I've been told by the libertarians since the early 80s that social security was running out of money, and back then I fully believed that the program would be gone by the time I retired. Yet somehow Congress manages to tweak it as necessary to keep it solvent. I expect they will continue to do so.
Nearly 1 in 4 Americans think they have a personal social security account
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Re: Nearly 1 in 4 Americans think they have a personal social security account
#12I would love a survey asking people about the half-truths the smug libertarian types like to tell about social security.
Re: Nearly 1 in 4 Americans think they have a personal social security account
#13The juxtapositions in here are interesting: - Most Americans don't know how social security is funded but - An overwhelming majority of nonretired adults (79%) do not believe they will receive their full scheduled Social Security benefits when they retire. - About three in four adults (77%) have heard that Social Security is projected to run short of money by 2033. If you thought you had an individual account, and yo…
I was just having a conversation (argument) with my MIL about this. She claims that people have felt that SS would run out of money before they retire her entire life. Has this sentiment been tracked at all? I certainly feel like I (aged mid-30s) will not be benefitting, but the common argument is that the Ponzi scheme will find a way to perpetuate for longer
Impossible to tell, but there's factors making it more likely to happen this time than in previous generations. Probably the biggest factor is the declining population, which no government around the world has been able to materialise an answer to.
My personal retirement plans assume no social security. Anything I may get in old age is a nice bonus, but in my planning, it's not the beef.
Re: Nearly 1 in 4 Americans think they have a personal social security account
#14I sure do. It's the youth of America. They'd had better pay me, because I paid someone else, so they owe me. Especially after I paid a few pittances in property taxes for their wonderful schools.
Good luck with that. There is a generational conflict coming, and in many ways it’s already here. At some point young people are going to be asked to pay more in taxes in order to bail out social security and it’ll radicalize them more than they are already. Given the option of bail out grandma or burn down the whole system don’t be surprised when they chose to burn it down.
I think it’ll look a bit like the collapse of USSR when the state reneges on its obligations and the people have to scramble to find new ways to make ends meet.
Edit; I can’t tell if the parent comment is satire, it’s too early in the morning for me
Re: Nearly 1 in 4 Americans think they have a personal social security account
#15I sure do. It's the youth of America. They'd had better pay me, because I paid someone else, so they owe me. Especially after I paid a few pittances in property taxes for their wonderful schools.
Talking to everyday people you need to realize that many many folks count on this govt pension and Medicare to live at all when they can't work. It's not an option. Company pensions are long gone, and 401Ks are only somewhat recently starting to take hold on younger people as a must have.
Re: Nearly 1 in 4 Americans think they have a personal social security account
#16I've been told by the libertarians since the early 80s that social security was running out of money, and back then I fully believed that the program would be gone by the time I retired. Yet somehow Congress manages to tweak it as necessary to keep it solvent. I expect they will continue to do so.
In 2034, it will be insolvent. We'll either increase contributions or raise the age to compensate. It's not going to be pretty.
Re: Nearly 1 in 4 Americans think they have a personal social security account
#17I can go to ssa.gov and click the button that says "log into your account."
Re: Nearly 1 in 4 Americans think they have a personal social security account
#18I sure do. It's the youth of America. They'd had better pay me, because I paid someone else, so they owe me. Especially after I paid a few pittances in property taxes for their wonderful schools.
Good luck with that. There is a generational conflict coming, and in many ways it’s already here. At some point young people are going to be asked to pay more in taxes in order to bail out social security and it’ll radicalize them more than they are already. Given the option of bail out grandma or burn down the whole system don’t be surprised when they chose to burn it down. I think it’ll look a bit like the collapse…
Sorry sonny, I'm afraid I've rezoned the entire USA to basically ban building the amount of housing needed, and by the way we locked all our houses into long term mortgages at negative real interest rates you'll never see again so we will inflate away your money via the fed to pay for our house.
I'll let you lower social security, but if you want someplace to stay you'll have to pay me a gazillion dollars or perform a $10 million environmental study before you can build it -- for a house I was able to build for $30,000 under the rules of my time.
I get my due either way.
Re: Nearly 1 in 4 Americans think they have a personal social security account
#19The juxtapositions in here are interesting: - Most Americans don't know how social security is funded but - An overwhelming majority of nonretired adults (79%) do not believe they will receive their full scheduled Social Security benefits when they retire. - About three in four adults (77%) have heard that Social Security is projected to run short of money by 2033. If you thought you had an individual account, and yo…
I was just having a conversation (argument) with my MIL about this. She claims that people have felt that SS would run out of money before they retire her entire life. Has this sentiment been tracked at all? I certainly feel like I (aged mid-30s) will not be benefitting, but the common argument is that the Ponzi scheme will find a way to perpetuate for longer
Social Security counts on there being a larger workforce every year.
If there's ever a significant population crunch of working age people, it would be in trouble. In 2018, the cost of the Social Security program exceeded total revenues for the first time.
At current rates, Social Security is projected to be insolvent by 2034.
The only ways to mitigate this is to spend less or make more. But no one wants to pay more and no one wants to give up anything.
Re: Nearly 1 in 4 Americans think they have a personal social security account
#20I can go to ssa.gov and click the button that says "log into your account."
Yeah, we can't really fault people for thinking something the government itself says.