It's time. Soc Sec needs to be expanded to age 50. If Congress cannot provide a job before

[CK_John]

workman comp runsout. There is no there there. The nation needs to stepup and do its job.

Cyber-era productivity is not producing jobs .

[doc03]

1. That has about as much chance of happening as me becoming

Pope. To start I am not even Catholic.

[In_The_Wind]

2. Right.

[CK_John]

3. That's what they told FDR.

[doc03]

4. We don't have FDR or his congress n/t

[CK_John]

6. Then it's our job to send reps to the next Congress that can do it.

[doc03]

23. I think the ACA has pretty much eliminated that

dream in the near future.

[El_Johns]

5. Just FYI, SSI is disability for the poor/those who don't qualify for Social Security disability.

It's funded through general taxes, not Social Security.

http://www.ssa.gov/pgm/ssi.htm

[CK_John]

7. I meant regular SS, will edit.

[El_Johns]

9. Thanks. I wouldn't have corrected you but that people get the two mixed up & then you get

people saying things like "Social Security gives free money to drug addicts!", which doesn't do the fight for SS any good.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

8. That should be a long way down the list of spending priorities, frankly.

Yes, America is a long way to the left of the peak of the laffer curve, and can and should raise taxes somewhat without inflicting too much economic harm on itself, and it could also afford more domestic spending by cutting military spending. Neither of those is at all likely to happen, of course, but lets assume for a minute that one or both of them did, and America had more money to spend on domestic projects.

The first priority should be education, and that could soak a *lot* of extra spending before running into diminishing returns; the second should be health care. After that, I'd look at better unemployment benefit, and possibly at better pensions for the over-65s.

Lowering SS to 50 would be so far down my list of priorities that barring the unexpected discovery that Mount Rushmore was made of solid diamond, I would say there are better things to spend the money on.

[CK_John]

11. The real problem is Cyber era productivity can not produce enough jobs.

Only 50% of the population will have jobs.

Then we will be pressed to cut education to only 1/2 the population. How will keep the 50% jobless from killing the other half? Soc Sec will be a small cost until we figure out how to cope

[Archaic]

16. Unfortunately, the conservatives already have that one figured out.

Perpetual war. No jobs will lead to plenty of folks skipping school to go into the military for a guaranteed, but very low pay rate.

[JDPriestly]

17. You raise legitimate concerns.

[sandyshoes17]

10. So true

You just read my mind. Was just going to post the same creepy. All week I have been watching shows saying in the same segment , that people who get layed off after 55 the chances of finding another job are slim, than they go into "entitlement cuts and raising the retirement age. Are you kidding me. People cannot get work at 55, so let's up the retirement age. I know republicans are in some alternate universe, but this takes the cake . They have to deal with the world we have now. Manufacturing jobs have been shipped out, the internet is killing a lot , greed etc. we need to deal with the economy in this country in the 21 century. This is our reality, they need to make serious changes to our system. Things have changed we have to adapt to the times. They don't want to create jobs, plus they want to cut off any benefits to those who don't have one. They are making laws from the 70's but we are here.

[Archaic]

15. 45 is about to be the new 55.

I'm in my 40s, and very good at what I do. And if I lost my job tomorrow, I would have a very hard time finding work locally. I'd have to travel an hour each way, every day, just to try to stay in my skillset and pay range. And that's IF they'd interview me after figuring out I'm in my 40's.

[Phlem]

12. K&R!

we need to start taking more, period. That's all they've done to us and continue to do to us, and all the rest say good luck. All it takes for us to organize. I can see this being something Warren would lead on.

No more giving in to the takers!

-p

[mike_c]

13. rec'd and agreed....

eom

[Archaic]

14. I work with a ton of people holding on for dear life

They *should* all retire. They should go relax, not work so hard, travel, enjoy life.

This would open up management spots for the younger folks to move up.
This would open up middle spots for the entry folks to move up.
This would open up entry spots for grads to move in.

But they're scared to death, and will work every minute they can to hold on. And I don't blame them. Who would want to start drawing on pension/SocialSec any earlier than they absolutely had to.


Automation, software and materials science are going to lead us places where we might have a 40% systemic unemployment. Where there are 100 or 1000 applicants per job available.

So it's in our best interest to figure that out now. Because if we don't figure it out, and we get there, it'll be a bloodbath.

If we could figure out a way to fund social security, and lower the retirement age to 50, we might make it through that process.

It's a fascinating subject. How do you maintain a quality of life, without overpopulating the planet more than we have, without overconsuming everything even more than we have? And how do you extend a basic quality of life/health to everybody?

[Lydia Leftcoast]

18. If I took Social Security now, I'd be impoverished for life

If I can hold out till 70, I'll receive nearly twice as much per month. (I'm self-employed, so it's entirely up to me.)

[Archaic]

19. My folks are in the same spot from the SocSec point.

My dad has a couple of pensions, so they're not in trouble as long as the pensions actually pay out.

But more folks are in your spot than my dad's.

It's scary.

[AzDar]

20. K & R

[ReRe]

21. Damn right! n/t

K&R

[Coyotl]

22. I call TOTAL Bullshit.

First of all, Workman's Compensation is for on the job injury.

Second, there would be plenty of jobs if we redirected spending to repair infrastructure, etc.

Third, it would be easy to pay everyone w/o a job to work at something important to the betterment of society, such as restoring all the lost teacher and education sector jobs, buy simply restoring equitable levels of taxation for the rich and corporations.

Regarding what you propose, there is no there there. "Cyber-era" productivity is generating new jobs and benefiting the economy generally. What is harming the economy is military spending, hoarding capital by the rich, and reduction in taxation depriving the economy of public sector employment and non-military expenditure.

[Enthusiast]

27. This is certainly true.

"What is harming the economy is military spending, hoarding capital by the rich, and reduction in taxation depriving the economy of public sector employment and non-military expenditure."

[RobertEarl]

24. Good idea

Thinking out loud here...

What if the SS funds were invested in home loans? Home loans and government loans for roads and infrastructure?

I'm not good on the math, but I do believe that a 5% interest rate on a 30 year loan comes out to about a 300% increase on the principal. Meaning, to payback a $100,000 mortgage over 30 years you end paying close to $300,000 in those 30 years.

Of course such and idea would crush the banking system... at least severely cut it down.

Iirc, SS is raised on 15% of wages. So at a $100,000 a year wage you pay 15,000 in. Amortized at 5% over 30 years, that would be worth $45,000 at the end of 30 years. (Used to have an amortizing book but checked it awhile back, so any body keen on amortizing feel free to correct me.)

[CK_John]

25. Money at the national level(any nation) is a concept. It appear when needed such

as wars, transcontinental railroads, Interstate Highways, and is good until other counties are dissolved or they stop buying your stuff.

Essentually it's the biggest rifle thing.

[RobertEarl]

26. SS has been funding the government

The government has been borrowing the money from SS funds and paying back about 2%. The government owes SS about $2.6 trillion. Imagine if that $2.6 trillion could be invested in our houses and trains.

bush wanted to invest the SS funds in the stock market... to keep it afloat back in 2008. Investing in our housing would be a far better, far safer investment and would raise enough funds so that we could all retire at 50.