kfl%mx.lcs.mit.edu@MC.LCS.MIT.EDU (08/06/86)
From: Hank.Walker@unh.cs.cmu.edu
... Most of those on welfare are unwed teenage mothers, or
divorcees. Many states have welfare laws designed to keep the
husband around in a married couple, ...
Marriage is not the issue. The father should share with the mother
the costs of raising a child. This is true whether or not they are or
ever were married. This is true whether or not they are or ever were
living together.
Many people choose not to get married, either because of the severe
marriage penalty tax, or because they aren't sure they won't soon want
to switch partners, or because they oppose the institution of marriage
for whatever ideological reasons.
Remember the high black teenage unemployment rate?
Do you think this is the cause or the effect of welfare?
The divorcees can get off welfare when their ex-husbands start
providing child support.
Why should they bother pressing for child support from the fathers?
They get money either way. In many cases, the mother splits the
welfare check with the father. Whether or not he is employed.
The [social security] law has already been changed so that the
retirement age will rise to 67, and taxes will increase.
Why should there be any mandatory retirement age? Why should the
age be up to government, anyway?
Yes, taxes will increase. This is the solution to the shortfall?
Perhaps, but it is a cure that is worse than the disease. The social
security tax is said to be 7.35 percent, but that doesn't take into
account the employer contribution and the fact that it is on before-
tax income. Social security actually takes about a quarter of the
average employee's after tax income. And no deductions are allowed
for anything, not even for being blind or having dependents.
How high should it be allowed to go? Who decides how high is high
enough? The current tax rate is higher than last year's, and is as
high as it has ever been. Do you think it will ever go down? Do you
think it will ever remain constant? Do you think the economy can
indefinitely tolerate an endlessly increasing tax of this size?
Current retirees got a good deal. Future retirees won't get a
good deal because their money could have been earning higher
interest in savings accounts.
So could the money of the current retirees.
The Social Security system is no longer a pyramid scheme, ...
Yes it is. It is a classic Ponzi type scam. Money from later
investors is paid to earlier investors, giving the illusion that money
is growing.
A separate issue for the long-term future is one raised by Nils
Nilsson in the Summer 1984 issue of AI Magazine. If productivity
keeps on increasing even at relatively low rates, we may find it
difficult to consume all the goods and services produced. ...
Maybe so, but I am willing to give it a try!
If this situation comes true, then we may be lowering, rather than
increasing, the retirement age 100 years from now.
Why should we (I assume you mean government) have anything to do
with deciding when someone should retire?
Many people get much enjoyment from their jobs. I do not see that
increased productivity need lead to unemployment. There is an
infinite amount of work to be done. It's just that there is only a
finite amount that anyone can afford to pay people to do. As the
wealth of the world increases, the amount of affordable work will also
increase. A simple example is if I was very wealthy I would hire
people to do such things as design and build a mansion for me. And I
would eat out more often, leading to more restraunt jobs, and I would
buy more goods, leading to more retail and manufacturing jobs, etc,
etc.
...Keith
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