AP news wire: Social Security no longer pays off

Unlike all previous generations since the inception of Socialized Security, from this generation forward retirees will get back far less than they contributed. For comparison purposes, a retiree in 1960 would get back on average 7 times more than was contributed if they merely survived to be 78 for a man or 81 for a woman.

http://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/ ... or-workers

If the system is now pretty much a guaranteed losing proposition, why not eliminate it?

Because the Socialist/Communists will never allow it to be taken away.....it's an "entitlement". Logic and facts are irrelevant. Take from the rich and give to the lazy/inept/slackers/suck from the government tit/useless to society derelicts. They will bankrupt this country into oblivion before any logic is injected into the entire situation.

europachris wrote:Because the Socialist/Communists will never allow it to be taken away.....it's an "entitlement". Logic and facts are irrelevant. Take from the rich and give to the lazy/inept/slackers/suck from the government tit/useless to society derelicts. They will bankrupt this country into oblivion before any logic is injected into the entire situation.

Very good points!

Ida Mae would tell you what a great program it is!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_May_Fuller

Ida May Fuller (September 6, 1874 – January 31, 1975) was the first American to receive a monthly benefit Social Security check. She received the check, amounting to $22.54, on January 31, 1940

Fuller was born on a farm outside Ludlow, Vermont. She spent most of her life in Ludlow, working as a legal secretary, but lived with her niece in Brattleboro, Vermont during her last eight years. She retired in 1939, having paid just three years of payroll taxes. She received monthly Social Security checks until her death in 1975 at age 100. By the time of her death, Fuller had collected $22,888.92 from Social Security monthly benefits, compared to her contributions of $24.75 to the system.

Don't know about you all but retirement is not even in the plan for me....figure on working till I sh*+ the bed.

I ain't saying it isn't so Jpete but the math doesn't seem to add up not knowing how many increases were put in & how much they were. In any event it was an extreme, how many people pass yearly that have paid in all their lives & never collect a dime? Being honest how many here if retirement savings were left up to them from the very beginning of employment & figuring in getting married & raising say two kids, rent, housing, taxes, transportation, medical, utilities & such could discipline themselves to put away a % of their earnings & never touch it until they retire. Plus hoping all along that their choice of investment is secure & won't evaporate.
For all you cons that want to do away with SS, just how high on the hog do you think these people are living? You all seem to want to take from the bottom & deal to the top.

But Sam, if you knew from the day you started working that there wasn't going to be anything to fall back on, would you change your behavior?

And I don't advocating just cutting SS tomorrow. That's pretty far down on my list of things to do.

But the Ponzi scheme has reached it's zenith. We don't have enough people paying in on the bottom to support everyone on top.

I'm 42 now. I'd be more than happy to continue paying in and sign away any claim to future money I might have if it meant my kids wouldn't have to get into the system when they start working.

Life isn't a spectator sport. It requires active participation. The problem is, Americans are being taught to be fat, dumb, and lazy and not having to think about their future retirement is part of that programming.

I see no mention of interest that the government should be paying on the Social Security funds that it borrows.

Like I said Jpete to be honest I don't think I would have saved jack, way too many times & things that went on in my life would have caused me to use any savings for something I needed at the time. A divorce would have taken at least half of any savings, all when she got to it first, down payment on a home, education for the kids, if I wasn't lucky enough to have good H.I. when the second wife fought cancer everything would have been gone saved or not. Easy to talk the talk but a lot harder to do the walk. It's worked all these years & once employment comes back will work again, that's even with the Houses ripping it off as Franco mentioned that little forgotten detail somewhere in the range of 4 trillion. Just think do away with S.S. & all of a sudden you look good because the debt goes down & that's just one place we owe debt to ourselves.

It's not coming back Sam.

If programs like this worked, Europe wouldn't be coming apart at the seams today.

But whatever...you keep shoveling money to the government. They've been so responsible with it so far.

samhill wrote: Being honest how many here if retirement savings were left up to them from the very beginning of employment & figuring in getting married & raising say two kids, rent, housing, taxes, transportation, medical, utilities & such could discipline themselves to put away a % of their earnings & never touch it until they retire.

9% of my income I stash on my own. Not alot, but I am lucky enough to also get 15% of total yearly income in profit sharing. But its always on my mind that this could stop tommorrow(profit sharing), and it relies heavily on the stock market. I refuse to say I am going to work for someone or someplace until I die. Thier will be a day when I can make the choice of maybe I do this today and or that today on my terms. Anywho, social security is a good idea IMO. Problem is we have wayyy to many hands in the darn cookie jar.

Oh yeah, it'll come back mainly because we're NOT Europe. Hell jpete, we've been through worse then this & bounced back. The problem I see is that you younger people keep expecting THINGS, such as the Constitution having the same exact meaning it did some 200 yrs ago when things were totally different--we are a society of change & if people would get out of la la land & quit bickering, they might just realize realize that today is today & concessions/compromises have to be enacted--granted many parts of the Constitution still hold true base wise--but again, this is not the 1700's . I'm not as brilliant as some people in my writing, but I believe in this Country with all my heart. Nov. will tell what direction we will be heading for those next 4 yrs. My thoughts would be to *censored* can every active/non active politician we have & start from scratch with new guide lines--we know that ain't gonna happen.

jpete wrote:It's not coming back Sam.

If programs like this worked, Europe wouldn't be coming apart at the seams today.

But whatever...you keep shoveling money to the government. They've been so responsible with it so far.

So you believe in the country with your heart, but you think we should change the ideas it was founded on?

That makes sense.

To who I have NO idea.

anthony7812 wrote: Anywho, social security is a good idea IMO. Problem is we have wayyy to many hands in the darn cookie jar.

To be honest, I'm not totally against the idea of SS. Just not in it's current form. As you say, too many hands in the cookie jar.

And it might not even be that, it might be the amount of cookies they are taking.

Thomas Paine, in "Common Sense", talked about a form of SS which was basically a "death tax". His reasoning was that after death, the earner would never miss the money, and before the inheritance, the heirs never had the money.

The money would fund a small payout for various "needy" people.

I'm not entirely sure how that would work in actual practice, but I like the sentiment.

I've said it before Jpete & I'll say it again simply because you keep reminding me. For someone that professes to be so against this Country & Gov. policies you sure have no problem taking every Gov. handout you can get & have no problem biting the hand that feeds you. IMHO & it's just that (nothing personal) but that kind of thinking is one of the biggest problems this country has today. I'm sorry but this Country is no where near down & out & I'm proud to say & believe that with all my American heart.