I don't think that the baby boomer numbers were considered long enough ago. The balloon in births at that time overwhelms the system. To raise the retirement age would help the problem.

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ACCEPTANCE IS THE ANSWER!

We will knock on the door, if it does not open, we will revolt for our rights.

Im a Tarte, what! you want some of this?

Raising the retirement age( especially that high)comes with an enormous sset of complications. One of which would be that when you reach that age you begin to have medical problems related to age. And if your retirement is not covered then thats a serious problem. Not to mention the fact that you will be dealing with a disgruntled generation who has to adjust to this policy.

I know this is an older thread, but I'd just like to add a little more information to the conversation. First of all, 65 is not automatically the age for retirement any longer. Take a look at this link:

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/pubs/ageincrease.htm

Yep, there is a gradual upswing in the retirement age. I was born in 1956, so my retirement age for 100% benefits is 66 yrs and 4 monthes. You can plug in your birth year and it will give you your retirement. Eventually I think it goes up to 68.

We are living longer thanks to medical advancements, so if we are productive, it may be helpful to work. Not everybody heads out to golf courses after they retire. It actually may be healthier for many people to work. The problem is that while you may live longer, you will face more health issues as you age. This longer period of work is trickier than it looks though. In some ways retirement opens up opportunities for the "grandchildren".

Trying to turn this into grandchildren paying ignores that many people have already been paying in for numerous years and the comparison of dollars should be considered with inflation factored in.

I say the government should give us back the money that we paid in and that our employers paid in on our behalf, plus 5% interest, raise the retirement age to 150, and stop collecting the taxes for it.

It is the worst welfare program ever conceived and should be dumped as soon as possible.

Thats not at all true. Besides would you really want to ditch welfare just to get your money back?

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H. L. Mencken:
In this world of sin and sorrow there is always something to be thankful for; as for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican.

Ideology: Liberal... (*)(*)(*)(*) liberal

Who was the the idiot who said you can't be a liberal and pro-life too?

Funny, Didn't Abraham Lincoln get rid of Slavery?
Wasn't the American civil war about getting rid of Slavery?

And your asking to have it reinstated?

I work for money to live not to live to work for a pitance.

That my friend is the definition of slavery!

Regards

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The woman in my avatar is Cristina Scabbia and the woman in my profile picture is Tarja Turunen
Sun flames and moons glow, timeless the tides will flow, what will I face, what will be mine, fortune and fate the other side...

Guys, I need more credits! Half a million by end of year! Agna is making an appeal for them, but don't give them to him! Donate to ME only, please!

It's another failed Progressive Democrat/Liberal Fascist idea passed on by FDR.

Federal welfare? I absolutely want to dump it. Social welfare programs should be funded and controlled by the States and should work in conjuction with private charities. And trust me, the federal government wouldn't have gotten the money from me in the first place if they hadn't of done so by force. Of course the government doesn't have my money, or your money, or anyone's money. It's all been spent and continues to be spent the minute it arrives. It isn't invested, it isn't saved, and the Social Security Fund does not really exist because the government has spent it all.

People that believe their is a Social Security fund are deceiving themselves. By way of example, take $100 and put it in a coffee can for your retirement. Then replace that money with an IOU and spend the $100 on something. Now, how much money is in the coffee can? The Social Security coffee can is full of IOU's and the money has long since been spent.

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Soldiers swear to protect and defend the Constitution with their lives.

Politicians swear to protect and defend the Constitution with someone else's life.

This thread got me thinking about Social Security, as it should, and it lead me to a question. First we need the groundwork for the question.

Originally Social Security was a "pay as you go" social program and is still described as that today.

But then in the 1980's, as I recall, someone ran the numbers and said, "We'll run out of money if we don't start collecting more than it costs to run the system today. So they raised the SS taxes so that today we pay in more than it costs for the program.

So we're paying in extra but where does that money go. It goes into the Social Security Trust Fund but then the government pulls the money out replacing it with promissory notes (T-Bills or whatever) and they spend the money. But wait, how are these promissory notes going to be paid off? Well, by taxing someone in the future because taxation is the only form of income the government has.

So if our government is going to tax someone in the future to replace the money I pay in today why not just stop having me pay in taxes today and have that poor dumb fool, that they're going to tax in the future anyway, pay the same amount that they would pay?

No, it doesn't help that poor dumb fool of the future but it doesn't hurt them either. They will still have to pay the same tax. On the flip side, it would certainly help us today.

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Soldiers swear to protect and defend the Constitution with their lives.

Politicians swear to protect and defend the Constitution with someone else's life.