You're obviously a very smart guy. I'm pretty convinced you aren't just talking out of your arse. But some of the things you've said doesn't make me happy and giggly. I did not live the kind of life where all you ever do is plan for the future. I've been poor son e birth, and a travelor since I was 18. My future, that didnt plan for, is catching up with me now. I have been paying into social security for almost 40 years. I've kinda sorta need it to be there when I can't get up and work anymore.
One advantage that we have is that the baby boomer generation was very large so, as long as we're able to vote, they will continue to print the money that keeps Social Security afloat. Our job is to put up with both parties using it as a selling point on election years, with the Democrats claiming that the Republicans are going to cut Social Security, while the Republicans claim that Social Security is insolvent, and we need to privatize it, or some variation thereof. It's like ObamaCare. Republicans won big during the last election on the promise of repealing ObamaCare. Once they took office, there were no serious attempts to do anything of the sort. In fact, now they're simply planning on putting their own name on it. Still, it works for both parties. The GOP wins votes on the promise of repealing it, while Democrats win votes over the threat that Republicans will take it away. Not so many people are buying it anymore, but for several elections, Republicans won seats with the promise that they would outlaw abortion. Democrats appeased their base by claiming that Republicans were going to make abortion illegal. Once elected, few Republicans made even token attempts at fulfilling their promises. Democrats know that, but it works for both of them because the media willingly provides the hype. Democrats often run on anti-war agendas but they never actually end any of those wars. Often they create new ones, but both sides play that one up too, and the media slavishly falls in line, while the anti-war groups go on vacation during Democratic administrations.
I should not be interfering in this thread nor even reading it. But my in laws are all in the US so I am quite concerned. One uncle of my husband is regularly sending us emails against the Democrats. He is very much against Obama and now he (and his email group) is targetting Hillary Clinton. What's funny to me is that Democrats are having their way in the coming elections next year. By the way, our country is also holding the national elections next year in May ahead of the November elections in the US. As for the politics here, it is so dirty at this early. Potential candidates are starting to throw mud at each other so voters are at a loss on who to vote into office.
There is one small detail which does keep me snug and warm, and which looms as the sword of Damacles over the heads of ALL politicians who discuss Social Security. The senior population of the United States is such that by sheer numbers we are a definite physical threat very much the same the Vietnam vets were a threat when the discussion of agent orange briefly abated in the early 70's. The White House was warned that if there were not going to be any benefits provided for those vets subjected to agent orange that we would all march on the capital building and show what we were all trained for. Just the threat was enough for congress and the senate to immediately side for the vets. Imagine if you will, if we actually took the government seriously when they talk about abandoning Social Security. Masses of seniors, walking, riding, in wheel chairs, crutches and however we could get there would definity have a hay day affair with every polititian in the country. Millions of aged folks carrying torches and pitchforks, going for the president, his cabinet, and every other political head as if they each were a live representation of the monsters on yesterdays silver screen fiction. Ya think I'm kidding? Think about it. No, I do not really believe the government will tamper with the entitlement except possibly.....not give us a yearly 1.5 % raise. (less than the yearly raise of everyone in the senate I believe)
I think the Social Security Act was one of the greatest pieces of legislation to ever come down the pike. When Congress sees a pile of money lying around even though it is dedicated monies for a specific purpose, they nearly bust a gut until they can get their hands on it and spend it. You want something to think about, notice we always have monies for another war, big or small, we can come up with a few billion dollars to go kill somebody, crush another regime somewhere. I'd like to see us try minding our own business for a while. Power is an addiction. And if we're looking for a villain, look no further than our own elected representatives
I don't have the actual number but I am thinking that if we were to add up all the federal dollars we spend on foreign aid and relief, we'd find that we spend more on welfare programs for other countries than we do our own, and we probably wouldn't even have to add in the non-citizens who are receiving aid from us here. I used to get caught up in the Republican hype about cutting welfare, and making sure that no one receives any tax dollars that they haven't either earned, or are in dire need of, and I'm still generally in favor of not throwing more money at every problem that comes up. However, our government makes no attempt whatsoever to curtain the amount of money that it spends overseas, on foreign aid or on unnecessary wars. In the Mideast, we are supplying and training both sides of every conflict we're involved in. We blow things up at our expense, and then we rebuilt them at our expense. Given that the government never seems to run out of money for anything else, and the fact that Social Security scares are always ramped up just before an election, I can only suggest that it's simply an election ploy. There is no Social Security fund, and there hasn't been a Social Security fund since they began digging into it for everything else. They can get the money for that from the same money tree they turn to for everything else.