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LATEST LETTERS

Social Security

Wednesday, April 4 at 10:14 AM

Ray Carney of Lakewood writes:

The March 27th edition finds one writer opining that the section is filled with whiney Republicans. I had arrived at the conclusion that it was filled with brain-dead Democrats. Another letter in the same edition, Private sector will only worsen matters by Susan Schiller, helps to prove this point.
Ms. Schiller appears to believe in some Fantasyland wherein government is more efficient than the private sector and the Social Security program is the greatest thing since sliced bread. The brain-dead seem to have some conception that there is some SS account with their name on it and now, according to this woman, it is even drawing some fantastic interest of at least 1%. The brain-dead consistently fail to understand that Social Security is nothing more than a Ponzi scheme-that you rob Peter to pay Paul and that if you have anything left it goes bye-bye to pay for other government programs. The SS Trust Fund is a myth and only contains IOUs. All the proposed “fixes” such as the eliminating the $90000 cap, as stated by Ms. Schiller, accomplish little or nothing. Considering also the accompanying problem of Medicare the enormity of the situation can be summed up rather simply.
In 2005 The Boston University Economics Department chairman concluded that we face a $74 trillion dollar shortfall in 2005 dollars. That’s 74 followed by twelve zeroes for the brain-dead. If we assume a population of 300 million this means that every man, woman, and child faces a debt of about $250,000 just to cover the shortfall! Medicare faces bankruptcy by 2020 and Social Security faces the same fate by 2041 according to their respective Board of Trustees. What a legacy to leave for the newborn child. This is where the “most successful program ever” has and is taking us.

This letter has not been edited.

READER COMMENTS

As long as my Social Security is there with cost of living allowance increases I dont care who pays for it!

Posted by Rich M on April 4, 2007 02:52 PM

Privatization is just a scheme to funnel the peoples' dollars to Wall Street. We need a constitutional amendment stating that SS funds can be used for nothing else. Then if the government (NOT Wall Street) can improve the return on investment all the better.

Posted by J on April 5, 2007 03:21 PM

Rich M and J, you don't get it do you? The money's not there. It would take more people paying into the current SS system than we currently have. That's why the Federal Government is turning a blind eye to the illegal immigration issue. Republicans and Democrats are unwilling to tackle this issue, because people like you do not understand that the SS System is flawed, because it can never accumulate any substantial amount of funds since there will always be more funds paid out than paid in. If you believe Social Security will be there for you when you retire, you are foolish. If you have deigned your retirement around Social Security, you are even more foolish.

Posted by Tony Loma on April 6, 2007 04:57 AM