Time for everyone to get up to speed on the Pros and Cons of Privatizing Social Security...and what
to do in the near term (see video). The attached article is long, but contains a great deal of down to earth data...worth reading for many on this Forum...as well as their children.
Link: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/privatizing-social-security-the-troubling-trade-offs/
Replies to: Time for everyone to get up to speed on the Pros and Cons of Privatizing Social Security...and what
Our biggest issue with SS is increased human life spans.
If we only made it to the average age of death at the time SS was created (65!) the program would be perfectly solvent. It’s geezers (like me!) who are bankrupting the system AND the country. Same with Medicare!
But our politicians are like a mouse fixated in front of a snake: too terrified to move in any direction.
We do need to eliminate the cap on SS taxes AND raise the age of eligibility to reflect the reality of our improved healthy and longevity.
But compromise is taboo for our politicians
As Robert Reich comments...the age requirement was raised once already...it can be done again, as
part of a bipartisan negotiated bill...same for the Cap change. The one thing standing in the way is the greed of "Privateers" in the GOP.
Jesus, Reich is worse than Maddow. Move on, you pitiful weasel.
(no message)
Care to disagree with what he said…or is it too far above you?
(no message)
You're presuming I read it. I don't care what he has to say, it's nonsense. As for S.S....
It's a complicated question. I'm not wild about fully privatizing this program. Everyone from all angles of the political spectrum favor a social safety net outside of fringe Libertarians, so I don't like fully removing the government from the process. At a minimum, we're going to have to raise the S.S. Tax cap, and I'm not opposed to eliminating it. We will unfortunately also have to cap the benefits side of it to some degree. I'm fine with using a hybrid model of some private involvement to improve the opportunities for benefits and increase savings/nest egg for more Americans. And I am not in favor at all of raising the benefits-eligible age.
While I'm open to a slight increase in the eligibility age, I agree with you on the rest..
especially the aspect of having even our lowest earners benefit from higher return investments...goes back to earlier posts of mine that discussed Thomas Piketty's book "Capital in the Twenty-First Century", which illustrates the impact of Capital Asset returns vs. Income Returns...5:1 avg. ratio...and helps explain the expanding Wealth Gap in this country.
btw, that linked paper on 'Privatization' is well worth your time...
This is a very serious issue as you are well aware, so it's incumbent on all of us to be as educated as possible about the Pros and Cons of Social Security Privatization. It is not simply 'Parlor Talk'...it will have a profound impact on millions of people's lives.
I'm not a fan of raising the eligibility age, unless we do it via some Means Testing.
Specifically, if John Q. is 62 and has >$2MM in cash/securities assets (401K, I.R.A., liquid assets), I'm fine with pushing to 64 or 65. If Jane Q. is 59 and has $40K in Cash/employer 401K and a lifetime earnings that averaged $30K-$40K/year, I don't like the idea of making her work 3 additional years past 62. It's quite often tough for anyone to get employment at that age, and if they've been paying into the system, I don't like adding to their wait time to collect.
It's a part of the negotiation...but the CAP needs to go.
(no message)
It's a microcosm of the challenges we face for stupid reasons
I will have way more than $2M when I retire, because I fully believed in Einstein's "compound interest is the 8th wonder of the world.".
But, I'm not sure I won't be pissed if I don't get SS that I started paying into in high school, not because I'll need it, but on principle. Any system should reward hard work and individual sacrifice for the betterment of the system as a whole. All systems that don't, fail.
Good for you, Cheeks, but there are tens of millions who have no prayer of being able to invest and
reap the 5%+ rates of return others do...yet they perform necessary jobs for their whole lives, often in states that refuse to allow minimum wages to keep pace with the incomes of those accumulating it with "Compound Interest". Their plight isn't due to lack of effort or desire...it's lack of opportunities and a tax system that doesn't ask the wealthiest to pay their fair share...as was done shortly after WWII and during the Clinton years...when EVERYONE benefitted and national debt was manageable.
I grew up below the poverty line, Tyrone.
I worked over 40 hours a week across three jobs in high school.
In my twenties I worked two jobs to pay off both my wife and i's college debt and we only bought vehicles that we could pay cash for.
All the while, I maxed out Roth contributions and invested heavily in my 401k.
It's not easy but is definitely possible.
For the second time..."Good for You"...now did you read any of the Pros and Cons for Privatizing SS?
...if so, what's your take on the options mentioned...and why?
Oh, I hate that, too.
The principle was supposed to be that this was my money. How'd you squander it such that I can't get to all of it? That said, I'd rather take benefits later than risk economic collapse such that my much larger nest egg is worthless.
Agreed 100%. Go Elon, unfuck the system.
(no message)
.
(no message)
Robert Reich? Was Karl Marx not available?
By the way, are you collecting SS? You are 80, correct?
As lacking in substance as ever…you are consistent if nothing else ;-)
Btw, that linked paper is 30 pages long with economic and financial data …Pros and Cons for Privatization or Public Funding of Social Security…impacts on GDP…our Debt level…time to reach “break even, etc., etc. Don’t even think of trying to read it…just leave it to those who have grown out of adolescence.
Wall Street has your back. They have always looked after ordinary Joes. No worries. /s/
(no message)