So what do with these people who never prepare for the future. But also keep in mind some do work hard and save for the future to only have it taken away by a crook like Ken Lays of Enron.
Should these people at least have a backstop?
I don't own a dime in credit card debit and imagine neither do you or for that matter probably a majority of the posters here. But unless you are in favor of the "death panels" described by Sara Palin what do we do with these people. At least with Social Security they do have to contribute.
Enron and Ken Lay "take" nothing. It's given to them. The only entity that can legally "take" is the government. And, who was a vital accomplice for Ken Lay and Enron? The government. Remember their shill Paul Krugman? He's still blathering.
So, the government forces you to "donate" and then gives you a crappy ROI and you think it's a good plan. The government takes 15% of your gross income and pisses it away and it's a good plan? The government takes the 15% and guarantees what? Nothing. That's what's guaranteed. The government can raise the age, reduce the amount received, or give you nothing whenever they want.
I had a job. I did not have to pay into SS. I had a 401k through my employer and another tax-deferred account that I contributed to. I'm retired and that's what I live on now. I have to pay taxes now, too, so I'm still a productive member of society.
Your position on SS is not unlike a defender of slavery saying, "Hey, they have a home, food to eat, and work to do. If left on their own they'd starve."
Two commissions have concluded that to remain solvent SS will have to increase the tax above 15%, reduce benefits, privatize, or a combination of all three.
Isn't it time we look at something else instead of going with the left's insistence on SS or nothing?
Where I worked the employees demanded a shift from a mismanaged defined-benefit pension to a 401k. People very close to retirement were given the option of staying with the old plan or going with the 401k. There were basic classes on investing, we hired investment managers to handle our 401k and we had, initially, a half-dozen options for investments. The options expanded as we got more experience. New employees also had classes in investing. Some invested stupidly. No one went broke. Some did better than others. The first year, we could only shift our investments once a month. Except for one guy. Our finance director was allowed to shift his whenever he wanted. After the first year I was talking with someone from the management company and he said that only one person had less in his portfolio at the end of the year than he did at the beginning. Guess who?
I'm living on my 401k. Not too many years ago I was living on just the interest and my investments were increasing each year. Of course, that's not true today. If I don't get too old, and the socialist government doesn't seize my 401k, my children will inherit it.
If I had been run over by a bus the day before I quit working, my children would have gotten it all.
It's been twenty years now and the employees don't remember the criminally mismanaged defined-benefit pension and they have gotten a union. We'll have to see what they do.