need based and fund it with progressive taxation.

8/27/2012 11:07:17 PM

We only need to get rid of Medicare. Once that's done and the old people start dying off SS will have fewer mouths to feed.

8/27/2012 11:17:47 PM

I wish the old would just wander off into the woods like a good, proud dog.

8/27/2012 11:21:47 PM

Quote :

" If you're rich enough not to need social security payments then you shouldn't need medicare either. "

So it is just another welfare program? So some people get the benefit of being able to save less for themselves to pay for yet another program that they wont be able to use? How about we make it voluntary? Oh, then we lose the revenue stream. So why dont we pay it out of the SS trust...oh there isnt any real money there. How about we call it a ponzi and end it, let charities handle things.

Remember you arent supposed to retire just on SS, you should be saving for your own retirement. (well that is the plan) But remember if you, people like Loneshark will then say you dont deserve SS bc you actually saved on your own. So piss away your money instead of investing in your own retirement.

I agree with Moron, means testing alone wont save it. At the very least we need to raise the damn age on it. Of course that is off limits to democrats and some repubs. Easiest thing in the world and they cant get that done. Amazingly little hope for the future. Our generations are going to be screwed by the boomers.

8/27/2012 11:27:59 PM

Quote :

"SS was originally created to help the old, disabled, widowed, and fatherless. Now it "helps" everyone older than 65 (in some cases, 62). Everyone. And, by "helps," I mean "addicts people to the government teat." And, by "people," I mean those not mentioned in the first sentence. "

Did the age of SS benefits get reduced to toddlers recently or has it always helped everyone over a set age?

I don't remember being checked for 'old' as a requirement for SS benefits.

8/31/2012 11:25:42 AM