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What is social security?

It's a gov't plan that is supposed to provide retirement benefits. They take a part of every paycheck while you're working, and then after a certain age (65 I think) you start receiving checks to supplement your retirement. Problem is you don't pay into a personal account, all the money goes into a huge fund and then everyone draws from it. So when the baby boomers retire, as well as current elderly living longer, many expect that Social Security won't be able to handle the financial load.
 
Oh, so in other words, it's like you pay a social security tax from every paycheck, and it all goes into one big pot (yes I know it's not a pot I'm speaking figuratively) and then when you retire, you get a certain amount from that pot every month or something to live on? And every gets the same exact amount? Tell me if I'm misunderstanding, but thanks!
 


<< And every gets the same exact amount? >>

No, your benefits are scaled to the amount you payed in over the years.
 
It's another stinken Democrat/ Socialist scheme to &quot;help&quot; those that can't or won't help themselves. People that are working kick money in a pot and it's immediately removed by those that are retired, that also kicked into the pot. It earns about 2% interest the whole time it's in there. People collecting now remove about 3 times as much as they kicked in. It's headed for the toilet every 10 years or so, Then more money is collected in taxes to pay for it.

Right now you'll have to kick in, out of your own pocket, about $2,500 per year. Your employer is mandated to kick in the same amount. But that's not enough. You'll also want to kick money into a 401k program to make up the difference when you retire. Your SS pension won't be enough. Not to mention, the age you'll be able to collect it keeps going up.

Bush is trying to get a small portion of that fund privatized, so you can steer the money somewhere that earns more than 2%. It's a start. We need to blow the whole system away and start over.

Hey, your local teachers and many other government workers are way ahead of you. Imagine government workers that don't have to pay into this abortion of a government program! It's true. They have their own retirement fund that pays much better at retirement and takes less out of their pocket during their working years. Cool, eh? :|
 
Social Security, is a failed government scheme designed to take money from your every paycheck and give it back when your old and gray. Realistically though, they just take it to paper over interest of the national debt and if there is money left over, they pay off those who have social security coming to them. If there isn't enough money for both, they raise other taxes to paper over this fund. If they still can't come up with enough they simply change the rules of the whole thing (ie raise the %, or denounce befeits, or increase the minimum age to start recieving). All this while inflation lessens your return all the while. In other words, it's a Ponzi scheme.
They tell you that its a reitirement plan, but in actuality, anyone who's taken pre-calc could tell you that 15% of every paycheck until the age of 65 would get you more than you would ever need by retirement by far. If were an actual retirement plan, than there would be no reason for 401k's, mutual funds, IRA's, Roth IRA's ect.
Bush is aiming for a privitation of a small fraction of what you pay into, mainly to appeal to those ignorant enough to not know the math.
 
Wow, a lot of opinions.

SS takes 7.5% of your income from you and 7.5% of your income from your employer to provide benefits to people currently at retirement age. There isn't really a big pot because we find ourselves in a situation in which money is pretty much spoken for as it is received.

The retired persons feel angry because they paid a lot into the program and deserve more and us younger people are angry because it is obvious we will never get what we should from it much less what we put in.

The original purpose was to keep our retired people off the street and fed but it has been marketed as a type of welfare or life enhancement program to be taken advantage of.

just my .02
 
I call myself a liberal, but I think SocialSecurity as it is now is obscene. In my opinion, I should be able to invest my money into whatever I want. Period. I guess I sway over the line between liberal and conservative. 😉
 
Ornery,

<<It's another stinken Democrat/ Socialist scheme to &quot;help&quot; those that can't or won't help themselves>>

Could not have said it better myself.
It has turned into a Ponzi Scheme.
 
Senators, congressmen and other elected officials do not pay Social Security. They take their retirement from the General Fund. They get their same salary for life after they leave office. A really good deal! Sort of interesting to see how they vote on SS issues when they really don't care.
 


<< What is social security? >>



It is the flat out STEALING of 7.5% of MY money that is taken out of EVERY paycheck. No more. No less.
 


<< It is the flat out STEALING of 7.5% of MY money that is taken out of EVERY paycheck. No more. No less. >>


While it is technically 7.65% out of your paycheck, it's been pointed out that your employer has to match that dollar for dollar. All he does is take that much more out of your salary to account for it. In other words, (indirectly) you would be getting 15.3% more if social security wasn't around.



<< It's another stinken Democrat/ Socialist scheme to &quot;help&quot; those that can't or won't help themselves >>


While was started by FDR a democrat, it has been upheld by every Republican president/congress/senate since then, so it's really a conservative scheme too. Its an exact duplication of the great Ponzi scheme. No more, no less.
 
MisterT,

You are incorrect in saying it has turned into a ponzi scheme. It always has been a ponzi scheme. When SS started there were about 15 workers per retired person. Most people died before they got benefits. Now there are about 3 workers per per retired person and are getting benefits before they die.

This awefull scheme must be ended.
 
I doubt that by the time I retire that SS will even still be around. That's when I plan on suing the gov't for every last cent I put into it over the years plus compounded interest. I'm not getting cheated.

My Dad works for the IRS and doesn't have to pay SS. Instead he pays into some kind of gov't retirement program and gets more out of it when he retires.
 
MisterT,

You are incorrect in saying it has turned into a ponzi scheme. It always has been a ponzi scheme. When SS started there were about 15 workers per retired person. Most people died before they got benefits. Now there are about 3 workers per per retired person and are getting benefits before they die.

This awefull scheme must be ended.


BINGO.

I could invest my own money better in my sleep. Why doesn't the govt. just take the money and allow companies to invest it for their employees in 401k? I know that a lot of companies do not have a 401k, so then those employees should be referred to a company that can help them invest. I am sure the govt. could provide numbers to the top ten financial companies in the nation and allow people to choose. I received my SS disclosure statement a couple of months ago ( I have been working for 10 years). They stated that at my current levels of pay I would receive 750 per month when I retire. Let me see, 40 years from now at 4% inflation a year and that will buy me a box of cereal every month. CRAP!

In my employer's 401k plan, it talks about SS only accounting for 18% of retirement benefits that will be needed by the average worker. If the govt. cannot do better than that, it needs to get out of the financial business.

CRAP!! :|
 
I think SS also provides support to people with work impairing disabilities and children who have had a parent die.

SS isn't supposed to provide a retirement income, its supposed to provide for a basic level of sustenance.

True, Government employees don't pay into SS, rather they pay into a pension fund. Its not fair to compare these two programs because they are designed to be two very different things.

The thing about SS is that its garunteed. Privatizing SS will introduce an element of risk that I don't think is appropriate. I doubt this would even be on the table for discussion if we hadn't just come off of an 8 year bull market that made it very easy to make money off of the stock markets.
 
True I did receive SS benefits when my dad died. But only until I was 18. I am sure he contributed as much to the fund as I took out, so that is a wash.

The thing about SS is that its garunteed. Privatizing SS will introduce an element of risk that I don't think is appropriate. I doubt this would even be on the table for discussion if we hadn't just come off of an 8 year bull market that made it very easy to make money off of the stock markets

Nope. Over any 15 year period of the stock market, you could have had nearly a 100% gaurantee of a return on your money greater than 2% (S&amp;P500). Do your research, you clearly have no idea what you are talking about.

The only gaurantee you get with a small percentage investment is not to make any money or keep up with inflation. That is a larger risk than investing wisely, and long term, in the stock market.
 
&quot;True, Government employees don't pay into SS, rather they pay into a pension fund. Its not fair to compare these two programs because they are designed to be two very different things.&quot;

Why shouldn't those mofos pay into the GD thing? :| Otherwise, I can sure as hell sign a document that says I'll take care of my own damn pension. I'm going to go fvcking postal in a GD minute! :|
 
social security is a shell game that has worked for years but just wait till the baby boom generation retires en mass. Can you say holy s___ fill in the blank. The american population is fat and happy and politicians are (red light district cause i cant finish that without getting banned)😀 who will continue to feed you that line that its guaranteed. If your around 30 years of age just hope bush gets some of it privatized so you can invest for your future, Social security wont be around in 30 years in its present form. And i shudder to think what those greedy politicians will try and do to us to keep it solvent.
 
SS is something you're not going to see when it comes your time to collect. That's why I hate paying for it. I'm never gonna see it when I get old.
 
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