My 2014 DU goal is to push for lowing the SocSec age to 50. Reason being

[CK_John]

my belief is that automation (Cyber-era) based economy cannot produce enough jobs for 25 to 50% of the population.

Productivity is the problem and even if we tried to fix every bridge we would just move macjobs to construction, not new jobs.

[montanacowboy]

1. You cannot survive on SS alone

people have no savings and no pensions

they can't survive on SS so they still will be looking for work to supplement the SS

[CK_John]

2. I do and many of the people my age (73) do.

[DavidDvorkin]

5. True.

[freshwest]

22. +1

[RebelOne]

13. 74 here and I do also. n/t

[Kaleva]

6. I do

I get $1119 a month for SSDI plus $15 a month in SNAP benefits.

[X_Digger]

3. And here I thought it was pimping FOR the TPP. Silly me. n/t

[CK_John]

4. Have a nice year.

[Blue_In_AK]

7. It's why I took early retirement at 62-1/2

It was time to let someone younger do my job.

[CK_John]

8. Same here

[JI7]

9. which jobs do you see being lost ? even the self check out at grocery stores don't seem to catch on

they only "work" if one doesn't have many items to purchase usually . and there is usually someone who has to stand by and help in some way. so this person could just be checking people out and it would go faster.

[CK_John]

10. The next couple yrs will do away with bank tellers, mi;;ions of truck drivers due to

driverless 18 wheelers under testing in Spain, pharmacy due to pill kiosk, eventual NYC taxi drivers. and more coders.

Also 50% of the education system from K-through Grad school will not be needed or supportable.

[JI7]

11. not going to happen

[CK_John]

12. I remember my 7th grade nun telling us they would never break the sound barrier. If you can think

of something it is possible.

[JI7]

20. and there were people claiming movie theaters will go out of business and they are doing better than

ever.

[sweetapogee]

14. Do you have

a plan? Exactly how do you intend to realize your goal to get the congress of the United States to pass a law to make SS available to those age 50? A letter to the editor?

[CK_John]

17. I'm hoping that DU members contact their Congress reps and senators, also

contact the media Big Ed, Maddow, Hardball and others. Also I'm counting on many people in the media and the WH staff checkout this forum regularly.

It's up to DU.

[RobertEarl]

24. One way to raise the money

Use SS funds to finance home mortgages. At 5% annual interest compounded daily the funds in SS would almost triple in 30 years.

As it is, the SS funds are invested in US bonds (or Treasuries) with a current less than 2% interest rate. IDB,

SS can finance housing for Americans, and being the housing industry is well financed it would lead to lots of jobs with more SS funds and people can retire at 55.

[Major Nikon]

15. How much more FICA would you want to pay?

The immediate effect of your plan would be a massive increase to FICA, to compensate for massively increasing the number of people receiving benefits. 26% of the population is in the 45-64 age group and 13% are in the 65 and older age group. So you wouldn't double the SS recipients, but I'm guessing you'd see at least a 33% increase. The SS portion of FICA is currently 6.2%, so a 33% increase would put it at about 8.2%. For someone making $40K, that's a $800 tax increase for them and their employer (who in many cases would cut wages to compensate).
http://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdf

For that you would receive limited return on your goal because it wouldn't necessarily make all that many people retire earlier. Keep in mind also that people in the 55-64 age group have the highest wages, so even if your plan did work you'd be cutting the cream out of those who are contributing to FICA.
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/wkyeng.t03.htm

[CK_John]

19. Gov money is a concept, it appears for wars and bailouts. Don't let petty problems

get in the way of action. If every problem had to solved before we did anything we would still be in caves.

[Major Nikon]

23. I'm not questioning the problem, just the proposed solution

Your solution gives more money to those who are aged 50-62 (the group who needs it the least), at the expense of everyone else, but I'm not convinced it would even begin to address your stated problem. Seems like a lot of buck for very little bang.

[CK_John]

25. It's not about money but a change in society. There will be no jobs for 1/2 the population,

People need a reason to get up in the morning without feeling like a failure. Letting them know they can retire at 50, gives them a safety net and respect. They can go fishing or start a business or build bird houses in the garage.

Also if your lucky enough you can work and still be on Soc Sec, of course at some point your monthly benefits are reduced.

A society in chaos is something you don't want to be in.


.

[sweetapogee]

27. if government money

is a concept, than couldn't a case be made that money for government pensions is also a concept?

[pipi_k]

16. Well...

good luck with that.

I don't see it ever happening. Even lowering it to 60 might be a stretch, in spite of the optimism of believing that whatever we can think of is possible.

[El_Johns]

18. I think that manufacturing jobs are down GLOBALLY, despite increased production.

So Who's Stealing China's Manufacturing Jobs?

Some 22 million manufacturing jobs were lost globally between 1995 and 2002 as industrial output soared 30 percent, Carson says. It seems that devilish productivity is wreaking havoc with jobs both at home and abroad.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aRI4bAft7Xw4

[CK_John]

21. I wish everyone on DU would read the financial papers more. They are way ahead

regular media. Granted that they favor those with skin in the game but once you get pass the money lingo and read between the lines they know what is happening in the world. Just follow the money.

[NoOneMan]

26. You could always push to eliminate automation

Better for the environment too probably