Is there a problem with Social Security and Or Medicare?

1. 49

   bradmasterOCcalposted 9 years ago

   Is there a problem with Social Security and Or Medicare?
   
   If there is a problem, what kind is it?
   Who created the problem, and when?
   How do we fix it?
   
   

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2. 82

   wba108@yahoo.composted 9 years ago

   Social Security is a big Ponzi scheme like obamacare. There is no trust fund only IOU's that the tax payers are on the hook for. When it comes down to it Social Security is just a tax that was sold as a trust fund.
   
   Politicians have continually raided the funds supposedly reserved for people's retirement and used them as a vote buying scheme. FDR synically sold Social Security as a trust fund for retirement, when he knew it was just a vote buying scheme for his progressive agenda.
   
   At the beginning it looked very attractive because the first 10 years of the program paid big benifits to retiree's that paid little into the system but now now it's become an unsustainable drag on the economy because there isn't near as many workers needed to pay out benifits to the retiree's.
   
   Medicare like Social Security is just another government power grab designed to buy votes and increase dependency, it transfers power from free citizens to politicians and the Federal government. All the money the government takes from people would have much more benifits if it remained with individuals in the free market.

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   1. 49

      bradmasterOCcalposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      wba108, if I didn't see you name, I would have thought that I wrote this comment.

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   2. 82

      wba108@yahoo.composted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks Great minds think alike!

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3. 77

   Shyron E Shenkoposted 9 years ago

   Since Social Security began, all workers have contributed to their Social Security and they qualify for benefits according to what they put in. In 2000 when GWB raided the SS trust fund surplus, to fund his private vendetta against Iraq. It has been the claim of some that SS has failed and they want it shut down.  But they would still want workers to continue to pay into it.
   
   Another argument some use to undermine the excellently run program is to implant the idea that fewer active workers now support a growing number of retires.
   
   Linda Silva in the Dallas Morning News made the case that today’s workers produce more than four times as much wealth as they did before records were kept, and can easily support the right to retire. And there are more workers in today’s work force than ever before.
   
   Those that want to privatize or shut SS down for their own gain continue to proclaim that Social Security needs reformed. (they mean privatized or eviscerated.) They say how today 65-year-olds won’t get back what they contributed.
   
   As Linda Silva, of Arlington, Texas stated, “Social Security is and always has been an insurance program, not a piggy bank.”

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   1. 49

      bradmasterOCcalposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      shyron
      The fed employees have a real retirement plan, FERS, and it is not managed by the govt. $255 is the SS death benefit, and the avg retirees is getting $1100 a month. There are not enough New people to sustain the SS. What is wrong w/privatize

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   2. 77

      Shyron E Shenkoposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      brad,
      With more people going into the workforce than people that are retiring.  SS is not a Piggy Bank, it was never intended to bank roll the family of a person who dies.
      The gov. has done a fantastic job in setting up SS benefit pmts.

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   3. 49

      bradmasterOCcalposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Shyron
      Bankroll, how about burying their loved one.
      What was it intended to do?
      You pay into the ss as long as you earn a wage???

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4. 70

   dashingscorpioposted 9 years ago

   
   
   Social Security is a government Ponzi Scheme.
   Essentially is was designed with younger workers paying into the fund to support the elderly during retirement. Two major things happened that caused shortfalls.
   1. The U.S. population slowed down dramatically after the "baby boom'. People are having less children than previous generations did.
   Once the "baby boomers" started to reach retirement age it became apparent there was not enough "new blood" to fund their retirement.
   2. People are living longer.
   When social security was created the average lifespan was around 70. You worked until you were 65 and you had a few years of collecting social security and then you died.
   Today it's not unusual to live into the late 80s or 90s. Living longer also means having higher medical expenses.
   Another important change is social security funds are also issued to the children of deceased parents and spouses of the deceased.  Odds are the system is paying out more money than those people ever put into it. We're either going to have to modify the plan and it's benefits or be willing to pay higher taxes.
   Most people don't want to change social security and they also don't want to pay higher taxes. Social Security is "sacred cow" and no politician is going to get elected by announcing he wants to cut benefits or give people the option to invest their own money for retirement. This is especially true after the "Great Recession". As it is a lot of retired people lost a lot of money in their 401ks and IRA accounts when the market crashed. They see social security as a "guaranteed minimum"  retirement income.

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   1. 49

      bradmasterOCcalposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      SS is a Tax
      Avg retired benefits $1330 a mo or $15,960 yr
      $307 wk, or $7.67 hr.
      Many people have worked 50 years, contributing to SS, and Medicare, and even after getting SS benefits, they have to contribute again if they earn a wage.

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