I have a better plan.

Allow everyone who has ever paid to opt out of Social Security and end payments to the program. They will never receive any benefits.

Those who choose not to opt out will continue to pay into Social Security, as usual, and will receive full benefits, at the appropriate time.

Those who have never paid into Social Security will not be permitted to open a new account and will not pay into the program.

Any shortfalls in Social Security, due to the fact that no new accounts are being opened, will be made up with deficit spending (I can hear you tremble now).

In forty to seventy years, the program will end.

I see no justification for robbing citizens who have paid into the system of their money.  Telling people, "oh, well STFU and deal with it," is totalitarian in nature and completely tyrannical.  One time buyouts should be done, much like companies who do that in order to save money and allow them to roll it into IRAs.  Younger workers should be allowed the buyout, roll over option as well and individuals should be allowed to establish their own private accounts.  One thing that is missing in this situation is the stress that it causes in welath transference.  Many previous generations had the ability to work hard and save money to transfer what they were able to earn to their children.  Social Security, inheritance taxes, etc, stop that process from occuring and restrict the ability of people to move up the economic latter. 

Socialism has slowly been gaining in this country, we can't just eliminate it overnight. We need to slowly and non-threateningly introduce freedom.
Although I like the idea of buyouts they can create a cash shortage, unless we use deficit spending and that is the last thing we need more of.

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are NOT annuity contracts!!

What is beyond contempt is mortgaging our nation's future and spending more than we have now, thus burdening our children and grandchildren with our problems. THAT is what I call "original sin".

How, dare I ask, do you plan to raise funds to pay for this "buyout"? Higher taxes? We can not take any more taxes. More borrowing? We are already in debt to the tune of $60 trillion dollars (PLUS the Freddie/Fannie and future bailouts) and we can not take any further devaluation of our dollar.

A is A and you can not have your cake and eat it too. There are only so many ways to raise money and we have exhausted them both.


How else would he know that he was getting more than he paid in? Anyway, SSA will give you on request a statement of how much you paid in and in what year. It's not complicated.


My friend is not an idiot. Despite the fact that he was a public school teacher, he's quite an intelligent man.


Excuse me, "they"?! You mean "We".


Sorry, you're not owed a dime. And you don't have the wherewithal to pay yourself. Remember, government is just you and a whole bunch of other people. If you want government to raise the money to pay you, and it does so, you will come out a loser, because after the costs of collection come out, you will get less than what you put in. Running money through government is a losing proposition.



Huh? Nothing is missing from my formula, which is not even my formula. The number comes from perotcharts.com - which is not just a venture by Ross Perot and is entirely trustworthy. Do your own research if you don't believe it.

The Fed? The FDIC? They have nothing to do with entitlements.



So your argument is that it's not convenient to resist the robbery that is payroll taxes, so it's not really robbery? Is this your final statement on this topic?

And you forgot the millions of self-employed persons.



You are terribly confused if you think social security is a contract or has anything do with commerce, or the regulation thereof.


Remember, we need $50 trillion TODAY to be able to fund entitlements. Actually, the number is higher by now. Our federal budget is around $2 trillion. So even if you slashed it to ZERO, you would still be short $48 trillion. And that doesn't factor in interest on our debt, which is 15-20% of our budget IIRC and of course the actual debt: another $9 trillion. And don't forget the Freddie/Fannie bailout.

1.  Social Security in terms of retirement is for all intents and annuity contract (a type of insurance).
2.  Why all the talk about raising money?  Why not cut spending to solve the shortfall?
3.  I never questioned your friend's intelligence, just wondering what the formula was.
4.  The goverment, though made up of the people is an entity upon its own.
5.  I am owed the money I paid in as are the others who have paid in.
6.  The buyout option reduces the expansion of payouts and the long term obligations and would be a boon for the private market and strengthen the dollar.
7.  A "solution" that is to rob people of all the money they have deposited into the program is the equivalent of walking into a bank and robbing them of people's deposits.  "Sorry you're SOL and we're keeping all your money" is not a solution and wil make the problem, much, much worse.
8.  This is not the same as the Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac bailout which should be vehemently opposed.  The Social Secuirty debt is owned by the government and we're looking at solutions to lessen the debt while fulfilling promises and obligations, not to increase the debt.  There's no comparison.
9.  The big point here is that a short term buyout plan will drastically reduce future obligations which will be devestating.  Ending the insanely large future payouts and allowing for personal control of retirment wealth will have many positive effects.  Simply telling people, "STFU we've got your money and you ain't getting nothing," is completely oppressive and has all the markings of totalitarianism.  Dealing with obligations responsibly while moving towards a free market solution is the way to go about it.