Friday, January 27, 2012

Social Security

Obviously, something has to be done to keep the promise of Social Security. The government is now paying out more than it's taking in as far as Social Security is concerned. This will only get worse as the next wave of retirees start collecting.
I've come up with a few ideas that could help all those that have paid into or are presently paying into the system.
(1) Grandfather anyone already collecting their Social Security (age 65 and over).
(2) Anyone that has not paid into it should be cut off from receiving any future funds from Social Security and either put in some other program or dropped completely.
(3) All fraud should be heavily prosecuted with both huge fines ($25,000 min.) and jail sentences (5 years min.
(4) No one living outside of the United States should receive any payments.
(5) Anyone born after 1950 that has paid into the system and will start collecting their Social Security in the near future should have any earnings in excess of $24,000/ year (gross) deducted from their Social Security payments.
(6) Anyone born after 1990 should have half of their Social Security deduction deposited in a separate fund that purchases U.S. Treasuries and that would accumulate throughout their working lifetime. They then would become eligible for half of their entitlement from Social Security and the other half would come from their accumulation of U.S. Treasuries.
(7) Anyone that is not a citizen must not only pay into the system but would not be entitled to collect from it. This is the cost of the privilege of working in America but not willing to become a citizen.
(8) Anyone working in an elected office for the government cannot collect any payments while employed as such during the years that they work in those positions (regardless of age).
(9) A new fund should be set up just for Social Security deposits. This money from this fund could be borrowed by the government at the prevailing interest rate at the time of borrowing and the interest rate would fluctuate monthly to stay in line with whatever the prevailing rate is at that time. These loans should not exceed a period longer than 10 years before being fully repaid and backed by real assets of the borrower.
(10) All employers must pay their share of Social Security for every employee, whether "on the books" or not.
(11) Anyone may "opt out" of being part of the Social Security system, thus never have a claim to collect payments in future years. However, they still must pay 50% of their normal deduction anyway.
These changes could certainly shore up this burden on the U.S. budget obligations.
If you can think of any other ways to help, please let me know.

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