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There are many knobs we can turn. Increasing taxes on everybody is the "easy" one. We can reduce benefit payments. We can increase retirement age. We can remo
by alistairSH 4y ago
There are many knobs we can turn. Increasing taxes on everybody is the "easy" one. We can reduce benefit payments. We can increase retirement age. We can remove the income max (income over $137k isn't taxed). We can import labor. Thee point is, SS only runs out of money if we allow it to do so. There is no law of nature that requires SS to become insolvent any time within our lives.
The typical conservative plan is to abolish SS and replace it with private savings. We tried that. It didn't work. Low income earners don't always have the capacity to save at the levels required to avoid destitution in old age or disability.
- tastyfreeze 4y agoWhy is it the government's responsibility to ensure an individual wont be destitute in old age?
- alistairSH 4y agoWe are the government/society. It does what we want. We decided in the 1930s that a minimum level disability and retirement income should be available. Watching granny starve in the gutter wasn't a pleasant sight. Not everybody will be able to retiree on their personal savings. Many of those people will get that way through no fault of their own. Some people just have bad luck. They get injured and disabled. They have extenuating family circumstances. They might just be stuck in a dead-end, minimum wage job.