trc (02/02/83)
SS is at least a means of collecting funds from working individuals to support a group of people (retirees) that may have not prepared for retirement on their own. Chances are that left to their own means we would have more street people, more starving and freezing senior citizens. SS is at best a system that penalizes anyone who does attempt to save for their retirement by lowering their standard of living relative to others who dont bother. Before you flame-on and incinerate your tube, think... Maybe *you* believe that it would not happen to you, and maybe *you* would be able to prepare for retirement, but what about the majority?? What about the "majority"? It depends upon your opinion of human beings, I guess. Do you believe that humans are semi-robots, incapable of choosing what is right for them over the long term, and so not responsible for wrong decisions they make? Most of the folks I know, and I know some pretty "silent majority" type folks, will build up enough assets, (or loving family) by merely living honest, hard-working lives, to take care of them in their old age. At most, there might be a minority of deserving but unfortunate people. I can't say I really want to support those who dont care enough about themselves to have attempted to support themselves. Have you ever read Charles Dickens? Think about the options available to his down and out characters. Not very pretty. It would seem that in such a rich (relative term) country as ours we could give the masses a little peace of mind when looking forward to retirement. In a country as rich as ours, it should be so trivial to save up for one's retirement that even bums in the street should be able to find enough change that they could put aside to support them in the lifestyle they are accustomed to. And I, for one, dont believe in the concept of "the masses" - there are only individuals out there. I honestly belive that the best way to "solve" the problem of SocSec is to start ending it now. Those who have been fooled into believing that they need the system, should be patronized out of general revenues. The longer they've been in it, the more they should get out of it. In addition, there should be available low cost "life savings disaster insurance", that would give sufficient assets to live off of, in one lump sum. This covers that minority of true unfortunates. And, to help insure that no one gets enticed into a SocSec system in the future, lets start teaching our kids the basics of economics from kindergarten on. They will be better human beings for having learned to rely on themselves, rather than to idly expect someone else to act for their benefit. Tom Craver houti!trc