Originally Posted by
Alan
I believe latest calculations show SS will be insolvent in about 15 years, so something has to give. The two obvious answers are to raise the minimum age to collect benefits to something closer to the average life span and to increase the earnings cap, which currently captures about 85% of all income in the United States, to one that captures 90% or more of all income. Those two actions would probably put off SS's eventual collapse for another generation or so, especially if we could somehow influence more Americans in the belief that it is their responsibility, not the governments, to finance their long term care and well being.
The people I know without pensions, which is essentially everyone not a government worker, have not found it impossible to amass significant retirement savings over their working lives, many of them have simply chosen not to prioritize long term security over immediate gratification believing that it's government/society's responsibility to care for them. This is also the reason I could never be a liberal, an ideology which these days promotes dependence on others as a moral imperative, which I think is evil.