Lower Social Security Eligibility to 55; Raise Benefits By 15%

[Bluenorthwest]

57. That 2 million figure is way out of touch with reality...median income in the US is around 46,000

Half of Americans live on that much or less a year. If you figure 40 working years, the total gross income for those making 46k comes to 1,840,000. The gross total, pretax, before any expenses at all, is less than the savings you claim you 'need' to retire. So while it is fine and fun for more affluent people to speak of needing 12K to spend on tootsie rolls each month, the reality is that figures like '2 million' and phrases like 'I need' just do not go together. That figure is what you want, and no matter what they do, most Americans will never even earn that much in total in a lifetime of working. So if more than half of the nation never earns nearly that amount and yet most people do in fact retire, clearly most people know they don't 'need' 2 million liquid to retire.
It is a very out of touch statement. I'd also point out that if one is rich, Social Security does not figure into planning much, Medicare might, but only if you mean 'moderately affluent' when you say rich. The rich don't need it. The rich are not waiting for those benefits to do anything, they just do as they can afford.