End of social security in 2016

If they want a genuine revolution, let them take it away.

So what is it they want you to buy on that website?

They're selling fear, but they want you to buy gold.

The fact that the outfit calls itself the Sovereign Investor says it all. It's alluding to the right wing Sovereign Citizens' movement which has a unique view of the Constitution and who ALWAYS lose in court. Here's a video of one of these Sovereign Citizens movement trying to impress a judge with his "legal knowledge".

The thing is, it's now June 10, 2016.

Does anyone really think SS will end in less than 7 months?

I obviously don't think it will end in 2016 -however I am not counting on it when I retire in some over 12 years.

The way it is set up - it is going to crash unless we jack up rates on the working people to an insane level.

I rely on myself and have been saving for retirement. I cannot count on the government and do not trust them.

The warning about social security not being available in the near future has been common knowledge for many years. However, Americans have not saved for their retirement without social security, and they are in for a great awaking.
I have kept track of the amount of social security taxes I have paid into, and the amount of benefits I have received.
The benefits have been a gold mine for me: I've already collected four times more than I've paid into it, and it also paid for my kidney failure medical expenses. Many tell me my recovery is a miracle. I don't even need dialysis.

If I was to conjecture how social security will evolve, I would think there will be a means test to see how much one gets. That could also mean some wealthy people might be allowed to opt out of putting into the system, to be fair?

Regardless, since it is a system dependent on the current workers subsidizing the retired workers, I would think this is incentive enough to give amnesty to all immigrants and keep the flow of immigrants steady. Social Security will be kept alive, since it is too big to fail. And, no one would want oldsters dribbling saliva in protest.

May be a naive question, but why don't we just remove the cap on social security taxes.

Could be done in 3 or 4 increments.

I could see that, but in fairness, wouldn't we also have to remove the cap on benefits? At present, Full retirement age yields a maximum of $2639.00. Wait till age 70 and it becomes $3576.00.

Who ever figured out the benefits just failed to understand the demographics, cost and longevity.
How many other things have government(s) screwed up?
It'll be a big help when Trump builds his wall.

What I definitely do not want is something that feels like a 'needs based' system. That just turns the whole thing into a great big welfare system.

It has to be run like insurance; the mass insured for those who need it. The cost becomes more affordable. We all understand that older people use it more frequently as we age. That means that the younger generation needs to be part of the insurance pool. When they get old, they'll still need the younger generation to pay the insurance.
The government can increase the age of benefit, increase the taxes, or do a combination of both. It can be done, but they're not even trying.

In 1964, I read book that stated flatly that SS would soon end. Since then I have learned how the government freely takes money from the SS fund, like it was a personal piggy bank. If SS ends it will not be the fault of the system, but short sighted greedy politicians.

From 2022, expenditure from the social security trust fund is going to be greater than income. Those elected officials of our government are not doing their due diligence. There's going to be a revolution too late to save it.

Quote Linkat:

I remember back in 1992, Mary Matalin had a cable show and she was saying about Social Security, "Oh, that? Nobody seriously expects that to be there when I retire". Obviously, she was way way off.

The fund is a little low because we are pulling out of a recession. Eliminate 11 Million Full Time jobs from 2008-9, and there goes a lot of money disappearing. With more and more Full Time jobs coming, that will correct itself somewhat, but we still might need to make adjustments in the cap, etc.

Quote roger:

Absolutely true. And there is little doubt that the plan behind making it means based is to reduce it to a welfare system, which will just be joined to the other welfare systems already in place and the elderly end up on the welfare line after paying into an insurance system. Not acceptable.

All of our money is going to the military. Spend some of that on infrastructure and social programs and the nation would perk right up.

Well, when the government takes from the SS fund, they leave treasury issues behind. It's not quite like stealing since many other governments actually buy the things. I should point out that they are a special issue that cannot be traded when the market suggest that would be wise.