Social Security and Medicare are destroying America

[DinoDoc]

They paid into it.

There is no promise to SS money. There is no contract and you have no property rights over the quarter million the government took from you.

[Dauphin]

His cohort does however have voting leverage. Which is probably more important.

[rah]

I'm just saying your argument is based on vested interest. There's nothing wrong with that. As an outsider the benefit in your proposal is that it helps you and those like you. Not that it solves the problem.

Yes, I expect some help after paying in what will end up being close to 400,000 dollars into a plan that was supposed to pay me some chump change when I retire.
I wouldn't call that leaving the last guy with the check. I already paid for dinner.

[DinoDoc]

His cohort does however have voting leverage. Which is probably more important.

Hence Tupac's point about greedy Boomers destroying America.

[rah]

There is no promise to SS money. There is no contract and you have no property rights over the quarter million the government took from you.

SS was a promise to take care of our older folks. That's how it started. We lived up to the promise and made sure they were taken care of. Is it unreasonable to expect the same?

And yes, there are quite a few of us so it will be hard to ignore us.

[rah]

His ire should be to the politicians that were lining their pockets, not to all of us that kept their promise to the previous generation and made sure they were taken care of in their older age.

[Dauphin]

Yes, I expect some help after paying in what will end up being close to 400,000 dollars into a plan that was supposed to pay me some chump change when I retire.
I wouldn't call that leaving the last guy with the check. I already paid for dinner.

As things stand, I'll be paying more than you, for less benefit. Sucks for sure.

The issue isn't about individuals (except maybe as human interest stories and anecdotal commentary), it's about the cohorts as a whole.

[Jon Miller]

But you didn't do what you needed to do to make sure that you would be provided for in your old age.

Namely having kids who would be productive enough to pay for you.

Both are required.

JM

[DinoDoc]

Is it unreasonable to expect the same?

Why should SS money be funding your poker games or whatever use you might put Mad money to rather than taking care of older people who might actually need it if you truly care about taking care of the elderly? If you wish to think of it as a pension program, you should be more furious over the program because think of how much better use you could have put that money in planning for your retirement yourself.

[rah]

I wish I would have had the option to have used that money for my own retirement, but helping the previous generation in their old age was a noble goal especially with the promise that we would get similar treatment. .
It's not going to be funding my poker games. I was hoping I would get enough to upgrade to hamburger from dog food. I never expected steak.

[Jon Miller]

So you will require those younger to pay with no support for their retirement (and pay more).

Doesn't seem reasonable or fair to me.

Especially since you are more wealthy than they.

JM

[DinoDoc]

I was hoping I would get enough to upgrade to hamburger from dog food. I never expected steak.

If you expected SS to be your sole retirement income, shame on you for being so foolish.

[rah]

If you expected SS to be your sole retirement income, shame on you for being so foolish.

I never said that. I expected it to be a small portion of my retirement income. As I said enough to upgrade to hamburger from dog food.

When we were growing up you either contributed to SS or a Pension plan. Why should pension plans be considered guaranteed and SS not?

[DinoDoc]

When we were growing up you either contributed to SS or a Pension plan. Why should pension plans be considered guaranteed and SS not?

Your kids aren't funding your payout from a Pension. Your generation should have had more kids if you wished the Ponzi scheme to keep chugging along.

[giblets]

And when most started it was a reasonable expectation that they would get something out.

We were forced to contribute to SS regardless of our beliefs that we would get anything back.
And when we started paying in, there were no doom and gloomers. It was expect that we would get something back. And let's be real here. Most pension plans work that you get at least 50% of your current salary. And a lot of politicians figured out a way to make 200% or more of their current salaries. Even under the best of circumstances SS isn't going to return 25% of what you made despite paying in as much many did into pension plans.

If you can explain how fulfilling a promise that politicians made decades ago won't screw over my generation maybe I'll be more sympathetic.