Monday, March 7, 2011
CBO Projects Social Security Will Be Drained By 2037: Do You Think The Next Generation Will See a Solvent Social Security System?
For grade 11 March 2011. So...should we let grandma die alone in a cold room? What can be done to revive the system? Or do we want to? What can YOU do to assure a secure retirement for yourself??
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To answer the first question i do not believe the majority of the population wants grandma to die alone in a cold room. There are two parts to the cold room argument. The first argues that grandma is participant in a capitalist economy where you get what you work for. The second argues that grandma worked hard all her life and deserves to die a happy death. To solve the dilemma (most liberals will) suggest that the government subsides grandmas in need all around the country. The other side argues(conservative) that grandma's lifestyle is none of the governments concern. Personally i believe that the government should put grandmas everywhere at ease and pay for heat and nursing for grandmas. To revive the system we should kill social security off slowly or make it a much more efficient system. The problem i see is government is inefficient and inflation. Grandma might have worked all her life and lost 5% to social security but today that is only worth a few hundred dollars. To assure my own retirement i should invest in a roth ira and a regular ira and other retirement plans.
ReplyDeleteGrandma should not die alone in a cold room... Personally, to revive the system it should be treated as it was when it was first put into place by FDR. If that cannot be achieved kill it off slowly over time, and find a different system to use that cannot be abused the way social security is. To assure a secure retirement for myself I can either A) win lottery, B) retirement funds (roth ira, regular ira) C) Work for a company that has good pensions (impossible these days).
ReplyDeleteI personally don't think that we should let grandma die in a cold room. We will all day become and old I'm sure we wouldn't want to die in cold rooms. To revive this system, the solution starts with the government. The government needs to make sure that the elderly will have money for retirement. This isn't easy to do, but it is required to maintain the social security system. To assure retirement for myself, I have to invest in retirement funds or save up my own hard-earned money.
ReplyDeleteDying in a cold room does not seem like fun or as a comforting location for your death. Anyways, the elderly should be assisted by the government in preparation for retirement and possible medical costs. The system should either be reconstructed and developed as a more effective one, that completely contributes to the overall welfare of the person. I better make sure that I set aside some of my own money for retirement.
ReplyDeleteOnly a sociopath would let their grandmother die in a cold room. I can't think of a way to revive the system without stimulating it with government money which would just increase our deficits anyway and most likely lead to another recession. The population of the U.S. is not going to change short of something like China's restrictive child laws and even if we controlled that we would run out of social security money before they even got to college; therefore the amount of money put into the social security fund, especially in about ten years when the baby boomers retire, will never equal the amount needed by our longer living elders. This generation does not want to work until we're 80. As far as our plans for retirement, we need to start saving now for it, don't take vacations, mooch off your friends and family for as long as you can, or have the capacity to make difficult decisions when you're old and senile.
ReplyDeleteOf course grandma shouldn't be left to die in a cold room. We all will need to be looked after by the government at some point because just about everyone will need Health Care and we need to correct the system as soon as possible. To protect myself from dying in a cold room I have to save save save. When I'm younger I will do the riskier investments to make some money while I can. Then save it all to protect my assets and my security in the future.
ReplyDeleteI would never let grandma die alone in a cold room. That is just plain wrong. With regard to fixing the social security system, forget it. I plan on having a 7-figure salary by the time I'm ready to retire, so all my expenses will be covered through saving. Then I will be able to retire in the Caribbean with my wife and provide my children with some inheritance money. The rest of my money will be donated to charities.
ReplyDeleteOnce again, our ideas of what is morally right collides with the cold, hard, rationalism of what is economically the best idea. I agree with Emily that only a sociopath would wish that fate on their grandmother (unless their grandmother was the sociopath...oh, well that's a question for psych), but economically, social security is going to kill us. We can't let grandma die alone in a cold room, but some cuts need to be made; for the first time, we are entering a period where the workforce that will support the older generation is smaller than said older generation. Where to cut, how to cut, I have no idea (granted, who does?). I plan to save and invest a large portion of my future income, doing everything I can to survive without the government's help.
ReplyDeleteThough recently it seems so, it is not the American way to let "grandma die alone in a cold room." Cuts do need to be made in government spending but social security is not one one them, it being one of the most successful systems our government has. I hate to say it but we have to stop cutting taxes and raising benefits for big businessmen. People need to start saving portions of their incomes from the beginning, not when theres economic turmoil in order to secure their future.
ReplyDeleteThis whole grandma thing "seams" like a common thread (lame pun of mine). And frankly, what did grandparents do before Social Security? Did they "die alone...?" Surely some of them did, but I would venture to guess that the bulk didn't. Families should support each other as they did before we started leaning on the government.
ReplyDeleteBut let's pretend like we want to keep leaning on ol' Uncle Sam (not like we could easily get up on our own anymore). We should obviously cut defense spending and increase taxes whose revenue would go to Social Security.
Personally, I am going to secure my government through my own means, standing on my own accomplishments and abilities. I plan to invest in mutual funds, silver and gold bullion, 401k, Roth IRA, etc.
On another note, this is at least the 3rd time that something doom-ish was predicted to happen in 2037. Really random year.
Social Security was created during Roosevelt's presidency and was meant to last only a few years, but it has become so successful the government decided to keep it running. I support keeping Social security and if we are to cut things it should be eliminating tax breaks that the big companies receive. I will start to save money once I start my working life to ensure a good retirement for my family and I.
ReplyDeleteThe Social Security System is an antique: having been around for almost a century, this system is overburdened, underfunded, and completely unwieldy. The U.S. Government has toyed with the idea of a new system repeatedly, most notably through the new healthcare bill, but the issue at hand is that we have become far too reliant on the notion of a guaranteed retirement without giving up the economic freedoms that's countries in Europe have. If we really want to guarantee retirement for all, we must embrace financial egalitarianism while giving up financial liberty. Alternatively, we can remove the safety net of Social Security and instead focus on benefactor funded programs, placing the onus of responsibility for retirement on those who will benefit from that retirement.
ReplyDeleteThe thing with the social security system, is that its the worlds largest ponzi scheme. Its built on the hopes that the next generation will be significantly larger in terms of population than the last. When we hit a recession this becomes a problem since we can't afford to pay for our elders.
ReplyDeleteAs population increases, contribution decreases, and people live longer, your bound to see a collapse in this ponzi scheme. It's the same exact thing with Madoff, your going to see many peoples lives ruined.
The social security system is one of the most successful systems in our present country. The government needs to stop cutting taxes for corporations and actually help the citizens retire with a satisfied life. I mean all their life they have been working to see this day where they could just relax and not have to work anymore. Obviously, the government is not allowing that to happen. I guess since we can't trust our government anymore, we would have to start investing and saving our money for when we retire because evidently if we don't, we'll die alone in a cold room.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it's good karma to let grandmas die alone in a cold room. The image is just too creepy. Also I think that many people would allow their parents to live with them and take care of them even though they don't really want to. The government should stop subsidizing oil companies and focus the funds in Social Security and other benefits. To protect myself from this ordeal, I need to save NOW but that would be impossible because I can't even afford to pay for my tuition so I'll save whenever I can.
ReplyDeleteI think the social security system is a positive and logical system. It makes sense for the government to tax you when you have a decent income and then pay you benefits when you retire. The problem is this system is flawed for our society. We have too many old people retiring and not enough tax money to support them. I've heard many times that when the system was created, the age you can start to reap its benefits was past the life expectancy age at that time (kinda messed up but it worked). Now, people are living to at least their 80's most of the time. This system wasn't meant to support them for such a long period of time, especially now that we're in a recession. So, we should keep the social security system but make changes to it, such as the age you can start receiving benefits.
ReplyDeleteBeing at my grandma´s right now and being able to see her only once a year, the thought of her dying alone in a cold room makes me sad. It's crazy that the American system has come to be so selfish and greedy and that morals and ethics are being sacrificied due to the mistakes of big banks and the government. Overall, the solution I propose is to instill values of saving in children from the moment they enter the school system. Perhaps we could have classes that teach how to save. If people grow up with a sense of awareness, then they have no excuse to not save throughout their entire lives. Once again, education is key. As for me, I will begin saving diversely at a young age to ensure my retirement benefits.
ReplyDeleteGrandma should not die alone in cold room. Social Security is sufficient for the time being, but, in the meantime, the U.S. government needs to seriously consider implementing a new plan. In addition, it may be necessary to make cuts to Social Security or increase taxes until we finalize a new plan. In order to ensure a secure retirement for myself, I will save and invest in retirement funds.
ReplyDeletei believe that there are a number of flaws with our social security system namely that it is an underfunded system that people have become so reliant upon. really the best solution to this problem is to completely restructure it to better suit the needs of the modern world. the social security system was put in place over a century ago and frankly, its outdated, it needs to be changed or else it should be phased out and a new system should be put in to place.
ReplyDeletein hindsight, before the social security and before the organized government people didn't just die alone, families and close friends helped each-other get by and just because social security didn't exist doesn't mean that they cant survive without it. i plan to secure my future through investment in a roth ira and mutual funds, smart business decisions and long term investments, coupled with maximum utilization of my abilities and hard work.