Hmmm. Let’s see here… I have a great idea! Let’s create a program, fill it with billions – trillions of taxpayer’s money, tell them that we are keeping it safe, and then give the fiscally irresponsible Congress control over the money.

What could possibly go wrong?

For purposes of responding, I will broadly define social security to include Medicare and Medicaid:

1. Demographics have shifted significantly since the system was founded. There are more older people (baby boomers will hit the system soon) and many less younger people paying in (the baby busters).
2. The system was not properly funded: Bush was especially misleading about the cost of the prescription drug benefit. (see link below – Bush order Richard Foster to withhold cost information from congress)
3. In general, our society has borrowed money for years and is now heavily in debt at a point when we will be paying more in benefits.
4. The system was originally intended to supplement retirees income and not be the only source of income. Unfortunately, many Americans either didn’t plan for retirement, or their savings were decimated in the current financial crisis. For these reasons, it will be the only source of income for many Americans. In short, because Americans were lousy planners, we face a financial crisis at our most vulnerable moment.
5. The benefits paid from the system are inadequate to be the sole income source for retirees AND the tax burden on working Americans has risen to a point that is barely tolerable.

i love you vic!!! :] i wish i knew the answer! :]-

Payment of benefits to persons that have never contributed through payroll taxes.

Survivor spouse benefits (what the ***** marriage ******** are after)
SSI – Drug and Food addicts

Equal taxes, payments, and start dates for groups with different life expectancies. In a fair system women should pay higher rates of tax.

Social Security is a direct transfer of wealth from those currently working to special entitled victim classes.

It is impossible for the government to store wealth for future use. Complaining about the IOU system shows you don’t have a fundamental understanding of economics.

Namely that both political parties have tapped into the funds for purposes other than what it was intended for (shocking isn’t it??).

Secondly, that the number of individuals set to retire and subsequently tap into Social Security, will exceed the number of individuals that are paying into it.

At present, the amount of money that you pay into Social Security isn’t money that YOU are going to collect at the time of your retirement. Not at all. The money that you are currently paying is going towards payments that CURRENT recipients are getting.

It’s just another in a long line of government abuses.

1. The government should not involuntarily take money out of my paycheck and hold it for most of my life. I should invest my money as I choose, and it is not my problem if someone else doesn’t budget for retirement or an emergency.

2. The system gets dipped into for many things it wasn’t intended for.

3. People who didn’t pay into the system (immigrants) benefit from it.

4. It puts too much government control on something that should be private.

The problem si that the money taken in has been put in the general fund and is borrowed (IOU’s) to pay for other programs, only a certain amount is kept to pay the benefits, the rest should be earning interst and it’s not because it was borrowed!

the real question is what isn’t wrong with Social Security.

To the meat.

1) It’s overpriced.
2) It’s mismanaged
3) It has an extremely high overhead
4) It doesn’t meet it’s goal of providing social security (hence social security supplemental programs).

1:
There’s no money in the account, as the politicians couldn’t keep their hands out of it. Nothing but a drawer full of worthless IOU’s.