Bush: Retirement age should be phased in to ’68 or 70’

[SheilaT]

95. I'm glad I'm not quite the only one who recalls

this.

Republicans have been trying to get rid of Social Security ever since FDR signed it into law in 1935.

Another genuinely dangerous idea out there is that our contributions are somehow our own, and we really ought to be allowed to invest part of that money because we could get better returns, and therefore have more money in the end. Everyone needs to understand it's a pay as you go system. Money workers pay in today go to current retirees, or those on disability. When they retire, those still worker will pay their benefits. The number of workers to retirees is an issue, and it's one of the main reasons we need to raise the cap on SS.

Plus, of course, trying to "beat the market" can be a fool's game, and the ones who'd be hurt the most by trying to invest their money would be those who can least afford to lose anything.

I don't know about anyone else, but when I look at what I've paid in over the years: $15,148, and what my employers paid in: $14,507, it's astonishingly low for what I'll eventually get back. In my case I was out of the work force for a long time while raising kids. I have 19 years of zero income, and three more scattered among those 19 in which I earned about $500.

For me, when I do start collecting, it will be just about a third of my income, with the rest coming from a tiny pension and my own savings. I do feel for those whose only income is Social Security, because it wouldn't often be enough to live with dignity.

I do think that none of Social Security should be subject to income taxes, even if you have a million dollars a year coming from other sources. Once again, the taxes hit the middle income people the hardest. I can't worry about the rare millionaire who also gets SS. They don't make a difference. Same with Medicare. There is no, and should never be any means test for receiving Medicare. Of course, if we had the sort of universal health care that most of the rest of the world has, this likewise wouldn't be an issue.