On Social Security: We need to look at the American people and explain to them that we’re broke

Well, at least this guy is making an honest attempt to fix the social security system. Maybe a little too honest for Washington though.

Social Security Benefits Only for Needy?

One way to fix Social Security would be to limit payments only to those who need them, according to House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH). In an interview with the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, he added that increasing the retirement age to 70 for those age 50 and younger would also be necessary.

“We need to look at the American people and explain to them that we’re broke,” Boehner said. “If you have substantial non-Social Security income while you’re retired, why are we paying you at a time when we’re broke? We just need to be honest with people.”

Separately, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) echoed Boehner: “On the spending side, we could and should consider a higher retirement age, or one pegged to lifespan, more progressive Social Security and Medicare benefits, and a stronger safety net for the Americans who need it most.”

Read more: The New American

I kinda agree with these guys, the Social Security system is one of the big reason's our government is bleeding red ink. Something drastic needs to be done if the government is going to keep it's promise to all of the people who have thrown away a good chunk of their paychecks into this ponzi scheme over the years.

To bad those who propose real solutions risk their political careers by doing so.

SSI is a joke. I'm 35 and I know I'll never see a dime of what I put in unless I can get sick or convince them I'm crazy. I'm leaning towards the latter

reply to post by FortAnthem


Uh Boehner and Hoyer,
How about you pay us the money because WE WERE FORCED to pay into it in the first place? Its our money, not the governments to use as they see fit.

There are a lot of people out there (in the USA) that believe that the SS Trust Fund actually has money in it...these peoplel can't quite comprehend that the SS money has been handed over to the U.S. Treasury to be spent and the Treasury handed the SS people an IOU.

It amazes me that these people think that those IOU's (which are called 'bonds') have any value at all. Truly bizarre.

Basically, we're screwed...and no one in the BHO administration wants to talk about it...just keep kicking that can down the road.

The scary thing is that I think this is the year when the Baby Boomers start retiring en masse. And the average savings rate among the boomers is pathetic. I can't remember the exact figure but its like a couple month's salary at most. These people also have huge debt loads and are likely underwater on houses they will have increasing trouble selling for anything close to what they paid for them. As more and more attempt to cash out to merely survive by selling their overpriced plastic-crap-saturated bubblicious houses from hell, the bottom will drop out of an already moribund real estate market. Looks like most pensions have been gutted (private) or are ludicrously unsustainable (public). 401(K)s are a bad joke and panic cashing-out will make that debacle worse as well.

Fancy Feast: Its's not just for breakfast anymore.

Silent Thunder, I believe you're correct, as the first of the baby-boomers are now turning 65 (World War 2 officially ended on Sept. 2nd, 1945 - 64 years, 10 months, and 14 days ago).

As for the savings rate, you're also correct, it is in a word, pathetic:
Depending on the source, it's currently right around 4%:
St. Louis Fed: 4%
Bureau of Economic Analysis: 3.5%
BEA 3 mo. avg.: 4%
For comparison:


Regarding private debt, the numbers are all over and it's pretty hard to find dollar amounts (not %GDP or share of national debt), but here's a figure from USA Today circa 2004: $84,454 per household (source).

If you're interested in what the baby boomer retirement will look like when it kicks off in the next few years, here are a few headlines from the Money section of AARP's website:
Savings may run dry for 47% of boomers, study warns
Many Americans will run short in retirement: study
Running out of money: worse than death

Bush wanted to partially privatize SS by allowing us to invest in personal accounts and the notion was thrown in the heap. Now the mess is upon us and it is too late. I'm 38 now and will be looking to retire by age 70 at a minimum if I'm going to expect a single penny from SS.

I vote to completely stop my mandatory SS contributions so that I can invest it with the rest of my hard earned dollars.

Boehner makes a good point. Unfortunately, people like my folks lost a lot of personal wealth in the markets and lost a good portion of supplemental retirement income from the interest and dividends yielded from these investments. I doubt they will ever see all that money ever again. I know those losses certainly altered my parents retirement plans.

hi all
over here in the uk the majority of people are to be signed up to a new (mandatory?) pension system called 'nest' cannot now remember off hand what it stands for. the guys at the top running this thing apparently have ran previous schemes/investments of other peoples hard earned cash into the ground. they have the green light to invest all monies on speculation and the like. furthermore employers have to match employee contributions as well as the running costs of this grab increasing by the hour. my source for this is private eye of which i am a regular reader.
by the time i 'retire' the cupboard will be bare so i will have to resort to entertaining tourists in the lake district by going savage, running out of caves hurling my excrement at anything that moves!
regards fakedirt