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I truly believe that whatever people think about social security not being around when they retire, that it will be around at some level. We will almost certain

I truly believe that whatever people think about social security not being around when they retire, that it will be around at some level. We will almost certainly reduce benefits and/or increase retirement age. What is the alternative? There are far too many people who really can't save for retirement due to low wages for a significant part of the population. We aren't going to let these people live in abject poverty, and they aren't going to have any money to cough up to support themselves. It's the same for Medicare. Paul Ryan wants a premium support system where seniors receive part of the cost of their insurance premium from the government and pay the rest on their own. For many people, the will absolutely not have the money to spend on this. If they can't afford it, they will go to the emergency room and receive care (they legally can't turn you away) once their condition becomes severe enough. We can either force the hospitals to care for these people (and jack up the prices for the rest of us to compensate) or we can have a sane system where we all pay a reasonable price and split the burden over a larger population. I'm not arguing for some European style social welfare system. I think we ought to have a system that comports with the laws and norms we have in place now (norms/laws I understand: people can go to the ER and get care regardless of their ability to pay, elderly folks do not live in poverty).

NoGravitas 10y ago
> There are far too many people who really can't save for retirement due to low wages for a significant part of the population. We aren't going to let these people live in abject poverty, and they aren't going to have any money to cough up to support themselves. The history of the US in the past several decades suggests that yes, we absolutely are going to let these people live in abject poverty. Unfortunately.
- awinder 10y ago
  The downstream effects on consumer spending would absolutely result in this being fixed. The alternative is large numbers of people going bankrupt and that's going to hit several sacred cows in this country, particularly housing. There's lots of reasons that I'm damn near convinced that SS will still be around, principally that the gap is actually not that bad if it's dealt with in advance so that the trust funds can take advantage of compounding interest. But even absent that, the fact that corporate america is going to be Victim #2 almost guarantees a fix.
  - hx87 10y ago
    > sacred cows in this country, particularly housing That sacred cow needs to be slaughtered, the sooner the better, and its flesh distributed.
- harryh 10y ago
  What history is that? The history that has shows the % of seniors living in poverty consistently decrease over time? It's half of what it was 40 years ago.
- eli_gottlieb 10y ago
  The history of the human race suggests that "letting" these people live in abject poverty will result in their "letting" a bunch of government buildings explode, whereas paying them the Social Security we owe them will not.
  - jessaustin 10y ago
    Old people are not violent. No violent episode in history was committed by 70yos.

NoGravitas 10y ago

> There are far too many people who really can't save for retirement due to low wages for a significant part of the population. We aren't going to let these people live in abject poverty, and they aren't going to have any money to cough up to support themselves. The history of the US in the past several decades suggests that yes, we absolutely are going to let these people live in abject poverty. Unfortunately.

awinder 10y ago
The downstream effects on consumer spending would absolutely result in this being fixed. The alternative is large numbers of people going bankrupt and that's going to hit several sacred cows in this country, particularly housing. There's lots of reasons that I'm damn near convinced that SS will still be around, principally that the gap is actually not that bad if it's dealt with in advance so that the trust funds can take advantage of compounding interest. But even absent that, the fact that corporate america is going to be Victim #2 almost guarantees a fix.
- hx87 10y ago
  > sacred cows in this country, particularly housing That sacred cow needs to be slaughtered, the sooner the better, and its flesh distributed.
harryh 10y ago
What history is that? The history that has shows the % of seniors living in poverty consistently decrease over time? It's half of what it was 40 years ago.
eli_gottlieb 10y ago
The history of the human race suggests that "letting" these people live in abject poverty will result in their "letting" a bunch of government buildings explode, whereas paying them the Social Security we owe them will not.
- jessaustin 10y ago
  Old people are not violent. No violent episode in history was committed by 70yos.