Comments on: Time to stop rearranging the deck chairs on the SS Social Security http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2007/10/29/time-to-stop-rearranging-the-deck-chairs-on-the-ss-social-security/ Think. It ain't illegal yet... Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:32:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Hillbilly http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2007/10/29/time-to-stop-rearranging-the-deck-chairs-on-the-ss-social-security/comment-page-1/#comment-80240 Hillbilly Tue, 25 May 2010 16:22:16 +0000 http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2007/10/29/time-to-stop-rearranging-the-deck-chairs-on-the-ss-social-security/#comment-80240 Sure cutting benefits to others is grand. The 'elites' seem to thinkthat screwing us little folk who are already on SS out of even more when people like me who never made more than 35g are now living on less than 10g. I m disabled and cannot met all the required bills and I don't live anything like extravagant. Taxing the upper echelons of the income brackets would seem a good idea. The Liebertarians(sic) want people like me to live under bridges or something I guess or just die. I was homeless 3x for 2 yrs once and 1yr ea the other times. I managed to pull myself out of a life tailspin, after on job injuries and illness, not like I got hurt water sking the illness was brought on by having to lay still for several months while back healed. I had savings , but insurance dropped me and then I was responsible for almost 30 g worth of hosp bills and fired for getting hit by a falling piece off duck work not related to my particular job. It is amazing how fast your life can be wrecked and you didn't see it coming. Putting any amount in the wall street casino is a guaranteed pay off to the banksters while folks like me eat catfood..if we can afford it. Sure cutting benefits to others is grand. The ‘elites’ seem to thinkthat screwing us little folk who are already on SS out of even more when people like me who never made more than 35g are now living on less than 10g. I m disabled and cannot met all the required bills and I don’t live anything like extravagant.

Taxing the upper echelons of the income brackets would seem a good idea. The Liebertarians(sic) want people like me to live under bridges or something I guess or just die. I was homeless 3x for 2 yrs once and 1yr ea the other times. I managed to pull myself out of a life tailspin, after on job injuries and illness, not like I got hurt water sking the illness was brought on by having to lay still for several months while back healed. I had savings , but insurance dropped me and then I was responsible for almost 30 g worth of hosp bills and fired for getting hit by a falling piece off duck work not related to my particular job. It is amazing how fast your life can be wrecked and you didn’t see it coming.

Putting any amount in the wall street casino is a guaranteed pay off to the banksters while folks like me eat catfood..if we can afford it.

]]> By: JS O'Brien http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2007/10/29/time-to-stop-rearranging-the-deck-chairs-on-the-ss-social-security/comment-page-1/#comment-7817 JS O'Brien Mon, 29 Oct 2007 21:44:38 +0000 http://www.scholarsandrogues.com/2007/10/29/time-to-stop-rearranging-the-deck-chairs-on-the-ss-social-security/#comment-7817 Brian: I agree that one of the fixes he proposes will do little, and that is to allocate proceeds from the estate tax to SS. Like you, that simply seems like reallocating scarce tax dollars to SS that could be allocated elsewhere. The other two approaches, though, have merit, I believe. Increasing the SS wage base will definitely bring in more money. It's a tax increase, of course, but only the upper-milddle-class and wealthy would pay it. Investing in equities also has merit, though there are some drawbacks he doesn't mention. Currently, I beleive SS funds are invested in government paper, such as T-bills and T-bonds. The return is anemic. Investing in equities, as a long-term investment, is very likely to increase the size of SS funds with very little long-term risk. In fact, if the long-term stock market crashes, we are in for many more problems than SS shortfalls. The trick is simply to ensure there is enough liquidity to meet short term obligations. Investing in equities does have a substantial downside, though. The SS pool is so enormous that investing in equities can distort the market, driving up prices and creating at least a small bubble. Attempting to invest in individual stocks could easily create huge bubbles in some areas. In addition, pulling out 20% of SS from the T-bill and bond market will increase the US's cost of borrowing overall, and increase the tax dollars that go simply to service the debt. At any rate, any investment in equities should probably include foreign companies in order to avoid an artificial surge in US stock prices stemming from the SS Administration's need to buy equities. In the long run, the only viable solution is probably to reduce SS benefits as retirement income increases, so that the wealthy end up with small or no SS checks. That will badly undermine SS's popularity and political support, but there's probably no help for it. Brian:

I agree that one of the fixes he proposes will do little, and that is to allocate proceeds from the estate tax to SS. Like you, that simply seems like reallocating scarce tax dollars to SS that could be allocated elsewhere.

The other two approaches, though, have merit, I believe. Increasing the SS wage base will definitely bring in more money. It’s a tax increase, of course, but only the upper-milddle-class and wealthy would pay it. Investing in equities also has merit, though there are some drawbacks he doesn’t mention.

Currently, I beleive SS funds are invested in government paper, such as T-bills and T-bonds. The return is anemic. Investing in equities, as a long-term investment, is very likely to increase the size of SS funds with very little long-term risk. In fact, if the long-term stock market crashes, we are in for many more problems than SS shortfalls. The trick is simply to ensure there is enough liquidity to meet short term obligations.

Investing in equities does have a substantial downside, though. The SS pool is so enormous that investing in equities can distort the market, driving up prices and creating at least a small bubble. Attempting to invest in individual stocks could easily create huge bubbles in some areas. In addition, pulling out 20% of SS from the T-bill and bond market will increase the US’s cost of borrowing overall, and increase the tax dollars that go simply to service the debt.

At any rate, any investment in equities should probably include foreign companies in order to avoid an artificial surge in US stock prices stemming from the SS Administration’s need to buy equities.

In the long run, the only viable solution is probably to reduce SS benefits as retirement income increases, so that the wealthy end up with small or no SS checks. That will badly undermine SS’s popularity and political support, but there’s probably no help for it.

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