- Joined
- Dec 20, 2009
- Messages
- 75,709
- Reaction score
- 39,990
- Location
- USofA
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Conservative
Well yes I do want you to think it out.
Social Security isn't going to be solved by bumper sticker mentality that puts platitudes over people. So ya, I expect if you are going to put forth an OP that says end SS and take it private, that you will of thought about timeline, different age groups, how it's to be accomplished, and the costs involved.
Things need to be done for social security, we agree. But the math **IS** important because you payout existing recipients and refund to existing working isn't feasible.
WW
I went through and did a rough version of the math a few years ago in my own proposal. It required a large amount of debt to cover the transition, which I paid off by taxing retirement accounts 50% at the death of both the retiree and spouse.
Thanks to both parties engaging in deficit spending like insane fools since then, we may have moved out of a window in which we could have taken on sizeable additional debt - even if it was tied to a guaranteed income stream.
Both parties are currently de facto running on cutting benefits (as nether is proposing to reform current law). In reality we will be dealing with this about the same time we have to deal with Medicare funding, meaning we are likely going to have no choice but to cut benefits (harming retirees) and raise taxes (harming current workers). That's what happens when you refuse to address a problem until all you have left are bad solutions.
One place I might note a slight disagreement with you, here: as I understand it, employer contributions to FICA tend to come out of monies allocated for Labor Cost; meaning the employee is generally paying that side through reduced compensation.