Reply #59: "SS a pyramid scheme"

[BlueInRed]

Calling SS a pyramid scheme pretty much says it all about your viewpoint.

Since I'm self-employed, no employer matches my contributions. Assumptions, assumptions. I know plenty about the contributions and their impact on employers since I'm self-employed and a lawyer. I actually pay more into the system than most because of the self-employment rates.

I and everyone my age has been paying in more than required to fund current retirees for about 20 years. In the same time frame, the SS "surplus" was used as justification for tax cuts on the wealthy and cap gains cuts. In essence, our excess FICA funds were diverted to the wealthy. I never heard the wealthy who got the tax cuts complain about the inequity of the boomers overpaying for 20 years and then getting zapped when it's their turn to collect. It's also interesting that many don't seem to care that the boomers have paid more (a greater percentage) into the system than any other group and now some are trying to make sure those same people get less than any before them. If boomers got what was "commiserate with input", we'd be owed way more than we're going to get regardless of whether reforms are enacted.

As for solvency, it is through 2035 or so, last I looked. Hardly an emergency. Although with Bush's policies, it probably has moved up to 2027 or thereabouts.