11:30 AM
social security not secure
Unknown
The baby boomer generation - those born in the years following World War II up to about 1957 - comprises an estimated 77 million Americans. Those boomers are just starting to hit the traditional retirement age, with a major surge still to come over the next 15 years.
The country is ill-equipped to deal with this influx of people onto the Social Security rolls. It's not ready for the Medicare hit either. Back in 1950 there were 16 workers for every retiree. The system was well-funded by that metric. Today, there are only about 3 workers per retiree.
Social Security, in fact, is even more troubled than the calculation suggests. That's because everything you are paying into the Social Security system now as a worker is being borrowed to pay down the massive U.S. budget deficit. Yes, it's true.
When we here we are borrowing an unbelievable 40 percent of our federal government's daily expenditure, that's glossing over a key point. About half of our tax revenue now comes from Social Security taxes! Around 50 percent of Americans pay no income tax, but they do pay Social Security tax. Take away Social Security tax, then the federal government is actually borrowing about 70 percent of our current expenditures.
Social Security is not a pension plan. It is a transfer payment. That transfer payment will be under extreme pressure when we no longer borrow and print without spurring very high, unsustainable inflation. When that day comes comes, Social Security transfer payments will have to decrease. Instead of everyone getting a check, the program will become means tested.
Social Security will become a welfare payment. If you really need welfare, you will receive some level of Social Security. Consider all that money you paid into the system as a tax on your earnings.
Don't count Social Security as part of your retirement savings. It quite likely won't be there for anyone who have enough to be over the means-tested threshold. It will be nothing more than a safety net, not a savings that provides income.
The country is ill-equipped to deal with this influx of people onto the Social Security rolls. It's not ready for the Medicare hit either. Back in 1950 there were 16 workers for every retiree. The system was well-funded by that metric. Today, there are only about 3 workers per retiree.
Social Security, in fact, is even more troubled than the calculation suggests. That's because everything you are paying into the Social Security system now as a worker is being borrowed to pay down the massive U.S. budget deficit. Yes, it's true.
When we here we are borrowing an unbelievable 40 percent of our federal government's daily expenditure, that's glossing over a key point. About half of our tax revenue now comes from Social Security taxes! Around 50 percent of Americans pay no income tax, but they do pay Social Security tax. Take away Social Security tax, then the federal government is actually borrowing about 70 percent of our current expenditures.
Social Security is not a pension plan. It is a transfer payment. That transfer payment will be under extreme pressure when we no longer borrow and print without spurring very high, unsustainable inflation. When that day comes comes, Social Security transfer payments will have to decrease. Instead of everyone getting a check, the program will become means tested.
Social Security will become a welfare payment. If you really need welfare, you will receive some level of Social Security. Consider all that money you paid into the system as a tax on your earnings.
Don't count Social Security as part of your retirement savings. It quite likely won't be there for anyone who have enough to be over the means-tested threshold. It will be nothing more than a safety net, not a savings that provides income.
8:14 AM
let's become conservatives
Unknown
Ever ask yourself what conservative pieces make up the entire puzzle? I feel lately we don't ask or ask enough. With a new campaign cycle here for the 2012 general election, perhaps we should go back and examine what conservatism is and what it should remain and become. Throughout the course of American history we have moved forward and brought the entire world together to further positive progress toward growth. Not all countries have followed our lead or have stayed the conservative course we have charted. They might have started and went back to the old ways or never became part of the move forward. Not everyone is going to follow our lead. One of conservatism's goals should be all inclusive. To allow everyone who wants to be part of the movement to be part of the movement. Have we allowed that and have we stayed our own course?
Here we have failed. Since the cultural conservative movement took shape in the early 1960's, there has been a group of gatekeepers that define who and who can't "come in" and be part of the process. That process I'm concerned with has a summit, and that is the ballot box. When it comes to getting votes we have done so much and became better in getting more votes. That's good..... but once conservatives are elected the sheets of music that got us ballot box victories are left out of the performance. Not always... but granted, we are ignoring a formula to success. The gatekeepers became stronger and the definitions changed. Fewer people became part of the process and our performance faltered.
One item is the issue of spending taxpayer money. First, let's start calling taxpayer money taxpayer money. That's where it comes from and that's what it is. And the goods and services taxpayer money buys remains the taxpayers'. Let's hear more about taxpayer money.
Second, let's get more taxpayers. In the United States we have less people paying taxes than we did, say... ten years ago. That is putting more strain on those who pay taxes. How much of a strain can taxpayers take? I don't want to find out. Let's get more taxpayers by unleashing our free enterprise system. Government has put more and more restrictions on that system and it isn't working properly. There are too many obstacles.
With that in mind, let's define what our free enterprise system is. Let's call it capitalism. How's that for conservatism? A big step is getting back to basics, those basics which made us great. If we truly recognize capitalism as our economic system, we are conservatives.
My "new" definition of conservatism declares capitalism can not exist without democracy and democracy can not exist without capitalism.
Here we have failed. Since the cultural conservative movement took shape in the early 1960's, there has been a group of gatekeepers that define who and who can't "come in" and be part of the process. That process I'm concerned with has a summit, and that is the ballot box. When it comes to getting votes we have done so much and became better in getting more votes. That's good..... but once conservatives are elected the sheets of music that got us ballot box victories are left out of the performance. Not always... but granted, we are ignoring a formula to success. The gatekeepers became stronger and the definitions changed. Fewer people became part of the process and our performance faltered.
One item is the issue of spending taxpayer money. First, let's start calling taxpayer money taxpayer money. That's where it comes from and that's what it is. And the goods and services taxpayer money buys remains the taxpayers'. Let's hear more about taxpayer money.
Second, let's get more taxpayers. In the United States we have less people paying taxes than we did, say... ten years ago. That is putting more strain on those who pay taxes. How much of a strain can taxpayers take? I don't want to find out. Let's get more taxpayers by unleashing our free enterprise system. Government has put more and more restrictions on that system and it isn't working properly. There are too many obstacles.
With that in mind, let's define what our free enterprise system is. Let's call it capitalism. How's that for conservatism? A big step is getting back to basics, those basics which made us great. If we truly recognize capitalism as our economic system, we are conservatives.
My "new" definition of conservatism declares capitalism can not exist without democracy and democracy can not exist without capitalism.