Comments on: Five Things Congress Can Do To Make Us Rich! http://www.americanconsumernews.com/2007/02/five-things-congress-can-do-to-make-us-rich.html News for Consumers in Changing Times Sun, 12 Feb 2012 04:49:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Josh Baltzell http://www.americanconsumernews.com/2007/02/five-things-congress-can-do-to-make-us-rich.html/comment-page-1#comment-160 Josh Baltzell Mon, 12 Feb 2007 17:42:00 +0000 http://www.americanconsumernews.com/2007/02/five-things-congress-can-do-to-make-us-rich.html#comment-160 I'm not sure what to think of your opinion on social security. I never really saw it as a retirement plan. It is more of a safety net. Do you really want there to be seniors out there that opted out of social security and invested all their retirement in the Enrons and Worldcoms of the world?<br/><br/>The whole point is that everyone has a safety net to at least let them not be homeless at 80.<br/><br/>The reason the program seems messy is because it doesn't get to take advantage of compound interest. By it's very design we are paying for the current retired people instead of paying for ourselves. The only way I know of to flip that around is to screw one generation and make them pay for retirees and themselves. I think that just might be my generation getting screwed if I had to guess.<br/><br/>I would say that if we were smart we would just make adjustments to social security. Push the age you can collect back, do something smart with the surplus while we still have one instead of using it for federal budget overflow, don't give it to the people that don't need it. I’m not sure what to think of your opinion on social security. I never really saw it as a retirement plan. It is more of a safety net. Do you really want there to be seniors out there that opted out of social security and invested all their retirement in the Enrons and Worldcoms of the world?

The whole point is that everyone has a safety net to at least let them not be homeless at 80.

The reason the program seems messy is because it doesn’t get to take advantage of compound interest. By it’s very design we are paying for the current retired people instead of paying for ourselves. The only way I know of to flip that around is to screw one generation and make them pay for retirees and themselves. I think that just might be my generation getting screwed if I had to guess.

I would say that if we were smart we would just make adjustments to social security. Push the age you can collect back, do something smart with the surplus while we still have one instead of using it for federal budget overflow, don’t give it to the people that don’t need it.

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