Franklin
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Social Security has kept millions of people out of poverty in their old age. It has acted as a safety net. It was never intended to be be the sole source of a person's income in retirement. Since the late 1970's when people were first allowed to invest in IRA accounts, new ways to save for retirement on a tax deferred basis have constantly be made available by the government. Plus we now have Roth IRA accounts where the income in them grows tax free. We need Social Security now more than ever because so few employers have pension plans that give their workers guaranteed monthly benefits.
Social Security has worked well and the trust fund is solvent on paper at least until 2042 and maybe for much longer if the economy does well. However, there is a problem: Congress has been borrowing and spending all the money in the Social Security trust fund as fast as it comes in and congress has no plan in place to pay it back when it is needed to help pay for the retirement of the baby boom generation. This borrowing has masked the true size of the Federal Budget deficit and has made it easier for President Bush to give tax cuts to the rich. This year Congress will borrow and spend over 180 billion dollars from the Social Security trust fund, every penny of which came from FICA taxes on the wages of workers and their employers.
svt
Before this system there was no catch net. The Federal government did not care. Private companies used pensions for retirement and there was not 401k's IRAs etc. Unfortunately with a lot of these companies, Airlines, Auto and Steel industries these pensions have outright failed or never paid what was promised. SS used with other retirement options is a great thing. Remember just a generation ago most people did not save for retirement period. Start saving now.
digdowndeepnseattle
Social Security is a good program in theory. But, it's moved away from a social safety net to a program whose participants feel like they are entitled to it. The ones that say it robs peple of their freedom to control their own retirement are the ones who a) feel like they are entitled to it and b) are the ones too stupid to realize that you don't RETIRE on social security...you simply EXIST and barely exist at that. So in a sense if they are relying 100% on social security then they ARE controlling their retirement. They are making sure they retire at below poverty level. I say good for them!!!
Eric Inri
Conservative Republicans and Libertarians would say it robs people of their freedom to control their own retirement.
They favor individual freedom over government control.
Social Security was started by a popular Democratic president named Franklin Roosevelt after a major stock market crash.
whatevit
Social Security is one of the best programs there is. Left to our own devices we would destroy ourselves instead of building for a good, safe, secure, future.
We run from apartment to apartment and buy car after car, but cry if we get a $100 ticket. All because our natural tendency is to spend, spend, and spend some more. All those that think that SSA is getting in the way of their saving for the future, is the ones that would not save if they could. All those who save and build even with SSA payments coming out of our pay checks, know that if we fail, there is still SOCIAL SECURITY.