Mr. Perry does not have to look far to see how a privatized Social Security plan might work. Government employees in Galveston, Brazoria and Matagorda Counties have controlled their private retirement plan for 30 years. They opted out of Social Security before Congress changed the law in 1983 to prevent others from withdrawing.
Interesting article, and not an entirely bad concept, except for the issues brought up....people outliving their money, which you cannot do under Social Security, and people taking the lump sum and blowing it, then having nothing for the retirement years. In a local plan like that what happens when you move to another state, take a different job.....even get fired. Are you still going to get some of that money?
Social Security is really a bare minimum of what a person/couple needs for retirement. But when everything else is gone, there is the security of knowing that you will at least have the bare minimum to live on until you die. Back when I graduated college I was told to save for my own retirement because Social Security would not be there when I wanted to retire.......well it is, but I took the saving for retirement seriously and I have encouraged, badgered, and begged my kids into saving for their retirement.....whether SS is there or not. Many people, maybe even most, do not have the discipline to pay themselves first......take money off the top of your salary and put it into a retirement account. At least SS forces them to do that.....and many companies actively encourage 401ks and other retirement savings.
I absolutely agree that we have to restructure how SS works to make it viable for the future, but I don't think the country can ever afford to eliminate it, or medicare. I really doubt the country has the stomach to go back to poor houses......and not every senior has family to help them, or can work till they are 80 years old.
I also agree we can't ever get rid of SS or Medicare....it would really be impossible to do anything other than restructuring it. The problem is that it always takes a crisis before congress is willing to act on anything...especially when they can use these issues for political gain. I'm happy that at least the public is starting to learn more about unsustainablity of these programs and how the funds that are suppose to be there have been spent of other purposes.
The notion that some seem to have that these programs should not be scrutinized and revamped amazes me. My guess is that we will not do much meaningful change until the programs are closer to running out of money. Procrastination Nation.
The left is angry because they are now being judged by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin.
